THE ROLE OF GOVERNANCE IN STORY PRODUCTION 

Governance plays a vital role in any successful story production, however it tends to be a challenging factor to dial in. There are many aspects of governance for a production leader (or leaders) to consider when recruiting collaborators, granting decision-making power, and determining how revenue should be distributed.  Once these initial governance decisions are made, it usually takes significant resources, such as time and money, to administer and enforce them. StarScript aims to dramatically simplify the role of governance by building Governance Modes into its Story Production Platform.

The StarScript Team believes that a few existing technologies, when pieced together properly, can establish a sort of governance control panel for a production leader. This control panel will come equipped in the Platform to help story Originators easily set a story's governing terms as well as automate the administration and enforcement of those terms. It will also utilize the Platform's social attributes to notify other users of a story's governance terms when necessary so they can be informed about what they are agreeing to by participating in that story.

Smart contracts have granted us the ability to establish and enforce agreed terms with one another via technology. The StarScript Team believes that such a technology can help alleviate some of the burden inherent in story production, thereby promoting harmony throughout co-creation.

SMART CONTRACTS

"A smart contract is a computer protocol intended to digitally facilitate, verify, or enforce the negotiation or performance of a contract. Smart contracts allow the performance of credible transactions without third parties. These transactions are trackable and irreversible." Wikipedia

Smart contracts decrease the need for human labor to perform governance tasks, which both saves on operational costs and mitigates the risk of dispute.  Additionally most production leaders can set up a sufficient governance model for production by making selections from a variety of commonly used governing options. These governing options can be displayed in a smart contract form that users can interact with to effect their governance decisions and streamline production.

GOVERNANCE SETTINGS

StarScript's Story Production Platform will include governance options that, when selected, determine the story's Governance Mode. Governance Modes can lead to the establishment of Story Terms, which are essentially smart contracts. It will initially give story Originators full control, but will also bind them to the In-Platform Agreements they make with Creators and Patrons.

The Platform will also give Originators the power to deactivate In-Platform Agreements and upload their own Story Terms. Originators choosing this setting will lose the benefit of In-Platform Agreements but can provide Originators with more flexibility when governing their story's production.

Before identifying the various Governance Modes and settings that will be available on the Platform, let us briefly discuss some of the different elements of story production.

CREATIVE WORKS - Creative Works are the building blocks of stories created on StarScript's Story Production Platform. They can be in the form of writings, illustrations, and songs. Some examples of Creative works are Chapters, Book Covers, and Main Themes.

Each Creative Work is made by a Creator according to the Story Terms originally set out by an Originator. 

• Example 1: In the Creators' Choice Governance Mode existing Creators of a particular story might vote on which of them is going to originate a certain Creative Work or if they wish to recruit a new Creator.

• Example 2: In the Patrons' Choice Governance Mode it may be that the Patrons, not the Creators, vote on which Creator is going to originate a certain Creative Work or if they wish to recruit a new Creator.

USER ARCHETYPES

There are 3 different user archetypes on StarScript's Story Production Platform. Any Platform User has the ability to fall within one or all of these archetypes.

THE 5 VOTING POWERS - There are 5 general powers that can be exercised by vote during story production. Originators, Creators, and Patrons can all have varying degrees of voting power, which will initially be set by the story Originator and included in the Story Terms.

• Creative Choice - The power to choose what Creative Works are needed, what attributes a Creative Work has, and when a Creative Work is published.

• Creator Selection - The power to choose which Creators are selected for one or more Creative Works in a story.

• Creation Cycle - The power to choose Creation Cycle attributes such as when a new Creative Work is initiated, the cycle duration, and the order of Creative Work production within the cycle.

• Payout Cycle - The power to (1) choose how to split the pie of the Story Bank amongst Creators, and (2) choose when payouts take place.

• Tier Structure - The power to choose which features of a story  Patrons can access when entering into patronage under a given Tier. This power includes the power to choose how many Tiers exist at any given point in time and how much a Patron must pay in order to gain access to each Tier.

CREATION CYCLE - Story production takes place over time and has a rhythm. That rhythm is determined by its Creation Cycle set by those governing a given story.

There are 3 Phases in a Creation Cycle:

• Phase 1: Submissions Phase - During the Submissions Phase, one or more Creative Works are originated and submitted for a given story

• Phase 2: Voting Phase - If Creators, Patrons, or both have the right to vote on a Creative Work, the Voting Phase is used to discuss all competing Creative Works being submitted and vote on them.

• Phase 3: Publication Phase - During the Publication Phase, the Creative Work(s) that were voted on during the Voting Phase are edited and published for the story's Patrons.

• Example 1: "The Mansion," a murder mystery horror story, has a Creation Cycle that requires 1 new Chapter to be submitted every three months, and only after it is voted on and published, does the illustration production begin to take place.

• Example 2: "Adventure's of Snailbert," a children's adventure story, has a Creation Cycle that starts with an instrumental track, then an Author writes the lyrics to create a song (the Chapter). After that, an Illustrator comes in to design the cover art for the new single. User's will be able to set up their Story's Creation Cycle as well as the creation cycle for each Creative Work.

Patrons of a particular story receive disclosure of how a story's Creation Cycle works so they know what to expect from that story when subscribing.

STORY BANK - Every story originated on StarScript's Story Production Platform will have its own Story Bank. The Story Bank is funded by Patrons who make recurring payments to gain and maintain access to a story. The purpose of the Story Bank is to provide an income stream to the Creators of a story during and after production. Each Creator is entitled to a portion of the Story Bank that is granted to them according to the Story Terms set by those governing the story's production. 

Whether a minimum payout balance is needed before a payout can be withdrawn is yet to be determined

PAYOUT CYCLE: The Payout Cycle determines how much time passes between StoryBank payouts for Creators. The Platform will initially have two different payment cycles: Bi-weekly and Monthly.

GOVERNANCE MODES

• Mode 1: Originator's Choice - This mode grants the Originator all 5 voting powers.

• Mode 2: Creators' Choice (Equity) - This mode grants the Creators all 5 voting powers in proportion to the number of Creative Works they have created. This mode does not give the Originator any additional vote just because they are an Originator.

• Mode 3: Creators' Choice (Democratic) - This mode grants the Creators all 5 voting powers equally regardless of how many Creative Works each of them has in the story. Creator's Choice also gives the Originator 1 additional vote.

• Mode 4: Patrons' Choice (Equity) - This mode grants the Patrons all 5 voting powers in proportion to the amount of money they have contributed to the story. This mode does not give the Originator or Creators any additional vote just because they are an Originator or Creator.

• Mode 5: Patrons' Choice (Democratic) - This mode grants the Patrons all 5 voting powers equally regardless of how much money each of them has contributed to the story. Creator's Choice also gives the Originator 1 additional vote for being an Originator and gives the Creators one additional vote for being a Creator.

• Mode 6: Custom - This mode grants the Originator flexibility to customize which user type holds which form of voting power.

Note that Governance Modes 1-5 give general voting power, while Mode 6 gives more flexibility in determining which user type holds what form of voting power.

Once a mode is selected for a given story, the story's Story Terms are updated to reflect the relationship between all present and future User's of that story.