The biggest challenge with current story production platforms out there is that there are none.

Whether it be a comic book, movie script, or novel, a team of creators must come together and share content in order to produce a story. These creators range from writers to illustrators to editors and more who collaborate to create these imaginative worlds and make them available for the world to enjoy. While there are many applications in use that assist creators in the production and launch of a story, such as Microsoft Word, Photoshop, and Amazon, there is no general place where story creators can:

1. collaborate with one another and their story’s fans via a social network;
2. originate stories that come equipped with their own fund and governance parameters enforced through technology;
3. fund their creator team via crowdfunding during and after the story production process; and
4. create through a multi-media framework that keeps growing over time.

Story’s tellers and experiencers alike deserve a place where they can participate in immersive story production and immersive storytelling. With this in mind, the founders of StarScript decided to make the first Story Production Platform (Platform).  The Platform will not just be a story writing app, it will be an income-producing production tool.

Most of the technology needed to create the platform already exists, it’s just that nobody has applied that technology to help facilitate story production. We have identified four Technology Elements that are being integrated in StarScript’s Platform to help facilitate the create and sharing of multi-media stories.

1st Technology Element – Social Networks

Social networks offer us the technology to communicate through various mediums beyond geographical boundaries. A story may start out as a simple idea–perhaps just a scribble on a napkin. Some of these stories, however, grow to become massive collaborative art projects that turn into blockbuster movies. Those movies become video games, action figures, halloween costumes, Disneyland rides, and so much more. Sit through the credits at the end of the next movie you go see in the theater. It’s astonishing how many people come together to make the magic happen.

Social networks streamline communication and content sharing, which has nearly infinite use cases. Thus far, no social network has been created and tailored to facilitate story production. StarScript intends it’s Platform to be among the first crowdsourcing websites existing for this specific purpose.

2nd Technology Element – Governance 

At StarScript we feel it is very important for those originating content to have the freedom to govern it how they wish. Currently, if you wanted to establish a production team for a new project, you would have to spend time working out all the deals for how much each person is paid, write out operating terms, hire attorneys, and spend loads of money to get your relationship worked out. With StarScript’s Story Production Platform, you will have the ability to set these terms within the platform’s Creator Studio. There will be no need to manually manage payouts for all the collaborators are funded through the story’s fund which will automatically pay out on a periodic basis. With a few simple switches and controls, you will be able to set the terms of how collaborators become a part of your team, and how Patrons gain access to your story’s content.

3rd Technology Element – Funding

Whether you are a writer, illustrator, composer, or other form of story creator, you require funding to support you through the creation process. Funding is often a catch 22 situation. Many artists need the money to create, but need to create before they can get the money. There are many different funding technologies emerging such as crowdfunding and cryptocurrency constructs that utilize blockchain technology. These technologies make it easier for emerging projects to receive funding so they can grow. We are performing in depth research on which funding structure will work best with our Platform, but some things we already know are as follows:

1. Every story originated on the platform will have its own Story Bank.
2. Patrons (story experiencers) will pay money into the Story Bank on a periodic basis to gain access to that story, sort of like a subscription.
3. Money that is gathered in a story’s Story Bank will be distributed to the Creators of that story according to its Story Terms set by the Originator.

Funding is a necessity to create large projects, but is often an incredible burden for the story creator. We are working to relieve much of that burden with a carefully structured funding technology embedded in our Platform. The funding technology may even consist of stories being able to create their own marketable coin, which can be traded on an exchange for coins from other stories. While much of our funding structure is still being developed, our goal is to design a Story Production Platform that will make it easier for a story originator and their creator team to raise money for their stories while they are building them.

4th Technology Element  – Multi-Media Framework

Let’s say you have a new concept in mind and so you decided to release it in the form of a short story on StarScript’s Story Production Platform. There are no illustrations and no music. It’s just a quaint, humble writing. Then something special happens. After publishing your story, people start to discover it on the Platform. Prospective Creators and Patrons alike form discussions about your characters, plot, and feel. Soon you find your project with a nice Patron base and a modest monthly income, but not enough to quit your day job.

You decide to expand. Perhaps you turn the story into an episodic novel. One of your story’s Patrons recommend that an Illustrator, also using the Platform, may be a good fit to create the concept art for the main character. You make the connection and it turns out to be a great fit! Soon your story’s medium expands from being a single media writing to a multimedia project. You find a composer that works with you to establish a general theme song and perhaps a track that helps bring out the essence of an underground city that your character has stumbled upon.

The story mythos grows and so do your Patrons and Collaborators. Since joining StarScript, there have been a number of amazing patches that have come out. The number of Creator types have increased. There are Cinematographers, Editors, and Video Game Developers (VGDs). You aren’t sure where to evolve to next so you put out a poll to ask the Patrons. The votes come in and it becomes clear that your Patrons want to see your story’s main character in a video game! You receive a few notifications. A couple of your Patrons have recommended VGDs  that might be good for your project. After amending your story’s governing parameters to provide a fair share for the developer, you decided to open submissions for VGDs to compete for the various roles, and make video game production governed by the Patrons. After the voting period is over, the video game is produced, which becomes a huge success. You not only have enough income to quit your day job, you have helped to create work opportunities for other Creators. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the StarScript Toy Creator patch emerges, and someone contacts you about making your main character into an action figure.

Your project started as a simple written short story, then grew through various mediums and became a success. It is this time of production flow that we are working to help facilitate for creators today. Creating video games and action figures out of stories is nothing new, but now we have a platform that helps facilitate a story’s evolution through a Multi-media Framework.

User Experience

We anticipate users spending a great deal of time using the platform to produce their projects, engage with Creators and Patrons, and experience multimedia stories.  We are creating a celestial, gamified, and graphical user interface (GUI so that the platform itself is rich with interactive and immersive storytelling qualities. From the moment you enter the Platform, we want your imagination to become engaged with all of the features it has to offer. We want this Platform to be an enviroment that nurtures your creativity so you can better create and explore the worlds birthed through imagination.