Page 42 - Visual Marketing

9. Changing the Script on Scriptwriting: Organizing a Virtual
Community Around an Event to Maximize Participation

Script Frenzy is a one-month writing blitz
that takes place in April every year. The
keys are the deadline—one month of
writing—and the encouragement gained from
the online community of writers. Volunteer
chapters in 100 cities across the world orga-
nize kickoff parties, laptop meetings in cof-
fee shops, and staged readings of completed
scripts. Founder and executive director, Chris Baty, says that combin-
ing a deadline with encouragement and an online community can
create miracles. Script Frenzy started in 2004 as an outgrowth of the
National Novel Writing month that was launched in 1999 and grew
to more than 70,000 participants in 50 countries. After seven years a
formal structure was needed, so a nonprofit organization called the
Office of Letters and Light was established.

21 V I S UA L M A RK ETIN G