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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.

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