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The Screenwriter in Cyberspace
By Charles Deemer

Column #3: Networking I - Online Services

There's a sense in which all online activity is "networking." Whether a screenwriter is connected to the Internet or to an online service such as America On-Line or Prodigy, "networking" with other screenwriters is possible - and, indeed, one of the major incentives for a screenwriter to enter cyberspace. Networking - and I use the term here to describe the opportunities in cyberspace for screenwriters to contact other screenwriters and industry professionals, often to career advantage - is largely what putting a computer online is about.

My next three columns will explore networking opportunities for screenwriters who are online. In this column, I'll look at networking on the major online services; next month, I'll explore networking on the Internet proper, at such sites as this one, the Internet Screenwriters Network; and finally, I'll devote a column to "IRC", or Internet Relay Chat, which is perhaps the most powerful yet under-used networking resource available to screenwriters in cyberspace.

Networking on GEnie

When one thinks of online services, the big three immediately come to mind: America On-Line, Prodigy and Compuserve. Yet one of the more active networking forums for screenwriters is on a relatively minor (though long established) online-services player, GEnie.

At GEnie, "categories" define special interest areas and relevant here are Category 33, General Screenwriting, which is led by Max Adams, a Nicholl winner last year (who also sold a script to Columbia); and Category 35, Private Screenwriting Workshop, led by Patricia Burroughs. There also is a weekly "real time" screenwriters' chat (the online services equivalent of IRC) led by Mike Canales and Mj Butler.

Max Adams, one of the recent "screenwriter success stories" in Hollywood, runs the Category 33 Bulletin Board, which is subdivided into topics to which writers can post comments and replies. The span of topics covered here is impressive, including:

and many more. And, of course, any screenwriter can open a new topic for discussion at any time.

The "real time" screenwriters' chat room is active on Monday nights, beginning at 10:30pm EDT. Now and again, a special guest is featured, recently Nicholl Fellowship executive Greg Beal and animation writer Katherine Lawrence. Real time workshops also get scheduled in the chat room, such as a recent one on writing 3-line pitches.

Screenwriting activity on GEnie, as on most online services, is considerable. Moreover, this is not the activity of hobbyists, as the "success stories" on GEnie and elsewhere show.

"A year ago," says Bonny Becker, "I was a total novice at both screenwriting and bulletin boards. In a nutshell, the GEnie bulletin board taught me in one year what would have taken at least two to three years to discover through other means."

Becker wrote a romantic comedy and had it critiqued on GEnie's private bulletin board area. After the process and rewriting, she landed an agent and the script has been optioned.

"GEnie gave me the information, background and support I needed," she says, echoing the sentiments of those who have found agents or producers by their networking activities on virtually all of the online services.

Networking on AOL

Tracie Hines is a staffer in the screenwriting area on America On-Line's "Follywood", and she also set up the screenwriters' workshop in the Writers area.

"One thing that surprised me about AOL," she says, "is that it attracts a lot of professionals from every area of show business. Some of these people are attracted specifically to AOL because of the anonymity of identities.

"I know several working screenwriters who are regulars on AOL," she continues. "Dan Petrie, who wrote Beverly Hills Cop, is there under his own name. I met someone who I'm pretty sure is William Goldman."

Screenwriters on AOL congregate in several areas: Follywood, Hollywood Online and Writers being the most popular. As on GEnie, bulletin boards and "real time" chat rooms define the networking modes. The Writers chat meets Fridays, 9-11pm EDT, and the Follywood chat meets Thursday 8-10pm EDT.

"Each chat room has a completely different character," says Hines. "Writers chats tend to be a bit clannish and extremely chaotic, with 25-30 people coming and going. Hollywood Cafe chats are the least moderated but also can be the stupidest and flamingest of all of them. Typical chat might fluctuate from 8-20 people, depending on the night. Follywood's the smallest and it tends to be more oriented towards staying on topic, or at least in relating topics, to show business. A small chat in Follywood is about 6 people, but it sometimes peaks into the teens."

As on other online services, AOL screenwriters use the networking opportunities to professional advantage. Hines herself has gotten "reads" from three different producers she met online at AOL. She reports that there also have been instances of script sales by writers who met producers online.

"A helpful part of AOL," reports Oregon screenwriter Bill Johnson, "is that I can post a question about format and usually get a response in 24 hours. I also met a retired filmmaker in Oakland who's been helping me edit my instructional essays, and I now have a student in Nevada who I work with online. So it's been a very positive experience for me." Johnson has also had scripts read by producers he met online.

Networking on Compuserve

Script consultant Lou Grantt is active on Compuserve.

"Networking here means many things to many people," says Grantt. "In my case, I answer questions when I can, offer advice to newbies, the usual. I've gotten a couple of clients from Compuserve as a result.

"In other cases," she continues, "I know that legendary agent, Dick Brand, reads scripts for Compuserve folks all the time. He's living in Paris now. I think he's semi-retired but is very active in the forum and helps out a lot.

"Roger Ebert is a daily presence in his own section of Showbiz Forum. There are lots of interesting and informative discussions there about current releases and old classics."

"Real time" chat rooms appear to be less active here than on GEnie or AOL.

Networking on Prodigy

Playwright-turned-screenwriter Susan Cummins has been on Prodigy for eight years. In fact, Prodigy played a role in her transition from writing for the stage to writing for film.

Before the transition, Cummins had had a play produced in New York City as a result of a contact made on Prodigy's Theater bulletin board. She adapted this play into a screenplay, which in turn secured her her first agent. Despite this early success at Prodigy, she remains online to continue the networking advantages available to her.

There are a growing number of online services, the Microsoft Network being the latest, and all offer some networking opportunities to screenwriters. The choice of which service to subscribe to is a highly personal matter, but I recommend that users first take advantage of "trial memberships" before committing to one service over another. Also, screenwriting activity on the Internet has grown rapidly since I began the Screenwriters & Playwrights Home Page in the summer of 1994, including the considerable activity here at the Internet Screenwriters Network (which has more regular screenwriting columns than any other resource), and users may find, as I have, that direct access to the Internet is the way to go.

Whatever your road into cyberspace, you should find many opportunities to network with other screenwriters, some more experienced than yourself, and also find occasion to pitch and otherwise market your latest script.

Networking in cyberspace is here to stay.

--Charles Deemer

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Originally appeared at the Hollywood Network.