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The Screenwriter in Cyberspace
By Charles Deemer

Column #15: Keeping Up in Cyberspace

Resources for screenwriters are growing at such a rapid pace, not to mention resources in other areas of interest on the Internet, that it's easy to get overwhelmed and lost. Here are some tips for keeping up with what is new.

Have a plan

The first thing you need to do is some serious reflection about your activity in cyberspace. Why are you on the Internet? What areas of the net do you visit regularly? What kinds of information are important to you, particularly with regard to new and breaking stories or products?

This decided, you need to find resources that speak to those needs - and then set up a routine that takes you to them on a regular basis.

At the Screenwriters & Playwrights Home Page my What's New? area is one of the most popular. Here on an almost daily basis I list the new or updated links I've found that may interest writers (not only screenwriters and playwrights). Where do I find these sites?

Every day I visit the Yahoo! What's New area, looking especially in the Arts and Entertainment categories for new sites that may interest my audience. You can do the same and not rely on my judgment of what interests you.

On a weekly basis, I also visit the What's New Too? website, doing a search for such things as "screenwrit" (which would include both "screenwriting" and "screenwriters").

New Software

I also am interested in new software, particularly writing software, which I review regularly (recent reviews are Story Tools and Comparing Screenwriting Software). I visit the Shareware New Arrivals area to find out what new programs are coming out.

For more specialized programs, I scan the newsgroups misc.writing.screenplays and rec.arts.theatre.plays.

Breaking News

I used to read the daily headlines at the online Hollywood Reporter but that site and magazine have a new editor, Lou Grantt, and it's too early to know what will be offered online under the new leadership.

But industry headlines are also available elsewhere. NewsPage is one source I check for breaking news headlines in the film industry. You can personalize this news retrieval page to suit your own interests.

Networking

A number of links are suggested in the networking area at my site. No doubt the most energetic of these is the Screenwriters List, which can generate over 100 messages daily. If you have the discipline to read only "subject lines" that interest you, and the patience to hang with the list for a while, you will find similar souls with whom to network through more private email exchanges. Jack Stanley's list is a wonderful resource.

New Markets

The Internet hasn't reached its potential as a true marketplace for screenplays. Few of the major wheelers-and-dealers are online, or at least not so in any public way. At the same time, a number of legitimate players are online, some in chat rooms at AOL, Prodigy and other services, others more openly at websites or newsgroups or listservs. If you look, you can find them.

Newsgroups are a possible source for new markets, a place to find producers who are looking for material, but there also are some risks here because anyone can pose as a producer at a newsgroup. But I check out the screenwriters' newsgroup regularly and look at those messages seeking material, though I seldom send more than a query as a result. I also check out the Producers Dealmaking Area here at the Hollywood Network. You have to be a member to enjoy full "pitch room" privileges.

How Not to be Overwhelmed

The secret to keeping up in cyberspace, to not being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of material and new sites going online daily, is to approach "keeping up" with a plan. First you have to decide what you want; then how to get it.

It only takes me an hour or so a day to keep the What's New? area of my site current - not bad at all, I think. If you give yourself an hour a day online on a regular basis, dedicated to "keeping up in cyberspace," you'll find the routine to follow that keeps you abreast of your own areas of interest. It's only overwhelming when you can't see the trees for the forest.

--Charles Deemer



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Originally appeared at the Hollywood Network.