Andra Sheffer’s office has walls in two shades of blue and looks west out at College where the blue roof of the police headquarters matches her decor nicely. I was visiting to find out more about the Independent Production Fund and what I could put into my application that would help it stand out from yours. Which raises the question of why I’m now going to tell you everything I found out.

…Or am I? Do you trust me?

Well you should because one of the things Andra -- the Executive Director of the Independent Production Fund -- and I discussed was collaboration and cooperation among the successful applicants. But I’ll get to that in a sec.

First, let’s just go over the basics of the application. The IPF, as you know, is running a web drama pilot program:

The intent of the Fund is to assist independent producers/creators to finance the production of original drama series created initially for the web.

The Independent Production Fund intends to explore the potential for high quality, story-driven drama with new and innovative narrative forms.

Successful properties may subsequently be exploited on other platforms such as television and mobile either in their original format or through the exploitation of derivative rights.

Applications, which are limited to a maximum of six pages, are due on March 31st. I suspect that there will be A LOT of applicants. The plan is to narrow down the field and ask a small number of applicants (12? 14?) to create more detailed production proposals. The IPF “intends to work closely with applicants in the creation of their Production Proposals.”

What can you do to get into that select second round group?

The guidelines say:

The primary criterion for acceptance by the Fund will be the quality of the project.The Board will assess projects based on the creative materials; creative and production team; production strategies; scheduling; budget and financing; distribution and web strategies; marketing and promotion plans; projected traffic; business model and revenue projections; maintenance strategies, third party financing and endorsements, associated interactive activities, recoupment, HD, etc.

But what are they really looking for? Andra says great creative if the first step. Creative that excite jurors and evaluators makes them look deeper.

A track record is going to help. Experienced writers can apply, but you need to show evidence that you know how to produce and better yet, get things onto the web. If you don’t have that experience, teaming up with someone who has complimentary skills will help your chances.

The business plan is going to be key. The IPF is making an investment. They want their money back and they want a profit which they can invest in other people’s projects. They’d like to see you make a profit too.

You might want to talk about marketing as well. How are you going to attract and engage an audience?

Fit all that into six pages!

Obviously, no one really knows exactly how to create a successful web series and make money with it. You might say “Oh, Pure Pwnage did it.” There are definitely lessons to be learned but times have changed a lot since then. There are a handful of other series that work well and make money but no one guaranteed model.

The intent is to create a climate in which all of the successful applicants can pool resources and learn from each other. By collaborating and sharing information and strategies, the teams will improve their chances of creating great web series that audiences love and turn a profit.

As Andra says, she wants all of the series to be as successful as possible.

I’m excited because 6 or 7 web series are going to get some financing and a good chance at testing the waters. Whether they make money or not, we’ll all profit from their experience.

For more inspiration, check out these guidelines for creating award winning web series from the Fine Brothers.

Get ready, the greatest holiday of the year is coming soon. Don't be caught out without a great prank to pull.

Here's the first of the Hailey Hacks April Fools videos. Watch for another next week.

Over at Advertising Age, Keith Richmond is writing about the importance of distribution in the next decade. His piece is called Is Content King? Then Distribution is Crown Prince, subtitled Great Content Does Not Mean It Will Find an Audience:

In the next decade, we will see significant changes to the way that content is created, monetized and experienced. During the next few years, existing media players will begin to increasingly face the realities and challenges that those of us online have always dealt with -- an audience with a short attention span and a whole slew of viewing options.

Sumner Redstone famously called content "king." Rupert Murdoch recently upgraded that to "Emperor." While there is certainly some truth to that when looking at online content -- see Hulu's rapid growth as an example -- there are far more cases where great content does not seem to matter at all. At the very least, I think it is fair to say that even if content is king online, then distribution and marketing are the "crown princes." Good content or not, understanding and embracing digital distribution and marketing will prove critical to everyone in the entertainment industry.

These days, when I'm thinking about creating content, I'm thinking about distribution and marketing right from concept. How can I build elements into the narrative that will help it spread?

There are the mysteries of SEO to unravel -- an art or science that seems ripe with charlatans. Beyond search, there is the social web, a brilliant way of spreading content, but by no means a slam dunk. You have to know what you're doing and really work at it. You can't just sign up for a twitter account and figure everything's suddenly going to go viral.

Viral! I hate that word because of the ease it implies. Nothing goes viral without a brilliant strategy, plenty of effort and a certain amount of money.

Money. Indeed, an ad buy is important. Especially if you aren't an SEO ninja or a social media star with a zillion followers.

The new kid on the block is social recommendation. People consume things they see their friend's consuming on Facebook and click on the links on Twitter. You have to make your content shareable, embeddable and wigitizeable. You have to give your audience a Creative Commons license that gives them the right to goof with your content because that's another way to make it popular.

Because content may be king and distribution may be the crowned prince, but the audience? God.

Check out Where Have All the Women Gone? Long Time Passing in The Research Wrap Blog. Pilot season has been especially unkind to women writers this year. And the staffing situation isn't much better. Take at look at this chart included in the post:

What about cable?

Perhaps, I thought, cable would be a more receptive arena for women’s voices. Was I wrong! I decided to investigate 3 shows on USA, the number one rated cable network – “Monk,” “Psych,” and “Burn Notice.” None, emphasis on none of these shows has ever employed a woman on the writing staff! These aren’t blood and guts, male testosterone-laden shows; these are shows dependent on female viewers on a network that was run by a woman! None! Draw your own conclusions.

Is it any different here? You tell me.

This morning, I got up my nerve and played a little Chat Roulette. This is the site where you turn on your web cam and then click to look at total strangers via their web cams, and text chat with them.

I was a little apprehensive about it. Strangers! What do you say? Plus I guess I had some preconceived notions as in, mostly teens and 20-somthings and a whole lotta sex and porn. Then there are the rudeness possibilities. What if someone just clicks away from you on first site? What if you do that to them?

But I guess the worst that can happen is hurt feelings or maybe a glimpse of a naked body part, so I decided to overcome my fear and give it a try.

The site is pretty plain, boxes for the two web cams, with the "stranger" at the top and a big box on the right for the chat text. On the top right are the words Users online. This number has stayed static at 20000 all morning, so I take it with a grain of salt.

There are three buttons: Play, Report and Stop. After you press play the first time, it turns into Next. It's the important button -- your safe word -- it gets you in and gets you out and onto the next person.

My first “stranger” was a woman, no face, just her cleavage and she was lying in bed. OK, first preconception confirmed. Without speaking to her, I clicked past. (Who's the rude one now, eh? I didn't even try to engage her conversation!)

Next was a guy who didn’t have a video camera, just a photo of an average guy – not young, maybe 40s or 50s. He greeted me with bjr. Who knows what that means? So I opened another window and started searching for the meaning of this internet acronym wondering if it was a long form of the better known bj. Then his second text came through qui etes vous?. Oh Jill, jump to conclusions much? This isn’t a sexual overture, the guy speaks French.

Cool, I’m on a “use-my-French” kick and here’s a stranger to practice on. We establish that he’s in France, it’s his first time on Chat Roulette and in fact, I am the first person he’s talking to. And would it be possible for me to show him my breasts?

Moving on.

Next guy is in Ohio, maybe 30-ish, first time try at Chat Roulette and he’s already spoken to people in France and Mexico. He wasn’t afraid to try it but a little shy about talking to strangers. Then he got a phone call and there was enough dead air to bore me and I signed off.

Conclusion: There are people on Chat Roulette from different countries. There seems to be a fair amount of sexual content, but it’s not ALL sex. It’s hard work to talk by typing to strangers and find something interesting to say. Before I try again I will make a list of questions to ask to engage my strangers… something beyond where are you and have you done this before. Help me out, if you can think of questions I should ask, leave them in the comments.

Also, let me know if you've Chat Rouletted and how it went.

I will try again.

I was cruising the web this week looking for information about soon-to-be-released television series and was shocked to find virtually nothing. I'm talking about more than one series -- series that are in the can and awaiting air dates. Yet, the only information about them are their IMDB pages and a press release here and there to announce a green light, a casting choice or the first day of principal photography.

Nothing else. No writers blog. No production blog. No photos from set or images of any kind.

It strikes me as odd and also foolish. The web is a cheap way to start building a fan base and community around your project.

Yeah, I know. You don't have an air date or a web site yet. But that shouldn't stop you from having a hundred followers on Twitter or 5000 hits to a blog. That's early awareness of your project. The number of people who know the project's name, the names of the actors, production company and yes, the names of the writers will just keep growing. Maybe they'll even mention it to a friend, retweet you or forward a blog post.

Wouldn't it be amazing if by the time you got your airdate a thousand people or ten thousand already knew about the project? And all it cost you was a few hours a week on the web. Let's face it, you're on the web already. Just make the time productive.

Why wait for the PR people to come on long after the show is wrapped and the creative team have moved on? Why wait till the press releases are written? Why wait for the Saturday paper to be delivered only to discover that you haven't gotten the cover of the TV guide you were promised? Why wait for the luke warm reviews?

It seems much smarter to have someone on the team or several people contributing to a blog though prep, production and post, to have a Facebook fan page up from day 1 building interest, to start a Flickr account to house pictures from set and YouTube channel from some video.

Flash mobbing hits the Olympics! And I love that everyone is wearing their fabulous red mittens. I have red mittens, but I wasn't invited.

Another view:

Flash mobbing hits the Olympics! And I love that everyone is wearing their fabulous red mittens. I have red mittens, but I wasn't invited.

Check this out. A trailer for the new Playstation game Heavy Rain. It's is interactive and your choices move you quite seamlessly through a series of videos to tell a little story. Very cool.

To return to the beginning of the video experience and start again, click here.

The promotion for the game also included a 4 day "online experience" which got you detecting and hunting for the Origami killer. Unfortunately, the experience is over but you can still explore the events.

It seems to be my media coverage day because Google alerts turned up two quotes for me this morning.

I'm quoted in a Hollywood Reporter article on the Canadian Film Centre talking about the NBC Universal MultiPlatform Matchmaking Program:

NBC Universal, which, like rival U.S. networks, has looked abroad for content, is also backing the CFC's multiplatform matchmaking program. Here Canadian industry veterans challenge tradition by hot-housing new crossover digital media product in the course of one week. Story2.OH creator Jill Golick, a previous participant in the CFC multiplatform program, says each experimental lab immerses professionals from diverse fields in an alternative universe free of commercial constraints to collaborate on next-generation creative ventures.

"We will all have to work together one day, so the time to develop a new creative language and ways to work together might as well be now," she says.

Close enough. When Etan Vlessing interviewed me about the program I took last March, I told him that it was the best creative experience of my life. Sponsored by NBC Universal under the auspices of the CFC, the lab is run by the amazing Frank Boyd of Crossover UK. The participants usually come from distinctly different backgrounds -- half from an interactive/digital environment and the other half from the tv/film world. Over the course of a week, the two groups become one, first mapping out their shared understanding of the current media landscape and then working together to develop projects which draw on their shared skill sets. One of the most important features of the program is that it gives participants -- who have completely different work experiences -- a method for working together and communicating. I'm not quite sure I said the words "one day" or "might as well be now", but I did mention the importance of developing a creative language to help us all work together.

MMP is just one of the many great programs running at the CFC that Etan's piece describes. Well worth the read and it's international recognition that the CFC definitely deserves.

The other article which quotes me is in ITbusiness.ca and it covers my participation in Interactive Ontario's iLunch on February 16, 2010:

Screenwriter Jill Golick, another panellist, has more than 200 hours of TV work behind her. Now working as a digital strategist for organizations, she explores the edges of new media through her [company] Story2.OH.

For this month's social media week in Toronto, Golick and colleagues created a "live comedy soap opera" as a learning experience called Crushing It, which also illustrates the potential of new media.

Quite a few of the details about the Crushing It story are wrong ("The plot line included a mother, her daughter, a pregnant girl wondering who the father is and assorted friends.") but the gist of the quotes are bang on:

"The really cool thing was that you could talk to the characters, and they would talk back to you," Golick said. "You could give them advice … and if they had a good suggestion the characters would put it into action." In addition, the creators could ask for ideas to encourage readers to join in, such as asking what to name the baby and whether the parent should get married.

"There was a real sense from the audience they could influence the story."

Now that I've done my star turn, I suppose I should go back to shoveling snow.

Everything's coming up digital, how about you?

It's in the air. The producer's association just devoted their conference to the "new media". The Independent Production Fund is financing linear web video. The Canada Media Fund will be calling for a second platform for all the television series it finances and offering a second "experimental" stream for innovative projects that don't even have a broadcast license. The WGAw just signed its 33 online content copmpany. It goes on and on...

What about you? Are you creating something new and multi-platform? Or hipper still, a transmedia production? Are you writing and producing a web series? Tell me all about it. I want to know. Plus, it's great to start promoting your project from the very very beginning so that you have an audience waiting and hungry by the time your production is ready. So give me the deets.

Comments are open.

Today, the Writers Guild of Canada announced the finalists for the 2010 WGC Screenwriting Awards. I thrilled and excited to see so many friends nominated. Good luck to all.

Animation

Grossology "New Recruits." Written by Richard Clark

Total Drama Action "Crouching Courtney, Hidden Owen." Written by Alex Ganetakos

League of Super Evil “Glory Hog." Written by Philippe Ivanusic-Vallee and Davila LeBlanc

Total Drama Action "The Sand Witch Project." Written by Shelley Scarrow

Preschool and Childrens

Max and Ruby "Max Says Goodbye." Written by Kate Barris

Max and Ruby "Ruby's Good Neighbor Report." Written by Shelley Hoffman & Robert Pincombe

Zigby "Zigby's Collection." Written by Louise Moon

Documentary

Malls R Us (Feature Version). Written by Helene Klodawsky

The Royal Winnipeg Ballet - 40 Years of One Night Stands. Narration Written by Robert Lower

A Time There Was: Stories from the Last Days of Kenya Colony. Narration Written by Donald McWilliams

Episodic half-hour

Less Than Kind "The Daters." Written by Garry Campbell

Less Than Kind "Fun." Written by Jenn Engels

Less Than Kind "Happy Birthday Sheldon." Written by Marvin Kaye & Chris Sheasgreen

Less Than Kind "Careers Day." Written by Mark McKinney

Corner Gas "Shirt Disturber." Written by Kevin White & Norm Hiscock

MOW & Mini-Series

The Summit. Written by John Krizanc

Paradise City: Degrassi Goes Hollywood. Story by Vera Santamaria, Matt Huether, Sara Snow / Teleplay by Vera Santamaria, Matt Huether, Sarah Glinski, Sara Snow

Guns (part 1 and 2). Written by Sudz Sutherland & Jennifer Holness

Feature Film

High Life. Written by Lee MacDougall

A Shine of Rainbows. Written by Vic Sarin & Catherine Spear and Dennis Foon

The Trotsky. Written by Jacob Tierney

Love and Savagery. Written by Des Walsh

Crackie. Written by Sherry White

Episodic one hour

Stargate Universe "Time." Written by Robert C. Cooper

Flashpoint "One Wrong Move." Written by Mark Ellis & Stephanie Morgenstern & James Hurst

ZOS: Zone of Separation "Bred in the Bone." Written by John Krizanc

Cra$h & Burn "Trust." Written by Jackie May

Murdoch Mysteries "Mild Mild West." Written by Derek Schreyer

ZOS: Zone of Separation "Shallow Graves." Written by Jason Sherman

Radio Drama

Afghanada "Episode 65." Written by Alex Levine

Afghanada "Episode 61." Written by Barbara Samuels

Short Subject

Being Erica I "Webisodes." Written by Jessie Gabe

My Pal Satan "Cheaters Never Perspire." Written by Dennis Heaton

How People Got Fire. Written by Daniel Janke

Variety

This Hour Has 22 Minutes XVII “Episode 6.” Head Writer: Ed Macdonald / Written by Mark Critch, Gavin Crawford, Kyle Tingley, Albert Howell, Dean Jenkinson, Joanne O'Sullivan, Tara Doyle, Erik Van Wyck, Mike Allison, Joey Case

This Hour Has 22 Minutes XVII “Episode 8.” Head Writer: Ed Macdonald / Written by Mark Critch, Kyle Tingley, Albert Howell, Shaun Majumder, Dean Jenkinson, Geri Hall, Joanne O'Sullivan, Tara Doyle, Erik Van Wyck, Mike Allison, Stephen Patterson

The Ron James Show “Episode 7.” Written by Ron James, Garry Campbell, Brian Hartt, Mark De Angelis, Chris Finn, David MacKenzie, Paul Pogue, Gary Pearson, Jennifer Whalen

Rick Mercer Report VI “Episode 17.” Written by Rick Mercer, Irwin Barker, Greg Eckler, Chris Finn, Paul Mather, Tim Steeves

Youth

How to Be Indie "How to Be a Mehta." Written by Anita Kapila

The Latest Buzz "The Wonderful World of Buzz Issue." Written by Brent Piaskoski

Family Biz "Breakaway." Written by Sheila Prescott

The Latest Buzz "The Comeback Issue." Written by Darrin Rose

How to Be Indie "How to Strike a Balance." Written by Vera Santamaria

The 14th annual WGC Screenwriting Awards will be held on April 19th, 2010.

You watched Hailey Hacks Google Maps, now check out the map!

View Hailey's Haida Gwaii Project in a larger map

To make the video, we made a map and now you can find it on Google Maps. If you're starting a project on the Haida or just interested in learning to use Google Maps, it's a great resource to go along with the video.

The lastest episode of Hailey Hacks is online. Master Google Maps and make them your own!

The lastest episode of Hailey Hacks is online. Master Google Maps and make them your own!