Thanks, Scott, for giving me a chance to check in with you and your readers to talk about our shared world novel series, “The Drifting Isle Chronicles!” Over the last two months, we’ve made a lot of progress that I’m happy to report on.

First, after we finished our initial brainstorming and decision-making, we started putting all of our notes together on a private wiki site. This included pages on characters, settings, cultures, creatures, machines, and magics, as well as our discussions on each topic in order to share ideas and solve problems. And this process was actually very quick because we were all very excited to get started and we could work “together” at any time, which is good because we’re spread out across the USA and Europe.

After that initial burst of activity, we fell quiet, but this was not a surprise. We knew from the beginning that many of us were already in the middle of our own personal novels and series, and those projects would need time and energy too. So during this “pause” we were publishing and promoting four new novels: Wren the Fox Witch and Son in Sorrow and The Rostikov Legacy and LA Nocturne II.

Then we got busy again and started writing our drafts, and we decided to post our works-in-progress to an online wiki site, Mediawiki, so we could continue to share and discuss them. We even edit each other’s work online because the wiki lets us view changes very easily, like Track Changes in Microsoft Word (only it’s shared!).

Of course, we don’t simply dive in and make changes to each other’s stories. We discuss the changes first, and then usually the editor makes changes to a character or scene so that it will mesh better with the editor’s novel, and vice versa. For example, I asked Charlotte to edit the dialog in one of my chapters so that her character would remain “in character” during her cameo appearance.

Also, I began sending out status emails to the group every two weeks so we could all report our word count and any issues we needed to discuss. For example, I would say that I had 20,000 words written and that I needed Coral to look at my Chapter 7 and Charlotte to look at my Chapter 9 because I had appearances by their characters. And everyone replies with their own status and needs as well.

Right now, we’ve all made a solid start on our books and we’re doing some more brainstorming and world-building (we’re inventing a language!), but I think we’ll be finished with that in a week or so and then we’ll all be back to work again. In the meantime, I’m keeping busy by writing another new novel in the middle of my project novel!

The thing I’m happiest of all to report is that we’re all still excited about this project. We even interrupt brainstorming sessions just to comment on how cool the project is, or how much we’re enjoying working together. The challenges have all been minor and the team has been excellent at communicating and sharing and cooperating, and I believe we are well on our way to delivering a fantastic new fantasy series later this year.

While this isn’t a shared story world project (Joe is not accepting submissions from the public), the Drifting Isle team is facing many of the same challenges of successfully building an SSW. Thanks to Joe for sharing the real, behind-the-scenes details of this project, as it’s proving to be a nice case study for SSW creatives. Here’s my take on it so far.

First of, I’m thrilled the project continues to move along at all. Maintaining momentum on these kinds of projects is difficult, and it’s a statement about the writers’ professionalism and commitment to see them sticking to a schedule and a process.

Second, this particular project demonstrates some general approaches that all SSW creatives should heed: the need for a proper set of collaborative tools, appropriate communication policies, and some good old-fashioned project management. Joe is operating as the project manager: identifying issues early and resolving them quickly, mapping out a schedule and holding people to it, establishing the tone for the project and constructing a space conducive for both creativity and productivity. And, as I alluded to above, he appears to have done an excellent job vetting the other members of the group. In other words, he “hired” the right team, and he’s showing a great ability to lead/manage.

Third, another factor contributing to this group’s success is its view that this is very much a business proposition, not just a creative lark. Each writer retains ownership over their individual novel, so their individual monetary success rests solely on their ability to craft a ripping good yarn. 100% risk, 100% reward. Yes, they will all benefit from come collective marketing, but at the end of the day, the readers will say which novels they like and which they didn’t.

Fourth, my sense is the writers are enjoying both sides of the creative process for this project. On one hand, they’re all essentially writing their own tales versus doing some kind of story-by-committee. This is the participatory storytelling and collaborative world building distinction I believe is critical for SSWs. On the other hand, they clearly enjoy the interaction and collaborative process of building the world and editing each other’s works. It’s a ready-build writer’s group, and they’re having a lot of fun!

So here’s my bullet-list take-away summary:

* Identify the right tools and processes appropriate for your project
* “Hire” the right team
* Communicate often but effectively
* Writing for money is a business venture as well as a creative venture
* Have fun!

There’s still a long way to go for the Drifting Isles project, and while it could still derail before their launch, I think the safe bet is on them succeeding!

Let’s begin with a description of Worldbuilder. How do you like to describe it?

Worldbuilder is the open story world connected to Adam Christopher’s novel, “Empire State.” Most publishers worry about fanfic, but we welcome fan-created projects. We post connected stories, music, comics, etc on our page at Empirestate.cc.

What’s the goal for Worldbuilder?

To create rabid fans! Some authors and publishers have meltdowns when they see zealous fans creating their own stories, not realizing that fanfic indicates the world they’ve created is so wonderful that once the author’s story is done, the fans don’t want it to end. If fans want your story to continue, then you’ve done something right and should nurture that. We wanted to create a safe place for fans to come and create.

And what’s your role in Worldbuilder?

I came up with the concept and was talking about it to Lee Harris of Angry Robot, and he said they had a similar idea for a marketing campaign around one of their books. We talked about it and worked it out that I would start the project by inviting pros to submit content and then open it up to fans after the book came out. So I’m in talks with the pros and vetting the content from fans.

"The Empire State" by Galen Dara (CC BY-NC-SA)

What was your inspiration for Worldbuilder?

I have been interested in the various Creative Commons licenses and how they encourage creativity and didn’t think enough creators were using them, so I had wanted to create a place that encouraged derivative works instead of freaking out about them.

How long will Worldbuilder run (at least for “Empire State”)?

As long as the fans want it to! Professional content will run through the summer; after that, it’s in the fans’ hands.

What makes Worldbuilder different or unique in the publishing space?

Most – if not all – publishers either frown on fanfic or turn a blind eye to it. In fact, in the definition of “fanfic” there is a specific point of the work not being authorized, approved, or published by the rights holder or the publisher. Worldbuilder is encouraging people to create in our world. We’ll publish much of it on our website, some of which also has a good chance of being purchased and published in an anthology by Angry Robot Books. We know the fans can create amazing things, so we want to encourage it instead of freak out about it.

We recently profiled “Empire State” here at SSW. What’s the relationship between Worldbuilder and “Empire State?”

“Empire State” and Worldbuilder felt like projects meant to be together. “Empire State” is about a superhero battle that is so violent it punches a pocket universe into New York City, a shadow of the city called the Empire State. In the book we realize there is at least one other universe, a shadow of the Empire State. With the possibilities of infinite alternate universes, people can create almost any story, place it in a form of NYC, and have it fit within the “Empire State” canon.

So, “Empire State” is a specific story that gets expanded into a participatory world using Worldbuilder.

Still from the "Empire State" film by JR Blackwell (CC BY-NC-SA)

How, exactly, can fans play in Worldbuilder projects?

Any creative endeavor is encouraged! Stories are the most obvious, but we welcome music, audio dramas, illustrations, comics, interpretive dance videos, whatever. Fans create their works then send them to our website, and in most cases we post them as-is (although we have the right to ask for edits or not post at all).

Worldbuilder is using a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license for all content related to Adam Christopher’s “Empire State,”  but the novel itself is still under traditional copyright protection. Why use CC?

Essentially all content online should be CC, otherwise we’re all breaking copyright by downloading, viewing, etc. Angry Robot can speak better to the novel’s copyright, but Worldbuilder is meant to be a living, growing community, and real art always has a springboard, whether we can see it or not. CC allows for that springboard to be used legally.

So fans remix each other’s works and not just “Empire State” content?

Yes, all work submitted is under a Creative Commons attribution non-commercial share-alike license, so fans can remix each others content without running afoul of copyright law (provided they follow the terms of the CC license).

What benefits can fans enjoy if they participate in Worldbuilder?

Their work will appear on the website and will be mentioned on the Angry Robot podcast. Additionally, fans have the possibility of their work being purchased for an anthology.

What’s the review/editing process like for fan-based submissions?

People upload their work to the site, and I review it for quality, continuity, and canonical conflicts (killing canon characters is right out, for example). If the work needs editing, I ask if the author is willing to make them – they’re certainly not obligated to, as we’re not paying for the content uploaded to the site – but I give them some suggestions. Once the work is ready, I schedule it for posting at our website.

You’ve had a diverse background in writing, having worked in the RPG world, pioneered podcasting, and subsequently become a traditionally-published author. But Worldbuilder puts you on the other side of the creative fence, where I imagine you’re managing, overseeing, and communicating with other creatives producing content. What was it like to make that shift for “Empire State?”

It’s not too hard, as my background has put me in touch with a lot of talented people: writers, game designers, podcasters, etc. So I had a large group of pros to contact for that side of content. And I’m the editor of Escape Pod magazine, so I’m used to dealing with submissions. It hasn’t been that difficult switching gears.

Can you share a pleasant surprise you have had with Worldbuilder?

“Surprise” isn’t the right word, as I had high expectations about the content we both solicited and the ones we hoped the fans would submit, but the quality has blown me away. So far we’ve gotten stories, an RPG, a photo shoot, and we just unveiled an original song and comic. All amazing stuff.

"The Silver Specter" by Cheyenne Wright (CC BY-NC-SA)

What was an unexpected challenge with Worldbuilder?

Fanfic communities grow organically, and even though AR is more welcoming than most – if not all – publishers to fanfic creators, getting the word out and encouraging creation is our biggest challenge.

What advice would you offer someone starting or managing a shared story world?

Make the barrier to entry low, but don’t be afraid to ask for edits. It’s challenging to strike a balance, but it’s possible.

You’ve already self-published two novels and an anthology set in your original world, Draykon. You’re also writing for the online comic, Spindrift. The Drifting Isle Chronicles is your first shared world project – what prompted you to take an interest in sharing the same creative sandbox with other writers?

Joe’s idea intrigued me right away, and I think there were a few reasons for that. For one, I was immediately struck by the possibilities when multiple different people pool their imaginations and creativity. It has the potential to produce truly original worlds with a wide variety of ideas on a scale I’ve never experienced before. So far that’s exactly what’s been happening with the Drifting Isle project, and it’s exciting to be part of it.

In addition to that, I’m hoping and planning to keep writing novels for many years, and there are pitfalls to be avoided with a long creative career. There’s a real danger of falling into habits and writing the same things over and over. When I volunteered for Joe’s project I was hoping to be pushed out of my comfort zone somewhat, as I think that’s the best possible way to avoid stagnation. The resulting world-so-far comprises many things I would never have thought of myself, so it’s proving invigorating.

While each novel in the Drifting Isle world will be a standalone story, they must conform to a common, shared world. How is writing a novel in a shared world different from working on the Draykon and Spindrift projects?

Working in a shared world is a unique experience. It’s a blend of the autonomy we enjoy as individual authors and the collaborative demands of producing a story with someone else. That does lead to a wholly different creative process, because I can’t just let my imagination run away with me as I usually do.

I’ve heard it said somewhere that restrictions actually promote creativity, because they force a person to be imaginative in unusual ways – to think outside the box, so to speak. And that’s the case here. The storyline I come up with has got to work with the other four, and it has to fit within the confines of the shared world. That forces me to think differently about what I’m doing, in a really good way. But I’ve also got the freedom to turn my story in the direction that would be most entertaining to me as an individual. It’s a great mix.

Did you take a different approach for your Drifting Isle novel (e.g., used an outline when you normally don’t)?

My approach has changed a lot on this project, yes. Ordinarily I’m not a meticulous planner; I often come up with my best ideas when I’m actually writing, so I stick to a reasonably detailed outline and let the rest unfold as I go. While I can still do that to a certain extent, I can’t get away with it entirely because I need to be sure that the story will dovetail suitably with the other four books. So I’m obliged to plan more than normal.

This is also proving to be the case with characters – perhaps even more so. I’m quite fond of working up a fairly loose character profile at the beginning and letting the personality develop on the page. But with Drifting Isle, we’ve been looking for ways to bring in characters from each other’s books for cameo appearances. In order to do that, all the major characters have had to be created and largely finalized early on. All of this pushes me to work out what I’m doing well ahead of the writing, and in much more detail than I’m used to. I think it’s good for me to be pushed into changing my methods and trying new ways of crafting a story.

It’s still early in the Drifting Isle project. How are things going with your novel?

I’m happy to say things are going really well. Almost scarily well. When we got started with this I was expecting more complications – after all, there’s a degree of mess to be expected when five people create a world together.

Somehow that hasn’t happened. I think it has a lot to do with Joe’s democratic process: whenever we have a decision to make, on anything from names to major plot points, we all submit ideas anonymously and Joe creates an informal poll. Then we vote on it, a decision is made and we move on to the next thing. It works beautifully: we don’t get stuck in discussions for days on end and everyone’s ideas get used some of the time.

We only started a few weeks ago and yet my novel is already outlined, my characters are ready to go and I’m due to start writing any day now. We have great communication within the group, so the story-planning process has been straightforward and hassle-free.

A lot of creatives emphasize story first and warn about the dangers of letting worldbuilding distract from telling a solid narrative. How are you finding the two separate but related activities of storytelling and worldbuilding unfolding for Drifting Isle? Did you find yourself making worldbuilding decisions based solely on the story you told, did you always put worldbuilding first, or was it more of a mix?

I’m going to start by saying that I’m wary of pronouncements on the “right” way to produce a book. Focusing on the story is very important – but it can be just as dangerous to focus exclusively on plot as it is to spend too much time on the worldbuilding. A strong story set against a weak, hastily filled-in backdrop is just as disappointing.

With the Drifting Isle project we’ve ended up taking a mixed approach. One of our earliest decisions involved picking a big, world-shaking event that will kick off all five of the novels. That’s pure story, but the idea that we came up with has dictated quite a few of our worldbuilding decisions.

On the other hand, some areas of our worldbuilding have heavily influenced the story (at least in my case). This is good, because neither the world nor the plot exist as separate elements. They’re bound up together, as they should be; it would be impossible to tell the same story if the world was different, and vice versa. I think you need that mutually reliant relationship in order to tell the best stories.

Do you think the sci-fi and fantasy genres are easier for use in shared worlds compared to other genres (say, romance or mystery)?

In some ways yes, and in others, no. If you’re writing, say, mystery novels, then you have the option to agree on a given framework setting – London in the 1930s, or 18th century France – and the geography, social rules and politics are all there already. Sci-fi or fantasy typically require a lot more fabrication before anybody can start writing.

On the other hand, sci-fi and fantasy offer much more freedom. The fact that you’re building a world from nothing can provide great scope for incorporating lots of different ideas across a group. Which approach is easier or harder probably depends on the interests of the group in question, and what you’re most interested in achieving.

What was your motivation for deciding to explore collaborative world building and storytelling?

The decision was made even before there were words like “collaborative world building.” The show was created in 2001 as a class project for my stage combat students in Los Angeles. I’ve been teaching and performing swordplay in movies for over thirty years. And one of the most important aspects of stage combat is the “stage” part – practical experience on stage or on camera. I had put together several live shows, but it was always a huge undertaking. I was more interested in film, and so were my students. Our first attempt on camera was a parody called The Ultimate Deathmatch Workout.

But if I wanted to continue creating content, I needed some kind of regular series. At the time, a friend of mine in LA had created a show called Have Sword Will Travel on cable TV. It was extremely ambitious, since it was a fantasy-based series which required costumes and specific locations. We didn’t want to spend money we didn’t have, so we needed a concept that could be shot on a $0 budget. I also wanted to allow students to shoot their own episodes, so we needed a narrative that could support multiple characters and storylines. The idea of the TV show Cops hit me, and it worked perfectly since reality TV was just getting popular, and it fit within our non-existent budget.

But rather than doing a cable access show, I would put my computer science degree to work by trying out this new medium, the “webisode.” Even in its infancy, I could see the awesome potential of the internet as a storytelling medium and worldwide marketing and distribution tool.

Rather than waiting to find funding through a studio or indie production company, we raised the money ourselves through Kickstarter

What were some of the factors that influenced your decision to take a collaborative approach to world building and participatory storytelling?

A collaboration approach allows for a steady stream of content, which is important when trying to maintain a fan base. And it took the pressure off me to create every episode, which was extremely difficult while trying to work a regular day job.

Contributors bring additional resources to the show that you might not have access to: cast, crew, equipment, locations. I now have episodes from all over the country without ever leaving my back yard. We have an episode shot in Canada featuring an entire SWAT team!

User content builds an audience without marketing. Look at YouTube. Contributors tell their friends and family about their work, and they tell their friends, etc.

Contributors even help with traditional marketing – posting their Hunted videos on other sites, interviews, convention appearances, etc. One of our contributors in Florida not only helped us advertise at a major convention on the east coast, he also brought in his friend and actor Richard Hatch for a quick episode.

Mainly, I was interested in seeing where the show would go and what my students would come up with. I had no idea it would go this far.

How do you like to describe The Hunted?

I’ve always described The Hunted as a sword-slinging, vampire-slaying cross between Buffy and Cops. The show follows people who have been bitten by vampires and documents their attempts to prove the existence of the bloodsuckers to the rest of the world.

We’ve tweaked the lore a bit to say that vampires have developed an immunity to everything, and they can only be killed by decapitation, which helps us justify the swordplay. Vampires can also walk around in sunlight, which keeps us from having to shoot the entire show at night, which can require a lot of setup time and money for lighting.

Unfortunately, we never got around to shooting our pilot episode which explains all this, which is why we’re now in production on our feature film.

When we started, there were maybe a couple dozen [online] shows. The last quote I heard from Blip.tv is that there are easily over 50,000 web shows online.

Most shared worlds to date have been text-based in nature. Why did you choose film/video, and how do you think it compares to creating/maintaining a shared world built primarily of text?

I never even considered a text-based world since this was a project for our film combat class. I’m sure it would’ve been a helluva lot easier though! Even though there a plenty of tools out there for virtually anyone to shoot and edit video, it can still be a daunting task for some people to create an episode of The Hunted.

I’m hoping to expand the world soon to include text-based content, although I tried hosting a BBS for a while where people posted as their characters. It was confusing for some who weren’t sure if this was real or not. Eventually, the BBS simply died off, but the interest in filmmaking remained.

Anything else fans can expect outside the webisode format?

Feature film and episodic TV / cable – we’re working on it! And we’ve been talking about an augmented reality iphone app which is very exciting.

What was a pleasant surprise you had with The Hunted?

Before I came up with the show, I tried many venues for my stage combat class – mostly live shows that were extremely difficult to cast, rehearse, and perform. When I came up with the idea of a filmed venue (especially in LA), people suddenly took notice. Los Angeles is a film town, so it was much easier to find talent (even the occasional name actor). What’s more, we didn’t need to herd an entire cast for rehearsals and live performances. We shot episodes when and where we wanted.

And I’m amazed at what we’ve been able to pull off over the years. We’ve shot some fairly ambitious episodes with some awesome talent at locations like the Hollywood Bowl and Comic Con. We’ve had professionals and celebrities come on board and donate their time as cast, crew, or judges for our contests. What’s more, thanks to user content, episodes appear out of nowhere from filmmakers I’ve never heard of before.

And now that all of Hollywood is taking a huge interest in the internet, our little no-budget show suddenly has street cred. I don’t think it’s any coincidence that MTV launched an extremely similar show called Death Valley which is Cops with vampires, werewolves and zombies. Fortunately, they still haven’t figured out how to make this work for user content, which keeps our concept fresh.

My biggest surprise is that I had no idea the show would still be going after ten years and is now slated to become a feature film. Last year we decided to finally shoot the pilot for the show as a feature film. And rather than waiting to find funding through a studio or indie production company, we raised the money ourselves through Kickstarter.

Suddenly, strangers were kicking in thousands of dollars to help make this happen. What’s more, we now have the backing of a major studio to help with production costs.

 Give up control. You have to give up the notion that you are not the only one who can tell a compelling story.

What was an unexpected challenge you had with The Hunted?

When I started the series, content delivery was a big issue. I did a lot of R&D on media players to try and deliver the best-looking content in the least amount of time over 56K dialup connections. What’s worse, our show was all action, which sucked when it came to compression. The winner at the time was Realplayer, which could deliver a 5-10 minute episode in about 20 minutes at a resolution of 160×120.

And shooting action proved to be a challenge since we had decided to go with a reality-TV approach, which meant doing entire action sequences without cutaways or cool inserts which is what makes a fight scene really work. We had to actually choreograph our cameraman into the fight to be in the right place at the right time.

But the real challenge nowadays is trying to get eyes on the show. There is so much content out there, it’s easy to get lost in the thousands of web shows that are popping up every day. When we started, there were maybe a couple dozen shows. The last quote I heard from Blip.tv is that there are easily over 50,000 web shows online.

And it’s going to continue to get harder, with network shows making the move to the internet with star names and real directors. It’s incredibly difficult for an indie web show to make it these days with limited budget and resources. That’s why I think that user content is the key. It’s one of the reasons YouTube is still the most watched channel in the world. Also having a $0 budget helps. Over the years I’ve seen thousands of web shows come and go. I believe what’s saved us is a combination of user content and budget, plus a concept that works for both.

My biggest challenge is that for the most part, it’s still a one man show. Sure, user content helps, but there’s a never-ending list when it comes to producing episodes, marketing, web development, etc. I’ve really got to pick my battles and find better ways to automate things. It used to take me forever just to post updates to Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, etc. Thankfully I discovered ping.fm which aggregates all of my social network updates. And I recently managed to delegate some of the work to a new service called oDesk, where you can find contractors online to help with virtually anything from web design to creating a Wikipedia article.

But sometimes a one-man show can be fun, too. Not only do you get to have a hand in everything from filming to music production, you don’t need to get permission or wait on anyone to shoot an episode, as seen in part 2 of the episode “Ghost Hunted” which was shot entirely by myself at an awesome location with no cast or crew.

How much of The Hunted content is available for free (and how is paid-for content accessed – subscription? work-basis?)?

All of our content is free online, although we do have a 2 disc DVD set available for purchase on our website.

How can people participate in The Hunted?

Basically, you create an episode, upload it to your YouTube account and send us a link. I’ve found the easier you allow users to submit content, the better.

I typically like to help with things like story creation and visual effects. Many folks have no idea where to start when it comes to shooting an episode, and the visual effects aren’t extensive, but they can be challenging. We have a “tips” page on our main site to get filmmakers started, and we have a resource board which lists available cast, crew, and services.

Eventually, I’d like to make it easy for users to submit all kinds of content – pictures, blogs, profiles, etc. The more content we get, the more people have a vested interest in the show, the more immersive the world becomes.

Can contributors make money? If so, how?

We hold regular contests with cash prizes up to $1,000 for best episode. Contributors also have the ability to individually monetize their own YouTube videos. Almost as important as money, however, is exposure. Our contests are judged by Hollywood professionals (directors, producers, agents, stunt coordinators, etc). Thanks to our first contest, our winner not only landed a role in the TV series Leverage, he also signed with a major Hollywood agent. Here’s Kendall Wells from Oregon with his submission “Don’t Try This at Home.”

What rights do contributors have over their derivative works?

Filmmakers get to keep all rights to their content through YouTube. YouTube also serves to act as copyright control for our episodes, which is one less thing we have to worry about.

Can a contributor’s derivative work be used by another contributor (i.e., can fans remix other fans’ submitted work)?

I allow any of my episodes to be utilized by other contributors. I think it’s simply common courtesy to ask to use someone else’s footage, characters or storylines. YouTube now has a check box if you’d like your work to be listed under a Creative Commons license.   [note: see the recent SSW article on using Creative Commons licenses]

 One of the things I asked Felicia Day about her show The Guild was which marketing strategy to use. Her response was “all of them.”

How do you view the relationship between world building and storytelling? Does one drive the other?

I find that there is no interest in collaborative world building unless you have a compelling story. What’s more, it has to be a story that has an established following through some form of media – film, TV, internet, etc. This is why there’s so much fan fiction content out there for shows like Star Wars, Star Trek, and Indiana Jones. So yes, one definitely drives the other. This is why we’ve set out to shoot a feature film based on our show.

What have you learned about participatory storytelling through collaborative world building?

Give up control. You have to give up the notion that you are not the only one who can tell a compelling story. In fact, there are others with far less experience than you who may do a better job and come up with ideas you hadn’t even dreamed of. Even the worst Hunted episode brings in friends and family who serve to build our audience and take the show in different directions.

What were some of the inspirations for creating The Hunted (especially given that it predates Twilight and True Blood)?

Buffy, Cops, Highlander. Truth is, vampires have always been around: Blade, Underworld, Kindred, Dusk to Dawn, Near Dark, Lost Boys. It’s a genre everyone knows, and it seemed to be the simple choice when we were looking for an antagonist for the show. It also gave us the opportunity to parody everything out there and change up the rules.

What were some of the website design considerations you had to incorporate as a result of The Hunted being a shared story world?

When I originally developed the website, I was happy with basic HTML. It lacked the bells and whistles, but it was in keeping with the ragtag spirit of the show, and it made it easier for search engines to find. But it was extremely difficult to facilitate a shared story world. In order to add content to the website, episodes had to be submitted to me (sometimes via regular mail) and I had to digitize the footage to get it online. Now thanks to YouTube, anyone can upload content to their account and send me a link. I link the episode to a playlist, and I’m done!

As I mentioned, I’d like to update the website to make it easier for users to contribute other forms of content: pictures, blogs, profiles, episodes, etc. I’ve been looking at platforms such as Ning and WordPress, but I have a real specific idea for what I want – a CMS (Content Management System) that could also search content by date, popularity, keywords, etc. I have a BS degree in computer programming, and I’m sure I can figure it out, but I need to pick my battles since time and money is limited. I’m really hoping I can find something off the shelf instead of digging through YouTube’s API.

After ten years, no one has quite figured out how to incorporate user content into a cohesive storyline, so it’s still pretty exciting to be on the cutting edge.

How did you initially market The Hunted (and how has your marketing changed since its launch)?

I decided early on not to market the show until I shot the pilot episode. The plan was to shoot a few episodes to get our feet wet, but we kept coming up with cool ideas for episodes and never got around to the pilot. The show spread via word of mouth, and I dabbled in banner ads, but it really didn’t take off until I decided to release the show on YouTube.

Since then, I’ve done a bunch of interviews for blogs and magazines such as Impact Magazine. We also attended various conventions and film festivals such as Comic Con, Dragon Con, the Vampire Film Festival, and Action on Film in L.A. We even took the opportunity to shoot a few episodes with conventions as a backdrop.

But what seemed to work best for our marketing is user content itself. I don’t remember YouTube doing a lot of advertising, but it became the most watched channel in the world. Friends, family, and regular people are tuning in to watch the good, the bad, and the simply ridiculous. What I’m hoping for, however, is to find more quality content, so I spend most of my marketing time seeking out filmmakers and talented actors with swordplay experience.

I’d love to do a whole lot more with traditional marketing. There’s a ton of new options out there – everything from Facebook ads to blogs and related websites, but once again, time and money is limited, so I have to pick my battles. I’m more interested in content, and I believe user content propagates itself without the need for extensive marketing.

Sounds a bit like a “build it and they will come” by default, not design (though it seems to have worked!).

I never really marketed the show, not heavily and not as much as I could have. The show has been built on a $0 budget which included marketing. Over the years I’ve seen plenty of web shows come and go. They typically shoot a handful of episodes and market the hell out of the thing: banner ads, conventions, schwag. It lasts a couple years, and then it dies because they were more focused on buzz instead of content.

If I did have a startup audience it was because of the Highlander fans. I had done a series of conventions with Anthony DeLongis demonstrating swordplay and I somehow developed a fan club. They were extremely supportive when I developed The Hunted, and they are still with us to this day. We even pulled them into one of our first episodes.

Online marketing changes on a daily basis. One day it’s banner ads, the next it’s Google ads or Twitter. One of the things I asked Felicia Day about her show The Guild was which marketing strategy to use. Her response was “all of them.” Find similar websites, blogs, groups, etc., everything that could possibly relate to your show. It doesn’t cost a lot of money, but it does cost a lot of time. Unfortunately, I’m a one man show most of the time, and I have to choose between content creation and marketing. And I’d rather be a web show with more content than hype.

Our biggest push to build awareness right now is our feature film, which is what most web shows aspire to. We decided to stop waiting to be discovered and just do it.

Can you describe what happens to a submission? What’s the review/editing process like? How much editing happens for submissions?

There are no hard and fast rules for submissions. Years ago, I worked extremely hard to make episodes work for the show by editing and adding footage, dialogue or VFX. Eventually I learned the secret to user-based content. We have a multi-tiered approach, just like YouTube has a featured “partner” program in addition to its regular user content.

We allow anyone to submit fan content, although I still have the ability to reject any content that is completely inappropriate. Then there are our featured contest winners and our affiliates, who are typically contest winners who have agreed to create ongoing content for the show (we now have five across the country). Then there is our original show which I still produce. And finally, there is mainstream content such as the feature film.

What advice would you give regarding the submission/review/editing process to someone starting or managing a shared world?

The tighter your rules and the more complicated your world, the more difficult it will be for others to contribute content. Keep it simple.

What are some of the more popular or interesting storylines happening in The Hunted?

The contest winners are really interesting since they’re not anything I would’ve come up with myself. One episode featured a dream sequence (“The Ultimate Weapon“), which is something you’d never see in an episode of Cops, and another one of our affiliates (“The Hunted: Compton“) has an amazing cinematic style that has completely changed my perspective on how the show can be shot.

The show was originally meant to feature vignette storylines – little bite-sized 5-10 minute episodes that had a beginning, middle, and end. There wasn’t really the need to have any large character arcs since the cast changed on a regular basis. At the most we might have a two part episode, but these were risky since you never knew if you could keep the cast together for an extended period of time.

Then our affiliates started producing episodes which all followed a traditional episodic storyline. This allowed us to have content which was both the “bug of the week” (referring to stand-alone episodes of the X-Files TV show) which could be watched in any sequence, along with character arcs that would keep the fans waiting for the next episode.

The most interesting development to me is working user content into our feature film storyline. There are also plans to spinoff characters from the feature into their own episodes.

Speaking of which, how do you balance internally-generated content (that keeps things interesting/dynamic but can dramatically alter the world) with the need to provide contributors a relatively stable world foundation?

You can creatively justify practically anything, at least within our world. Once again, the tighter you make the rules, the more difficult it is to enforce them. One of our most basic rules is that you can’t kill our vampires by traditional means, but we still occasionally get episodes of slayers staking vampires. But if you’re creative, you can creatively justify this event by saying that some vampires can still be killed by a stake, or this was just some twisted form of vampire propaganda. There are all kinds of creative and different ways to go with it.

This is another reason why it’s important to have different levels of content within the shared story world. People know in advance what flavor they’re getting. It’s like tuning into CSI:Miami instead of CSI:New York.

What is your view about the future of collaborative commercial entertainment? Has it changed since you started The Hunted?

After ten years, no one has quite figured out how to incorporate user content into a cohesive storyline, so it’s still pretty exciting to be on the cutting edge.

I keep using YouTube as an example. Virtually overnight, this simple video hosting service became one of the most watched channels in the world. And they did it without producing any content, massive advertising or star names, just people posting videos of everything from kittens to kids wiping out on skateboards. From indie films to world news, this is the future. User content is a huge untapped resource, but no one has quite figured out how to apply it to a narrative yet. Well, some have, including us, and we’re still going at it ten years later.

Thanks very much, Bob!

Absolutely. If you’re interested in more gory details of the early days creating a webshow, check out the article I wrote for Web Series Today.

Some creatives want to maximize collaboration and remixing of content, so they construct legal frameworks that support this kind of SSW. Others prefer a more conservative approach (e.g., the SSW owner retains complete control over all content) with select invitations for audiences to contribute being issued in very managed and controlled ways.

Whatever you decide, default copyright is both country- and state/province-specific, so you’ll need to get appropriate legal advice on what applies to you and your SSW.

However, there is an increasingly popular, optional and additional legal license you can apply to your SSW if it makes sense for you: Creative Commons (CC).

CC is a non-profit providing a variety of free licenses that give the public additional rights above and beyond default copyright. Creative Commons has done the homework of crafting legal licenses tailored to work with the default copyright laws in many countries.

To be clear, a CC license does not replace default copyright. Rather, it grants additional rights above and beyond copyright, smoothing the road to collaboration. Many people erroneously think all CC content is free to use or conflicts with commercial endeavors. In reality, CC licenses can be used in a variety of ways, both commercially and non-commercially, and, depending on the CC license you choose, you can select just how many rights are granted to the public.

Still a bit confused? Check out this video on the CC website (8 min). It explains CC licenses, as well as what happens when copyright, CC, and commerce intersect.

CC has rapidly gained acceptance over the past few years, showing up on sites like Flickr.com, Wikipedia.com, and most recently YouTube.

For example, if I publish a film under a UK-specific CC-BY-NC-ND license, I am giving anyone the right to copy, distribute, and share my film – legally and at no cost. They don’t even need to contact me for permission (that’s essentially what the license does – it explicitly grants permission). However, they can neither commercially use the film nor can they remix or alter it, and they have to provide proper attribution to me when they use the film.

The CC licenses span a wide spectrum of additional rights, so it’s likely you can find one that meets your needs if you decide to add another legal layer in addition to default copyright. And there are both country-specific and global or non-country-specific (called “unported”) versions to choose from.

Cory Doctorow by Jonathan Worth (CC Some Rights Reserved)

Why would you use CC? Some published authors, like Charles Stross and Cory Doctorow, allow digital versions of their published works to go out under a CC license because they believe allowing the free sharing of digital copies ultimately drives sales of printed materials, gains them additional exposure (which can translate to paid speaking engagements), and will ultimately result in higher sales of even digital copies.

Yes, you read that correctly. But why would a consumer pay for something they have already obtained for free (legally or not)?

A lot of fans end up purchasing legal digital copies of content they may have initially obtained illegally or freely. They do this for the convenience a legal copy may offer (higher quality) and to support authors they love, knowing that the author is more likely to continue writing if they are making money.

Still other authors, like Jim Butcher (author of the Harry Dresden series) permit audiences to write fan fiction, but only if fans publish their works under a CC license.

The Angry Robot Books’ Worldbuilder platform uses a CC license as part of its process to encourage fandom based around novels published by Angry Robot Books (the first Worldbuilder offering, “Empire State,” was recently indexed here).

Some SSW creatives want to encourage collaboration and see CC as a way to knock down some of the legal hurdles by providing explicit permission to remix content under certain conditions (no need to seek approval from the creative or deal with costly one-off legal contracts).

There are many ways to apply CC, as there are many advantages for doing so. BUT…

"Legal Research" by gwilmore (CC Some Rights Reserved)

…the use of a CC license has permanent and significant consequences to your control and rights over your work.

CC has yet to be used by many of the larger media companies, and obtaining funding for a CC project can be a challenge. Just as the legal structure you choose for your startup (corporation, S-corp, LLC, etc.) can affect the appeal and ease with which you can attract and accept venture capital investments, the legal structure your content can affect how appealing investors may find your property. If your hope is to license or sell your content to a media company (especially Hollywood!), carefully consider the use of CC before applying it.

All is not lost, however. You can achieve the same legal result of a CC license without using CC. How? Simply include appropriate language in your licensing or legal agreements with your audiences. The downside of replicating CC without using a CC license is you will miss out on the immediate recognition of the CC brand. Within a lot of creative communities, CC carries a weighty cachet and has a very positive image. It implies a default towards creative-friendly approaches to media.

As with many SSW design considerations, the use of CC depends on many variables. Be sure to seek the advice of an attorney, carefully review the terms of the CC licenses, and be certain that CC is right for your professional goals and your SSW. Once content is published under a CC license, it is theoretically impossible to undue it!