http://www.goblinsandgold.com/csp/gold/blog en david@lucidbyproxy.com Copyright 2011 2011-11-18T00:10:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/webseries_hints_volume_2_understanding_embed/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/webseries_hints_volume_2_understanding_embed/ It's not enough to create great stuff anymore. You've got to understand at least a little about how web distribution works. In a recent discussion on the IAWTV Facebook page, a few of us talked about embedding video, and how a broken embed (specifically, one malformed as a result of an incomplete copy & paste) can mean serious trouble for a creator trying to display his or her work. My assertion was this: creators/producers of web content should learn how to properly share and embed their videos. It’s not really enough just to make stuff anymore - we have to understand some of the technical trappings around delivery, or at least have someone on our teams who does. In response, one of the other creators asked, “what should one do to ensure proper embeds and such?” I thought my answer might be worth sharing here. Generally, I believe creators/producers of webseries should understand the embed model of at least their primary distribution point. To do so is pretty simple with only a little bit of technical understanding: 1) Go to one of your videos, click the “share” or “embed” link, find the embed code, copy it, and paste it into a text document. 2) Then, do the same with a second video. 3) Compare the two. Where are they exactly the same? That’s the structure. Where are they different? That’s the unique stuff that identifies this particular video. 4) Do the same with a third video and check your assumptions from #3. Once you’ve done that, every time you copy and paste an embed or send it somewhere, you can do a quick visual inspection of that embed to make certain it’s fully intact. Every once in a while you’ll see the embed structure change, which means you need to do the above again to catch up to whatever architecture change was employed. Or, if you don’t want to go so far as to try to understand the embed process (I really think you should, but understand if you don’t wanna), always, always double-check. If you paste your embed code somewhere, take a hard look at the beginning and end of the code, and then go back to the video sharing page and look at the beginning and end - are the beginnings and ends identical? Then what’s between them is likely intact as well. You don’t have to become a technical wizard or memorize a lot of stuff. But sharing your video is important, and getting that video intact to other people for situations like award submissions or portfolio sharing is important. At the very least, being able to tell the difference between a complete copy & paste and a mistaken copy & paste may mean the difference between people seeing your video, and seeing nothing at all. Web Video, Role Playing Games 2011-11-17T23:10:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_at_gencon_our_schedule/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_at_gencon_our_schedule/ GOLD is going big at GenCon Indy this year. Here's where to find us: 8/4 - 8/7 - All Day, Every Day - The GOLD Booth - 2042 GOLD is at Booth 2042, which is very near the Wizards of the Coast Booth. It’ll be manned during all exhibit hall hours by GOLD cast & crew, as well as some good friends of the show who’ve agreed to help. At our booth, you’ll be able to buy GOLD DVDs, Shirts, Pub Glasses & Posters, get stuff signed by cast/crew, and generally geek out. Screenings, Games & Panels (more TBD as they are confirmed) 8/3 - 6:00PM (Wednesday) - Mariott : High Velocity Bar - Drinking D&D The actual games start at 8PM and are invite-only, but the party (at 6PM) is open invite. GOLD creator David Nett (and maybe others) will be there, along with a dazzling array of RPG luminaries. 8/5 - 3:00PM (Friday) - Westin : Council - Producing Independent Series Panel - FLM1128405* Featuring cool producers, including GOLD & NOTZK producer Andrew R. Deutsch * tentative 8/5 - 4:00PM (Friday) - Westin : Capitol III - So You Wanna Be an Actor Panel - FLM1128407* Featuring cool actors, including GOLD’s James Paul Xavier *tentative 8/5 - 9:00PM (Friday) - Crowne Plaza : Victoria Stn B - Night of the Zombie King: the Adventure - RPG1123161 Playtest of an original adventure based loosely upon the feature adventure in webseries drama GOLD: Night of the Zombie King. GM(s): David Nett & possible another GOLDy to lend a hand. Seats are full right now, but there are often no-shows. 8/6 - 2:00PM (Saturday) - Westin : Council - Technical Aspects of the Series Panel - FLM1128411 Technical discussion of indieTV featuring cool filmmakers, including GOLD’s Andrew R. Deutsch 8/6 - 3:00PM (Saturday) - Westin : Council - Script Writing Panel - FLM1128412 Screenwriting discussion with aweosme indie screenwiters, including NOTZK’s Rick Robinson 8/6 - 3:00PM (Saturday) - Westin Capitol I - Creating Indie TV for a Gamer Audience - FLM1123396 Big budget movies and TV can’t afford to serve the needs of all niche audiences. That’s where indie producers step in. Panelists: Chris Preksta (The Mercury Men, Captain Blasto), Ben Dobyns (The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, JourneyQuest), Ben Bays (AIDAN5), David Nett (GOLD, Night of the Zombie King) 8/6 - 4:00PM (Saturday) - Westin : Council - Directing an Independent Series Panel - FLM1128413 Discussing the specific issues of directing webseries with indieTV directors, including NOTZK’s Rick Robinson 8/6 - 6:00PM (Saturday) - Westin Capitol II - GOLD Season 1 - FLM1128395 Screening all of Season 1, followed by Q&A & raffles for swag (time permitting) 8/6 - 11:00PM (Saturday) - Westin Capitol I - GOLD: Night of the Zombie King - FLM1128402 Screening all of NOTZK, followed by Q&A & raffles for swag (time permitting) Web Video, Role Playing Games 2011-08-03T05:26:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/nerds_outcasts_bullies_and_beauty_queens/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/nerds_outcasts_bullies_and_beauty_queens/ Does the new Miss USA deserve her self-declared "nerd" title? And is nerd-bullying as bad as being bullied for being a nerd? For many of us nerds, and I suspect this might be stronger in those of us in our mid-30s and older (though that’s just a suspicion), there’s a fair amount of upset over the labeling of Miss USA, Alyssa Campanella, as a “nerd” or “geek.” Not every one of us chooses to express it, but some have done so loudly and angrily. Those loud objectors have been admonished by a lot of our fellow nerds, especially the younger ones (this is where my suspicion above comes from, by the way), for engaging in geek-bullying and geek-gatekeeping; who are they to decide who is and isn’t a geek or a nerd? And those brighter-side geeks are right. None of us have been appointed gatekeepers of nerd-dom. None of us are the guardians of geekhood. And if Alyssa wants to declare herself a geek, who are we to stop her? Is she really a geek in her heart? Or is she just a casual fan of Star Wars? In the end, who cares? She’s the recently crowned Miss USA, she’s the symbol of an old-fashioned idea of what is desirable in womanhood, and she’s turning that idea on its head and using her platform to encourage anyone who listens to her to embrace Sci-Fi and Fantasy and, more importantly, History and Science. That’s a win, no matter how you look at it. On the other hand… For many of us self-described nerds and geeks, that label is sort of a badge of honor. It was the label of the Outsider, the Oddball, and often the Despised. For many of us, “nerd!” was the last thing we heard before receiving a bully’s fist in our face, or feeling the sticky chill of a milkshake poured over our head in the lunchroom. Many of us spent our skinny (or fat), awkward childhoods trying to shed the label by trying out for sports or pretending to know who Larry Bird was or purposefully taking a dive on a math test so that we’d not be thrown into a locker for ruining the curve. Again. Many of us fought a frustrating, demoralizing battle against ourselves and that Outsider label, trying desperately to fit in, before finally accepting and embracing who we were, who we are. For those of us who spent our formative years crying “I am not a nerd!” or sobbing in our bedrooms at night wishing we were not such nerds, that we were strong or good looking or charismatic or stupid or just not so weird, it’s hard to look at the beautiful, beaming young winner that is Alyssa Campanella, Miss USA 2011, and not think, “you are no nerd.” When I was a kid, “nerd” was an insult. While it generally meant something we should have seen as good, that we were smart and capable, at least where academics were concerned, it was interchangeable with “gay” and “retard” in the schoolyard (this was the 1980s, folks - these were the words we used). It meant that we were socially awkward, that we were physically inferior, that we’d never get the girl (or guy). It was a label we fought, even while we watched Star Trek re-runs and read pulpy sci-fi and played Dungeons & Dragons with our nerd friends. No one, or at least no one I knew, embraced “nerd” as a matter of pride, at least not in public. I was lucky. I grew up in a very small town, the son of two very smart parents (my Dad was a science teacher and later a chemist at a coal gasification facility, my mom had been a journalism major and was an amazing writer), the brother of three probably smarter siblings (don’t tell them I said so). By junior high I had a close group of friends who, all of us nerds, outcasts, created a support system. Also, because our town and school were so small, even we nerds could play varsity sports (and a couple of us, myself included, did) as well as compete in the Academic Olympics, Science Olympics and Math Challenge (we had all three). At school, class sizes were small and we mostly avoided very serious physical abuse because teachers were ever-present (though getting punched, stuffed in lockers, doused with milkshakes, pushed down the stairs, pantsed, wedgied and other more disturbing humiliations, such as returning to your locker after gym class to find someone had peed through the vents onto your clothes, were still common). We even had girlfriends, some of us, for at least part of our time in High School. I dated a varsity cheerleader for almost a year - not a very nerdy thing to do, unless it’s in secret and you are the lead in “Can’t Buy Me Love.” Of course, that same year, when coming out of the locker room after gym, I was kicked in the stomach so hard I puked, and then admonished to tell no one or I’d be getting it every day. I was sixteen years old. I told no one. That year had its ups and downs. But, because I had strong support in my home life, from my family and teachers and friends, I eventually wore my nerdiness as a badge of honor. I was the Outsider and, though I suffered for it, it was clear to me this is who I was, and who I would be, and I was able to see that, once I got the hell out of high school, what made me a nerd would likely serve me well in life. And it did. At some point in our society, “nerd” and “geek” stopped being insults and started being desirable labels. I usually point to it starting with the dot-com boom, when the proliferation of powerful and newly-wealthy nerds made starkly visible the advantages of being the smart one in class. As it became clear to everyone that nerds would be the players in our internet society, the trappings of nerdiness began to become cool. Others have speculated the nerd-to-cool drift began with Star Wars and the science fiction boom of the late 1970s and 1980s. There are lots of theories. But it remains that having “nerd” screamed at you in the hallway at school now no longer carries the same painful humiliation it once did. “Nerd” is no longer automatically something to hide. “Nerd” no longer automatically gets you punched in the lunch line. And that’s a good thing. If kids can read comic books in public and not get wedgied, if skinny guys can quote Star Wars without worrying that it will lose them the girl, if a girl doesn’t have to pretend to be bad at math to be popular, if collecting replica Sonic Screwdrivers does not automatically make you a social outcast - this is all a step forward for society. But none of that changes the fact that, for many of us, our Outsider label means we suffered through humiliation and pain and survived. That the same label is applied to the beautiful and the popular, even such a symbol of an outdated, conformist social ideal as Miss USA, causes a visceral negative reaction in many of us. It’s not fair to Alyssa for us to feel that way, but many of us do. My friend Jessica Mills, creator of the amazing geek show ”Awkward Embraces,” recently wrote, in an essay against geek-gatekeeping, “...being a geek means that we let a part of ourselves believe in magic, heroism and the best of humanity.” I’m not sure I agree. For me, being a nerd had little to do with that. It always meant I was an Outsider, that society said I should be ashamed of the things I loved and the person I was, even if I refused to do so. It didn’t mean believing in heroes, it meant pleading in the principle’s office for permission to go home and change my pee-soaked clothes. And I can’t help but think that probably never happened to our newly crowned Miss USA. But I could well be wrong - I don’t know her, and I don’t know what she faced growing-up. And that kind of thinking is not the least bit constructive. No one benefits from my left-over childhood anger. I’ve not had to experience the recent “nerd pandering” backlash so many of my LadyGeek friends (who happened to grow up to be attractive women) are currently facing, which would almost certainly soften my gut reaction to all this. So I agree, intellectually, with the cheerier geeks who say that if Alyssa Campanella declares herself a nerd, she’s a nerd, and that’s a positive thing. I may not have much in common with her, but if her statements help one kid feel like less of an outcast, I’m all for it. I’m for raising the portcullis of the castle of nerdhood so many of us have jealously guarded and letting in whoever wants to watch a full Star Trek original cast movie marathon with me (except we’ll skip Star Trek V, because holy zod how was that disaster even allowed to happen?). But I think those cheerier geeks should understand why some of us are upset. That frustration may be irrational, but it’s not illegitimate. It’s the anger of the Outsider who feels his/her hard-won identity devalued somehow, even if that’s not really true. It’s not constructive and it’s not permanent. But it’s also not malicious. It’s just human. - David Nett, Nerd Web Video, Role Playing Games 2011-06-22T18:15:01-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/webseries_hints_volume_1/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/webseries_hints_volume_1/ Andrew offers some advice to webseries creators on how to make the most of our work. Andrew wrote for GOLD Season 1 (Episodes 0,1 & 2), as well as co-exec-producing, directing and acting as cinematographer for much of that season (he also plays Goldy in Episode 4). He’s one of the three writers of Night of the Zombie King, and was cinematographer and one of the executive producers for that entire mini-series. Even more, he did all of the graphic design and titles for NOTZK, and co-designed the GOLD website. He’s the co-executive producer of the feature “Yesterday Was a Lie,” creator of the upcoming series “Alice & the Monster,” and he’s also worked on a handful of other webseries, including the new show Game Room. Below are compiled hints from Andrew’s recent Facebook posts about doing your best work when creating these ultra-low-budget independent TV series we commonly call “webseries.” Some of these are random and very specific, others are more general - the product of long conversations we’ve had as a team and what we’ve learned these past three years. We’d love to hear your thoughts on them in the comments. If you cast fresh-faced 20-somethings to play hardened federal agents with a past, the audience won’t take your show seriously.  Don’t use camera sound. Ever. Hire a sound person.  If you can’t make guns sound and look like real guns and bullet hits look like real bullet hits, don’t do them. You’re just embarrassing yourself and making your series look cheap and amateurish.  Write your scripts in screenplay format. This helps everyone involved in the production process from script supers, actors, assistant directors and finally on down the line to the editor, composer and post-production facilitators. This is one of the simplest first lines of defense your production can make.  (personal gripe) Make sure your credits’ look and feel match the concept of your show. Studios spend a lot of money making opening credits to get you in the mood for a movie; you should be doing the same for your series. Also, don’t use Comic Sans. ;-)  Make a schedule. Create a day-out-of-days. Make call sheets. Make shot lists. Create a full crew address/email/phone list. Do breakdowns. Learn your paperwork. You will thank yourself that you did.  Learn editing software. Learn how to compress/uncompress footage. Learn how a boom pole + mic get the best sound. Learn what an AD does. Learn what a PA is for. Learn which lenses are good for which kind of shots. Learn basic lighting techniques. Learn how to apply basic makeup. Learn that you need copies of certain costumes and why. Learn, learn, learn.  Be honest. No one learns how to do the right thing from yes men. Challenge your crew to do their best by doing yours. Keep your promises and show up on time. When you can, help others to achieve their dreams because you never know who is going to break.  Hold casting sessions for pivotal roles. You’ll be surprised by some actors during this process. People you thought were perfect aren’t. People you thought would never fit that role do. See how they react to direction. See if they prepared or not. Be critical, honest and open to their interpretation of your work.  Ask yourself, “Why would anyone watch this show?” You are in a giant sea of content that is flowing and changing every minute. So, who does it speak to? Which demographic? Which age group? Which gender? Is it a broad concept? Niche? Genre? If you want to work in television, you’ll be answering those questions. Might as well get started now with the business side of show business.  Follow Andrew on Twitter: @rollandglass Web Video, Role Playing Games 2011-03-29T18:37:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/the_gold_guide_to_competitive_gaming/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/the_gold_guide_to_competitive_gaming/ we're so excited to announce the newest expansion to the GOLD universe: In 2008/2009, we released the first season of GOLD, the Series. In 2009 we also released the GOLD Collectible Card Game, featuring the characters from GOLD. In early 2010 we released Season 1 of GOLD on DVD, and followed in the winter of 2010/2011 with the dramatic miniseries Night of the Zombie King.  Now, we’re proud to announce The GOLD Guide to Competitive Gaming: The GOLD Guide to Competitive Gaming is a collection of gaming essays by roleplaying gamers from all corners of the industry, including such RPG luminaries as Keith Baker, Monte Cook and Ed Greenwood, as well as dedicated players from unexpected places, such as Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, veteran actor/voice artist Matthew Mercer, and independent filmmaker Ben Dobyns. The book will also feature essays from some of the fictional characters that populate GOLD and Night of the Zombie King, including maverick player Richard Wright and former American team captain Jonathan Drake. It will feature a wide variety of essays about roleplaying gaming, including tips to make the most of the hobby, advice on becoming a better player/game master, thoughts on how RPG skills may contribute to other parts of a player’s life, and adventure seeds for use in a variety of games. The book will contain both humorous and thoughtful essays, which span a wide variety of genres and game types, including traditional tabletop games, LARPs, CCGs and miniature games. Contributors to The GOLD Guide to Competitive Gaming include: Keith Baker (RPG designer, creator of Eberron) Mike Bourke (RPG designer, RolePlaying Tips) Jennifer Brozek (RPG designer) Monte Cook (RPG Designer, Dungeons & Dragons 3.0) Ryan Costello Jr (RPG writer, 3.5 Private Sanctuary) Liz Courts (RPG designer) Ben Dobyns (filmmaker, The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, JourneyQuest) Justin Farrington (RPG Writer) Ed Greenwood (RPG designer, creator of The Forgotten Realms) Jeff Greiner (RPG podcaster, The Tome Show) Ed Healy (RPG writer, marketer & broadcaster, Gamerati) Tracy Hurley (RPG writer, Sarah Darkmagic) Chris Hussey (RPG podcaster, Fear the Boot) Patrick Kapera (RPG designer, Spycraft) Chris Kluwe (punter, Minnesota Vikings) CthulhuBob Lovely (RPG writer, MisCon convention organizer) Philippe-Antoine Menard (RPG writer, Critical Hits) Matthew Mercer (actor/writer, There Will Be Brawl, Thundercats) David Nett (actor/writer, GOLD, Night of the Zombie King) Jay Peters (RPG writer, ENnie Awards judge) Scott Readicker (RPG writer, Sandbaggers’ Game Club) Rick Robinson (writer/actor, GOLD, Night of the Zombie King) CJ Ruby (RPG writer, 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming) Steve Russell (RPG designer, Rite Publishing) Greg Schneider (RPG writer, Black Shield Gaming) The Secret DM (mystery RPG writer) Connie Thomson (RPG writer, Geeks Dream Girl) Jason Vey (RPG writer, Palladium Books) Jared von Hindman (artist/writer/humorist, Dragon Magazine) Don Walsh (writer, LARPer, NERO) Patricia Willenborg (RPG writer, Chicks with Dice) The GOLD Guide to Competitive Gaming will be released from 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming in November 2011, as a trade-sized paperback and PDF/ebook. A limited edition hardcover will also be released. Visit 4windsfantasygaming.com and goldtheseries.com for news and updates. Web Video, Role Playing Games 2011-03-23T21:55:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/four_tips_for_dungeon_masters_and_indie_filmmakers/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/four_tips_for_dungeon_masters_and_indie_filmmakers/ Just a few tips on making your project the best it can be from David Nett, filmmaker & Dungeon Master. I’ve been a Dungeon Master on and off for some nineteen years, I’ve been producing theater for ten years, and producing indie film and TV for the web for nearly three years. In the gaming realm, my past and current RPG groups all seem pretty well pleased with my campaigns. I don’t know it all by any stretch of the imagination, but here are four tips that I try to follow when working on any film/TV/theater/gaming project. These are the broad strokes - the foundations of quality. You can probably have success without them, but I suspect you will fight a lot harder for it. (For the record: I’m defining an indie film project here as a low or no-budget endeavor of which you are the creator and the primary driver. A project you are hired onto often has its own, very different, set of needs and motivations.) TIP #1: BE PASSIONATE Passion cannot easily be faked, and faked passion cannot be long maintained. When you’re creating an indie film project or preparing to DM a campaign, you’re likely not getting paid. In fact, you’re probably losing money. Even if you’re lucky enough to be getting paid, you’re probably working on multiple projects to cobble together rent and living expenses. That means you’re working crazy hours, late into the night, for months and maybe years on the same project. Some of that work will be boring (making budgets, calculating experience), some of that work will be frustrating (wrangling people and their schedules) and some of it will be infuriating (the 50th re-write). Without a burning passion for the project, it is be difficult to complete all that needs to be done, much less maintain high quality. Passion is also of critical importance in two other key areas: On-Set/At the TableWhether you are a Dungeon Master, Writer, Producer, Director, Creator or all of the above, on your indie project you are a leader. The tone you set will infect everyone else working on the project. If you come to set filled with unbridled excitement, that will lift spirits and motivate others to participate to the best of their ability. Your passion and enthusiasm are signals to your people that something awesome is going down. If that passion is genuine and lasting, others will join you and help pull the project to be the best, and most fun, it can be. The Long TailIndie film projects and RPG campaigns can have a long lifespan. I’ve filmmaker friends who just got a DVD distribution deal for an indie film they shot four years ago, which was written a couple of years prior. For six-plus years they’ve been working on this single project, first raising money (crappy), then making it (fun), and then promoting it (alternating fun and awful). If they were not passionate about their project, they could never have weathered all that. GOLD was written in late 2007, and the Season 1 DVD dropped in June of 2010. That’s two and a half years, and only a sliver of it has been the actual making of episodes - promotion, fundraising and technical rigamarole have filled the bulk of that time. And we’re still raising funds for Season 2. My longest RPG campaign, a Ravenloft serial campaign that started in late high-school, lasted five years. And the group got together and played a big conclusion adventure several years after that (those of you paying close attention may notice there a plot parallel to a certain mini-series in the middle of its release schedule ;-). It’s difficult to spend the time and do the grueling work a project needs to shepherd it from inception to successful conclusion without a burning passion for the project. TIP #2: FIND THE BEST PEOPLE In both an indie film and a typical RPG campaign, there are a lot of roles to fill - you just can’t do it alone. Here a DM has a distinct advantage over the filmmaker - as a DM you need only find three to six great people. For a typical film, you need actors, a director, camera, lighting, sound, etc. etc. But whether you need three people or twenty people, you need the best possible people. You need people who are enthusiastic about the project and great at what they do, who collaborate and play well with others, and who are willing to take on more than just their narrow role in order to ensure the success of the project. The best people can be had, but it takes time and work to find them. And, once found, they can sometimes be a pain in the ass, scheduling-wise. You see, the best people are in great demand. They are busy. Scheduling a lot of the best people to work together on a project can be a nightmare. But if you can make it happen, all that work will be absolutely worth it. The best people can save your ass when you make mistakes (and you will). The best people will inspire each other to be their best. The best people will raise the quality of your game or indie film to a higher level than it would be without them (did I mention GOLD’s Streamy nomination for Best Ensemble? Or NOTZK’s IndieIntertube nomination in the same category?). A word on finding the best people: the best person sometimes needs to be convinced to spend his or her time on your no-money indie project, but the best person is seldom someone who needs to be coerced. Convincing someone is different than coercing him or her. Sometimes the person you think is the best does not feel like your project is the right fit - that’s okay. But if you coerce someone you think is a best person into your project and he or she does not want to be there, you will not get all those best person benefits. TIP #3: BE PREPARED Preparation is the key to turning your passion and best people into a successful project. All of the talent and passion in the world don’t get you very far if, when they show up to set or to the table, you have no plan. Careful, detailed planning ahead of time allows you to focus on each task/encounter as it comes, field questions from your people, and troubleshoot when the need arises (and it will). It’s not always the most fun part of the gig, but it is an absolute must if you want your project to go smoothly. For the DM, understanding your NPC/Villains motivations, knowing your encounters and dungeon inside and out, and knowing your PC’s strengths, weaknesses and backstory will provide a rich, deep and engaging experience for your players that just reading out of some adventure can never match. For the filmmaker, solid comprehensive preparation means that your cast and crew is never standing around waiting to find out what comes next and that you’re never going back to your script and wondering “did we shoot that?” There are a lot of DMs and filmmakers out there who are great off the cuff. In fact, you need to be great at improvising to be truly successful at either - there will always be times when things don’t go as planned, there will always be suggestions from your best people about how things might be done differently, and your ability to improvise will save you in those moments. Strong fundamental preparation allows you to field questions and suggestions from your collaborators, evaluate them and incorporate them into the project.  If you’ve solid planning underneath your session - you know your shots, your pages, your NPCs, your dungeon - you can riff on that preparation to make your improvisation seem as polished as every other part of your shoot/adventure. TIP #4: SERIOUSLY, BE PASSIONATE Yes, tip number four is simply a repeat of tip number one. We all do lots of things in this life about which we are less-than passionate. Your indie film or RPG campaign should not be one of them. Your indie project is going to eat your time (and maybe your money) like a ravenous Tarrasque who just woke up from his millennial slumber. If you are not deeply passionate about it, your experience and your end product (if you ever get there) are going to suffer for it. In the end, a Dungeon Master and an Indie Film creator have very similar jobs: to wrangle a bunch of talented, specialized people together to tell a compelling story over a period of time. Both jobs can be great fun and incredibly rewarding, at least I’ve found them to be so. Web Video, Role Playing Games 2011-01-17T19:11:01-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/happy_holidays_from_the_gold_crew/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/happy_holidays_from_the_gold_crew/ This year has gone by so fast! It’s been a big one for GOLD: a Streamy Award nomination for Best Ensemble, an official selection of the ITVFest (after being a 2009 official selection at the NYTVF), screenings at Dragon*Con, winning the Parsec Award for Best Video Story, and now the release of Night of the Zombie King. We hope you’ve had as great a year as we have. Now, grab a hot chocolate, snuggle up on your couch, and let us entertain you as the year comes to a close: Watch NOTZK Episode 2: When Black Roses Bloom In Episode 2, the game gets underway. The old friends fall into familiar patterns, Martin’s adventure tests the players’ skills, tension emerges between Jaz and Brian, Hicks exhibits his old-school roleplaying chops, and Jaz attempts to re-connect with Danny. Watch When Black Roses Bloom now at www.notzk.com NOTZK Press Even with XMas rapidly approaching, reviews have started to come in for Night of the Zombie King. NewTeeVee said, ”The level of authenticity brought to the series is profound...” and Tubefilter says it is a ”a compelling story of friends reunited” with a ”standout performance from Maxwell Glick.” We’ll keep you posted as more blogs and magazines pick up the story. If you write about NOTZK on your blog or elsewhere, make sure to let us know at goldtheseries@gmail.com so we can spread the word! Behind the Scenes on the GOLD Blog As NOTZK is released, we’ll be posting lots of stories about the making of the series on the GOLD blog. Here are some recent highlights: NOTZK writer and cinematographer Andrew R. Deutsch writes about creating NOTZK’s stunning opening titles. NOTZK writer and director Rick Robinson talks about the challenges of injecting action into a show about playing a tabletop game. Keep checking back for more great stuff from the creators and actors in coming weeks! Last Minute XMas Gifts: the Music of GOLD So, you’re scrambling for last minute gifts for friends and family? Well, thanks to the magic of iTunes (and other online music services), there’s still plenty of time to get incredible music from artists featured in GOLD and Night of the Zombie King. These amazing artists are among our favorites, and have given generously of their talent to make GOLD a richer experience. Their beautiful work will make great gifts for those you love: Jacob Carver Jake’s an astonishing singer/songwriter living in Seattle, whose music is featured throughout GOLD Season 1 and in the NOTZK trailer. His heartbreaking anthem, “All We Were Asking,” from the album “Done Gone” is the title theme from GOLD Season 1. Get his music here.  The Monolators The Monolators are a much-lauded indie band out of Los Angeles, uniformly praised for their crisp, lo-fi sound. Their bright, catchy “Silver Cities,” from the new EP of the same name, is the end titles song for NOTZK Episode 1.  Get their music here.  Andrew Rose Gregory While perhaps best known for his work with his brothers and sister-in-law (The Gregory Brothers) in the wildly popular AutoTune the News, Andrew has released several albums of hauntingly beautiful solo work. His lovely “When We Closed Our Eyes” from “The Lost Year” soars over the end titles of NOTZK Episode 2. Get his music here. For breaking news about GOLD: Night of the Zombie King, keep your eye on the website (www.goldtheseries.com), our facebook page (www.facebook.com/goldtheseries) and follow us on twitter (@GoldtheSeries). Thanks for supporting GOLD and indieTV. Happy Holidays. We’ll see you kobolds later. David Nett Creator, GOLD Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-12-22T21:14:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/winners_notzk_release_contest/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/winners_notzk_release_contest/ Thank you to everyone who entered our NOTZK release contest on Facebook & Twitter. Here are the winners. As stated in the original blog post, we picked two winners each from Twitter and Facebook. Congratulations to: Winners from Twitter: @Geek_Lantern @thtrnerd221 Winners from Facebook: Joe Lonergan Adam Sawyer All four winners will receive: - signed GOLD: Season 1 Poster - signed GOLD: NOTZK Poster - signed GOLD: Season 1 DVD - a few GOLD/NOTZK buttons so they can spread the love to their friends If you’re one of these four folks, please email your name and address to goldtheseries@gmail.com so we can get your prizes to you! Sadly, we won’t be able to get these prizes to ya by XMas, but as soon as our NOTZK posters get here from the printer (and we can get them signed), they’ll be in the mails. Thanks, everyone, for helping spread the word about Night of the Zombie King! -David Creator, GOLD Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-12-21T04:26:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/notzk_title_design/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/notzk_title_design/ Cinematographer/writer/graphic designer Andrew R. Deutsch talks about the NOTZK opening title sequence. Originally posted at the RollandDesign blog: www.rollanddesign.com The Night of the Zombie King titles were shot entirely on my coffee table in my living room, I recreated one of the tabletop gaming scenes from the episodes. Strategically placing figurines with the translucent dice, I wanted the shadows to dance across the elements to create movement where usually there isn’t any. I ended up shooting about 45 minutes of footage and only using about 15 seconds. I set up the camera on a small tripod and grabbed an LED flashlight to get that high contrast needed. The light source also could pierce the dice and push their shadows pretty far without losing too much contrast. The raw footage was then re-colored in Magic Bullet Mojo and edited in Premiere and, finally, the titles were added in After Effects. All in all I think they worked very well for the content of the series and I’m very proud to have them showcased on such a wonderful show. - Andrew R. Deutsch Writer/Exec Producer/Cinematographer GOLD: Night of the Zombie King Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-12-15T18:52:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/from_the_shadows/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/from_the_shadows/ This is it. I'm proud to present Night of the Zombie King - Episode 1: From the Shadows. Over the last few months I’ve probably watched this episode five hundred times. That’s not an exaggeration - we edit these guys ourselves, we do the color correction ourselves, we QC the dialogue mix and score, and we do the final sound mix ourselves. And, since I directed Episode 1, I’m ultimately responsible for it, so I watched it even more, just to be sure I hadn’t messed too much up. Even if I haven’t watched it front to back every time, all the viewings in pieces have certainly added up to that. What struck me tonight, after we’d uploaded what we thought was the final render to Blip.tv and were all QCing it to make certain it was ready for you all to watch, was how short it is. It shouldn’t have been a surprise - we designed the show that way, and from the first table read early this year we knew each episode was between 5 and 6 minutes, more or less. Even so, this episode of which I’m so proud, the first of six I’m very excited to show you, seemed so short to me in those three or four viewings. So much work goes into this thing we do, so many hours from so many dedicated, talented, professional people. These people, my friends, have poured themselves into this thing. And, in my humble opinion, it shows. Their talent, their dedication - our dedication - I think it makes these short five and a half minutes stand out. I think you’ll agree. I can’t thank any of them enough, so I’ll thank all of them way too little: thanks, folks. You are cool. So, enjoy our first episode. We’ll have a new one next week, and a new one after that. Each of them will be the result of hundreds of hours of work by a couple dozen people. I’m very proud of each and every one of them. And I think you’ll like ‘em. Okay. Off to bed. I’ve more cool stuff to make in the morning. Thanks for watching Night of the Zombie King, and for supporting GOLD and indieTV. You, too, are cool. -David Nett Creator, GOLD Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-12-14T08:01:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/bringing_goblins_gold_to_life/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/bringing_goblins_gold_to_life/ NOTZK writer & director Rick Robinson talks about the challenges of making a TV show about a tabletop rpg. The creators of GOLD: Night of the Zombie King play the game. Not once or twice to get a feel for it, but as much as we can given the pressures of life, fatherhood, careers, second careers, etc. So when it was time for us to tell a story of a group of friends who come together to game, it wasn’t going to be Mazes & Monsters. But given our experience, you’d think it be easy to tell that story - a good roleplaying session is packed with all kinds of life-or-death drama: traps, combat, keeps, bugbears, etc. all rear their ugly heads as the heroes (or anti-heroes) rise to the occasion (or get TPK’d, which is dramatic in a everything-ends-badly, Coen-brothers kind of way). But as David, Andrew, Frederick and I discovered, there are hurdles: The physical action of the game is inert. Sure, the implied action is active, but the actual onscreen characters playing the game really are just sitting there. Occasionally, they roll dice. Or eat BBQ chips. Or wander to bathroom. But mostly, they sit at the table. And long sessions of people talking at a table can be death. The actual events of the campaign can be hard to follow. It’s difficult to set the scene of a treacherous dungeon crawl or climactic battle without copious exposition. And copious exposition can be death in an indie TV series. Or a regular TV series. Or a movie. Or a play. I think only Greek theater gets away with it, and we’re probably just turning a blind eye because it’s super old. The stakes for the onscreen characters, the players, can be low. The stakes in the actual game are usually quite high - life and death-by-Neo-Otyugh high. But the stakes for the players around the table are at risk of being quite low. It sucks to lose a character you’re fond of, but you can re-roll. If the whole party buys it, it’s on to a new campaign and a fresh start. The world they’re trying to save, whether it’s Faerun or Eberron or Madeuponia, isn’t real. Overcoming those hurdles was in the front of our brains every minute as we wrote the scripts, planned our shots, and directed the show. Here’s what we did: Making it active One thing we wanted more of in Night of the Zombie King (as opposed to GOLD) was actual gaming - more combat, more arguing about strategy, more inserts of dice rolling. In GOLD, we’d bounce from the characters’ personal travails to short snippets of gaming. GOLD is a big ensemble show, a serio-comic tapestry, and David and Andrew (I was only an actor in that one) bounced from hikes in the wilderness to G&G training sessions, so outside the prologue, there weren’t any prolonged scenes of guys sitting around a table. Zombie King, however, was to be more tightly focused and the scripts featured long scenes of the five characters playing the game. As we’d split the directing duties by episode, we all went off to plan to make these scenes dynamic. Frederick, the director of episode two, had the first gaming scene and didn’t think trying to shoot a whole webseries over the course of two weekends was hard enough, so he decided to make the make first two pages of gaming a one-shot. We went hand-held for Zombie King (just like GOLD) and Andrew had MacGuyver’d a PVC pipe rig for his T2i to shoot the thing smoothly, despite the Canon’s DSLR’s lack of heft, which made this kind of shot possible. Andrew swept around the actors, catching each one in frame as they drew focus and bounced around from dice to players to DM as they tried to solve their wight problem. Frederick also blocked this scene actively to accentuate the effect. Players got up out of their chairs to get food, wandered over to look at other players sheets, paced back and forth, and other things to add movement to these first couple of pages. He also hid an edit halfway through in a quick camera pan, so he could use different takes for the two halves of the scenes and limit the window that this ballet of actors, camera and equipment had to be perfect and let the camera move across the table in a way the camera operator could not physically accomplish. That this critical introduction to the gameplay is exciting visually and traverses the entire gaming landscape is of paramount importance - Frederick shows us right off that the game is active and exciting, without anyone having to say it out loud. In general, all three of us stayed tight on the actors when the stakes of the game were at there highest. This creates a lack of breathing room, of distance for the audience. A shot of the full table and we observe the game from of safe distance. Close-up on Brian, looking just barely to the right of camera, and the audience is in the thick of it, as uncomfortable as Jaz. In the end, we relied on camera movement, both subtle and dramatic, as well as the talent of our actors to hold our interest while simply sitting around a table. Telling the story of the campaign The one’s tough. There is an obvious solution, one that works for other folks telling RPG stories in the indie space - dramatize the action on film with the actors playing their characters. At it’s best, it can be absurdly funny, like when Boba Fett, level 1 thief rises from his bedding with his elven boots to sex up one of his fellow party members (if you haven’t seen this - go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhmUj9QJ9RM). But it wasn’t really the tone we were after. It’s also difficult to go everywhere you need to go using this device because budget constraints are too tight for most of us. Outdoor journeys and fights with highwaymen, sure. Underground fights with umberhulks? Not so much. GOLD didn’t need to tell the story of an overall campaign because in its world each game, each single crawl was an individual test, like a single basketball game. To generate tension, we didn’t need to know the big picture, just the immediate facts. Zombie King had to feel like it was part of larger campaign because it was the continuation of a long-running game from many years before. We couldn’t tell the whole story of the adventure, obviously. Too much exposition. But the party’s biggest decisions needed context, and we needed to associate each player with his character. The minis became extremely important in this and we were lucky to have had them painted by James Paul Xavier, (Art Direction/Sam St. Croix in GOLD) because they looked great, even close up. David (who directed episode 1) tried to marry character to figure with his shot where he follows Martin around the table, setting each figure in front of its player. When the map is shown later, we have some idea who’s piece is surrounded by little metal skeletons. Martin says the character’s names a lot, followed by a shot of the player to reinforce. By the end of Episode 2, the audience should know Jaz’s character name is Melchor. If you don’t, we’re in trouble going into episodes 3-6. Even though we couldn’t tell you the whole story of this campaign (I’m sure David will oblige you, at some point, in this space) we needed a few important details, like the setting, the main objective, the principal big bad, and important details of the character’s history in the Realm of Terror. Jaz is a fallen paladin. This isn’t their first dance with Darkmoon the dracolich. And while Martin gives us the setting in episode one, the rest of these details come out over time, so that the history and the story is revealed gradually and that many of these details come out in active moments of conflict. We want you to feel like there’s a rich history and story without anyone sitting there telling you ‘so here’s what came before...’. Making the stakes high GOLD never had to force high stakes, because the conceit of the world is that Goblins and Gold is a competitive sport and that each match, won or lost for the team has a dramatic impact on the players’ lives, both personally and professionally. Their careers are at stake, in addition to their sense of self-worth. In Zombie King, it’s a game amongst friends, so we had to find ways to make the in-game action extremely important to out character’s psyche, especially our protagonist. Each character comes to this mini-reunion with an agenda, and it was important to the gaming scenes that much of the score-settling and opening of old wounds took place as direct result of the action on the table. We also tied their own journeys to the stories of their characters. The adventure is a return home to their old keep, a place that’s that become corrupt in their absence. Jaz’ character’s fall from grace matches his own. Little details are sewn in so that when things begin to fall apart for the Goblins & Gold characters, it’s a powerful blow to players. Jaz needs to succeed, not just in killing the Dracolich, but also in bringing his group back together for reasons that go beyond the game. Hicks has held this old campaign in such high esteem for so long that its failure to meet his expectations would damage him. In Night of the Zombie King, we wanted to create a drama (relax, it’s funny, too) about coming home again. About confronting our past and healing the wounds that time can’t mend. About old flames, and old friends - about playing the games we thought we had left behind in our youth. These aren’t new themes, but this story is about people who play our games. And we wanted to stand out from some of the other stuff in our space by making the players and the game they play grounded and authentic. Rick Robinson Writer/Director GOLD: Night of the Zombie King Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-12-07T22:48:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/night_of_the_zombie_king_launches_december_14_2010/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/night_of_the_zombie_king_launches_december_14_2010/ A week or so ago we promised you an announcement soon. Well, here we go: For the last year or so, I’ve been working really hard with my friends and creative partners to figure out a way to finish the first GOLD story. The first half of that first story is what we now call GOLD Season 1. The story resolves in GOLD Season 2. Because of the nature of the second half of that story, and the cost of telling it, we’ve been searching for a partner or two to help us make it. We haven’t yet succeeded in that, to my great sadness. Yet, anyway. But there are many more stories to tell in the GOLD universe. While we continue our quest for Season 2, my friends and I found a story we could tell on our own. We call that story ”Night of the Zombie King,” and tonight I’m proud to announce that NOTZK will premiere on Tuesday, December 14, right here on this site, with new episodes weekly. Night of the Zombie King is one of the first of what we hope will be many “companion adventures” in the GOLD universe. It’s a self-contained six episode miniseries that centers around Jaz, the leader of the Dangerous Gamers in GOLD Episode 4: Labyrinth of Madness: After his team fails to qualify for the world RPG Championships, disillusioned captain Jamison “Jaz” Colier travels home to relive the glory days with his old friends for one nostalgic night of gaming. But when he arrives, he finds the ruins of the life he ran away from more than 15 years ago still need to be repaired before he can find peace, in his life and in the game. NOTZK is written by me, Rick Robinson & Andrew R. Deutsch and directed by me, Rick Robinson & Frederick Snyder. It stars James Ellis Lane, Jonathan Nail, Maxwell Glick, Stephanie Thorpe and Brian Majestic. Stay tuned for lots of great behind-the-scenes blogs, downloadables, gallery images and much more as we march toward release in a little more than a week. To start, we’ve two great gifts for you: Posters At the bottom of this post, take a gander at the three amazing Night of the Zombie King posters created by NOTZK writer and cinematographer Andrew R. Deutsch. They’re sexy as all heck. Contest We’re running Facebook and Twitter contests from now until 11:59PM PST on Tuesday, December 14 (launch day). Four fans will win a GOLD prize pack: a signed GOLD Poster, signed GOLD DVD, signed Night of the Zombie King poster, and a handful of GOLD/NOTZK buttons. To win, visit GOLD facebook page (www.facebook.com/goldtheseries), “like” the page and leave a comment on the NOTZK Contest wall post. Or, follow GOLD on twitter (www.twitter.com/goldtheseries) and tweet the message: “I want to win the @GOLDTheSeries:NOTZK Prize Pack! Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-12-06T06:37:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_gamer_recap_session_13/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_gamer_recap_session_13/ Session 13, in which Blars and Schlomo rescue themselves and the party causes extra strife between the Evil Temples. The GOLD Gamer Recap: I (David, creator of GOLD, the Series) am currently running a Pathfinder game with six of the GOLD cast & crew. I’m taking them through a Pathfinder converted version of the classic D&D super-module T1-4, “The Temple of Elemental Evil,” thoroughly grounded in the original, but with lots of customization (including the incorporation of Michael Curtis’s Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-09-09T20:54:01-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_gamer_recap_session_12/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_gamer_recap_session_12/ Session 12, in which the party stumbles upon a horrible earthen shrine and learns humility. The GOLD Gamer Recap: I (David, creator of GOLD, the Series) am currently running a Pathfinder game with six of the GOLD cast & crew. I’m taking them through a Pathfinder converted version of the classic D&D super-module T1-4, “The Temple of Elemental Evil,” thoroughly grounded in the original, but with lots of customization (including the incorporation of Michael Curtis’s Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-09-09T20:48:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_gamer_recap_session_11/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_gamer_recap_session_11/ Session 11, in which the party enters the Temple proper through a secret passageway. The GOLD Gamer Recap: I (David, creator of GOLD, the Series) am currently running a Pathfinder game with six of the GOLD cast & crew. I’m taking them through a Pathfinder converted version of the classic D&D super-module T1-4, “The Temple of Elemental Evil,” thoroughly grounded in the original, but with lots of customization (including the incorporation of Michael Curtis’s Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-09-09T20:45:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_gamer_recap_sessions_9_and_10/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_gamer_recap_sessions_9_and_10/ Sessions 9 and 10, in which the party decides to take on the quest and heads to the Temple of Elemental Evil. The GOLD Gamer Recap: I (David, creator of GOLD, the Series) am currently running a Pathfinder game with six of the GOLD cast & crew. I’m taking them through a Pathfinder converted version of the classic D&D super-module T1-4, “The Temple of Elemental Evil,” thoroughly grounded in the original, but with lots of customization (including the incorporation of Michael Curtis’s Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-09-09T20:36:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_and_the_indietv_movement/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_and_the_indietv_movement/ The community we have been calling "webseries" is struggling with identity. I have some thoughts. “Stop f#@king making derivative bullsh#t… Stop making short TV or short films and putting it online and calling it online entertainment. You’re not making online entertainment. You’re making short TV and short films that’s cheap to produce and it looks cheap. There’s a better competitor in that marketplace. It’s called regular TV...” - Barrett Garese (see the full video here: www.twitvid.com/ZMY9B Barrett’s webseries tip-of-the-day ( www.twitvid.com/ZMY9B - which went live way back in May) has been causing significant controversy recently in the webseries/online creator community. I want to start by saying this is good - Barrett’s a thought leader (ugh - did I just write that phrase?), and it’s his job to challenge all of us to push ourselves and our work to be the best it can be. And I think it’s largely because we all acknowledge that Barrett’s smart and insightful that this video has stirred us up so; if we didn’t all respect him so much, none of us would care what he thought. But is he right? Should we all be racing to take his advice? Well, yes and no. Before you dismiss this as a wishy-washy response, let me clarify: Barrett’s statement assumes that his listener/viewer is someone who is desirous to create “online entertainment”; that being a producer of quality online entertainment is that viewer’s goal. I think, for that viewer, Barrett is right. If a creator’s ultimate goal is to be a pioneer of online entertainment, then it is important to do something, well, pioneering. I’m not certain what Barrett’s vision of “online entertainment” is, but it’s clear that in his mind, the best of it will be something that could only be possible online, both in form and content. And that last clause, “both in form and content” is key. If you look at the webseries world (or webTV or webisodes or online indieTV or INDTV or whatever you want to call it), you’ll see a lot of shows which, because of their content, would probably not exist (or at least never be distributed) were it not for the internet. GOLD, my satire sports soap opera about professional role playing gamers, fits solidly in that category. In that sense, my little TV show is only possible online - it seems highly, highly unlikely that any traditional studio or production company would have produced such a niche show, much less distributed it. The target market would be perceived to be too small. Thus, that content is probably only possible thanks to the internet. But, after a successful first season online, GOLD is now available on DVD. This is only because the form is very much in-line traditional television. It can be shown offline in many formats - on DVD, for instance, or in a movie theater. So GOLD does not fit Barrett’s challenge of true online entertainment because, while the content probably doesn’t get made without the internet, the form is very traditional. Where Barrett is wrong, in my opinion, is in the underlying assumption in his tip: that we want to be pioneers in online entertainment. For most of us currently making indieTV and distributing it online (most, but not all), what we really want to do is make movies and/or television. Our underlying drive is to be writers or actors or directors of movies or television. And so, thanks to the level playing field that is the internet, we make our movies and television and distribute it in a way we never could until just a few years ago. Some of those shows, like GOLD, would have no likely home in the traditional TV market, despite having found a robust, engaged audience online. Others, like, say, the Bannen Way ( www.crackle.com/c/The_Bannen_Way ), would fit perfectly in the traditional TV market (and soon will be reborn there as a traditional TV show), but the creators were untried and the web was their perfect proving ground. I firmly believe that a lot of what we’re seeing right now is not a new form of online entertainment - it is simply the a growing independent television movement. If we can find value in the independent film culture, in the short film culture, can we not see value in an independent television culture? When I look at the webseries world, this is what I see. The best of us are making great television, we’re just showing it online. We’re giving underserved audiences shows that couldn’t be made otherwise, and we’re proving ourselves as writers and directors and actors and showrunners in a scrappy, independent marketplace. We’re indie, and we’re TV. Of course traditional television is stiff competition for us - overwhelming competition, in most ways - how could it be otherwise? But that’s no reason to stop pursuing the storytelling form we find compelling. Telling an indie TV creator to start making, well, whatever form this online entertainment beast will become, just because the traditional TV competition is too steep, seems out of line. I don’t want to make [insert name for the new form here] right now, any more than I want to write video games or bake cakes or paint murals. I want to make TV. Until I can do that in a grander way, I’ll make TV indie-style, scraping for the funds indie-style, and distributing it indie-style. Hell, even if I manage to claw my way into my desired career, I’ll probably still make indieTV, using the ideas whose content does not fit that more traditional model. Maybe I’ll make [new thing] someday. But right now I’m interested in film and TV. Rather than whipping ourselves into a frenzy over Barrett’s perfectly sound advice, I believe a creator should ask him or herself plainly, “what am I trying to make? Am I trying to make a TV show, and the web is the best current distribution option for my show?” If the answer is yes, then in my opinion Barrett’s advice simply doesn’t apply. But if you are a creator out there saying to yourself, “I want to make something amazing - I want to harness the power of the internet to create a storytelling experience simply not possible prior to right now,” then Barrett is right. Don’t waste your time making indieTV. Make whatever that other thing is. I, for one, am excited to see it. -David Creator, GOLD Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-09-02T20:28:01-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_screening_at_dragoncon_saturday_night/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_screening_at_dragoncon_saturday_night/ GOLD is a finalist for the 2010 Parsec Award for Video Storytelling! To celebrate, we’re screening all of Gold Season 1 after the award ceremony: Sat, Sept 4, 11:30PM, Hilton Crystal Ballroom - All seven GOLD Season 1 Episodes! - Additional screening delights! - Q&A with David Nett (creator/Jon Drake) and Rick Robinson (Richard Wright) - Sneak peek at the upcoming GOLD miniseries, Night of the Zombie King - Giveaways! This is the first time GOLD Season 1 will be screened in its entirety. If you’re at Dragon*Con, don’t miss this great opportunity to see GOLD on the big screen and meet some of the folks who make the show. Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-09-02T16:05:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/announcing_gold_season_1_dvd_and_gold_night_of_the_zombie_king/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/announcing_gold_season_1_dvd_and_gold_night_of_the_zombie_king/ Two amazing announcements today, May 25: the GOLD Season 1 DVD is available and NOTZK is in production! GOLD Season 1 Special Edition DVD: On Sale Now! Thanks to our generous GOLD DVD Club members and the tireless efforts of the GOLD team members, GOLD Season 1 is now available on a Special Edition DVD, which includes: - All seven episodes of GOLD Season 1 with re-mastered color and sound - One of 12 different DVD covers - Cast/crew and creator commentaries for every episode - Interview with the cast & crew by GirlGamer’s Cricket Lee - Special thank-you shout-out to the GOLD DVD Club - Independent TV preview featuring a host of great current and upcoming shows from around the webseries world - Randomly selected behind-the-scenes photo and a GOLD CCG Character card - Exclusive minisode not available anywhere else: “The Palace of the Silver Princess” All this for only $20 (+shipping). And the best part: all profits from the sale of every DVD go toward the production of GOLD Season 2. Visit www.goldtheseries.com/store to buy yours today. In conjunction with the DVD launch, we’ve also released a beautiful 11x17 poster of the Gallery DVD cover, featuring all 11 main characters from GOLD. You can get that at www.goldtheseries.com/store as well. GOLD: Night of the Zombie King is in Production! While we’re still searching for the right partners to help us make the complex, sprawling beast that is GOLD Season 2, the GOLD team is sick of not having any new episodes to put out on the interwebs. So, we’ve written and are in the process of shooting a 6-part miniseries: “Night of the Zombie King.” NOTZK takes place between seasons 1 and 2 of GOLD, and centers around a character a lot of fans have told us they want to see more of: Jaz, the big, tough leader of the Dangerous Gamers Jonathan visits in GOLD Episode 4. Set over the course of one night in the lives of five grown-up gamers, NOTZK is a story about RPGs, friendship, growing-up, and the difficulty of reconciling the people we thought we were as kids with the adults we’ve become. In short, it’s “The Big Chill” for nerds. More or less. NOTZK features James Ellis Lane, Jonathan Nail, Stephanie Thorpe, Maxwell Glick and Brian Majestic. It is in production right now, and we anticipate it will be released in late Summer 2010. For breaking news about GOLD: Night of the Zombie King, keep your eye on the website (www.goldtheseries.com), our facebook page (www.facebook.com/goldtheseries) and follow us on twitter (@GoldtheSeries). May all your crits be confirmed, David Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-05-25T21:20:02-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/announcing_gold_night_of_the_zombie_king/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/announcing_gold_night_of_the_zombie_king/ Pretty soon it's gonna be hard not to talk about our newest GOLD adventure. No, this isn’t the post letting you know the GOLD DVD is ready for sale. It’s at the manufacturer right now, and we’ll let you know as soon as it is ready. And it’s not about GOLD Season 2, sadly - we’re still looking for a partner to help us get that made. But, you see, not making more television set in the GOLD world has been killing us. So, Andrew (GOLD Co-Exec, Goldy). Rick (Richard Wright) and I got together and wrote a new GOLD adventure. GOLD Season 2’s sweeping story, multiple locations and dozens of characters makes it expensive and time-consuming to shoot (which is why we need a partner or two), so we wanted to write a parallel series that would compliment the main GOLD storyline, but be smaller and more self-contained - something we could produce while worked on scaring-up the resources for GS2.  The result: “GOLD: Night of the Zombie King.” It takes place shortly after the events in GOLD Season 1, and centers around a character a lot of fans have told us they want to see more of: Jaz, the big, tough leader of the Dangerous Gamers Jonathan visits in GOLD Episode 4. It takes place over the course of one night, and I’ve been explaining the story to folks as, “The Big Chill” for rpg nerds. We begin shooting Night of the Zombie King (NOTZK) at the end of May, and I couldn’t be more excited to be back working with the GOLD team. I just wanted to let you all know about it now, so we could excitedly tweet about it during production, post pictures from the set, etc. As we go along, we’ll be posting more info about the plot, characters, etc. And, yes, the DVD of Season 1 will be available soon. Very soon. I promise. -David Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-05-07T21:47:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/got_some_free_time_this_weekend/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/got_some_free_time_this_weekend/ Our buddies at CJP Digital (The Temp Life) are looking for background talent for a shoot in downtown LA this Thursday & Friday. They’re looking for men and women of all types (over the age of 18) to portray attendees of a theater event. You should arrive dressed in semi-formal attire (dresses for women, jackets for men) as would be fitting for a red carpet/premiere event. Thursday, April 8th: Half day shoot (approximately 4 hours). 10 extras needed, meals and credit provided (no pay). Friday, April 9th: Half day shoot (approximately 4 hours). 20 extras needed, meals and credit provided (no pay). Details of the production are currently confidential, however exact call times (daytime shoot) and location (downtown theater district, convenient to 10/110 and 101) will be provided upon confirmation.  To submit for the project, please contact Jeff Koenig at jkoenig@cjpdigital.com. Previous experience as an actor or background extra helpful but not necessary. If you are available for both days, please note that in your submission. Thanks! Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-04-06T20:58:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/contest_if_gold_wins_a_streamy_you_could_win_these/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/contest_if_gold_wins_a_streamy_you_could_win_these/ These are the shoes I will be wearing to the 2010 Streamy Awards Ceremony on April 11.* “What has that to do with me?” you might ask. Well, let me explain: These are Extremely Limited Edition GOLD the Series Jonathan Drake Specials. You see, that’s Jon Drake’s signature right there on the side of a black and grey canvas high-top sneaker (black is Jon’s color after all - it’s all he ever wears). And on the inside of each shoe? A sweet, sweet jumble of multi-colored d20s. These are beautiful shoes. And only 6 pairs will ever be made. Ever. One of them could be yours. Here’s the deal: as you may know, GOLD is nominated for a 2010 Streamy Award for Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series. If we win, we’ll give a pair of these sweet, extremely limited edition shoes to a fan selected randomly from our mailing list. All you need to do is sign-up for the GOLD mailing list. You can do so on pretty much every page of the GOLD website. If you are not already on that list, get on it before 11:59PM on April 11th. Seriously. Do it now! And then cross your fingers that GOLD wins. I’ll admit, we’re pretty much the underdog, up against some very steep competition from such wildly popular and amazing shows as The Guild, Easy to Assemble, Back on Topps and Dorm Life. But we’re scrappy. And - I’ll just come right out and say it - we’ve got Richard Wright’s chest hair on our side. No single web show can overcome that! Watch the Streamy Awards, streaming live over the interwebs on April 11 (details here). And look for the GOLD cast on the red carpet and in the audience. Maybe, if you’re lucky, you can catch a glimpse of the shoes. Maybe. “But, wait,” you say, “that’s one pair for you, and one pair to a fan if you win a Streamy. What about the other four pairs?” Very good question, you. You were totally paying attention. The fate of the other four pairs will hinge upon some other upcoming announcements. Just stay tuned! - David Nett Creator, GOLD Owner of 1 Pair of Extremely Limited Edition GOLD the Series Jonathan Drake Specials, size 10 PS: This giveaway is not officially connected to the Streamy Awards or the IAWTV or sanctioned by them in any way. It’s purely from the folks here at GOLD. *shoes may be slightly different than they appear here. They have not yet arrived from the manufacturer. Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-03-29T22:39:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_season_1_dvd_detailed_features/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_season_1_dvd_detailed_features/ This is it. The GOLD DVD is very nearly done. As of the end of this week, all of the pieces of the GOLD DVD will be in place. We’ll be putting the discs through several rounds of hard-core quality assurance testing the next two weeks or so, and will probably have to tweak a few things here and there, but as of right now all the bits of the disc are mostly locked, so we can finally talk about what made it in. Here’s the final breakdown of the GOLD Season 1 Special Edition DVD: 1 professionally replicated DVD (not duplicated - professionally replicated from a glass master) with: All seven original Season 1 Episodes, with completely (painstakingly) re-mastered color and sound (approx. 75 minutes) English subtitles 2 separate commentary tracks for each episode (1 courtesy of the creators, 1 courtesy of the cast & crew and a liberal amount of beer & wine) An interview with the GOLD cast & crew, hosted by GirlGamer’s Cricket Lee A special DVD club “thank you” video from the GOLD cast A selection of trailers and sneak peeks from the world of independent web television and A DVD Exclusive GOLD Mini-Episode: “Palace of the Silver Princess” - available only on the GOLD Season 1 Special Edition DVD! So, assuming you watch all of the episodes with and without commentary (and I know you will), and assuming my math is right (a dicier prospect, for sure) that’s almost four and a half hours of content! In addition, the Special Edition DVD will come with: A special note from creator David Nett A behind-the-scenes photo from the set of GOLD A GOLD CCG character card One of 12 different DVD covers (choose which cover you want at purchase) The good news: this is a packed disc. We are filling every available bit of space with content. The bad news: we weren’t able to fit everything we wanted to; a handful of potential disc features didn’t make the cut. Honestly, we just plain ran out of space. Once the DVD is released, we’ll be working hard to figure out what to do with those extra bits and bobs. We’ve some ideas. Oh, yes we have. What’s that? You want to know when the GOLD Season 1 Special Edition DVD will be available? Well, since we’ve still got to QA the master disc and then manufacture it, we can’t say for certain. We’re hoping to make it available before the end of April, but it may leak into early May. As soon as we have a concrete release date, we will let everyone know. This whole process has taken a lot longer than I anticipated, but I’m so proud of what we’ve done. Of course, DVDs and posters will be in the mail to eligible GOLD DVD Club members as soon as they are ready - you’ll get yours first! Thanks again for supporting GOLD, and independent television. The future is ours. -David Nett Creator, GOLD Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-03-29T21:50:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/new_desktop_wallpapers_for_2010/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/new_desktop_wallpapers_for_2010/ Five new desktop/iPhone wallpapers available in the "Extras" section. Just messing around with some of the GOLD imagery this weekend, and thought we’d make a few new desktop images. You can find them in the Extras section.Hope you enjoy them! Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-02-24T04:37:00-08:00 http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_gamer_recap_session_8/ http://www.readcsp.com/csp/gold/blog/gold_gamer_recap_session_8/ Session 8, in which the party finds some proof, splits up, gets back together, and must decided on their future. The GOLD Gamer Recap: I (David, creator of GOLD, the Series) am currently running a Pathfinder game with six of the GOLD cast & crew. I’m taking them through a Pathfinder converted version of the classic D&D super-module T1-4, “The Temple of Elemental Evil,” thoroughly grounded in the original, but with lots of customization (including the incorporation of Michael Curtis’s Web Video, Role Playing Games 2010-02-04T23:06:01-08:00