My mother is very by-the-book. For years my father called her “Moral Marian” because she wouldn’t cross the road without a walk signal even if there was no traffic in site. Well, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree… Even though I’m constantly disappointed when Netflix and iTunes don’t have all the titles I want to watch, I never turn to torrent sites to access them illegally.

So when it comes to the Stop Online Piracy Act, you would THINK I could get behind it… were it not for the following problem highlighted by CNET:

“A little-noticed portion of the proposed law, which CNET highlighted in an article, goes further than Protect IP and could require Internet providers to monitor customers’ traffic and block Web sites suspected of copyright infringement.”

Under SOPA, a site could literally be shut down after a single copyright claim without a trial.

This directly affects my industry: the web TV industry.

Since 2005 I have created and produced a number of web series that relied heavily on fair use. This exception to copyright allowed me and my partner Rudy Jahchan to create parodies on our sci-fi comedy show Galacticast and display comic artwork in our comic book review show A Comicbook Orange. Even though we were extremely careful to follow the guidelines of fair use law, we still lived in fear that a big studio would sue us for using their characters, music, images, or video footage. Thankfully this never happened, but if it had we did have the law on our side. If SOPA goes through, web videos that feature any sort of copyrighted material under fair use laws may not be so lucky.

Another very serious problem the web TV industry could face is copyright infringement claims from corporations. As a producer I have often licensed music, images and art directly from musicians, photographers and artists. In fact, the background for the A Comicbook Orange web site is made up of copyrighted illustrations that are used with permission from the artists directly, but (under SOPA) if a big company like Marvel or DC were to claim they infringe on their copyright our entire site could be shut down without our ability to protest and prove our innocence.

Think this doesn’t sound possible? Read this article about how Universal Media Group removed an episode of TWiT show Tech News Today from YouTube for reporting on a recent Universal copyright controversy. Hell, UMG and other music and media companies have been removing and blocking videos from YouTube for YEARS… why would we give them the keys to do this throughout the entire internet?

We all need to take action.

Call your congressperson and let them know that you do not support this bill. Feel free to add that if they do, you will not support them in the next election. Go here to find your local representative.

In addition, let the corporations and organizations behind this bill know that you expect them to retract their support or you will publicly boycott their products and services. For your reference, here is a list of companies that have come out in support of SOPA. Personally, I’m disappointed in the Screen Actors Guild, especially since they should be representing the interests of the web TV community and if they have conflicting interests between the studios and independents, they should simply retract their support and stay neutral.

Be sure to give a pat on the back to all of those who have come out to oppose the bill. Aside from all the forward-thinking internet companies, I’m truly grateful to the Writers Guild of America, West for speaking out about its’ opposition.

And lastly, be sure to vote for representatives in the future who understand current technology because… it’s no longer OK to not know how the internet works.

• Book: Writers on Comics Scriptwriting, Vol. 1
• Blog post: How Do You Write A Comic Script?
• Example scripts: The Comic Book Script Archive

I also find Greg Rucka‘s latest webcomic Lady Sabre & the Pirates of the Ineffable Aether interesting and worth checking out. Beneath each new post, Rucka publishes the original script and provides a wonderful look behind the scenes at the process that goes into producing the comic.

If you have other resources or feedback that will help other aspiring comic writers, please share them in the comments below!

*Update: Some awesome people have tipped me on a couple of other helpful resources for learning how to format comic scripts – Final Draft template for comics (thanks Jason Bergman!), and Dark Horse’s script format guidelines (thanks Chris A. Bolton!).

Over a year and a half ago I wrote an article for The Guardian entitled “Online-only shows don’t rate at IMDb.” At the time, there were very few web series listed on the site; Ask A Ninja was amongst the few. Today there are dozens of web series listed on IMDb, but they continue to be listed as TV Series. At SXSW this year I asked Col Needham, IMDb founder and managing director, for an update in person on whether they plan to start a category for web series.

The answer is a resounding yes. In the second or third quarter of this year (anytime between April 1st and September 30th), IMDb will roll out the ability to tag a submission as either a web series or an individual (one-off) online video.

Click on the player below for an embarrassingly mediocre audio copy of Needham’s reply.

(N.B. I was asked to speak loud because the microphone wasn’t functioning properly.)

This is big news… much bigger than learning that IMDb will also begin streaming videos (yay?). Of course, the announcement will beg more questions on what credentials are necessary for acceptance to the database under those categories. When I spoke with Needham a year and a half ago, he mentioned the following credentials for submitting a web series:

• Notable press coverage;
• Large view count;
• Notable enough to have its own Wikipedia page.

I’m guessing these credentials will be similar to those they will use to accept new submissions in the future. Time will tell.

Related Links:
Now on IMDb!
Listing Web Video Series on IMDb

I love Joss Whedon… I really do. But, unfortunately, his shows are as hit and miss as the Star Trek movies.

Tonight I finally got around to watching the pilot of Dollhouse – which I’ve been looking forward to for a long time – and was sadly disappointed. Here’s why Dollhouse wasn’t for the win:

1. Act 1, Scene 1: The opening scene was weak. Necessary, but weak. It’s important to see some background, but why not start the series with Echo being a doll and getting flashbacks revealing her background? You could then have shown the painful immorality of having to wipe her memories clean in order to make her function adequately. Oh wait, let me guess… saving that for an upcoming episode?
2. Characters: Pilot episodes should always leave a viewer feeling connected to the protagonist. Do I care about Echo? Not in the least… her memories are not hers, and once her mind is wiped clean, she has no recollection. Inconsequential.
3. Script: Whedon is usually whip-smart when it comes to dialogue, but since the dolls are mindless drones it makes it difficult to toss in pop culture references at all. I miss the Gilmore Girls-esque witty dialogue that was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer… (Rudy informs me that Firefly had its’ moments as well – I, myself, hated didn’t appreciate the show).
4. The fluff: Five bucks says that FOX told Whedon to sex it up. And action it up. The second scene in the pilot with the motorcycle race and the techno dance party was obviously just there to draw mindless male drones in to watch the show. Fail.

There is a lesson to be learned here… in all pilots, including web series:

• Create engaging characters; characters that viewers can identify with from your first episode.
• Write a script focusing on your best talents; in Whedon’s case, it was comedy.
• Keep it real; don’t force the sexy or the action if completely unnecessary to the plot.
• Leave your audience feeling like they’ve seen a complete story unfold, while teasing them with slices of a larger story arc.

Though I’m disappointed in the pilot, I’ll keep watching and give it a chance. After all, that’s what I did with Enterprise… and it ROCKED by the third season! [Sigh] I just hope I don’t have to wait that long…

And, Joss, if you’re reading this, you’ve written some of my absolute favorite things in the past and I have every confidence you’ll do it again. Go wipe your memory Dollhouse-style, and forget you ever read this silly little blog post ;)

Now that the excitement over reality TV is dying down, a new budget-saving television revolution is upon us: internet video reruns. Later this year, many stations across America will be launching shows featuring some of the most popular web videos you’ve already seen. They’ll also be screwing the producers of those videos – people like me – out of royalties, recognition and more.

Link to the full article