Twitter is Character Building.

 For our next event on the 24th at the NYC Transmedia Meetup, we're launching some in-story social media. We are staring small, we have two characters committed to the social media launch, with some others floating around who may want to join in and may decide to hold off.

The two characters we're featuring will be those in the scene we're presenting; along with an interview with our Producer, Caitlin Burns, about what we're doing in the context of larger independent features. We're not going to talk about the specifics of those characters right now; though those of you brave and savvy enough to start with them early and start chatting with them on twitter could do so.

What we're going to talk about today is relevant as we go into production- Beginning to develop characters with actors.


First off: Actors!!!

Look at them, ACTING.

For those of you who are just starting out with directing, writing or producing, the idea of actually putting your master-work into the hands of actors can be daunting. It can be well neigh terrifying. This is especially true if you plan on doing some sort of social media. If you can get your actors on board to take some of the burden off writers and actually play with your twitter feeds, blogs, and so on, not only can you do more things, update more often and expand your property... you can do some of the work that usually only comes during rehearsals remotely.

Here are 10 reasons why In-Narrative Twitter Feed Collaborations are awesome:

1. Twitter collaboration between director, writer, and actor allows for character development that becomes part of your story's canon.
2. Twitter feeds are fun for your fans and let you flesh out your fictional character's interests.
3. Feeds can allow actors, writers and directors to playtest character directions with fans before putting them into scenes.
4. Twitter feeds allow productions to include sponsors and promote events and products associated with your I.P.
5. Twitter feeds and blogs can exist when no other new content is available, allowing fans to be involved in properties they love while production is happening, or between releases.
6. Actors, Directors and Writers can collaborate with other characters from other narratives to cross-promote and play.
7. Story elements can be seeded and explored prior to content releases.
8. Fans can develop strong affinities and direct relationships with your characters and storylines.
9. Fans and audience members can pose ideas that can be woven into the canon of your narrative.
10. Twitter Feeds will bring attention to your property that you would not get otherwise, building your audience and potentially garnering press attention.
    

Here are 5 pitfalls to look out for:

1. Figure out how much time each person is willing to put towards the social media project at the beginning and be realistic-- Be aware that twitter and other types of blogging involve timestamps and so, are a different type of time commitment.
2. Set up a hierarchy of approvals-- Producers and Directors must be able to administrate content, and be the ultimate arbiters of the content presented.
3. Establish guidelines for content early-- Know how much profanity, how far you want to take jokes, and what is and isn't appropriate at the outset and make sure people know those baselines.
4. Expect that your opinions may change-- Whether you're the director, actor, writer or producer, what you think about the content online will probably change a lot over the course of the production. Productions on the Internet have an organic quality that is often better to embrace than fight.
5. Set up regular meetings to talk about the twitter/blog system's process and to resolve disagreements-- Hopefully you'll avoid a bunch of angry text messages from 4 different people when you're out to dinner... or away from a computer. Problems WILL crop up, everyone should know there is a time and place to deal with them.

At the end of the day, online narrative collaborations can be a lot of fun, just remember that a smart person learns from their mistakes and that a wise person learns from the mistakes of others. With that in mind, tell me what we've forgotten from your own experiences in the comments.