There's been some constructive conversations going on about how hitRECord's collective creative process could grow more efficient and productive. First of all, thanks everyone for your thoughts! Here's my thoughts on one of the main suggestions that's being talked about: a way to submit project ideas privately for approval. First I'll describe how it's intended to work...

I love the notion of proposing an idea before doing a bunch of work on it. That's what Collaboration pages are for. Anybody can propose their idea, describe it in words, make some initial contributions, and see what happens. If the community jumps on board and the idea takes off, awesome. If I see the Collaboration page and I think it has potential, I'll direct our community's energy towards working on it, first and foremost by contributing to it myself, or by featuring it, or by talking about it in a Regularity or REMARK video, etc.

Whoever started the Collaboration has the power to curate it by picking which Contribution to feature at the top of the Collab page. In the past, I have also tapped sort of "co-directors" for certain projects, like Cat for Nebulullaby, Nathan for the Morgan music, Teafaerie for They Can't Turn the Lights Off, Tori for Train Now Leaving polish, and of course, LawrieBrewster for Morgan visuals. This has worked great, and I hear the requests that I do this more often. I think you're right -- I should! Of course, if somebody else wants to come out of left field and do something different with any of a Collaboration's RECords, they're welcome and encouraged to do so.

Now, I can't guarantee that the result(s) of any given Collab will be a part of any future hitRECord Production until that Production really comes to fruition. We didn't know EXACTLY what we were going to screen at Sundance and SxSW until the audiences were already lining up outside! But if I Feature something (Pocket Autopsy, Herringbone Hat, Everything Is On Fire, Must Love Harry Potter, Make Space For Me In Your Coffin, to name a few examples), that's because I think they're coming along really well, I hope they end up in future hitRECord Productions, and I have every intention of working towards making that happen.

Okay, so that's how it's meant to work. So. Regarding the suggestion that we add a Private Submission function, here's what I think. Making this process private would undermine so much of hitRECord's strength. Think about what would happen if ideas were submitted to me privately instead of publicly as described above. Marke and I have been emailing back and forth about it, and this was his response:


<< The reality is, if we put a button on the site that says "SUBMIT A PRIVATE COLLABORATION IDEA TO JOE" then we will have an email inbox somewhere *flooded* with uncountable ideas. In effect, it would be a sort of "shadow-site" that exists behind the real site, but with no accountability, no transparency, no community involvement or recommendation system, etc. etc.

And if Joe spent his time reading through it, there would be no time left over for him to be on the site.

We have a public, transparent, democratic system for proposals here in the form of collaborations – and this is the place that Joe, along with the whole community – reviews, recommends, features, and produces those ideas.

The immediate effect of implementing a system like that would be to tear the rug out from underneath the collaboration process here. No one would ever start or participate in a collaboration that hadn't been "greenlit" on the shadow-site. It would completely undermine the open, accountable, user-recommended, and user-participated system we are endeavoring to create. It's admittedly not a perfect system, and we are committed to making it better. But we don't want to undermine it and replace it with a closed-door, truly sycophantic, private system of pitching ideas secretly. I know nobody is suggesting replacing it exactly – but that will be the unintended consequence. It robs the integrity and openness from what we do.

There are countless production companies that accept pitches, greenlight them, guarantee salaries and production credits in advance, etc. We are experimenting with a new system. >>


I hope this shines some light. As Marke says, our system is still far from perfect, and that's why I really do appreciate you guys thinking and discussing how we can improve it. As long as the discussion stays positive (which it mostly has, although I'm disappointed in a few of the remarks with nastier tones), I'm open to it.

thanks again
<3

As the images of scanned items drift past, a narrator reads dictionary type definitions of apt words. (For the voice I'm thinking either the kind of female voice that would say 'access denied' in a sci-fi movie hehe or a robot voice a la Radiohead's Fitter, Happier, More Productive.)

The narration would go something like:

Baggage: An emotional, psychological burden carried around by an individual as a consequence of past experience.

Pocket: The pouch-like attachment to a garment designed to facilitate the carrying of small items.

Autopsy: The post-humous, clinical examination or assessment of someone or something past

Revelation: The dramatic exposition of a previously unknown truth.

Accessory: A supplementary, subordinate addition to a primary object.

Unload: To free oneself from a burden, to relieve of something oppressive.

As the tree dropped the apple to the ground, the apple hollared UP "We like all the same stuff tree, so how come you don't like me?"

The tree replied, as the apple bumped and tumbld on teh ground "Go down. Plant a seed. then you can also be a tree! jus like ME!"

"Great. I'm just a copy cat" thought the apple as he began to rot.

venns remarked on 06-29-2010

"rachel good stuff.
how about you post it as a separate record instead of a remark.
that way we can heart the rubies out of the stories."

*blush* glad you liked my rant, Venns. I always see your name, Venns, as Venus! Just one, upside down letter off!!

RE: if you swallow your apple seeds...
rachelb remarked on 06-29-2010

My best friend told me: If you turn around in front of a mirror, 3 times, at midnight, in a dark room, on the third round, you'll see the face of bloody Mary! I was so scared to do it, but had to try!!! I never saw anything more than my reflection ;) he hee. I believed her cause she was already 10 and in 4th grade! I was only in first! She was practically a grown up to me!! :D

She also told me the story of an Asain Doll that could not be destroyed and sucked your blood until you died if you let her out of her box at night. If you kept it locked with the key, it'd be safe. She'd devour your whole family first, and then finally you. She had these big ruby eyes, and the more blood she sucked, the deeper and darker red they'd get. I was terrified of anything Asian, and red, which was unfortunate, since the Ruby is my birthstone, and I had loved Red with all my heart!! I guess my first crush was a color! ;)
I've made my peace - I LOVE the Asian influence.

We could change the rules in a game at any moment (if you could convince the other kids you were right) just by saying "I'm SAFE! I touched this, so I'm safe, cause it's home base."

No one told me this, but i believed that there were sharks in the deep end of the pool at night, cause it was so deep and dark, and when the pool light was out, it was especially scary, like swimming in the middle of the ocean at night. It was deliciously terrifying... :D

The Mummis (what everyone ended up calling my mom), told us that Santa didn't exist, and not to tell our friends cause they didn't know yet. I hated the responsibility of such a big secret and would have rather been naive and believed. We would sneak out and go to our friends and ring bells outside of their windows on Christmas eve, so they would think they heard Santa's sleigh bells!! I hated Santa for years, but now I LOVE the Santa story, and I'm eagerly awaiting Christmas! ha ha :D I'm totally gonna tell my kids to believe in Santa.

My mom said if we ate candy, we'd get cavities. We weren't allowed to eat any, so I'd jump at the chance every time I got one to eat candy when i was a kid, and I've never had a single cavity in my life.

You wanted a book, right...????

Ha ha!! I crack myself up!!!! Get me going on a topic... Lordy lordy. ;)