Some News from Wscripted:

What's news: Our perspective on AI regulations in Hollywood; upcoming promotion of Third Cannes Screenplay List nominees; subscription updates; future changes to Wscripted's strategy and platform to support diverse writers' discovery.

Dear community,

We hope you have managed through the picket lines and summer heat these past few months.

Since the writers' strike began on May 1st, our industry has been turned upside down. The strike has significantly impacted our industry, leading to postponed film and TV releases, delayed productions, and a halt in project development activities such as writing, pitching, revising, and negotiating, which we know impacted a lot of our community members.

While we eagerly await a beneficial resolution, we have used this time to reconsider Wscripted's strategy. Our goal is to not only amplify our community of women and non-binary writers but also work towards safeguarding the rights of writers in Hollywood.

HOW TO REGULATE AI TO PROTECT WRITERS

As a mission-driven startup dedicated to leveraging technology for the benefit of diverse writers' discovery, we have taken a careful approach to AI as it became a major topic during the strikes. Since May, we have collaborated with organizations and companies behind the scenes to advocate for AI regulations that safeguard the jobs and literary works of writers in Hollywood and beyond.

We recently published an article in the Observer. Read the full article written by our CEO Ellie Jamen here.

2023 LIST UPCOMING PROMOTION

While we had to limit the promotion of the Third Cannes Screenplay List due to the strike rules set by the WGA, we are excited to resume promoting this year’s nominees to production companies once the strike ends. The promotion will include special features of the nominees on our social media, pitches to producers and development executives, and highlights of the list through our partner ReFrame. This will coincide with the launch of our decision-maker-focused platform, Wscripted+ (more details in the next section).

Read the Third Cannes Screenplay List press announcement in Variety here

UPDATES ON STRATEGY AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

We have spent the past few months reevaluating our strategy in order to have a greater impact on our community of women and non-binary writers. It is our utmost priority to create genuine value and find ways to eliminate the barriers that hinder the connection between diverse writers and decision-makers. As a result, we have shifted our priorities:

Strategy:

Since 2020, we have been building our talent platform and promoting the works of women and non-binary writers. Through collaborations with 20 independent producers and studio executives from prominent production companies and studios, we gained insights into their lack of time to discover new and diverse talents, their needs and received feedback. This led us to develop a decision-maker-focused platform called Wscripted+. The platform enables decision-makers to read projects faster, facilitating the discovery of talented and diverse writers beyond network. Currently exclusive to studios and production companies, the technology will be accessible to all Film, TV professionals as well as writers via our talent platform in 2024.

Subscriptions:

We have updated all Club and Premium memberships to Free memberships. Starting from 2024, paid subscriptions will be reintroduced for the use of our technology and to receive view profile notifications from decision-makers. Programming and Cannes Screenplay List applications will also resume in the new year!

Annual Partner

Wscripted’s annual partner MUBI is offering 30 days of great cinema to all Wscripted’s community. Click here to redeem MUBI’s free offer and start streaming today!