As we’ve been chatting with all the folks about the Oregon Story Board concept—a startup accelerator borrowing some of the concepts we’ve learned at PIE and apply them to the world of digital storytelling—one of the most interesting parts of the conversation has been how these creatives think about their projects and pursuits.
This is an ongoing experiment. And we’ve learned more than a few things. Mostly, we’ve learned that folks are curious, but unsure if they fit the mold. (Spoiler alert: They do.)
- Digital storytelling creatives don’t often identify their projects as a business. While folks in the tech startup scene self-identify as “building a business,” many of the people pursuing awesome storytelling concepts are motivated by pure creative energy. And while they realize that they have to find ways to fund their projects, seeing that project as a “startup” or a “business” is often an non-obvious intuitive leap.
- Acceleration is not a common concept. Again, in the tech startup world, folks have been conditioned to understand the concept of an accelerator. In fact, some would argue that startups have been inundated with accelerator opportunities. But if you don’t see your digital storytelling as a business and you don’t have any peers who are going through accelerators, then seeing an accelerator as an opportunity for your company is yet another non-intuitive leap.
- “Digital Storytelling” is an even more broad and amorphous term than “startup.” From an Oregon Story Board perspective, we see digital storytelling as covering a very broad range of pursuits. It could be anything from content creation—filmmaking, transmedia, journalism, video games—to creating technology and platforms that support storytellers—blogging platforms, special effects software, editing suites—to the services industries that support storytelling—production, post production, digital agencies. But that isn’t inherently obvious by muttering the words “digital storytelling”.
But for all of that learning, there’s still one thing that we’ve known for awhile: the deadline for Oregon Story Board applications. Which is today. July 28, 2014. And 11:59PM.
While we’re not assuming we can accelerate the creative process, we are sure we can help you accelerate the business of being a creative. So come spend some time with us in this little experiment. And let’s see what we can do.
For more information or to apply, visit Oregon Story Board. But hurry. Your procrastination is at an end.
[Full disclosure: I’m the cofounder and an advisor to Oregon Story Board. And I’d love the chance to help out on that awesome thing that you’re doing.]