Back in May 2008 when I began GITS (Go Into The Story), I had some specific goals in mind re its content:

* Create a place to honor screenwriters and screenwriting
* Aggregate interviews (video, written, audio) and features on screenwriters
* Provide learning resources to pre-pro writers
* Track news and trends re screenwriting, movies, and Hwood
* Make visitors aware of the many other online screenwriting blogs and resources on the Web
* Provide daily creative inspiration to writers

I had no idea what the response would be. Well, here we are nearly 20 months later, averaging nearly 2,000 unique visitors per day. And probably the one most satisfying developments has been the emergence of a GITS community. Between participation on the boards and the 10-20 emails from readers I get every day, it’s clear that this blog is meeting a need.

Over the holidays, I brainstormed ways to engender the community experience here and one thing I considered was how to provide more support for writers. The act of writing a screenplay is, as you well know, a lonely and difficult undertaking. What could I do on this blog to help?

Then in a wonderful bit of synchronicity, I received an idea from longtime reader Jeff Messerman. I’ll let Jeff introduce the concept as he has thought this through very well indeed:

“Greetings fellow GITS readers,

I’m certain many of you are aware of or are members of the various
screenwriting community sites out there like Trigger Street dot com,
Scripped, and Zoetrope. While these are fine and dandy sites, I feel
its easy to get lost in the crowd there. All have enormous amounts of
users and if you upload your work for perusal, you are bound to get
one of two reactions… 1. no reaction or 2. unduly negative reaction.
Basically, there’s no place to ‘fail.’ I don’t know about you but as
far as my experience goes, failure is the only road to success.

I’ve been involved in a few smaller fiction writers groups in the
past, quaint little local gatherings usually populated by divorced old
women who write really dark material and teenage girls who write about
puppies, ponies, and rainbows. Oh, and of course, the obligatory
Stephen King fanatic whose first short story is usually titled, “The
Bloody Axe of Jim-Bob McCoy.” These little groups do, however, serve
quite a bit of good because your material gets read and these folks
are always brutally honest – - they either like it or don’t. Best of
all, you are usually encouraged to bring in partials – - first
chapters, single pages, even a few paragraphs – - and you’ll always
get some sort of reaction.

With that framework in mind, I’d like to extend to all of you a hearty
invite to THE GITS CLUB. The idea is that this will be a small, safe
community for everyone to bounce their material off a (hopefully)
friendly bunch of fellow screenwriters. Partials are welcome. Single
acts, first pages, single scenes, whatever you wish to try. Consider
it a happy place to fail.

www.gitsclub.proboards.com is the address. Come on by. Bring us your
tired, your weak, your hungry… scripts, that is! Or, if you wish to
share with us your newest masterpiece, that’s fine too. However, I
would ask that if you are looking for a place to pick a fight or
denigrate people, please head on over to the community sites mentioned
above – - I think you’ll have more fun there. (Plus, if anyone bears
their fangs too much, I, as moderator, get to show you to the door.
I’m the father of 5 kids so don’t think I’ll hesitate for a second to
dole out a ‘time out.’)

I’ve been at this game for almost 20 years now. I’ve seen two of my
scripts make it to production (“Good Grief” and “Spiderville” for
those of you keeping score at home). I did a small, cowardly stint in
L.A., had a taste of representation, and almost saw a script sale (but
was too chicken to close the deal). This is something I know I’ve
always wished was available to me. My hope is this will serve a need
in this community. Common logic has always dictated that sharing a
script prior to completion is certain death. I disagree with that, I
think getting a reaction early on can actually SAVE a script,
especially if you suspect you may be heading in a foul direction.

I know the board looks primitive at this point but if things go well,
the plans are certainly in the works to expand. I would like to add a
You Tube page as well as a possible Stickam page for additional lines
of communication. Any other suggestions you folks have are more than
welcome. This has nothing to do with me or my ego… I’m just the guy
who put up the board. The rest, including its success or failure, is
up to you.

jmesserman@gmail.com is the best way to reach me with ideas or suggestions.

Now get writing! 2010 is OUR year! Time to reclaim the spec market!
Let’s remind the moviegoing public that STORY is what it’s all about!
THEY CAN TAKE OUR LIVES BUT THEY CAN’T TAKE OUR….

…sorry. Still reeling from last week’s Daily Dialogues…

See you at THE GITS CLUB!”

In the spirit of our emerging community, I think we should give this a try.

I confess I have little to no experience with any of the sites Jeff lists, other than a familiarity with their names. But regardless, one aspect we should all aspire to in The GITS Club is create a safe and supportive environment for writers. To that end, let me lay out what I tell my students at the beginning of each class:

A FEW WORDS ABOUT CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM

A professional screenwriter knows how to give and accept critiques on written material, something we can call constructive criticism. What that means is two-fold: I expect you to give honest feedback on your classmates’ writing assignments; a second and equally important element of constructive criticism is to provide creative suggestions how to improve the material. I count on each student to be an active participant on the Discussion Boards, and to give honest feedback and creative suggestions on every writing assignment. This maximizes the learning on all sides, creates a collaborative community, and in my experience, can help individual script projects immensely.

So in terms of The GITS Club, your honest feedback is critical. But your creative suggestions are equally important.

Two other things.

* Always critique the script, not the writer.

* Analyzing and critiquing a script, sequence, or scene not only benefits the writer who submitted the pages, it also benefits you — because developing your analytical ‘muscles,’ you will increase your own understanding of the fundamentals of what it takes to write a good story.

Let’s get this thing started to see if / how much interest there is. I’ll do my best to drop in and see how things are going, but I’d like to see if this can be a GITS community-run thing.

Jeff and I are also open to any suggestions you might have. One thing that comes to mind is a weekly selection of a scene or pages to promote here on the blog for greater analysis and feedback. But I’m more interested to hear your ideas than mine.

Big thanks to Jeff for his initiative and interest in The GITS Club, and also for taking on the task of moderating the boards. Jeff has not only been one of the most consistent GITS contributors since just about Day One, but also demonstrated an ideal personality for this task – smart, funny, friendly, yet experienced and passionate about writing.

So go visit The GITS Club and check out what Jeff has set up. Our hope, as Jeff indicated, is to create a “small, safe community” in which writers can share their material for some helpful constructive criticism.

Write on!