Issue 006 (Accelerator Deadline T-1 Week)

That's right folks, get your applications in! The deadline for the StoryCo Accelerator - our program dedicated to empowering storytellers worldwide to turn their scripts, comics, short stories and audio narratives into multimedia epics - closes in just one week, on February 29th at midnight PST.

Oh, and we also made some huge improvements to the entire Co/Create user experience and made all submissions public to allow you to view all submissions, give and receive feedback, and connect with other creators worldwide...

All that and more in this issue of the Storyline.

TLDR:

-Recap of our Accelerate Launch + Accelerator FAQs

-Glimpse into the redesign of our Co/Create pages

-We're co-hosting a webinar with Roadmap Writers!

-Celebrating our StoryCo family for their big wins at the GLOBES AND EMMYS🏆

-Comparing and Contrasting 3 submissions for the Grace Blevins Co/Create

-Sneak peak of the next few months for StoryCo 👀

Dive in...

ICYMI: We Launched our $100K Accelerate Fund!

Exciting news for storytellers worldwide: StoryCo's $100K Accelerator Fund is live! This is your chance to turn your script, short story, comic, or audio-narrative into a multimedia epic on our platform.

Our first collaborative narrative, THE DISCO BALL, is a dynamic story that combines script, art, performance and music. Our Accelerator Program will offer selected projects funding (between $5-10K per story), resources, and support to bring your original idea to life in the same way - without taking any ownership of your IP.

With nearly 100 submissions already, including from a Tribeca Film Festival award winner, a Marvel illustrator, and a Webtoon creator with over 9 million views on their web comic, we've been blown away by the talent coming our way from all corners of the globe (and internet).

Let us help you create that precious story you’ve always dreamed of seeing visually realized and consumed by hundreds and thousands of new fans…

To learn more about the Accelerator, check out our blog post from launch and visit the Accelerator page on our site at Story.co/accelerator.

And of course, head to our Google Form application to submit your story idea by February 29th!

Accelerator FAQs

Got questions about the Accelerator? We got answers.

Here’s a handy one-sheeter FAQ to forecast all of your most pressing questions (with the full list of FAQs available at the bottom of Story.co/accelerator).

Announcing our Webinar with Roadmap Writers next Monday, February 26th at 6pm PST!

If you’re still wondering what the Accelerator entails, need application tips or are curious about StoryCo’s approach to developing multimedia stories, we’ll be taking a deeper dive in our webinar this coming Monday - co-hosted with the great folks at Roadmap Writers!

Come with your questions! Event link to come on our socials shortly…

Co/Create Submissions are Now Public!

We're thrilled to announce a major update to our Co/Create user experience: all submissions are now public!

The revamped Co/Create pages make it easier than ever to quickly publish your work, give and receive feedback, and celebrate the creativity of our community. Further updates were made to the Co/Create submission experience such as keeping the entirety of the submission process on platform.

These updates underline our commitment to fostering an open dialogue around the creative process and highlighting every submitter's work. While there is technically only one “winner” per Co/Create, we hope that seeing your work published on our platform gives you the satisfaction of sharing your work to a global audience of potential new fans and collaborators.

Visit Story.co/create to explore the existing submissions and submit your own work to CO/CREATE!

Comparing Three Grace Blevins Backstory Co-Creations ✨

In the spirit of Co/Create and in honor of submissions going public, we're highlighting three Grace Blevins Co-Creations to compare and contrast the different creative choices the three submitters made from the same creative prompt:

Tracy Liu's Co-Creation: Tracy crafts a sweeping narrative that jumps back and forth between scenes from Grace's upbringing in rural Georgia with her uptight family to her life aboard the ISS, contrasting her hardships as an adolescent with how far she made it later in life in her lucrative career.

Colby Hanik's Co-Creation: Colby examines Grace's fraught upbringing through the setting of a surprise birthday thrown by her friends, in which an appearance from her parents unearths old wounds amidst such a joyous occasion.

DannyOne's Co-Creation: Danny sets his Grace backstory during her days as an undergrad at MIT and introduces a love interest in her life to highlight how being away from home allowed her to come into her true identity while forcing her to make sacrifices to achieve success in such a cutthroat career (yes, there's college heartbreak involved).

StoryCo family wins big at the Globes and Emmys 🏆

Last month, we celebrated some big wins for StoryCo affiliated creators: both Lee Sung Jin and Lionel Boyce won big at the Golden Globes and Emmys!

Lee Sung Jin’s BEEF won in all three of its nominated categories at the Golden Globes including Best Limited Series, before going on to win 5 trophies at the Emmy Awards the following week. Sung Jin has been a Producer Token Holder and advisor since StoryCo's earliest days and you can check out a Q & A we conducted with him here.

Lionel Boyce and the rest of the cast and crew of THE BEAR won Best Musical/Comedy Series at the Golden Globes, for which Lionel accepted the award and gave an awesome acceptance speech that you can watch here. Lionel plays astronaut Marcus Rhoder in THE DISCO BALL, and you can check out his amazing voice performance in the Marcus Rhoder backstory here!

What to Keep an Eye Out For 👀

Lastly, with the Accelerator launch and Co/Create updates in our rearview, here’s a teaser of what you can expect in the coming month from the StoryCo-verse:

Accelerator results: We’re so psyched about the diverse array of stories being submitted to our Accelerator and can't wait to announce the accepted projects in mid to late March.

New Co/Create opportunities: From the 10-20 projects in our Accelerator cohort, there will be a whole host of new Co/Create opportunities released by the creators seeking collaborators to provide writing, visuals, voice performances, music and more to their stories.

“The Art of the RomCom” Co/Lab with Ilana Wolpert: Ilana Wolpert, screenwriter of the hit rom-com ANYONE BUT YOU starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, will be hosting a Co/Lab in March where she'll teach you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about romcoms!