Tim Wilson
3
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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See, now here I was with a bunch of side dishes, wondering what to do with them.
This is the best news I’ve heard all week.
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[Mark Suszko] “ome big name actors will do a gig for free or for scale, just because they like the part and don’t care about the money because they are already rich. Some will agree to defer their payment”
There’s a great article in the Artistic Passion issue of the Cow magazine about a documentary filmmaker who used both of these approaches. The musician Mercan Dede (a giant in the world music genre) agreed to work for free because he liked the project. Narrator Peter Coyote — a political activist long before he was an actor — agreed to defer his fee.
So ask straight up, I’d love to have you involved, what would it take. No need to say you have no budget. Nobody has a budget. 🙂
[Mark Suszko] “everything was up to his publishers”
Often the case with writers, even more so with musicians. They may simply not have the legal right to offer permission to anything, because they have no ownership of it, or because ownership is restricted.
Serialization rights for Asimov is a perfect example. It’s easy to imagine someone of his stature owning the rights to his characters (absolutely NOT a guarantee for an author), but because of the publisher’s investment MAKING him someone of that stature, they want some control over them.
Now that I think about it, some actors have similar restrictions based on contracts with people who have nothing to do with your project. Maybe they’re in contracts that won’t allow them to work for anything less than scale, or only allows deferral if others are deferring as well, etc.
The specifics vary so widely, though, that once again, it’s worth asking.
Re: a written agreement: even if you don’t feel you need a written agreement, I can’t imagine that the celebrity won’t want one.
Which means that you DO need one. If any issues need settling down the road, they can surely afford to pay their lawyers more than you can afford to pay yours.
But seriously, start by asking. If they’re interested, the rest is negotiable. If they’re not, doesn’t matter what resources you have lined up for them.
And if they’re just not available, neither their interest or your ability to pay matters. 🙂
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[Ron Lindeboom] “[Don Greening] “Franklin: Now there’s a voice I’ve been really missing around here.””
[Ron Lindeboom] “…we are…delighted that the experiment with the magazine has proved to be a better use of the COW’s limited resources”
My favorite thing about the magazine is the number of new voices it introduces. Yes, we’ve had some of our highest-profile leaders write for us — including Nick Griffin, Walter Biscardi, Bob Zelin and Aharon Rabinowitz among others.
But for each of them, we have a dozen or more Cow members who’ve never written an article before.
These new voices display an astonishing array of creativity. They explored new business models. They provide insights into unexplored realms within our industry.
And yes, thanks to these striking new voices, we’ve boldly gone where no other magazine in our industry has even imagined. There has really, truly never been anything remotely like the Cow Magazine as a showcase for so many different voices.
Seriously, take a look at the rest of them. They feature the same writers again and again. Most of those writers write for other magazines as well, often in the very same month.
One of the most distinctive and important aspects of The Bessie Bovine Experience is how many voices you’ll hear. I can’t even believe how lucky I am to work on a magazine that helps elevate them.
Insert your favorite Hendrix reference here,
Tim -
There’s a brand new tutorial in the Creative COW Library that shows how to do something just like what you’re talking about:
https://library.creativecow.net/articles/thompson_bob/ink_blot_test.php
It’s a very very good place to begin.
Good luck!
Best,
Tim -
[Nick Griffin] “More Cowbell!!”
Dagnabbit, THAT’s what I should have said!! Here I thought I was being funny, and I was just being pathetic. Again.
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[Del Holford] “Morro Rock on the banner and the confederate gray screen”
Morro Rock does indeed rock.
The gray is inspired by the darker bands in Humboldt Fog, the ne plus ultra of American goat cheeses. (We like giving Bessie a day off now and again.)
Seriously, if you haven’t tried Humboldt Fog, stop what you’re doing, head down to your local artisan cheese shop, and prepare to have your mind blown. More than enough to base an entire site redesign around, I assure you.
Guess what I had for lunch. 🙂
Best,
Tim -
[Steve Wargo] “or am I losing it?”
I can’t comment on that, but this is indeed the next phase of our interface redesign. Ron can give more details when he’s back in the office, but the credits include Bret Williams on design, Abraham Chaffin and Eric Bliss on code, directed by Ron Lindeboom.
I played conga and triangle, and cleaned up after craft services. Which is to say, all the important work was done by them other folks.
More fun coming, too….
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[Abraham] “Bret Williams came up with the design”
Oops! Yes, Ron told me about Bret. Apologies for leaving him out, and Eric too.
See? The list of people who aren’t me is getting longer. 🙂
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I had precisely ZERO to do with the new look. Ron’s hated how The COW has looked pretty much from day 1. The goal was to get it up, and fix the look later. Turns out much later.
Ron mapped out the design, Abraham implemented. I’m a happy cow downstream, just like everyone else.
Thanks for thinking I have good taste, though. I really don’t. 🙂
tw
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[Jacki in Atlanta] “But what I did gain was a better understanding of why women avoid situations where they are greatly outnumbered.”
Actually, we have a significant number of women posting at The COW, far more than I’ve ever seen in other tech forums. My guess at the blogs, where we have real names, is that women represent around 30% of the registrations.
As a result, our experience is that women here feel quite free indeed to post, and do every day. ANY political discussion — including gender politics — risks becoming personal, which is why discourage them.
Apart from any specific content, the tone of the original subject line was provocative, and did indeed provoke. As I noted offline, there’s no need for that, as the people here aren’t afraid to address anything. 🙂
We are once again veering well off the topic of business and marketing, so I’m going to request that this wind down please.
However, if somebody cares to try again, keeping the conversation firmly focused on business and marketing, go for it. On topic, and off personal please.
Your pal,
Tim