Storyboard

I got this in my inbox. I think it sounds pretty darn interesting and I encourage readers to give it a shot.

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Dear Friends:

In order to indulge our near-obsessive love of public radio and desire to fill the universe with the best stories out there, we are announcing the formation of a new online venture: Storyboard.

Having educated ourselves in the ways of digital audio recording and digital sound editing, we are looking for a few good stories to edit into listener-friendly podcasts or streaming audio, and then to post them for public consumption on a new website.

What does this require? Why, your participation, of course.

What does my participation require? Your willingness to tell a story, of course.

How does it work? For starters, decide if you have a story about something that happened to you that changed your outlook on... something. Yourself, your life, your career, your political views, whatever. The story should be about a person, place, or event that had an impact on you. It should have a beginning, a middle, and an end. It can be funny, heartbreaking, or just fascinating. The more personal, the better. Preferably it should take somewhere between 5-15 minutes to tell. And it goes without saying that you need to be willing to share this story with the world. Because once we commit it to "tape," it will be out there for all to hear. Though we would prefer to identify all storytellers by their actual names, you may choose to have your piece credited to an assumed name.

Sound interesting? Here are the next steps.

1. E-mail us at info -at- storyboardaudio.com. Send us a summary of your story in 1-3 paragraphs. It doesn't have to be well-written -- just give us a sense of the story's content and structure. What is its beginning, middle, and end?

2. One of us will respond to you. We will say one of the following: (a) Yes, let's set up a time to record that. (b) It might be a great story, we just need a little more information before we can make a decision (it may be too long or short, or missing certain elements) (c) In our subjective opinion, we don't think it's right for this project (i.e. it's just not the right piece for this venue).

3. If your story is selected and recorded, it will be featured on the main page of StoryBoard, then eventually moved to the archives. We'll also give you a CD and a link to the story's home in our archives.

Want to hear a sample of what we're planning? Check out http://storyboardaudio.com/ to hear our inaugural story, a piece Eric recorded a couple years ago, a hilarious and terrifying story of poor college students crashing a high-end party, with disastrous results. (P.S. Not all stories have to feature celebrities)

So that's it. StoryBoard in a nutshell. We are excited about this project and hope you'll share your stories with us. Or ask us questions. Have a friend or friends you think might groove on the idea? Feel free to forward this e-mail to her/him/them.

Yours in auditory solidarity,

Robin Reed and Eric Winick