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Speaker 1: [upbeat music]

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Speaker 1: Hello. Welcome to another episode of
the Collected Developer Commentary. So this is

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Speaker 1: the show where I talk about the show
and where it's all going. So this is part

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Speaker 1: one of a master plan series that
explains exactly how we're gonna do things a
little

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Speaker 1: bit differently here, uh, than most
of the other podcasts you probably listen to.

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Speaker 1: But I'm gonna go ahead and give you
the punchline right now.

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Speaker 1: It's not about me. It's about all of
us. So who, who is us?

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Speaker 1: So we are the storytellers and the
lovers of story who support them. That's

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Speaker 1: who we are. So if you don't care
about the creators or their wellbeing,

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Speaker 1: unfortunately this is not the place
for you. Now, support isn't always

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Speaker 1: financial, but if you're not
interested in getting involved somehow, then
you're

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Speaker 1: gonna get less and less out of
Collected. You're just not gonna enjoy it
because

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Speaker 1: we're building it for our people, and
our people are the creators of great story

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Speaker 1: and the lovers of story who support
them. That's us.

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Speaker 1: Now, Collected is just the name of
the brand. Uh, it's a creator-first brand and
the

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Speaker 1: beginning of a user-created,
user-owned multiverse.

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Speaker 1: It's not mine. It belongs to all of
us, but we'll get into that. My name is

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Speaker 1: Steven Schrembeck. I'm a writer and
programmer. I see my role here really as a

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Speaker 1: facilitator and pace car. Basically,
I'm gonna set the vision. I'm gonna get it all

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Speaker 1: started, but then I'm gonna take a
step back and start supporting you all so you
can

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Speaker 1: take it over. Now, I am personally
committed to writing and producing a 12-story

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Speaker 1: block. So here's what's gonna happen.
Each story follows the events of a different

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Speaker 1: inner world. Mortal Steel is just the
first of these stories. Uh, it has 12

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Speaker 1: episodes, and it's part of the
12-story block called the Revealer Block. If

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Speaker 1: you wanna know why, you'll just have
to keep listening to find out. But that's just

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Speaker 1: the surface level. Let's dig into
what exactly I mean when I say Collected is

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Speaker 1: not mine, it's ours.

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Speaker 1: So I have three important points to
go over here. One, our shared multiverse is

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Speaker 1: called the Eternium. It's shared
because once we're ready, Collected is going to

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Speaker 1: start taking community submissions.
That means any story which meets some very basic

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Speaker 1: qualifications for what is a
Collected story is going to become canon in our

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Speaker 1: multiverse.

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Speaker 1: Now, obviously, it's gonna take some
time to build out a pipeline where we can start

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Speaker 1: accepting submissions, actually doing
something with them and turning them into

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Speaker 1: stories and getting people to produce
them, so for a while, just expect to see

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Speaker 1: mostly my work. But the goal is,
eventually, my work is just gonna be a tiny
portion

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Speaker 1: of all the great stories that you
have available here. So as a listener, that's

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Speaker 1: obviously good for you. There's gonna
be more great stuff coming. But if you're a

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Speaker 1: creator or aspiring creator, so
specifically a writer, voice actor, musician, or

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Speaker 1: visual artist, you're gonna wanna pay
extra close attention because we've got some

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Speaker 1: really cool opportunities coming up.
But honestly, this is about more than just the

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Speaker 1: creators because not everyone wants
to make stories, and that's okay. I'd wager that

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Speaker 1: only a small portion of the community
will ever really be interested in learning the

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Speaker 1: skills to tell stories. No problem.
So that brings me to my second point. Number

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Speaker 1: two, we're using an open, shared IP
model.

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Speaker 1: That means any member can create
their own content, sell their own merchandise,

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Speaker 1: and even spin off their own podcast
and make money from any Collected story IP.

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Speaker 1: Whether that's one of my 12 worlds or
somebody else's, it doesn't matter. Now, if

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Speaker 1: you're a creator, your brain is
probably melting. What do you mean other people
can

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Speaker 1: make money off my story worlds? I'm
not gonna get into the details today, technical

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Speaker 1: implementation or otherwise, but the
gist is that as long as the sellers and

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Speaker 1: creators play by a few simple rules,
a small portion of the revenue is gonna come

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Speaker 1: back to the entire community,
including the authors that created the stories.
But

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Speaker 1: the gist is anyone can sell stuff,
and we all get a little bit of money from it. So

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Speaker 1: if you want to sell Mortal Steel
stickers or a T-shirt or a fan-made sequel, you

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Speaker 1: don't have to ask me. There's gonna
be a very simple self-service and mostly

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Speaker 1: automated way of going about this.
But I'm also aware that a lot of people aren't

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Speaker 1: gonna wanna do that either, which
brings me to the third point. Anybody who

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Speaker 1: contributes to Collected is a part
owner. This is gonna take a little explanation.

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Speaker 1: Just imagine that if every time you
commented or posted or did a like on Facebook,

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Speaker 1: you got a tiny share of the business
itself, and anytime Facebook made money, you

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Speaker 1: got a cut of that money relative to
how many of those tiny shares you owned. That's

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Speaker 1: what I'm building for you. It's not
lip service when I say that it is ours.

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Speaker 1: Collected is actually going to be
yours in the financial sense as much as it is

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Speaker 1: mine. This is obviously a very lofty
vision, and it's gonna take some time to build

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Speaker 1: out, but that's the goal. So anytime
Collected makes money, as long as you hold

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Speaker 1: something that gives you a share,
you're gonna make a little bit of money too. So

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Speaker 1: you might be asking, "Who gets these
shares?" Uh, the short answer is anybody who

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Speaker 1: contributes value. Obviously, there's
a lot of details here. Besides producing

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Speaker 1: things to consume, like stories or
merchandise, whether that's digital or physical,

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Speaker 1: you can do things like start
discussions, host events, or just share stories.

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Speaker 1: Really, anything that benefits all of
us, you're going to get rewarded for, and

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Speaker 1: that's going to earn you a piece of
the total pie. I'm gonna get more into the

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Speaker 1: mechanisms behind this actually works
and how it's possible in the next Master Plan

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Speaker 1: episode. But just know that that's
what's coming.

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Speaker 1: Obviously, this is a pretty new way
to run an organization, but it's actually

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Speaker 1: gaining in popularity. We're not the
first, and it really represents part of a

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Speaker 1: larger shift. People are kind of
tired of top-down organizations that really only

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Speaker 1: reward the people at the top, more or
less at the expense of everyone else, or at

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Speaker 1: the very least, they don't get nearly
as much out of it. Collected is actually just

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Speaker 1: a small part of this bigger cultural
movement happening right now. It is a shift in

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Speaker 1: power to creators, which is being
enabled by technology. And it's also a shift to

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Speaker 1: the people who support those
creators. It's cutting out a lot of middlemen.
But it's

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Speaker 1: doing more than cutting out
middlemen. It's also making the supporters part
owners

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Speaker 1: in the entire project. I'll also talk
a little bit more about the creator economy in

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Speaker 1: some of the, uh, later Master Plan
episodes.

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Speaker 1: I hope you found that useful. Yeah,
let me level with you. I can get this started,

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Speaker 1: but I can't do it on my own. I'll be
announcing some opportunities to get involved

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Speaker 1: later, but only to the people who are
on the email list. So if you wanna get

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Speaker 1: involved on the first projects, make
sure you're on it. Sign up is at

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Speaker 1: collectedaudio.com. And remember,
this is a shared project, and the way these

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Speaker 1: projects usually go, even though it's
early days, the people who get in early are

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Speaker 1: the people who get rewarded the most.
And that's as it should be because those are

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Speaker 1: the people taking the biggest risks
with their time, effort, and money. While I

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Speaker 1: can't promise financial returns, and
this isn't financial advice, if you

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Speaker 1: believe in this model and in this
bigger cultural shift and you kinda buy into
this

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Speaker 1: vision, you will be rewarded. And the
more you do and the more you contribute,

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Speaker 1: and the earlier you contribute
especially, the more you will be rewarded.

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Speaker 1: So I'm gonna leave you with one
question to chew on before the next Master Plan

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Speaker 1: episode in, I don't know, maybe a
month or so. Should I bet on this?

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Speaker 1: Do you want to see more of this kind
of thing in the world? Think about it. This

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Speaker 1: space is moving insanely fast, like
crazy fast, uh, and we're not gonna slow down.

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Speaker 1: So I'm only bringing in the people
who really know that they wanna get in early. If

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Speaker 1: that's you, cool, sign up. I'd love
to have your help.

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Speaker 1: All right, let's wrap this up with a
little bit of housekeeping. So Mortal Steel is

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Speaker 1: going to wrap at twelve episodes.
We're gonna do a short break, which I'm going to

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Speaker 1: fill with a couple surprises. Uh, and
then season two starts. Production on season

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Speaker 1: two is picking up. The major
characters and the plot are done, but the
story's still

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Speaker 1: being written. I'll be putting out
casting calls for voice actors soon, and work on

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Speaker 1: the cover art and music will begin as
well. So as far as the sound design goes, I'm

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Speaker 1: gonna tease you with this. I am
planning something rather ambitious. I think
it's

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Speaker 1: something you've never heard before.
Uh, and I [laughs] I might regret the

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Speaker 1: workload, to be honest with you. But
we'll see. We'll see. If you wanna hear a

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Speaker 1: teaser of that, as always, be on the
email list. Collected is less and less

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Speaker 1: and less for the passive listener and
more and more and more for the engaged

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Speaker 1: community member. That's just how I
think it should be. There are thousands of great

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Speaker 1: podcasts and audiobooks for you to
listen to. If you just wanna be a passive

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Speaker 1: listener, please go consume those.
They absolutely need your support. And finally,

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Speaker 1: special thanks to the alpha readers
who made season two better already. I really,

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Speaker 1: really appreciate your work. And I
appreciate you, traveler, for listening to our

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Speaker 1: show. And I can't wait to bring you
more. See ya.