NICK ALECK

SENIOR PRODUCT LEADER

Over ten years of experience providing product design and development solutions for companies including JPMorgan Chase, DocuSign, American Medical Association, American Library Association, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Groupon, Allstate, DePaul University and Northwestern University

Master of Science degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) from DePaul University,

Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing from Columbia College Chicago

Certificate Master of Product Design and Development from Northwestern University

SCRIPT COURIER SCRIPT DELIVERY APP - Masters Degree Project

Having worked on the ground floor of a network television sitcom, managing script deliveries was a daily task. Everyone from the studio executives to the costume designers to set designers needed access to the most up-to-date version of the script. During a typical week, a script can go through as many as five revisions ranging from small line changes to complete story overhauls. The traditional way of delivering the scripts involves a production assistant waiting in the production office until the latest revision is complete. At which point, they will collate somewhere between 75 – 100 scripts and divide them amongst the other production assistants and hand delivery them.

To me, this process seemed ideal for a mobile delivery approach. I envisioned an app that would work across platforms to bring together everyone responsible for the writing process of a television show or motion picture script. With the press of a button, a new script revision could be sent to the entire crew and heighten the efficiency of an entire production. Through research with actual professionals in the field, it was clear that there was a heavy tactile relationship with a paper script. Writers used backsides of pages for notes, actors kept notes related to their delivery next to their lines and scene designers sketched visions for particular scenes. Keeping all of this in mind, I developed different roles for each of these professionals that offered specific tools and capabilities for their needs. I incorporated video and audio recording for actors to rehearse lines and use the playback feature. Writers were given a note space to compile as many notes as necessary for a scene. Since paper scripts represented revisions by using different colors of paper, I carried this over into the app as well. By incorporating these features to an app that worked on the desktop or in the field, I was able to create a symbiotic system for everyone to be on the same page when they needed to be.