Project summary

Creating a platform that utilizes the power of storytelling to inspire action on humanity’s most urgent challenges. Through competitions, live readings, and creative collaboration, we help transform complex ideas into character-driven, emotionally resonant stories that move hearts and open minds for a better future.

What are this project's goals? How will you achieve them?

The goal is to build the narrative infrastructure for impact. Creating a scalable on-ramp for writers and actors to engage with impact issues through cause-area storytelling competitions and creative collaborations.

Like how DARPA seeded the internet to test distributed networks, we are seeding a network of creatives to create stories inspired by high-impact orgs, global catastrophic risks (like AI Safety, Nuclear Risks, Biosecurity), and global priorities (like Animal Welfare, and Climate Change). 

We will achieve these goals by:

• Allowing any writer to host any script for actors to perform in a table read*

  • Imagine if the submissions from the EA Writing contest or AI Fables contest could host their stories and actors could perform them. 

• Hosting cause-specific script competitions

  • Imagine if there was a BlueDot Narrative Screenplay competition

• Becoming a content flywheel

  • One script and its performance can turn into long form and short form content

  • Leads to an ecosystem to launch moonshots as an IP pipeline 

*A table read is a cost-effective and simple performance of a script by actors around a table in real life or virtually. Table reads were even brought up on the forum! 

The creative world is full of unused potential: only 2% of writers and actors make a living through their art, but the remaining 98% don’t disappear, they keep creating, performing, and showing up. Without an organization like this, a significant pool of creative talent will remain unactivated, and a larger potential audience will not be exposed to these critical ideas through engaging narratives.

Building the Narrative Infrastructure for Impact

Act Write Here operates as a profit-for-good ecosystem and is working to launch a nonprofit to host the competitions.

Act Write Here, Inc a for-profit creative marketplace connecting actors with writers for virtual performances known as table reads, before they make it to the big stage (or screen). The company develops the technology, platform, and creator network that make scalable impact storytelling possible.

Act Write Here Foundation will be a nonprofit activating this infrastructure through competitions and events, ensuring that every philanthropic dollar can travel further by running through a system designed to sustain itself. 501(c)(3) status through fiscal sponsorship.

How will this funding be used?

Act Write Here is raising a $1M pre-seed SAFE round at a $6M valuation cap to build the platform and establish a sustainable creative infrastructure for impact. A lead investment unlocks $550,000 in committed follow-on funding from three regional midwest VC funds once the first SAFE is executed. 

The ask:

$100K (5.5x multiplier) 

• the founder can go full time 

• triggers the existing $550K in follow-on commitments

• allows engagement in groups interested but requiring a SAFE before entering discussions 

$250K (2.2x multiplier) 

• expand institutional partnerships to test scalability (8 arts orgs and 10 universities interested)

• signals aligned “risk parity” with institutional investors soft-circled at $250K themselves

$450K (1.1x multiplier) 

• fully capitalizes the round

• focus on product, platform growth, and measurable social impact

• $100K to go towards 4 competitions + setting up nonprofit

  • $22.5K for each competition

    • $15K for prize funds ($10K winner + 2 runner ups sharing $5K)

    • $7.5K for content filming, editing, and distribution

    • $5K nonprofit via FSP setup

    • $5K unforeseen buffer costs

Theory of Change

If writers and performers are provided with accessible, meaningful opportunities to collaborate on cause-aligned stories, then it will unlock a pipeline that educates, mobilizes, and inspires new audiences toward global catastrophic risk reduction. This would amplify cause-based messaging while entertaining the public, but can then inspire action toward recruiting new talent into the ecosystem. 

Act Write Here Foundation Theory of Change in full document here.

Who is on your team? What's your track record on similar projects?

Laney Kraus-Taddeo, Founder: a video producer with 10 years experience:

• 6B+ views in politics (Harris-Walz, Biden-Harris, Presidential Inaugural Committee)

• 730M views in the music industry (JLo, the Jonas Brothers, Katy Perry)

• 20M views on personal accounts

• My favorite work can be found here, totaling 700M views. 

Laney is a produced playwright/screenwriter and has a theater background with over 300 performances by the time she turned 12 at prestigious theaters like The Goodman Theatre and Victory Gardens.

Product Designer whose clients include Netflix, Discord, and Lyft. She is currently on contract.

Mentors on this project include:

• Executive Producer and 3x Emmy Award Winner

• Co-Founder of Ryan Reynolds’ Creative Nonprofit

• Playwright with a musical previously on Broadway and a film starring Adam Sandler

• Director (Modern Family, Black-ish) and Directors Guild of America Winner

• Founder of a leading theater accessibility nonprofit organization

• Creative Director with clients: The Golden Globes & Toronto International Film Festival

• Former Manager, Go-To Market Operations at Facebook

• Director, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and 2x Emmy Award Winner

Is there a gap? Evidence of Demand?

I created a “cheap test” during the High Impact Professionals Program asking if there’s any interest from any actor to do any type of table read. I received 220 responses from 5 posts in Facebook actor groups in 48 hours. I not only think the world needs this, but I can make a clear argument that there is an appetite and the world is hungry for it. Hear it from creatives themselves: https://youtu.be/DqKoitK3PeE

The unfair advantages are my personal network of 845 connections to creatives in the industry, a growing 400+ waitlist for the platform, and the 10 universities that are interested in partnering with the company to service their students studying film production, theater, and creative writing.

How It Works

Via the platform:

• Writers host their own scripts which could include stories about global priorities

• Actors can then browse, select, and perform these scripts in virtual table reads

Via the competition:

• Cause-area-specific calls for submissions

• 50% of submission fees are donated to the cause-area sponsored organization

• Writers create new scripts that would not have existed otherwise

• Every submission receives a complimentary virtual table read through the sister Act Write Here platform, ensuring that every creative benefits, not just the winners

• Actors perform each submission

• Finalists are featured in live or recorded table read events, posted on social media

• The winning script receives prize money to make a short film version to be submitted in film festivals and/or posted on social media 

Competition Deliverables (4 competitions):

• Engages 50–100 writers to submit

• 200+ actors to perform the works virtually for all submissions (via the sister platform)

• 1 live "produced" events to film the winner

• 50 short form videos

• 1 audio-only podcast version

• 1 long form YouTube videos

Totaling 153 deliverables for each competition all before counting views

What are the most likely causes and outcomes if this project fails?

Causes: Scope creep, not enough measurable feedback loops, too broad ambitions.

Outcomes: Product development delays, limited early visibility, and content accuracy. Projects can face reputational or message dilution on highly complex concepts. Uneducated scripts can lead to a risk of trivialization.

Measuring Impact

How previous organizations have made an impact can be found here. Historical references of how arts measured impact also here.

The output: 

• # of scripts submitted, # of actors involved

• # of table reads performed, # of minutes performed

• # of views from content, # of donations

• # of watch time, engagement rate

Back of the envelope calculations:

• 4% of 50 videos (2 videos) goes viral — reaching 1M+ views each across platforms.

• Audience Reached: 2M people

• .02% take meaningful action (100x less than the 2% trend) → 400 people

  • If .02% of that group make a career shift (8 people x $88K salary) = $704K

  • If .02% of that group sign 10% pledge (8 people x $100K per person) = $800K

  • If .02% of that group donate to effective charities (8 people x $500) = $4K

If just .02% of the .02% group take meaningful action, that’s $1.5M of counterfactual impact. 

Fat-tail potential: While the modest projects can alone make this impactful, it also creates many shots for an astronomical outcome. For example, there are 6,000 community theaters in the United States alone. Through partnerships and community events, we could host performances with audiences across X amount of theaters. Here’s what it could look like.

Next Six Months

Laney’s Professional Visibility: Attending The Broadway League’s 3-day producing intensive hosted by the Commercial Theatre Institute in November. Submitted to be a panelist at BroadwayCon in January. Hosting and exhibiting at various film festivals/arts conferences in the spring.

Company’s Product Milestones: Closed beta test within two months and public launch in three months.

Competition Programming & Impact Launch: We’ll host and award our first cause-aligned script competition, focused on a major global issue. We repeat with a new competition every quarter.

How much money have you raised in the last 12 months, and from where?

In 8 weeks, I have secured $550,000 in follow-on funding that can only be unlocked after a first check. There are three VC regional funds in Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota that are ready to deploy capital.

Special Thanks

For looking at my Manifund proposal: Conor Barnes

For reading and reviewing my initial theory of change: Fin Moorhouse, Nina Friedrich, Aaron Gertler, Damon Sasi, Jacob Bauer, Tzu Kit Chan, Mick Zijdel, JS Winchell, Max Scarr, Callan Corcoran, Wayne Hsiung, Jamie Trevino, Anna Esakova, Adam Bales, Dalton Sweet, Aaron Walker, Rebecca Herbst, Kirsten Kainz, Deena Englander, Samuel Mazzarella, Elana Banin, Brett Mills, Jacqui Greeff, Denise Ferris, Emma Harper, Swapnil Mindhe, Patty Suquilanda, Rowan Klassen, Adam Cross, Guy Micklethwait, Heather Siekkinen, Denise Ferris, Emma Harper, Daryl Misrac, Evan Boyar, Giulia Consonni, Jason James,  Michael Van Niekerk, Natalie Darby, Paul LaForge, William Sceats, and Marigsel Adams.

For speaking with me about this vision: David Coman-Hidy, Jesse Marks, Joshua Landes, Gavin Leech, Evan Miyazono, Michael Trazzi, Jackson Wagner, Julia van Boven, Stien van der Ploeg, Sarah Gokhale, Emma Richter, James Rayton, Elizabeth Cox, Sharon Yang, Will Troy, Milan Griffes, Cristian Trout, Erin Morrissey, Sarah Pomeranz, Jay Shooster, Matthew Lee, Keaton Lee, Petr Lebedev, Ben Eisenpress, Gregory Shelby, Fernando Martin-Gulles, Ross Nordby, Abdur Raheem Ali, Gabby Diaz Sidron, Michael Middleton, Rick Holland, Zian Bonoan, Emma Cameron, Liam Elkins, Dave Hammerle, Sutton MacQueen, Mark DeVries, Daniela Tiznado, Harrison Wood, Jay Tate, Lizi Zipser, Joanna Broomfield, John Gargani, Justin Portela, Michael Thatcher, Celia Waggoner, Jorge Luruena Lopez, Anusha Mujumdar, Cibeles Garcia Burt, Hana Kalivodova, Hunar Batra, Jessica Hong, Justin Shenk, Natalie Salemink, Deepthi Bathini, Mariah Ventura, Richard Nerland, Paul Hardin, Doug Pike, Caitlin Borke, Victoria DeRooy, Michael Hsu, Carson Gale, Mark Lee, Larissa Schiavo, Aayami Sapkota, Aely Haccoun, Anders Granmo, Aristides Alvarez, Ayelette Robinson, Benjamin Hodkiss, Chiara Piacenza, Claus Geissendoerfer, Dalia Ezzat, Dinesh Natesan, Devika Suresh, Elliot Nelson, Eve Warlow, Jennifer Brunk, Jill Ambrosino, Julius Odai, Katerina Veliskova, Katya Skorobogatova, Kendall Banks, Kristina Karlsson, Linda Obregon, Magda Kwapisiewicz, Melina Lima, Michael Kerrison, Niels Wijnen, Paul Yates, Paula Gonzalez, Paulo Teixeria, Sanjay Ranjan, Steven Merriel, Thabang Sebata, Tobias Jones, Shakeel Hashim, J.T. Stanley, Luciano Ruben Lilloy Fedele, Carson Gale, Phoebe Brooks, Veronika Ryan Jemelikova, Ilkim Ozbek, Ishita Sabarwal, Jenna McNeil, Julian Woodhouse, Santhosh Adabala, Suman Gyawali, and Luis Burgis (my very first EA course facilitator!).

I’m a producer, what can I say!