More times than I can count, I’ve had an idea which required collaboration with other puppeteers, but there wasn’t technology to support it. For example, an anthology of puppet videos which told an interwoven story produced by different creators and submitted to me. There just wasn’t an easy way to pull everything together and present it as one, cohesive presentation. If they were submitted via Dropbox, I would need to edit them together, and if they were posted on YouTube, then I could put them together in a playlist, but then it wouldn’t feel like a viewing experience you might get if you were watching a movie.

And, there was the logistics of getting everybody organized, collecting their submissions, reviewing them.

So, this week I was playing around with Base44 and I decided to try building something that would fill in the gaps and streamline this process. I called it “Show Runner,” and I think that does what I’ve needed an app to do.

Within the app, users are either producers, viewers, or contributors. A producer can create a show and scheduled episodes of that show. They can then add videos to an episode. Or, they can review a list of submitted videos and add them to the episode. Then, they would make the episode live or schedule a date and time when they would like it to launch. They can also invite other creators to contribute their video.

Anybody who lands on Show Runner can follow a show and watch an episode as it goes live. While they’re watching, they can leave a comment, or chat with other viewers.

So, in theory, you could put on a talent show, puppet slam, a best of reel, or release a drama. In an era obsessed with short form entertainment, this is a platform which can stitch them together and create a longer experience.