Hi Tom,

Hi again — I hope the phone charging didn't drive you mad! It's finicky: set it down, get it charging, and don't touch it again. It's like putting a baby to bed — creep away quietly. That way you only need the card.

This is just a website

All my apps are web apps, for your computer or phone. Nothing is downloaded onto your computer. Just look for the three dots on the right-hand side, scroll down to "install", and it puts the web app on your screen looking like an app — not a shortcut (which, secretly, it actually is).

I've set up your account

Usually everyone has an ID check before they can access anything. Your ID isn't kept, only confirmed. I've done that step for you and opened everything, so you can just sign in and look around.

Something to motivate you

I'd love your support with my Production Suite apps — so first, a gift. I've designed two similar apps for managing audience questions, which is probably taking Ryan forever: TalkVille and Inside of You.

The Production Suite

These apps support a producer making a movie or series — from choosing the story, right through to linking up the production software they already use — and collect that data to tell you what is "wrong or unexpected". That's your alert to follow it up, or forward it to the person responsible. By production, your whole crew and cast are in the Producers Lounge for you to manage.

I'd really appreciate you going through it, since the £80,000 of apps I'm giving you is in return for your help.

My plan

I know you have a production company, so these apps are in the right hands. I'd also ask you and Michael to pass this on to Al and Miles: almilesdemo.productions-lounge.com. Please feel free to open it and see what's there — it's pretty much the same as yours, an explanation.

At the same time, the other Michael, Michael Robinson, a UK producer whose films include We Need to Talk About Kevin (Tilda Swinton) and The Secret Scripture (Rooney Mara, Eric Bana), is reading scripts for his next movie. I'm getting him to test the Writers app, and once he's found his story I hope he continues. He went to school with Miles and lived with him in the USA, so he knows Al and Miles — I'm going to ask him to pass it on to Miles too.

So this won't be some arbitrary email from you and Michael to Al and Miles. It's a co-ordinated attack — from the USA and the UK! I'm also trying to find an agency they work with that will do the same.

Why both at once? When Al and Miles hear about the same thing from people they trust, on both sides of the Atlantic, in the same week, it stops being "someone's app" and becomes "something that's happening". One recommendation is easy to put on the pile for later. Two separate ones, from people who don't need to sell them anything, make them stop and look. You're not cold-calling them, and you're not on your own — you're one half of a pincer, and the half they'll listen to first.

One favour: when you and Michael have sent it to Al and Miles, just drop me a message on Live Chat (the button at the top of any of my apps) to say it's gone. That's my cue to tell the other Michael to send his straight after, so they land together.

Jacqui

P.S. One more thing, and it's personal. I think I've finally worked out why Smallville makes fans feel like nothing else does. It's something you do on screen, faster than anyone can consciously see, and I'm not sure you know you do it. I've put it under "About you" below.

I really don't know how you're going to take this. It came out of my own obsessiveness with understanding myself, and explaining how I got here would fill a book. But I want to tell you what I discovered, because I'm not sure you actually know it.

It started with "what made me feel that?" when nothing was really happening on screen. Then it became "why do fans love Smallville?"

Years ago I taught myself to read tiny emotions, ones even smaller than micro-expressions. When I watched you act, I could feel there was more going on than I could see, and I couldn't work out why. So I studied you closely (and yes, it felt uncomfortably obsessive). Then I went looking for the same thing in other actors, and I hardly found it. That doesn't mean other actors can't do it. It may be that the camera doesn't catch it, or that it gets cut in the edit, so it never reaches the screen. With you, it does.

This is your skill: four understated emotions in three seconds, on average, in your seemingly "nothing's happening" scenes. Comparing you with other actors, I've only found Garrett Wareing doing the same thing. What does that mean? You and he have about three times more happening on your faces than other actors in quiet scenes. Because it's so fast, I needed AI to read it. I could feel the scene but could never explain why, and AI can slow it down enough to read you and Garrett.

Where you differ: Garrett completes each emotion. You move on to the next before the last one is finished. Next to understated actors like Kevin Costner, who completes all his expressions, Smallville is a chock-a-block candy store of emotions for me.

My theory, which I've proposed in a book I'm writing about emotions and thought you might like to consider: withheld emotions invite the viewer to complete them. That means viewers invest their own emotion in the scene, the episode and the series, and as with anything you invest in, that brings greater appreciation. The result is fans who feel that nothing makes them feel the way Smallville does.

I think I've finally answered that question.

No travel, no conventions: your fans come to you.

Events Lounge runs live online nights with a room full of fans. It's a convention panel from home: you on screen, your audience joining from all over the world.

Nothing to agree until your audience is there

1. Fans ask for you by name and register their interest. Nobody pays anything at this stage.
2. You don't agree to anything while the audience builds.
3. Only when the audience is big enough are you asked.
4. When you say "OK, I'll do it", the date and details are arranged with you, and only then do tickets go on sale.

You choose the night

Anything from an Audience Q&A or Cocktail Night to a Masterclass or Anniversary Event. You see exactly what's being sold before it goes on sale, and set a list of topics you won't discuss.

On the night

Fans gather in a green room, a host runs the doors and the room, and you're live for two hours with everyone at once. Nobody gets a Zoom link they can pass around: every fan comes in with their own ticket.

How you're paid

• You name your price. Your fee is agreed with you up front, in a pay-or-play contract.
• Your fans share the cost between them, so the ticket price depends on your fee and the number of seats.
• You're paid within about a minute of the night ending.
• If you have an agent, you decide their share, and they're paid at the same moment.

Fans are already asking

On Events Lounge right now, fans can put their names down for a Smallville 25th Anniversary Special with you and Michael. See it on Events Lounge.

The problem

Your TalkVille podcast gets flooded with fan questions, and sorting them takes forever. Ryan will know exactly what I mean.

How one question travels

1. A fan sends a question as text, audio or video.
2. The app turns every audio and video question into text.
3. AI sifts out the similar questions, so you never read the same thing twice.
4. It then puts the list in priority order: unusual questions, interesting questions, and questions from paying members come first. The best choices are right at the top for you to choose from.
5. You pick the final list, and the presenters receive it.
6. Nothing is thrown away: every question stays available.

What your podcast gets

• Hours of sorting saved every episode.
• No repeats: the similar questions are already sifted out.
• Your preferences built in: unusual, interesting and paying-member questions rise to the top.
• Paying members feel rewarded, because their questions get priority.
• Rights already covered: fans agree when they sign up that their question can be used on air, and they must be 18 or over.
• Votes: your audience can help choose the next segment, guest or prize.

What your fans get

• Their own page showing which episodes are open for questions.
• "Your question was chosen!" alerts and shout-outs.
• Membership tiers linked to Patreon, with extras for each tier.

Inside of You works the same way. Tap the next bar to see it.

The problem

Michael's Inside of You podcast has the same problem as TalkVille: piles of fan questions, and Ryan sorting them by hand.

How one question travels

1. A fan sends a question as text, audio or video.
2. The app turns every audio and video question into text.
3. AI sifts out the similar questions, so nobody reads the same thing twice.
4. It then puts the list in priority order: unusual questions, interesting questions, and questions from paying members come first.
5. Ryan picks the final list, and Michael receives it.
6. Nothing is thrown away: every question stays available.

Built for Inside of You

Members don't just send questions. Depending on their tier, they can also:

• Doing the Work: tell Michael what they're working on. Some are featured on the pod.
• Shit Talkin' with Rosey: send in a contribution to that segment.
• Inside of ME Q&A: ask Michael in the members-only Q&A.
• Be on the show: Zoom in and chat mental health with Michael.
• Have a say in new segments.

Everything can be sent as text (up to 300 characters), a voice note (up to 30 seconds) or video (up to 45 seconds). Members can see everything they've sent under My messages.

What the podcast gets

• Hours of sorting saved every episode.
• No repeats, and the best questions at the top.
• Paying members rewarded with priority and with ways to take part, which gives fans a reason to move up a tier.
• Rights already covered: fans agree when they sign up that what they send can be used on air, and they must be 18 or over.

What fans get

• Their own page showing the next guest and which episodes are open for questions.
• "Your question was chosen!" alerts and shout-outs.
• A real way to be part of the show, not just to listen.

Next, the Productions Suite. Tap the next bar to see it.

From choosing the story to the last day of filming, in one place.

The Productions Suite is enough to test.

Two kinds of lounge

Talent lounges: always free
This is where talent fill in their details, free.

• Casting Lounge (actors): enough to test
• Writers Lounge: enough to test
• Crew Lounge: coming soon

Producer and agency lounges
Producers Lounge and Agency Lounge. Producers and agencies search the talent from the Casting, Crew and Writers lounges, and manage the production and hiring process.

How a production comes together

1. Find your story. Writers put their scripts on Writers Lounge, and each one gets a producer report. You browse the stories without the author's name or title, and when one grabs you, you unlock it into a Possible Project folder to see who wrote it and read the whole book.
2. Cast it. Actors keep their profiles on Casting Lounge, and you find and shortlist them from the Producers Lounge.
3. Crew it. Crew members keep their profiles on Crew Lounge, ready for you to find and book. (Crew Lounge coming soon.)
4. Run it. During production, the suite reads your call sheets and the files your production software can export, and flags anything "wrong or unexpected". That's your alert to follow it up, or to forward it to the person responsible.

Everyone in one place

By the time you're filming, your cast and crew are all in the Producers Lounge for you to manage.

Fair to everyone

• Agencies are welcome: the apps never cut them out, and never get involved in deals.

Tap a lounge below to see how the beta works.

How to use this beta

Your account is ready. Jacqui has set it up for you and opened everything, so there's nothing to upload or pay. Sign in with jacqui.osz+welling@gmail.com (you can change it to your own email later).

Inside the Producers Lounge

• Writers: browse stories and their producer reports without the author's name or title, and when one grabs you, unlock it into a Possible Project folder to see who wrote it and read the whole book.
• Actors: search and shortlist. Every actor here is an adult.
  • Established actors can already add their details on Casting Lounge, and press a button to request admission to the Established Actors Lounge. Their details move across when that lounge opens.
  • The Established Actors Lounge works differently. Established actors mainly pop up in your searches as a reminder that they're available, and their full profile stays private until they approve a request from you or your agent.
  • Under-18s will come later, in a separate Guardian Lounge, where every account is held by an adult guardian. It comes last, because it needs extra safety software, such as a dead-man's switch, before it opens.
• Crew: find crew, then manage your shortlist, bookings, productions, messages and ID checks. (Crew Lounge coming soon.)

It's a beta

If something's wrong or missing, tell us on Live Chat (top right). That's exactly the feedback we need.