TED Publishes My Video on TED-Ed!

I haven't had a chance to post about the video production process much, but here is basically how it went down:

1. A friend nominated me on the TED-Ed website.  You can nominate your friends, too (or yourself!) by clicking the "Get Involved" link.
2. Jordan Reeves, head of TED Ed, sent me an email to set up a time to talk on the phone about possibilities.  At this point, they make it pretty clear that the whole thing is completely exploratory--no guarantees.
3. I agreed to try to write a script for a three minute video.  
4. Discovered that writing a script for a good three minute video is really, really challenging.
5. Sent the script to the editorial team.  Bit my nails for several weeks.
6. The editorial team decided that they liked the script!  Hooray!  I made it to round three.  This one's easy--all I have to do is take a look at their suggested edits and check for scientific accuracy.  
7. I have decided that all writers should have professional editors:  I am not a writer, but their editing added a certain je ne sais quoi to the wording in my script.  Definitely better than it was when I sent it.
8. Round Four:  record the voiceover.  Since I live close to New York City, and I was on vacation at the time, I made the trip down to the TED Ed offices in Chelsea to use their cute little recording booth.  Rose, the science journalist and voiceover editor, directed me through the recording. I did not have to go down to the office--if you live far away, they send you a 'portable recording studio'.
9. Then, I have to wait.  And bite nails more.  They send the voiceover and script out to a group of selected professional animators and wait until an animator chooses a voiceover.  If you don't get chosen, that's the end of that.  The reason the animators have the choice is because they often put in many MANY hours to put the videos together--and these are real professional who are volunteering their work hours (kind of like the teachers that put the lessons together).  Some of these guys/gals work for places like Pixar and Dreamworks.  Others just rock on their own.
10. Marc Christoforidis picks my script!  WOW!  I am so excited.  Here is his professional reel on Vimeo.
11. Then, we work together...emailing back and forth for weeks.  He sends me animated sketches (animatics) and stills to get my feedback and so I can check for accuracy.  He did an amazing job of interpreting some difficult places in the script.  I never even saw what he looked like until his picture was posted on the TED site!  He's got cool hair.

TED Publishes My Video on TED-Ed!