Since several candidates live outside Los Angeles, we did video interviews by iChat — which was a remarkably good second-best solution. It’s odd meeting someone on video, but once you push past the first 30 awkward seconds, it feels remarkably natural. I feel like I have a much better sense of the individual than I would on a phone call.

The contenders are each working on a short challenge project, which is due later this week. I’ve left it up to the candidates whether to make their work public.

Don’t pull dick moves.

It’s okay to play hard. As an Amazon customer and fan of the Kindle, I want Amazon to keep e-book prices low. As an author and Kindle self-publisher, I want writers to make money.

Conflict between these two goals isn’t a bad thing; it’s business. Business is good. I know Amazon is a huge and powerful retailer that can muscle around its suppliers. I also know the folks at Macmillan aren’t all rainbows and puppies. But as a customer, I should never be aware of their negotiations. I should simply buy books.

When Amazon suddenly yanked all of Macmillan’s titles, it not only exposed the behind-the-scenes conflict, but punished otherwise neutral parties, including customers and authors.

Dick moves, defined

A dick move is an action which to an outside observer appears excessive or petulant.

Or, more tautologically, a dick move is something which, when performed, leads observers to note: “Wow, what a dick!”

Last weekend, Amazon pulled a dick move. It then took too long to admit it was wrong, and finally had to accept Macmillan’s terms. It was a huge bundle of fail, and very much unlike a company that has done so much so well.

Many industry observers speculate that the announcement of Apple’s iPad precipitated this round of crazy. In the demo shots of Apple’s iBook store, book prices are significantly higher. Did Apple do this deliberately, trying to stir the pot? Maybe. And if so, was that a dick move?

Not really. Dick moves tend to be more obvious and punitive.¹ But with the iPad, Apple is setting itself up for a series of awkward decisions, any one of which could easily become a dick move:

• Will the iBook store include every book a publisher wants to sell? And if not, what will be Apple’s criteria? Will they review every book the way they review apps? Will there be age ratings? If so, how will they determine those ratings?

• Will Apple let individuals publish to the iBook store, the way Amazon does? Trying to get an independent film sold through iTunes is tough. Apple will only deal with studios and aggregators, which not only minimizes its exposure to crazy filmmakers, but also helps ensure that copyright is valid. Getting an e-book sold through Amazon is comparatively straightforward.

• Will Apple let users read any ePub file through the iBook reader, or does it have to be bought through Apple? The iPod and iPhone will only run apps bought through Apple, but they will play any mp3 file you throw at them. Book files feel more analogous to music files than apps. Let’s hope Apple agrees.

• Will Apple give third-party readers and sellers (such as the Kindle app and Stanza) equal access? A book-reading application doesn’t seem like it would require magic and undocumented access to the iPad’s hardware. The iBook app should compete on a level playing field.

• How will Apple set prices on books? Apple has two basic philosophies on pricing: the App Store model, in which publishers have wide flexibility in setting price, and the iTunes model, in which tracks and albums are strongly pushed toward fixed price points.² Will Apple allow free books? Kindle doesn’t, except through special arrangement with publishers.

For Apple, the best way to avoid dick moves on these five points is to allow robust competition. Apple doesn’t need to worry about selling every book to every customer as long as third parties can bring them to the iPad.

1. Same with the exclusion of Flash on the iPad. You can be sure Steve Jobs knew there would be a blue lego popping up during his demo, but let it go undiscussed.
2. The App Store model has resulted in a race to the bottom at 99 cents. One could argue that price floors rather than price ceilings might better support the publishing economy.

1. It should be terrific for reading scripts. Right now, the big Kindle DX does a credible job with screenplays. It’s $489. The iPad is only $10 more, and can handle mail, web, video and a lot more. A few weeks ago, I wrote about reading scripts on laptops turned sideways. The iPad is the elegant version of this solution.

2. While you probably won’t write write a screenplay on it, you could easily make minor changes to a script right on the iPad. If Pages and Numbers can run on the iPad, a credible screenwriting app should be possible. (There’s already a poky one for the iPhone that can handle Final Draft files.)

3. It will be useful for pitches. A few weeks ago, I was in a meeting and wanted to show the team what I envisioned for a specific monster. I passed around my iPhone. An iPad would have been ideal.

4. The touch screen feels ripe for an index card/outlining application. Virtual corkboard, virtual cards. Go.

5. One TV show will use it on-camera by the end of the season. I suspect it will be one of the CBS crime procedurals. We’ll notice it the first few times it shows up, then it will become commonplace, the way TV characters are always on iPhones.

6. While it’s never going to have the detail of a Wacom tablet, I can envision a lot of storyboarding and shot-planning happening on the iPad. A touch interface is very natural way to approach angles and spatial composition.

7. Scaling up blows. While you can run any iPhone app on the iPad, things with text look pretty crappy. Most developers will want to do a new version for the iPad.

8. Comic books. They’re going to look great on it. Marvel and DC need to offer subscriptions and all-you-can-eat plans. (Update: Marvel already does.)

9. I don’t know that the iPad is going to save print media in general, but many film-focussed magazines would probably work as well or better in this format. Right now, I read DV Magazine in its online, Flash-based form, and it’s a surprisingly good experience.

10. There’s still room for the Kindle. The Kindle’s e-ink screen is great for reading traditional, linear books. Amazon’s selection for the Kindle is great, and the fact that they already make a good Kindle reader app for the iPhone means they’ll be able to bring that selection through to the iPad. I like that there’s going to be competition right from the start.

11. “Fine, but I’ll wait for version 2.0.” That’s great. I’ll enjoy using version 1.0 for a year, then get the new model when it comes out. Particularly since you don’t have to buy it with a wireless contract, there’s no penalty for upgrading.

In addition to my actual job of screenwriting and directing, I currently do all the tech stuff: the websites, the wiring, the coding, the iPhone app that’s thisclose to beta testing. And I enjoy it. The luxury of a writer’s life is the freedom to explore and obsess.

But the list of things I’d like to do is so much longer than what I could conceivably do that it makes sense to bring in somebody with similar ambitions and a specific mandate. Rather than, “Wouldn’t it be neat if…” I’d like to be saying, “Hey, figure out a way to do this.”

So I’m hiring somebody who can.

My assistant, Matt, will continue to handle my schedule, travel, research and proofreading. The new person will handle stuff related to this website and many new projects.

I see this as a full-time job. Salary would be commensurate with experience, and there’s health insurance.

I’d prefer the person live in Los Angeles for occasional face-to-face discussions, but she or he would be working outside the office most of the time. The new guy would be free to — encouraged to — pursue outside projects, as long as the real work came first.

After a string of terrific and very different assistants, I’ve learned that hiring someone is never a matter of checklists. Each employee brings experiences and abilities that change the nature of the job.

But I can safely predict this person will need to be very digital, with a good balance of design sense and general geekery. A good candidate for this position would be able to talk about most of the following with ease:

• Great opening title sequences of the last year.

• Pros and cons of breaking out CSS into multiple files.

• The feeds aren’t updating right. Is the problem on WordPress, Feedburner or somewhere else?

• Whatever happened to the Stone typefaces?

• Books you’ve bought just for the cover.

• Is that short URL scheme a good idea?

• Why isn’t Google hitting this page? What SEO should we bother with, and what should we ignore?

• Is it worth outsourcing comments to something like Disqus? Could we get Scrippets to work with it?

• If you were marketing a web series about giant killer plants, what outlets would you target and how?

• Since jQuery’s already loading, what else could/should we have it do?

• Getting an offsite backup server going.

• How quickly can we get The Variant onto the new Apple device?

• If we needed to swap hosts in 24 hours, what are the first six things to do?

• Five desert island typefaces, and whether TypeKit is worth it.

• Setting up A/B test pages to track two possible layouts.

A great candidate might also have expertise in several of the following:

• Coding everything from PHP to Flash to Ruby to Objective-C

• Motion graphics and VFX

• Shooting and editing

• Gadgetry and game development

You’ll notice that “writing” is nowhere in these criteria. To date, all of my assistants have been screenwriters, and all of them are now working in the industry. But I don’t see this new position as being a particularly good stepping stone for an aspiring screenwriter.

But it is likely a stepping stone for something else, and a paid opportunity to explore some areas of interest for a year or two. In addition to maintaining existing properties, there’s a range of new projects I’d like to tackle.

Here’s the hiring process:

1. Candidates email digital@johnaugust.com. Include a bio with work experience and background, interests, and (most importantly) links to work you’ve done. I’m particularly interested in seeing websites you’ve designed, along with an explanation of their goals and techniques. But I’m also curious about other projects, like iPhone apps or short films or something else you think I’d be interested in. I’ll be hiring a person, not a portfolio, so let me get a sense of what you’re like.

2. By the second week of February, I’ll narrow down my choices to a few great candidates. I’ll give each candidate a small budget and a reasonable deadline to come up with a site for a specific project, such as The Remnants. We’ll have coffee and talk about what you did and why.

3. I’ll pick the person who seems the best fit.

Do not apply in the comments. Let’s save the comments section for feedback about the nature of the job and general discussion.

But until Mr. Jobs decides we’re ready for the future, reader Douglas has a suggestion that is surprisingly close. Turn your laptop on its side, and hold it like a hardcover book.

No, really. It works much better than you’d think, particularly with one of the unibody MacBooks.

I suspect there’s a way to get the screen rotated in the proper direction on almost any laptop. But on a Mac running Snow Leopard, it’s pretty easy to get a .pdf turned the right way.

1. Open the .pdf in Preview.
2. Click on one of the pages, then Select All (⌘-A) to highlight all the pages.
3. Choose Rotate Right (⌘-R) or Rotate Left (⌘-L).
4. Choose Full Screen (Shift-⌘-F).
5. Click the zoom-to-fit button.

I’ve found it more comfortable to read with the screen on the left-hand side, using my right hand to advance pages with the arrow keys. But experiment to see what works best for you.

Update: Several readers have pointed to a free utility called ReadRight which basically does steps 1-6 all at once, with some other handy options thrown in. I particularly like being able to advance pages with a click on the trackpad.

Since Preview is already included on every Mac, I’ll keep it as the general-case solution.

Emailing a .pdf would result in mangled margins and bizarre gaps. Converting to a .doc format with a very specific template would give me something almost acceptable, but meant a lot of extra labor, and wouldn’t work for .pdfs of existing scripts.

So it was with great anticipation that I installed the free 2.3 software update that finally gave my little Kindle the option of using honest-to-goodness .pdfs.

It works just as I had hoped, except for the fact that the type is pretty damn small. Like, list-of-ingredients small. My friend Cort pointed out that the Kindle screen is only as wide as a buck slip, so there’s only so much real estate available.

After all this wishing and hoping, I’m not sure I’ll be reading many scripts on my Kindle. (The upcoming Nook from Barnes and Noble has essentially the same size screen, and will likely have the same kind of problem.)

The update gives you the option of rotating the screen, so you can see it much closer to full size, but then you have to read half a page at a time. The update is also supposed to increase battery life dramatically.

Bottom line: if you have a small Kindle, install the update. You might be willing to live with the tiny type (or half-pages) for reading screenplays.

If you’re thinking about buying a Kindle, take a second look at the bigger Kindle DX, which has a screen better suited for scripts. I know a lot of people who are using it daily to read screenplays.

1. I started with the original model, and later replaced it with the Kindle 2 .

Amazon announced today the international version of the Kindle, which lets users in 100+ countries buy content through its Kindle store. It ships October 19th.

8. The Matrix: Why do the machines need humans?

The intelligent machines have all humans hooked up to elaborate devices to harvest their body heat and chemicals, right? But they also have sophisticated fusion reactors. The energy production of fusion reactors compared to that of humans (with all the maintenance required, including The Matrix itself) is so much more efficient it’s just ridiculous -— and we’re supposed to believe that intelligent machines, which would presumably operate logically, would keep the humans around anyway? It’s obviously necessary for the plot, but it just makes no sense.

But what would make sense is if humans were used not as batteries, but rather as organic CPUs.

For all its processing power, perhaps the Matrix can’t do something that human brains can. So they use the connected humans as a fleshy cloud computer to keep the Matrix running.

As a viewer, I’d be willing to accept an incredibly simple answer here. On page 50, instead of…

…how about…

SpeedCine indexes movies available through iTunes, Crackle, Hulu and Amazon VOD, letting you know where you can find any given title. For example, searching for the The Nines provides links for download through Amazon, iTunes and NetFlix.

Because most of these services are U.S.-only, it’s not much help to international users, unfortunately.

The site is still in beta, and while it’s really useful, I wish it provided better URLs for copy-and-pasting. Right now, SpeedCine gives you a jumble of letters after an ASP query. Here’s the listing for Go in SpeedCine:

http://www.speedcine.com/results.aspx?query=T0001274

and here it is on Crackle:

http://crackle.com/c/GO

That’s small enough to be easily Twittered, and feels permanent enough that I’d be comfortable putting it in a blog post.

But that’s a small quibble. SpeedCine is worth making your first stop when trying to find a movie online.

Out of curiosity, I checked how many of my Mac readers had upgraded to Snow Leopard:

Most Mac users have at least upgraded to Leopard. As far as screenwriting software, I haven’t noticed any problems with either Final Draft or Screenwriter under Snow Leopard, so if that’s a concern, it shouldn’t be.

So why doesn’t everyone make their own bread?

Because it’s a kind of pain in the ass. A lot of things can go wrong, leaving you with a blob of sticky dough. It takes time. It requires bowls and pans that have to be washed, plus an oven that heats up your kitchen. And truth be told, most people aren’t exactly Nancy Silverton.

All in all, it’s much easier to buy a loaf at the store.

Blogs are like bread.

To make a blog, you need something to write about, plus software and hardware to put it on the web. ¹

When I first launched johnaugust.com in 2003, I assembled everything on my own computer, then uploaded it to a shared host. In baker parlance, I mixed the dough in my own bowls, then carried it down the street to the community oven to bake it. I was outsourcing the expensive hardware.

By 2004, I outsourced most of the software as well, running Movable Type on the shared server. Later that year, I switched to WordPress, which has continued to run the site ever since.

I like WordPress a lot. It’s remarkably easy to install and theme. It’s powerful and flexible. It has an extremely active development community, so if there’s a feature you’d like, someone’s probably already built it.²

But make no mistake: you’re still baking your own bread. Things can go wrong. Really, really wrong. And when they do, it’s a lot of work to fix it. A bad loaf of bread is disappointing. A bad error in your database can be catastrophic.

Over the weekend, there was a lot of uproar about a worm attack on WordPress installations that wrecked some notable blogs. Amid the sometimes-smug observations by the unaffected, I found one point that needs to be elevated to basic principle:

Most people shouldn’t be running their own blogging software.

Services like Tumblr, Posterous and Blogger are excellent and free. WordPress.com, the hosted version of WordPress, gives you 90% of the benefits with none of the hassle.

In 2003, I had to run my own software. There was no choice. But if I were starting a blog from scratch today, I would do it on one of these services.³

Some people like making bread.

For all the hassles, there are some benefits to doing things yourself. Just like the artisanal baker can tinker with a recipe, the self-hosted blogger can tweak things just to his liking. He also has more control over his content — some services make it difficult to migrate.

In a month or two, I’ll be launching a revamped version of this site, which will continue to use WordPress. That means I’ll have to keep up with security updates, backups and a lot of general troubleshooting. There will be more worm attacks and self-inflicted wounds. I’ve decided it’s worth it. For most folks, it’s probably not.

If you’re considering starting a blog, ask yourself whether you really want to bake your own bread. Odds are, you probably just want a sandwich. Buy a loaf and get to it.

1. Countless blogs are started without the “something to write about” part figured out, which is usually why they go dead after three weeks.
2. This weekend, I installed a plugin that automatically sends a backup of the site to my Gmail account. Total time: five minutes.
3. Also over the weekend, I nuked a few stray WordPress installations that had gone fallow. One of the pitfalls of WP’s easy installation process is that it’s tempting to throw up a site to test a concept. A year later, that mostly-empty blog is an attractive nuisance. I suspect that 80%+ of WP installations fall into this category. I’d propose the install scripts like Fantastico default to closed comments and randomized admin usernames.