Medium is the most efficient platform to publish articulate, unfiltered, original thought. Medium allows us to express ourselves and our original perspectives uninterrupted. Yet for a public persona, publishing a personal essay, just like penning an op-ed, comes with certain liabilities. Content can become editorialized and publishing incentives boil down to ad-revenue mandated page views.

However, the largest hurdle for Medium will be that what makes sense for a politician, educational leader or entrepreneur to publish to the world, carries larger risks for mainstream celebrities. Having a point of view on issues is often not to the benefit of a beloved public personality. Moreover, many household names are not interested in any idea that requires more than 140 characters of nuance.

My job will be to find famous faces that have personal passions, to convince them to write for Medium and to help them articulate their thoughts — all while transitioning away from paid posts. Here’s how I plan to do that:

— We need to educate the Entertainment Industry on what Medium is. Just like teaching your parents to use an iPhone, a little one-on-one patience and clarity goes a long way. No one rides a bike the first time without training wheels. I plan to act as a direct support system which will be critical to Mediums adopted use by the entertainment industry.

— Five-time World Series champion, Derek Jeter, created The Players Tribune for athletes to write because they needed more than 140 characters and were tired of being edited. Athletes trust Derek Jeter so they use his platform. I will get celebrities to trust Medium by getting the people celebrities trust, respect and need to write first. If J.J. Abrams or Franklin Leonard publishes a story about how to make a Best Picture Nominated Film… you’ve piqued the actors interest.

— Medium should be thought of as connected and sophisticated, which it is. We should host an event in the vein of the Re/Code Conference or a Hollywood Reporter Women’s Round Table. Cool people saying smart things in a room together hosted by Medium will get people talking. A similar idea involves monthly live readings of the best 5 essays across topics.

— The Next Generation: I suggest we go to the top universities, beginning with AFI and USC, and propose that seniors publish their thesis, film theory essays, plays, scripts and film dialogues on Medium — even if all on unlisted posts shared within the departments. We want them on our platform. We want it to feel like second nature and we want them to tell their friends about it. It begins a new pipeline.

— I get 75% of my Medium content through Jason Hirschhorn’s MEDIAREF newsletter. Aggregates love Medium, so we need to reward them. I will continue to push them content they’ll organically promote. NextDraft, HuffPost and Upworthy do this well too.

— We need to promote special content. On each users homepage, beneath FEATURED TAGS and TOP STORIES ON MEDIUM, we’ll create a new section HAND-PICKED MEDIUM POSTS. They don’t need to be Entertainment specific, but it would be advantageous for us to be able to feature a celebrity’s post on the homepage. Slate does this well in their “What We Like Right Now” posts.

— The Entertainment industry is heat-seeking so it’s important to remain ever-present in the minds of the people who run it through traditional outreach. I will continue to befriend agents, publicists and managers to let them know our source exists, that my door is always open and that we want their clients — while also working directly with my personal contacts. We’ll also push specific content around Awards Season, Festivals, etc.

I am so looking forward to continuing the conversation. Medium inspires my imagination and I would love to spend my professional time exercising my personal passions. I understand that my above suggestions, as well as the many other ideas that I have for Medium, will take a significant timeline to accomplish, but with persistence and hard work comes success. Thanks for your time and consideration.

Warmly,

Lucy Blodgett Fisher