Star Wars Performance University
started as “Star Wars Roleplaying University” in 2011 to assist new performers in improvisation techniques and writing. There were several courses organized. Due to circumstances, beyond our control, SWRPU had to change.
By December, 2011, the “Star Wars Actors Guild 77” or SWAG77 separated from the Isle Sanctuary Creative Artists (ISCA) to be dedicated solely to fans of Star Wars.
All pages associated with Star Wars that were under ISCA were moved to SWAG77 for one unifying page dedicated to the promotion of Star Wars fandom on social media. To unleash one’s inner fandom online and promote real life fan related activities.
One page was SWRPU. However, to be fair to other groups, it was decided to allow SWRPU should be an autonomous entity. Its sole goal was to help performers write creatively, set up their social media and market their efforts in a professional manner. The goal for SWRPU was to show Lucasfilm a novel form of entertainment and performance of their products on social media.
However, in the business of social media entertainment and performance, things rarely go as planned and business expectations could not be predicted. The owner of SWAG77 and SWRPU was cyberattacked, late 2011 and partially resolved until early 2012.
SWAG77 retooled and shifted its policies to a traditional form of social media and introduced several products to the market. The shift changed the goal and name of the SWRPU to “Star Wars Performance University”.
In 2012 and 2015 SWAG77 was accepted to have 2 fan tables at Star Wars Celebration.
All activities of SWAG77 must comply with Lucasfilm standards and one of them is removing the word “Roleplaying” from the activities on social media.
SWAG77 also has to agree to perform canon characters only and stay within the continuity of the canon.
SWAG77 are like “Costumed Players” or “Cosplayers”, but we are online. Everything we use to perform is from Lucasfilm licensed and published materials.
As such, SWAG77 and Star Wars Performance University (SWPU) must follow the guidelines of the social media platform, such as Facebook and only use pages to represent their fictional characters. SWAG77 will no longer use profiles to perform. Anyone using a profile to perform will only be seen as a member of the audience or a heckler.
All characters or entities will be performing “in character”. RARELY will the person behind the character release personal information from the page.
“Roleplayers” who lack a page and a character sheet will be seen as a member of the audience and any responses by the Page Character, if there are any responses will be made in character. If there are altercations, the person will be banned from the page.
“Roleplayers” who have inappropriate names for said characters, usually aligning with a lack of a character sheet, will be seen as a member of audience and any responses by the Page Character, if there are any responses, will be made in character. If there are altercations, the person will be banned from the page.
Be realistic, it took many hours of hard work to make this project happen and to catch Lucasfilm’s eye. When someone refuses to follow our rules belligerently in both SWAG77, SWPU and ISCA cannot be tolerated. What we are talking about here is just posting and interacting on our pages… Not “roleplaying” or setting up a story arc for performance. Simply to post and interact.
If these guidelines are ignored, then membership into SWAG77 is compromised. These are courtesies so that posters avoid being banned from our pages.
These are about respecting the process of character development and the work that has been done.
If the SWAG77 organization is for you, we would love to have you come on board through our membership intake process.
If you prefer another group, we wish you much success in your goals!
Take care!
Dr.G-
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