It’s with sadness and joy that we make a couple of announcements today; both positive, but representing major changes to Talespinners.
Giles, one of our Co-founders, is formally stepping down from his role for the foreseeable future to become a Senior Writer with a world-leading developer. We’re sad to see him go, but excited for the new opportunities this brings him.
In light of this, and to preserve the original idea of Talespinners – freelancers banding together to support each other while providing the best possible writing and stories for games – we’ve decided to transition the company into a Co-operative. Two of our associate writers, Chris Tihor and Matt Gibbs, join us as of today and will become full partners in Talespinners.
But first, here’s Giles…
Hi all – Giles here. This is officially my first post for our website’s News articles.
As it happens, it’s also my last.
With a heavy heart, I’m formally stepping down from Talespinners. It’s been an outstanding two years for both me and the company, culminating with our recent Develop Award nomination, and I’ve been grateful to write on and edit so many incredibly varied projects in that time. But the time has come for me to move on to something new and equally exciting.
In telling the other Talespinners writers, close friends and family, the first question that normally pops up is, “Oh my gosh, have you and Ian fallen out?” to which the answer is absolutely not. As anyone who’s worked with us will attest, Ian’s a legend, and has always been the driving force behind Talespinners. He’s fully supporting my decision, which I’m hugely grateful for.
The second response is then usually “Oh… phew.” followed by “Then… why?”
In short, no matter how much I love what we’ve built with Talespinners, I was made an offer too good to refuse, to join one of the world’s leading game development studios as part of their in-house writing team and – with Ian’s support – I’ve since made the move. I’m now a Senior Writer for Guerrilla, who are probably best known for making the critically- and commercially-successful 2017 PlayStation exclusive Horizon Zero Dawn. It’s an exciting time to join the team there and – naturally – that’s as much as I can say.
So: what happens next? Well, it’s business as usual for Talespinners. Or rather – slightly more business than usual, which Ian will explain below! Our workshops are becoming increasingly popular; we’re still working on dozens of games (keep an eye out for exciting announcements on that front); our most recent project – The Spectrum Retreat – has just launched for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC (and is out soon on Nintendo Switch), which I wrote and Ian voice-directed. In short, we’re still cementing our reputation as one of the game industry’s go-to companies for all things story – a reputation I’m incredibly proud to have been a key part of establishing, and one that I’ll be cheering on from the sidelines.
I’m sad to leave, but excited for what lies ahead, for both me and for Talespinners. So with that, I’d like to thank everyone who’s been a part of the Talespinners journey so far, and everyone who will be, whether you’re one of our associate writers, clients, collaborators, good friends or cheerleaders.
Talespinners has been a wonderful thing to co-found and be part of, and I’m looking forward to hearing about all the future successes in store for the company as they embark on the next chapter and continue to go from strength to strength.
Thanks everyone.
— Giles
Ian here!
Sad news. Great news for Giles, of course, and I wish him well; it’s been amazing building this company with him. He’s brought wit, craft, and an emotional story sense to so many of our projects. Without someone to bounce off, the life of a freelance writer is lonely and overwhelming.
Which brings me to the obvious question, “What happens next?”
We started Talespinners, as two freelancers, to support each other. We planned to help each other with work, to copy-edit and sanity check lines, and to have joint brainstorming sessions. We’d offer each other professional and emotional backup.
It succeeded beyond our expectations, and we rapidly had to assemble a team of other freelancers to help out.
When Giles first told me he planned to leave, I was sad, of course, but also overcome with existential angst for the company. We have an increasing number of contracts, more than I could dream of handling alone, even with our freelancers!
But then I went right back to where we’d started. We were two freelancers banding together to help each other out. Our partnership has made freelance life so much more stable and bearable. So why not extend that to more people?
There is strength in numbers, particularly if those numbers include great writers – and friends – who you know you can already get along with…
So it’s with great pleasure that I announce a few things:
Talespinners is becoming a Co-operative. To start with, Chris Tihor and Matt Gibbs, who’ve worked with us since we founded Talespinners, will become full partners in the company as soon as we’ve jumped through the paperwork hoops.
We will still be working with our other associates, Michelle Clough, Jason Marchant, and Rachel Thomas, and are planning to bring in more writers alongside them in the coming months.
We will still be maintaining our mentorship programme; despite leaving, Giles will continue to mentor Devin Presbury and Melissa Gibbs, and of course, I’ll carry on mentoring Maja Bäckvall and Kelly Hornung. We’re still ironing out details, but we may even extend the programme.
We intend to grow a little bit further; more news on that later down the line!
So stick with us. We’re not going away any time soon. We’ll miss Giles – of course we will! – but for Talespinners, this is just the… uh… beginning of the middle? Middle of the beginning? End of the… no… oh, you get the idea.
— Ian
