The Colbert Report’s TV Production Software Is No Joke

When Stephen Colbert leaves his desk at Comedy Central later this year to replace David Letterman at CBS, he’ll be remembered for his right-wing blowhard character, his super PAC, and his contribution of the word “truthiness” to the English language. He may also leave a lasting mark on the obscure world of TV production software. There are coders hiding among the comedians on The Colbert Report staff, and in the past few years they’ve created a program the show now uses to write and produce segments. Several staffers have formed a startup, Scripto, to develop the software and license it to other TV shows.

Scripto’s bare-bones website describes its product as a “collaborative text editor that allows a show’s entire staff to work on the same set of scripts at the same time” and says it’s “currently expanding to other clients.” For about a year, The Colbert Report has been using a beta version developed by writer Rob Dubbin and other staffers over three years. Dubbin declined to comment for this story, saying that the startup wasn’t far enough along to discuss.