When Adobe doesn’t debut new products at NAB, they tend to offer interesting and often far reaching product “previews.” This year, it was Adobe Story, a new online/offline program for collaborative scriptwriting that will debut in “CSNext,” no date announced or implied during our interview with Simon Hayhurst.

Why a screenwriting program? Because most serious productions have a screenplay that contains the dialog and descriptive information about scene location and the associated action. Scripts in Adobe Story get converted to metadata that Adobe can use all the way through to the Flash Player. In online productions, advertisers can buy ads in just the right locations, like auto insurance during chase scenes, or a Bombay Sapphire Gin advert when Bond orders his martini, shaken, not stirred. Basically, Adobe has staked a long term claim on the over-arching value of metadata, and Adobe Story is their latest investment.

Once in the Adobe Story, Adobe can also export a shot list into Adobe OnLocation, which you can then use to capture your clips. No word on whether the CSNext version of OnLocation will let you print a shot list, but the feature definitely has my vote.

Also at the show, Adobe also announced version 4.1 of Adobe Premiere, a free update available in May. The update improves compatibility with RED cameras, including control over RAW settings when used with an updated RED plug-in, which also should be available in May from RED.com. Also new is the ability to import Avid Media Composer projects without recapturing media files, and improved compatibility with AJA, Blackmagic, and Matrox video cards.