New Media Panel
Monday, September 21, 2009
7:30 PM
Writers Boot Camp in Santa Monica

Hosted by Script Magazine/Final Draft, the panel will also include Donna Michelle Anderson, Aaron Mendelsohn, and blip.tv’s Rafi Mamlian. Details:

The Screenwriter of Tomorrow: What New Media Really Means for Writers
Everyone has heard the term New Media tossed around, but what does it really mean for the screenwriter? Have we learned how to monetize DIY content? Do the writers of today have to pick up a camera to survive? Can being transmedia make the difference in your writing career? Learn from writers working in new media and related media (graphic novels, short film, etc.) how you can expand your career by thinking outside of your writing space.

For more info, or to RSVP, visit ScriptMag.com.

Let us know if you’re coming, and we’ll look for you in the audience!

But for those with an insatiable hunger for online media advice, we wanted to share the following information gleaned from a great LATV Fest panel session entitled “Anatomy of a Hit Web Series.”

Continue reading at ScriptMag.com.

It’s called My Roommate The Cylon.

It just launched tonight with Episode 1, entitled “The Test.” Embed, link, follow, and subscribe at: MyRoommateTheCylon.com!

I suspect that this was backed by Sota Toys, who makes the Street Fighter figures… what a great example of a brand/company reaching out to an artist to do something truly unique.

We found three distinct stories from three groups at different places in the entertainment world: the team behind FM78.tv (Justine Bateman, Jill Kushner, Peter Murrieta, and Alan Sereboff), a trio of SNL staffers behind Crackle’s The Line (Bill Hader, Seth Meyers, and Simon Rich), and the up-and-coming, Teen Wolf-mocking sketch comedy group Summer of Tears (Rob Kerkovich and Todd Waldman).

Big Names Change the Online Game

Celebrities and TV Writers are Raising the Quality of Online Entertainment

By Robert Gustafson and Alec McNayr

In this early era of online entertainment, established talent from traditional media have steered clear of the web. With rare exceptions like Will Ferrell’s The Landlord, celebrity forays into creating online content have been limited by potential union ramifications, a lack of payoff, or perhaps just a lack of time.

However, the WGA writer’s strike changed everything. Not only was the online content at the center of the conflict, but the entire creative workforce took a break from their TV writers’ rooms and movie sets. Many writers, directors, and actors used their free time to create something for the web, even if just concepts, stories, or scripts.

And now, months later, there’s been a tremendous upswing in the number of online shows backed by TV and film talent:

• Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog, created by Joss Whedon and starring Neil Patrick Harris, topped the TV download list on iTunes.
• Get Ripped debuted from How I Met Your Mother writer Gloria Calderon Kellett.
• Saturday Night Live alumni Tim Meadows and David Spade appeared in Carpet Bros.
• NBC launched Gemini Division, a sci-fi series starring Rosario Dawson.
• MTV announced a new web series $5 Cover from Hustle & Flow director Craig Brewer.

The once-level playing field is slowly being tipped in favor of a more well-known model, where recognizable talent pulls in viewers, and in turn, the attention of would-be sponsors. Should independent producers cry foul? Or should they appreciate the legitimacy these “professionals” bring to the online media world?

We talked to three groups currently shepherding online projects, each with different levels of celebrity, experience, and resources—and each holding a different relationship with the traditional world of entertainment: one is trying to break free of it, one trying to rise up in it, and one trying to break into it.

Creating the Sweetest Entertainment Online

“What type of online show would you do if you couldn’t do a video blog? No backyards, no shaky cameras. Are you going to be okay doing a lesser job just because it’s delivered online?”

Changing the definition of “the best entertainment available online” is at the heart of Justine Bateman’s aspirations. Perhaps best known for her acting work on the 80’s sitcom Family Ties, Bateman has joined forces with a team of experienced industry professionals to form FM78, a production company with online comedy Candy, Inc. as its first project.

Together with Emmy-award winning writer Jill Kushner, Wizards of Waverly Place executive producer Peter Murrieta, and feature writer Alan Sereboff, Bateman is part of a talented team looking to produce their own series. “Instead of taking our scripts to ABC or HBO,” she says, “we’re looking for an advertising sponsor to pay for a regular production budget; we’ll distribute it ourselves, and do a bunch of traditional press.”

FM78.tv’s Peter Murrieta, Justine Bateman, and Jill Kushner.

After meeting Bateman on the picket lines during the WGA writer’s strike, Murrieta is perhaps most excited about FM78’s opportunity to continue the creative process he loves without the burden of corporate politics. “I tell you, even after having sold a show in traditional markets, there’s not as much freedom in this business now,” he says, “but the creative model—how you make television—with a room full of smart people figuring out where to go, still works.”

The group’s first project, Candy, Inc. centers on an unwilling heiress to a fictional candy company, played by Bateman. The series already has commitments from name talent, including actors Jeff Garlin and Judd Nelson and director Steve Pink.

Originally a 22-minute pilot screenplay by Bateman, the FM78 members collaborated on a Candy, Inc. rewrite and have developed it into a three-hour comedy mini-series. “We’ll deliver one episode a week, at about 8-10 minutes each,” says Bateman. At the time of press, the team was working towards signing a show sponsor—a real-life candy company—as an organic fit into the show concept.

“The show’s about someone pursuing an authentic life and the comedy comes form the human element of peoples’ dreams to do things that they’re not good at,” explains Murrieta, “There’s a feeling in America that you can make it if you just dream really hard – but it takes hard work, too.”

And so, Candy, Inc.’s premise seems a good approximation for what FM78 is trying to do: work hard to establish a higher caliber of content. They’re escaping the confines of traditional media by beating them at their own game—by using established actors and working writers—not for their own sake, but to improve the viewing experience for audiences online.

“Overall, the audience hasn’t been getting the best entertainment the last ten years or so,” decries Bateman, “Everyone in this business should be showing audiences the most entertaining, most creative programming out there. It should come out of Hollywood, because that’s what we say we do for a living. It’s a creative Renaissance, and the audience is going to benefit the most, which is what we’re excited about.”

SNLers Find Themselves ‘In Line’

In 1999, Bill Hader was so excited for the premiere of Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace that he got in line early. Really early. Days early.

Now a repertory player on Saturday Night Live, Hader used his experience in sci-fi fandom to inspire the new web series The Line, co-written by SNL writer Simon Rich and directed by SNL head writer Seth Meyers.

The series takes place in front of a movie theatre in New York, as Hader and a line of fans wait for the opening of the fictional sci-fi film Futurespace. Hader and Rich developed the concept and scripts during the WGA writers strike, and because the online series was produced by Broadway Video (which also produces SNL), they were able to use the exhaustive resources of their regular employer’s cast and crew. “We wanted to do more than just a sketch,” said Rich, “we wanted to make it as epic, comically, as the movie the characters were lining up to see.”

Meyers, who made his directorial debut with The Line, was appreciative for the opportunity to work with such high-level talent. “When you work with the SNL costuming department, for example, you get a wealth of experience and fabrics.”

The trio didn’t claim to watch much online content, mostly due to the aggressive work schedules necessary to work on Saturday Night Live. For them, The Line wasn’t a career-changing move towards exclusively producing online content, but rather an opportunity to create something other than their normal television work. “The Internet is a vast wilderness,” mused Meyers, “it can be very beautiful, but there are a lot of pitfalls out there. It’s hard to know what’s worth investing your time in right now.”

The series, distributed by Sony-owned Crackle.com, is a great example of the opportunities working writers and actors have outside their traditional entertainment “day jobs.” Hader, Rich, and Meyers are hard-working, talented creators already intertwined with one of the world’s most recognizable comedy brands. For them, perhaps creating shows for the web should be more of a side project than participating in an industry-wide movement.

Rich summarizes, “At the end of the day, it’s just amazing to see talented people shoot and produce something that you write. It’s a great feeling.”

Laughter through the “Tears”

In some ways, Los Angeles-based comedy troupe Summer of Tears isn’t much different than most comedy troupes these days. The seven-member group originally met in college, perform regularly in small comedy clubs, and have a YouTube account.

But unlike most other groups, they’ve been able to leverage their online presence to boost their standing in the traditional world of entertainment. For them, the web has been a stepping stone to bigger contacts and opportunities.

In 2006, the group took their sketch show (including some of their videos) to the Aspen Comedy Festival and won the award for Best Sketch Show. Now, with their videos online, they can further expand their audience, including agents and development execs. “We’re using online distribution as another way to get out there. You used to have to do a comedy show in Hollywood,” says Rob Kerkovich, one of the group’s writer-performers, “and now you can just e-mail an executive a link.”

Through such connections, Kerkovich and co-writer Todd Waldman recently sold a feature script to Paramount Vantage. It’s the beginning of a dream fulfilled: to write professionally in the world of entertainment, made possible by an enhanced presence online. “In 2005, we were writing a lot of sketches for our live shows, and after seeing the success of [SNL digital short video] Lazy Sunday and the advent of YouTube, we realized we should be shooting more as well.”

Through the years, the group has honed their comedic viewpoints online. “We’re redesigning our site right now using Vimeo, and I’m looking back through our first videos,” says Kerkovich, “they’re funny, but they’re not in the same ballpark of what we’re doing now. Our sound is better, our camerawork is better.”

Even with their slow and steady entry into the entertainment business, the group’s goal is clear. Kerkovich explains, “We’re establishing a ‘Summer of Tears’ brand. If we had our way, we’d be like Monty Python; whether it was TV or a movie, you knew what you were going to get.”

Advice for the Future

“Gone are the days where the studios will be your entertainment mommies and daddies,” says Bateman, “If someone wants to be in the ‘future of entertainment,’ they have to be able to do two or more of the following things: act, direct, write, produce, build a web site, use Final Cut Pro, have contacts with ad agencies, do publicity, or get an online community excited. You have to be an absolute creative multi-tasker.”

No matter your aspirations or current place in the world of entertainment, the web is morphing into a medium that can meet your needs. While the roles of creative responsibilities may be shifting, the role of hard work remains central. Summer of Tears’ Kerkovich expands, “We have a work ethic that we don’t see in many other people. You have to have that. You might be one of those lucky people where something hits the first try, but odds are it won’t happen that way.”

SNL’s Meyers agrees: “Write and write a lot, and get your material on its feet in front of an audience. You’ll see what it actually sounds and looks like. That’s the fastest way to know if it works or not.”

The rewards are big for those that can follow through online. FM78’s Jill Kushner states, “You don’t have to go through the right people at the right studios to get your work seen anymore. The internet can be your vehicle.” Murrieta follows, “I think you have to be a punk. You do whatever it takes to get it done. Part of being a punk is just doing it because you love it.”

Bateman admits that it’s personal craft and artistry—and not celebrity or riches—that will truly satisfy. “If you’re talented, make something beautiful whether you’re getting 10 dollars or 10 million,” she says, “The question is: what can you do with what you have?”

]]> http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/12/01/big-names-change-the-online-game/feed/ 1 http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/11/20/working-your-way-up-the-new-media-pyramid/ http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/11/20/working-your-way-up-the-new-media-pyramid/#comments Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:45:36 +0000 Alec McNayr http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/?p=277 NewTeeVee is covering a question I’ve been thinking about for a while now: do traditional celebrities help or hinder web series? Do you have to be (or have signed) a celebrity to make a web series work? Have we jumped past the window of opportunity for an independent web producer to get their content made?

Just a few years ago, anyone could walk into any office and pitch (and sell!) a web series idea. But those days are done, I say, and you have to know how to play in the “new” new media eco-system to get your work bought/produced.

You have to be able to work your way up the “new media pyramid.”

GOING SOLO

Of course, anyone can put video content online and, with some simple site-building tools and social media handywork, build a sizable audience. In the do-it-yourself model, the size of your audience is based solely on your ability to crank out material, market it, and interact — all by your lonesome. In this case, you just have your friends (none of whom are famous or celebrity of any sort, unless you’re lucky), so you’re stuck with the style and cleverness of your content.

Keep in mind, though, that many celebrities are getting into the “independently-produced” game. Consider Justine Bateman’s fm78.tv which is seeking advertisers for its self-funded web series projects, or Illeana Douglas’ Ikea-sponsored Web show, Easy to Assemble.

MID-MAJORS

The next level of content producers seem to be teamed up with (or created by) new, small digital studios. ManiaTV, College Humor, Revision3, and 60 Frames fit this model, but they’re laying off people: shedding some resources to make their already stretched-thin venture capital last. They are partnering with buzz-worth (but not A-List) celebrities, and are getting some nice press and initial traffic because of it. But the hype wears off. Traditional celebrities working online don’t seem to have the same holding power they have on TV. Not sure why that is. These smaller companies have room to experiment with no-name talent, but that window seems to be shutting as well.

THE STUDIOS

ABC’s Stage 9 Digital Studio, Warner Bros 2.0, HBO Digital Labs, and NBC Digital are all digital extensions of big companies are in the business of leveraging talent to get viewership, and because of the dampened economy, they have less and less room for error. Take Stage 9’s Squeegees (made by then-internet celebrity Handsome Donkey). I don’t think that show would be made today.

The window for relative unknowns making a traditional “show” at one of these big media companies is closed, I say. These small, but heavily funded (read: expectations) studios have embraced the traditional

What are the big media studios making?

• Rob Corddry’s Children’s Hospital
• Gemini Division with Rosario Dawson (licensed by NBC, but same difference)
• Web Series based on TV shows: Chuck, The Office, Heroes
• The Line, with SNL’s Bill Hader

All web series with name talent (even if it’s the writers who are the talent). Sony’s Crackle seems to be the only big media studio/site that is breaking this mold: they have name talent and unknowns all together. I wonder how that’s affecting their traffic mix.

SO WHAT?

The bigger the company you want to work with, the more stretched their resources are, and the more guarantee they’ll need that they’ll get their investment back. That means producers will have to start to (agents rejoice) package deals. Multiple levels of talent, production and web marketing experience, great amazing scripts, and locked-in advertising are all examples of negotiating chips. All that, and you’ll be forced to give up more and more ownership (if not all of it) to play at the top level.

The window will never close, however, on your ability to create something as a stepping stone to more leverage in the traditional markets. The entertainment business thrives on new talent and new voices. Is yours being heard?

]]> http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/11/20/working-your-way-up-the-new-media-pyramid/feed/ 0 http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/10/04/back-on-topps-not-quuuuuuiiiiiteeee-there-yet/ http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/10/04/back-on-topps-not-quuuuuuiiiiiteeee-there-yet/#comments Sat, 04 Oct 2008 14:00:08 +0000 Alec McNayr http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/?p=272 Michael Eisner’s company bought the baseball card company Topps last year, and this year, his new media production company Vuguru is making a mockumentary about it. Back on Topps stars twin comedians The Sklar Brothers, and is actually quite funny.

Unlike many meandering online comedy series, there are actual jokes written into the first episode, and lots of obscure baseball references, sure to please any sports fan (they’re lost on me, but I get the gist). Pre-launch promos for the show include Jordan Farmar of the LA Lakers and Dennis Rodman of the Crazytown Crazies.

In particular, the receptionist at Topps, Bev, plays her role brilliantly in the midst of a male-dominated cast and subject matter, reminiscent of Kaitlin Olson (Sweet Dee on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia).

The show has all kinds of things going right for it — niche subject matter paid off by thoughtful knowledgeable jokes. The editing is a tad slow, but it’s forgiven with the snappy writing. I’m a fan of the video content… but that’s all…

Now, for the marketing, I’ve been woefully disappointed in most of the support given to Vuguru shows, but Back on Topps takes the cake. The BackonTopps.com web site has no further information on any character (not even a mocked-up baseball card? come on!), no clickable links, no information on guest stars, and you can’t embed their video. A few days after Episode 1 appeared, they added some content to the BackonTopps.com site. Better, but not mind-blowingly awesome (which is what I demand!). Lots of “Coming Soon.” Eh. Still Strike 1.

Perhaps Back on Topps is hoping its Fox Sports/MSN Video home with provide it a super-targeted audience, but the user experience there is fourteen times more difficult to manuever. Strike 2.

Where is the heart of this show’s audience? Just 43 views on “special partner” Veoh for Episode 1. Episode 1 hasn’t fared better on YouTube. It barely has 400 500 750 views. Not the right view counts for such a good show. Strike 3?

You’d think that a niche show like backing from a smart guy like Eisner would have secured bigger distribution (uhhhh, ESPN?) and sports blogger attention ahead of launch. Without it, this show may be destined for the bench (I couldn’t resist).

]]> http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/10/04/back-on-topps-not-quuuuuuiiiiiteeee-there-yet/feed/ 0 http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/10/01/lonelygirl15-creators-not-so-lonely-anymore/ http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/10/01/lonelygirl15-creators-not-so-lonely-anymore/#comments Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:00:53 +0000 Alec McNayr http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/?p=208 We interviewed Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, the creators of Lonelygirl15 and Kate Modern, for the September/October 2008 issue of Script Magazine. Their new media production company EQAL recently landed $5 million in financing and a big contract with CBS.

LonelyGirl15 Creators Not So Lonely Anymore

Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried Have Built Their DIY Web Series into a Million-Dollar Online Production Company
By Robert Gustafson and Alec McNayr

On an otherwise average Tuesday morning in September 2006, Greg Goodfried made an ominous move. An associate lawyer at Mitchell, Silberberg & Knupp, he walked into his boss’ office and shut the door behind him. He informed his boss that the following day he would be featured in both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times as one of the masterminds behind the popular YouTube video blogger known simply as “LonelyGirl15.” The articles, he explained, would confirm suspicions that the confessional-style videos were actually part of a fictional series created by he and co-creator Miles Beckett.

Lucky for Goodfried, his boss had actually heard of the Internet sensation and offered him a six-month sabbatical to finish the series, after which he could return to the firm. He never went back. Instead, he and Beckett turned their experience creating LonelyGirl15, now viewed over 100 million times, into an online production company called EQAL. In May 2008—just two years after uploading their first video—EQAL announced a $5 million round of venture capital financing.

We sat down with Goodfried and Beckett less than two weeks after moving into EQAL’s new offices in Sherman Oaks, California.

Doing It Themselves

Similar to Goodfried, writer-director Miles Beckett stepped away from a promising career to venture into online entertainment. Through fresh out of medical school, it was Beckett who originally conceived the idea of a girl on YouTube communicating via a video blog.

“He pitched me the idea,” recalls Goodfried about LonelyGirl15, “She would be an active part of the [online] community, and over a few months we’d start trickling in information: that she’s home-schooled, that her parents are in a cult, and that she’s being prepared for a ceremony. Then, after three months, she‘ll run away and you won’t be sure if she made it or not and we’ll be on the covers of magazines. And I was like, ‘that’s the best f-ing idea I’ve ever heard, let’s go do this thing.’”

They didn’t, however, intend the Web series to take center stage. “Originally, LonelyGirl15 was going to be a prequel,” adds Beckett, “We planned to shoot an independent feature film simultaneous to filming the online series and sell it to a DVD distributor or something.”

Unfortunately, they underestimated just how much effort launching LonelyGirl15 would take. “Just producing an online show is the most overwhelming experience anyone could go through,” says Beckett.

The duo spent a month prior to launching the first episode setting up YouTube and MySpace profiles for Bree, the namesake character of LonelyGirl15. In that time, “Bree” established a real relationship with the online community, so when “she” uploaded her first video, it had a built-in audience.

To build the mystique of the show, Beckett and Goodfried also created a fan Web site run by a fictional and nameless “superfan.” The site stirred conversation and offered a look into the mania the duo hoped to incite. “The idea was that a group of [real-life] fans— along with the [fictional] characters—were going to search for the missing girl,” Beckett says.

By the sixth video—just two and a half weeks into their venture—a LonelyGirl15 video received 500,000 views. Goodfried and Beckett decided to give up their feature film ambitions and focus their efforts on the online series.

The Show is Everywhere

EQAL’s tagline is ”The show is everywhere,” which represents Beckett and Goodfried’s view on the difference between online media and television. “It’s about breaking the fourth wall,” says Beckett, “All good writing is suspension of disbelief, and in TV, you suspend it within the walls of that television screen. It doesn’t extend into your living room. For an Internet show, it’s everywhere. The reality extends into your bedroom, into the real world, and onto other Web sites.” Adds Goodfried, “If you want to take Sex and the City and adapt it from a TV show into a movie, you wouldn’t string four episodes together and put it on a big screen: you would write a three-act structure and shoot it differently.”

Goodfried lists interactivity as the most important characteristic of any Web series: “An online show has three core pieces; the top layer is some type of daily or weekly consistent online content. Then there must be a community-based Web site where the hardcore fans can gather [and participate in] chat rooms, forums, and social networking. The third layer is then some sort of interaction between that community and content. It could be as minimal as American Idol fans texting in their votes, or as extreme as LonelyGirl15, where we might give out ‘secret coordinates,’ and, using them, the viewer can actually go to Central Park, dig up a flash drive, make a video of themselves, and upload it. Then the fan is in the storyline itself.”

To leverage Web interactivity into a story-based experience, the team had to think about all levels of online communication. “We think about [MySpace] profile pages, chats, messaging, and live video streaming like a feature film director would think about camera angles and set design,” says Beckett.

The LonelyGirl15 experience extends past the confessional-style episodic videos. “Each character has their own profile page and can submit their own videos,” says Goodfried. “It’s as if these are two [real] kids. This could actually happen,” adds Beckett, “And there were repercussions of each one uploading a video.”

The series, therefore, is subject to the rules inherent in someone broadcasting their life and thoughts online. LonelyGirl15 is, by its nature, interactive in a way that could never be done on TV. Says Beckett, ”The hardest thing is to be able to think in a linear narrative, but then take that linear narrative and explode it outside the walls of everything.”

Restructuring The Definition of a Series

“Since our initial concept was a feature film, it had a three act structure. It was two or three pages with major beats, inciting incidents, and so forth,” says Beckett.

But as LonelyGirl15 became an online-only experience, the team had to rethink their definition of a series. “The pace online is much faster than TV,” says Beckett, “Every week on the show, something dramatic happens, and then the next week again, and then again and again. You literally burn through plot.”

Goodfried continues the questioning of the status quo: “What is ‘an episode?’ Well, we make videos five days a week: on Monday, we introduce the conflict. By the middle of the week there is heightened dramatic tension, and then by Friday, there is resolution and a cliffhanger. So there are beats each week that fans can get excited about and talk about.”

Just because the show is interactive doesn’t mean that there’s no writing involved. “It’s all scripted. One hundred percent,” admits Beckett, ”As we’ve expanded the team to include a director who isn’t writing and an editor who isn’t directing, we’ve found we have to be even tighter on the script.”

The experience of writing LG15 for almost two years sharpened their skills. “I had written a few screenplays for fun, and also wrote a few articles for my college’s humor magazine, but doing an online show where I literally I had to break story every week made me a much better writer. It’s like writing boot camp!” says Beckett with a chuckle.

You Don’t Have To Do It Alone

“Over the past couple of years, there really haven’t been that many shows online that have achieved really, really big viewership. I don’t thinks it’s due to a lack of creativity or talent; I think it’s a lack of a company like ours,” says Beckett.

“Sure, you can do it by yourself,” explains Goodfried, “Put something together, get something out there, and maybe it gets popular, but to make an online show into an actual business where you can quit your day job, you need something else.” Beckett inserts, ”The bottom line is you’re not going to get anywhere unless you collaborate.”

“We wanted to do more interactive shows, and we knew we would need financing, ad sales, legal, accounting, and someone to build our website and run it,” says Beckett, “But there was nobody who could offer that. Some people offered pieces, but nobody offered the whole solution.”

With the formation of EQAL, Beckett and Goodfried now have the resources to build large-scale interactive Web series. They recently signed with CBS to help the network expand the online experience of their flagship TV shows. But as they reflect on starting a simple Web series, they admit that the basics of storytelling are what really matter.

“Honestly, we were lucky that we did [LonelyGirl15] when we did it. We hit at the same time as YouTube, and that’s a hard thing to replicate, but we’re a perfect example of not needing the ‘right’ equipment to do the job. I didn’t have a Mac or Final Draft, because we didn’t have enough money to pay for it,” admits Beckett. “We shot with a Logitech Webcam plugged into a laptop,” follows Goodfried, “We had no lights, just a desk lamp and a window.”

Beckett summarizes, “the truth is you don’t need it. You just need a good story, and in this case, something that will work in the medium.”

If two guys with a Webcam can turn a story into a multi-million dollar, industry-changing production company, what can you do with the tools you have at your disposal?

]]> http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/10/01/lonelygirl15-creators-not-so-lonely-anymore/feed/ 0 http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/09/10/fast-company-lists-the-funny/ http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/09/10/fast-company-lists-the-funny/#comments Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:26:28 +0000 Alec McNayr http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/?p=254 Fast Company’s Fast Take Email mentioned today a few articles its done about online comedy. It notably mentions nine “Top Funny Sites,” and I thought I’d share (along some of my favorites comedy pieces):

• Fark.com
• The Onion (Ghost Of Christmas Future Taunts Children With Visions Of PlayStation 5)
• Cracked.com (The 7 Most Useless Transformers Ever)
• YTMND.com (short for “you’re the man now, dog.”)
• Married to the Sea
• Garfield Minus Garfield
• College Humor (Street Fighter: The Later Years)
• Fail Blog
• The Superficial

And from the Fail Blog, a marriage proposal nightmare:

]]> http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/09/10/fast-company-lists-the-funny/feed/ 1 http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/09/09/n-came-and-went-but-what-did-it-mean/ http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/2008/09/09/n-came-and-went-but-what-did-it-mean/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:39:28 +0000 Alec McNayr http://www.spaceshank.com/blog/?p=251

I’ve lauded Stephen King’s N. as the best web series I’d seen in a long time, but it ended with an awkward “okay, that’s done now.”

Now what?

As a fan, what am I supposed to do? Buy the book? In November? I might, but reading the book won’t match my interest in the video-based series. There’s not really any further online interaction to speak of.

As a producer, I question the close-out strategy for the series. I was a big fan (bigger than most, I bet), and they never captured my name, email address, or anything about me. They can’t send me a coupon to save $2-3 bucks off the book, they can’t hit me up for further King-related series, and they can’t claim my demographics to future potential advertisers.

There were a lot of players on the team that made N., including Simon & Schuster, Marvel, and CBS. Why no thought on marketing?

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