And what do you know? Crackle is launching yet another genre project: The Bannen Way, from Vuguru and Big Fantastic (creators of Prom Queen).

So it looks like Sony really gets it and the rest of the studios are hopefully going to follow suit. Pay upfront production costs for genre content right now to the tune of a low budget movie (one to five million dollars for approximately two hours of content) and get returns from:

Domestic & International Syndication

Paid Downloads from places like Amazon & iTunes

Advertising Revenue from sites like Hulu.com

And DVD Sales

So now the question is how much access does the independent online producer have to places like Sony and the production company behind The Bannen Way, Vuguru? Probably not much, because with these budgets, no doubt there are agencies swarming (or at least hovering) at all ends and there will be plenty of filters involved (not to mention unemployed TV writers checking out those growing budgets licking their chops).

In a recent AP article about the new series, Brady Brim-DeForest from tubefilter.tv said that this model is an example of, “the second coming of original programming online.”

So great news for legitimate online production, but at a cost to the little guy?

We’ll be posting our thoughts on Twitter leading up to the big moment (as well as our thoughts during the LATV Fest conference), so if you’d like to follow us, here you go…

• @alecmcnayr
• @bobbyg
• @spaceshank

You can also follow our MRTC actors at: @adrock44, @doriendavies, and @ealexenriquez.

We’re also hoping to score a big win tomorrow in their NextTV Competition of which My Roommate The Cylon is a finalist.

You can help by texting, “VOTE 22″ to 88398

It’s true. More focus, more shifting away from cable to mobile and online, and more interesting content finding its way into the radars of non-technical, average folk, who don’t know how to connect a laptop to a TV.

But no money. Or at least, not a lot of money. The amount of online content is too vast to stand out with a simple, well-produced web series. You need distribution. No money, no distribution, no production, no experience.

NewTeeVee reports on RedLever’s shift from artistic creator of content (term used lightly after seeing a video starring a bikini-clad hottie dropping raw eggs into a “contestant’s” mouth) into strategic brand enhancer. I think that’s a smart play for this economy. Well done.

RedLever shows cost anywhere from $100,000 to $1.5 million each, including distribution. “If they want 100 million uniques to see it, not a problem, we can do that,” he said, adding that 10 million seems to be the number most people are looking for. With a combination of original shows and distribution deals like the one it has with Vuguru’s Back on Topps, RedLever hopes to launch 10 shows this year.

Now, the “content as ad” model looks nice, but only a precious few who have the ears of ad agencies can play that game, as the case for original video content leading to concrete customer conversions is weak at best…

My knock is that without a pre-existing brand relationship (or at least a spokesperson/lifestyle-type relationship fit), branded entertainment will feel like an ad. And Tivo knows that people fast-forward through those.

Or you could just visit this guy.

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?

• A&E’s Parking Wars has used a flash game and a Facebook app to boost its profile.
• A&E’s Paranormal State combined building-covering billboards and focused speakers to make passers-by thinking they’re hearing ghost whispers from a nearby graveyard. Spoooooky!
• And HBO’s True Blood built a core audience by creating a prequel web series and sending unbranded ARG-style mailers to 1000 vampire-enthusiasts identifying them on boards and blogs.

While big networks seem to be having trouble finding big enough audiences to justify their web-only shows, they are embracing better and better marketing tactics to promote their televised fare. It’s only a matter of time before the marketing and the show content itself are pretty much seamless.

Remember that, as writers or producers independent of the big media studios, you’re competing against this level of promotion. Your stuff has to stand out — not only from the thousands of similarly-produced content — but cable networks as well.

Got me thinking: Michael Jackson’s music from the 1980’s is still holds up because it was so fresh and creative across multiple disciplines. First off, the celebrity he brought to the table made his music an option for people to listen to. Then, for Thriller itself, his layering on top of layering of sounds, singing, backup, and even Vincent Price’s narration made it a outstandingly rich sound. Then layer on top of that a boom in music videos, which was a perfect setup for his story-based Thriller video.

Layering on top of layering on top of layering. That’s art.

Reminds me of Tim Street’s current mantra of necessary components to online video success: access two emotions, have spectacle, and have a story.

I’ve been writing a lot recently and have been trying to apply this to my work in creating two TV pilot scripts: dialogue built on top of character motivations on top of clever self-awareness on top of pop culture on top of awareness in my own life and mortality. Maybe the good writers just call that “subtext.”

I see it in the best TV: real emotions stoked and an audience engaged. As I read recently about the Mad Men season 2 finale:

I think the show gets to me so much because it is so gradual and complex, layered with thematically linked plots and flawed, interesting characters. But what really makes it powerful and unique is its RESTRAINT. Less is always more on that show. There are moments you yearn for over the course of a whole season, conversations you wish people would have, confrontations that build and build and build. Tonight we finally got a couple – but instead of the knee-jerk dramatic reactions you might expect, the breakdowns, the slamming of doors, the exposing of feelings, the plans of what to do or predictions of what’s to come, you get one line. Or one look. I’m always in awe of the subtlety and intensity of that show.

But is rare in online video these days to see any layering or subtext. It is just straight in your face. What you see is what you get. Of late, online videos tend to be one of three things: satire, sex, or shock. And only one of them. Either the video gets views because it is a derivative of an existing pop culture reference (video games, movie musicals, etc.), or it’s sexy time (read: boobs), or a bride falling into a pool (hilarious, though, I must admit).

It’s not that online content isn’t original. There’s a lot of originality. It’s the layering. Or lack of it. What does TV do that online video hasn’t caught onto yet? What are the layers that matter?

Thriller: 64-part A Capella:

Some are backed by big media companies (Sony/Crackle, MSN), some are fiercely independent (Ask A Ninja’s Kent Nichols and Doug Sarine, Felicia Day), and some came from the traditional entertainment world with money and contacts (Brent Friedman, Joss Whedon).

The LA Times reports that product placement is up, and up more than I had thought. When talking about an analyst at Nielsen, the article says this:

“Martin said when she started her job a year and a half ago, she’d count an average of 10 brands in a prime-time network show. Now, it’s closer to 50. Viewers of the logo-laden American Chopper on Discovery Channel might be exposed to brands as many as 1,000 times per show.”

[Lest I go too far without first stroking my own ego, I must mention that he's following in big footsteps, as our own Flipper Nation won the Audience Choice award for Best New Web Series at the ITV Fest last year.]

Seriously, though, congratulations Alex on a very funny concept and show. As soon as we have money to hire writers*, you’re on my list.

To catch a screening of Annals, you can buy tickets online for the Laemmle’s Sunset 5 showings (Sunday, August 3rd at 10pm and Thursday, August 7th at 7pm).

* And by “writers,” I mean “friends who get to joke around all day and then write furiously for 15-17 minutes, delivering genius-level work.” You know, the way Einstein did it. (For more information, read You’re Lucky You’re Funny, by Phil Rosenthal of Everybody Loves Raymond.)