Cried at the last sentence.
Angel: Miss me? Lilah: Only in the sense of…no.
'Just Rewards (2)'
The Minearverse 5: Closer to the Earth, Further from the Ax
[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls, The Inside and Drive), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.
Theresa - Nov 12, 2007 4:05:17 am PST #7882 of 10001
"What would it take to get your daughter to stop tweeting about this?"
CaBil - Nov 12, 2007 4:07:40 am PST #7883 of 10001
Remember, remember/the fifth of November/the Gunpowder Treason and Plot/I see no reason/Why Gunpowder Treason/Should ever be forgot.
Actually, this is a golden opportunity for the some of the internet companies to break the media companies hold on entertainment content. Why pay someone else for the content when you can control the whole thing?
The downside of this, of course, that there are no unions in the realm of the internet companies, so why should these companies start now?
Kevin - Nov 12, 2007 4:14:00 am PST #7884 of 10001
Never fall in love with somebody you actually love.
Actually, this is a golden opportunity for the some of the internet companies to break the media companies hold on entertainment content. Why pay someone else for the content when you can control the whole thing?
Cost, and risk of failure, are high on the list of things I'd be concerned about. The average US TV show which fails in it's first year costs the network around about $20m, give or take. If you're an internet company, you'd have to drastically reduce the budget to suit your audience figures (you're not going to get 6 million viewers first week). And if your budget is crappy, you look like a BBC show.
The US entertainment industry is so incredibly controlled, any company looking to take it on would need massive resources, and to be independent of those companies.
That said, Google....
Tom Scola - Nov 12, 2007 4:18:46 am PST #7885 of 10001
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
Yeah, and Apple has this whole distribution channel in place, and about $4 Billion in cash in the bank.
CaBil - Nov 12, 2007 4:22:07 am PST #7886 of 10001
Remember, remember/the fifth of November/the Gunpowder Treason and Plot/I see no reason/Why Gunpowder Treason/Should ever be forgot.
Don't knock the BBC. I think people are willing to forgive a lot, as long as they believe in the characters and the story (creations of the writers and the actors). As long as the background tech is not so bad to be jarring and pushes you out of the story (no cardboard backgrounds, unless you make the cardboard backgrounds a believable part of the story)
Kevin - Nov 12, 2007 4:24:46 am PST #7887 of 10001
Never fall in love with somebody you actually love.
I'm not knocking the BBC, CaBil, I'm just saying the production values are radically different to US TV, and US TV viewers are preconditioned to expect a lot. Also, the pay? Fucking awful in comparison.
Tom, good point. I'm just not sure companies see it as a potential source of income - yet. There's certainly a few companies trying it (eg that pilot produced with Amanda Tapping). I hope it works out for them.
Tom Scola - Nov 12, 2007 4:27:50 am PST #7888 of 10001
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
Jessica - Nov 12, 2007 4:34:23 am PST #7889 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
And if your budget is crappy, you look like a BBC show.
Bwah.
Honestly though, if you're a video podcaster, you don't need 6 million viewers to make money because your production costs aren't going to be even close to an episode of, say, Lost, or even Survivor. You're not going to be building expensive sets, you're not going to be shooting on film, etc etc. You're going to shoot on DV in your living room and do your editing and sound mix on your laptop. If you want your show to look good on a TV screen for the Apple TV or Tivo owners, the prices on HDV cameras are dropping like rocks lately. Final Cut Express is $99 if you get it preinstalled on a new Mac. Look at a show like Ask A Ninja or Cranky Geeks -- clearly, content matters more than production values (especially if most of your audience will be watching on a 3-inch iPod screen).
In the last writers' strike, television lost viewers to Blockbuster becauset when there was no new content on TV, people rented movies instead. This time around, television will lose viewers to YouTube and Tivocasts. If you're an independent online video producer, this is absolutely the time to start courting sponsors.
That said, I do hope the strike ends soon and everyone gets to go back to work.
Kevin - Nov 12, 2007 4:41:17 am PST #7890 of 10001
Never fall in love with somebody you actually love.
The best example I can think of an online TV series, at the moment, is quarterlife: [link]
Also, [link] - Sanctuary's production values (in places) are actually some of the best I've seen in recent years. Somebody is taking a huge risk on that one - good luck to them.
Jessica - Nov 12, 2007 4:43:21 am PST #7891 of 10001
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Also, the pay? Fucking awful in comparison.
So. Very. True.
But re the BBC's production values - there's already a TON of BBC content on US TV screens that American audiences are happily watching without realizing. Almost everything on the Discovery family of channels is bought-in and reversioned (American narrators and edited for ads) BBC progamming, ditto the History Channel and a fair chunk of PBS. (Of course, the docs do tend to be produced at a higher level than the fiction for the very reason that they DO sell well over here, and Discovery as a co-producer means more money at the start. But Rome was a huge success, as was Hustle, and of course Dr Who on both BBCA and SciFi.)