Check out Hailey’s second set of April Fools pranks. For you low-tech types, she’s got a great trick that will have your victim smelling sweetly. And for the geeks out there, she offers up some fun with System Prefs that will have your Mac-owning friends reaching for their Chinese phrase books!
Andra Sheffer’s office has walls in two shades of blue and looks west out at College where the blue roof of the police headquarters matches her decor nicely. I was visiting to find out more about the Independent Production Fund and what I could put into my application that would help it stand out from yours. Which raises the question of why I’m now going to tell you everything I found out.
…Or am I? Do you trust me?
Well you should because one of the things Andra — the Executive Director of the Independent Production Fund — and I discussed was collaboration and cooperation among the successful applicants. But I’ll get to that in a sec.
First, let’s just go over the basics of the application. The IPF, as you know, is running a web drama pilot program:
The intent of the Fund is to assist independent producers/creators to finance the production of original drama series created initially for the web.
The Independent Production Fund intends to explore the potential for high quality, story-driven drama with new and innovative narrative forms.
Successful properties may subsequently be exploited on other platforms such as television and mobile either in their original format or through the exploitation of derivative rights.
Applications, which are limited to a maximum of six pages, are due on March 31st. I suspect that there will be A LOT of applicants. The plan is to narrow down the field and ask a small number of applicants (12? 14?) to create more detailed production proposals. The IPF “intends to work closely with applicants in the creation of their Production Proposals.”
What can you do to get into that select second round group?
The guidelines say:
The primary criterion for acceptance by the Fund will be the quality of the project.The Board will assess projects based on the creative materials; creative and production team; production strategies; scheduling; budget and financing; distribution and web strategies; marketing and promotion plans; projected traffic; business model and revenue projections; maintenance strategies, third party financing and endorsements, associated interactive activities, recoupment, HD, etc.
But what are they really looking for? Andra says great creative if the first step. Creative that excite jurors and evaluators makes them look deeper.
A track record is going to help. Experienced writers can apply, but you need to show evidence that you know how to produce and better yet, get things onto the web. If you don’t have that experience, teaming up with someone who has complimentary skills will help your chances.
The business plan is going to be key. The IPF is making an investment. They want their money back and they want a profit which they can invest in other people’s projects. They’d like to see you make a profit too.
You might want to talk about marketing as well. How are you going to attract and engage an audience?
Fit all that into six pages!
Obviously, no one really knows exactly how to create a successful web series and make money with it. You might say “Oh, Pure Pwnage did it.” There are definitely lessons to be learned but times have changed a lot since then. There are a handful of other series that work well and make money but no one guaranteed model.
The intent is to create a climate in which all of the successful applicants can pool resources and learn from each other. By collaborating and sharing information and strategies, the teams will improve their chances of creating great web series that audiences love and turn a profit.
As Andra says, she wants all of the series to be as successful as possible.
I’m excited because 6 or 7 web series are going to get some financing and a good chance at testing the waters. Whether they make money or not, we’ll all profit from their experience.
For more inspiration, check out these guidelines for creating award winning web series from the Fine Brothers.
I watched “The Sopranos” pilot five times and it’s driving me crazy : I can’t distinguish the act breaks!
Well, I don’t know. Do you? I haven’t watched that episode in a very long time and don’t have it on hand to break down right this second, so I thought I’d turn to you for starters and see if anyone out there knows the answer.
I suspect (but am talking off the top of my head) that The Sopranos, like many other HBO series, is written to a three act structure, not the contorted five or six act structure of commercial television. But that’s all I can contribute to this discussion without looking at the episode again… which I will do when I lay my hands on it.
In the meantime, if anyone knows where the act breaks are in The Sopranos pilot or has a link to a break down of the episode, please share!
In the next decade, we will see significant changes to the way that content is created, monetized and experienced. During the next few years, existing media players will begin to increasingly face the realities and challenges that those of us online have always dealt with — an audience with a short attention span and a whole slew of viewing options.
Sumner Redstone famously called content “king.” Rupert Murdoch recently upgraded that to “Emperor.” While there is certainly some truth to that when looking at online content — see Hulu’s rapid growth as an example — there are far more cases where great content does not seem to matter at all. At the very least, I think it is fair to say that even if content is king online, then distribution and marketing are the “crown princes.” Good content or not, understanding and embracing digital distribution and marketing will prove critical to everyone in the entertainment industry.
These days, when I’m thinking about creating content, I’m thinking about distribution and marketing right from concept. How can I build elements into the narrative that will help it spread?
There are the mysteries of SEO to unravel — an art or science that seems ripe with charlatans. Beyond search, there is the social web, a brilliant way of spreading content, but by no means a slam dunk. You have to know what you’re doing and really work at it. You can’t just sign up for a twitter account and figure everything’s suddenly going to go viral.
Viral! I hate that word because of the ease it implies. Nothing goes viral without a brilliant strategy, plenty of effort and a certain amount of money.
Money. Indeed, an ad buy is important. Especially if you aren’t an SEO ninja or a social media star with a zillion followers.
The new kid on the block is social recommendation. People consume things they see their friend’s consuming on Facebook and click on the links on Twitter. You have to make your content shareable, embeddable and wigitizeable. You have to give your audience a Creative Commons license that gives them the right to goof with your content because that’s another way to make it popular.
Because content may be king and distribution may be the crowned prince, but the audience? God.
Perhaps, I thought, cable would be a more receptive arena for women’s voices. Was I wrong! I decided to investigate 3 shows on USA, the number one rated cable network – “Monk,” “Psych,” and “Burn Notice.” None, emphasis on none of these shows has ever employed a woman on the writing staff! These aren’t blood and guts, male testosterone-laden shows; these are shows dependent on female viewers on a network that was run by a woman! None! Draw your own conclusions.
This morning, I got up my nerve and played a little Chat Roulette. This is the site where you turn on your web cam and then click to look at total strangers via their web cams, and text chat with them.
I was a little apprehensive about it. Strangers! What do you say? Plus I guess I had some preconceived notions as in, mostly teens and 20-somthings and a whole lotta sex and porn. Then there are the rudeness possibilities. What if someone just clicks away from you on first site? What if you do that to them?
But I guess the worst that can happen is hurt feelings or maybe a glimpse of a naked body part, so I decided to overcome my fear and give it a try.
The site is pretty plain, boxes for the two web cams, with the “stranger” at the top and a big box on the right for the chat text. On the top right are the words Users online. This number has stayed static at 20000 all morning, so I take it with a grain of salt.
There are three buttons: Play, Report and Stop. After you press play the first time, it turns into Next. It’s the important button — your safe word — it gets you in and gets you out and onto the next person.
My first “stranger” was a woman, no face, just her cleavage and she was lying in bed. OK, first preconception confirmed. Without speaking to her, I clicked past. (Who’s the rude one now, eh? I didn’t even try to engage her conversation!)
Next was a guy who didn’t have a video camera, just a photo of an average guy – not young, maybe 40s or 50s. He greeted me with bjr. Who knows what that means? So I opened another window and started searching for the meaning of this internet acronym wondering if it was a long form of the better known bj. Then his second text came through qui etes vous?. Oh Jill, jump to conclusions much? This isn’t a sexual overture, the guy speaks French.
Cool, I’m on a “use-my-French” kick and here’s a stranger to practice on. We establish that he’s in France, it’s his first time on Chat Roulette and in fact, I am the first person he’s talking to. And would it be possible for me to show him my breasts?
Moving on.
Next guy is in Ohio, maybe 30-ish, first time try at Chat Roulette and he’s already spoken to people in France and Mexico. He wasn’t afraid to try it but a little shy about talking to strangers. Then he got a phone call and there was enough dead air to bore me and I signed off.
Conclusion: There are people on Chat Roulette from different countries. There seems to be a fair amount of sexual content, but it’s not ALL sex. It’s hard work to talk by typing to strangers and find something interesting to say. Before I try again I will make a list of questions to ask to engage my strangers… something beyond where are you and have you done this before. Help me out, if you can think of questions I should ask, leave them in the comments.
Also, let me know if you’ve Chat Rouletted and how it went.
I was cruising the web this week looking for information about soon-to-be-released television series and was shocked to find virtually nothing. I’m talking about more than one series — series that are in the can and awaiting air dates. Yet, the only information about them are their IMDB pages and a press release here and there to announce a green light, a casting choice or the first day of principal photography.
Nothing else. No writers blog. No production blog. No photos from set or images of any kind.
It strikes me as odd and also foolish. The web is a cheap way to start building a fan base and community around your project.
Yeah, I know. You don’t have an air date or a web site yet. But that shouldn’t stop you from having a hundred followers on Twitter or 5000 hits to a blog. That’s early awareness of your project. The number of people who know the project’s name, the names of the actors, production company and yes, the names of the writers will just keep growing. Maybe they’ll even mention it to a friend, retweet you or forward a blog post.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if by the time you got your airdate a thousand people or ten thousand already knew about the project? And all it cost you was a few hours a week on the web. Let’s face it, you’re on the web already. Just make the time productive.
Why wait for the PR people to come on long after the show is wrapped and the creative team have moved on? Why wait till the press releases are written? Why wait for the Saturday paper to be delivered only to discover that you haven’t gotten the cover of the TV guide you were promised? Why wait for the luke warm reviews?
It seems much smarter to have someone on the team or several people contributing to a blog though prep, production and post, to have a Facebook fan page up from day 1 building interest, to start a Flickr account to house pictures from set and YouTube channel from some video.
I guarantee that the audience will love you for it. Because right now, when they waste an hour looking for your show on the web when you haven’t bothered to put up so much as the current name? They’re just getting pissed off.
30 Rock
Rick Mercer Report
This Hour Has 22 Minutes
Lost
Glee
Dragon's Den
Friday Night Light
Deadwood
What are you watching? If it's good I want to know about it!
