- Kate Modern, a mystery on social networking site Bebo. - Roommates, a soap opera on MySpace TV - Special Delivery, a hidden camera reality show on MySpace TV.
It notes that while MySpace and Bebo push into original content, Facebook hasn't and other internet companies - AOL and Yahoo, specifically - are backing away from it.
Article doesn't disclose budget for KATE MODERN but says Bebo sells sponsorships at $400,000 for six months.
Claims production budgets for Roommates and Special Delivery are about $1000 per minute.
Article also notes that the shows themselves aren't very profitable to their writer / producers, who are portrayed as doing internet stuff to build assets and relationships "in a bigger entertainment medium."
If you've watched these shows, use the commentsto tell us what you think.
If you've had experience trying to sell a show to Bebo or MySpace or any other company investing in internet original content, tell us what can about the process: deal points, budgets, development process.
WSJ article also links to excellent post by Kara Swisher where she takes Hollywood to task - creative talent as well as the companies - for being risk-averse and lazy and for making "Web material that clearly is derivative of current media like television, rather than [trying] to imagine a whole new way of creating content that reflects and excels on the online platform."
As we expand UH into a resource for the talent community exploring the creative and business aspects of new media, we will post bits of news about what's going out there. Comment, question, send us posts about what you know and what you're doing, and look for the new UH: Artists l Audience l Business in the coming weeeks. -TES
NewTeeVee writes today about UNDER THE ARCHES, a "reality" show that began as a series of short videos online and is now being turned into a "pilot" by a company called Madwood Entertainment.
NYU student Sean Patrick Murray, who created the show, describes it on Facebook as "8 college kids in NYC, the real "Gossip Girl." You can see the 7-minute pilot there or get a taste here on the Gawker post, which described the show as "reality schtick - [all] about the fast-moving-cloud shots, the angsty Z-100 soundtrack and the whiny blond chicks" and creator Murray as "either a complete genius or a total tool."
According to NewTeeVee, the distribution plan is "to launch a video destination site that will stream ad-supported shows for free" and then “hyper-distribute the show to other video sharing-sites and social networks."
I like that plan to build audience, but whether it's already the big win Murray suggests or just the beginning of a strategy still to be tested, we'll see. What do you think?
UPDATE: WGAw membership meeting this Saturday, February 9, at 6:30 PM. Shrine Auditorium, 649 W Jefferson Blvd 90007.
Last Friday, WGAw President Patric Verrone gave this interview to United Hollywood's Jeff Berman. When asked about rumors, Verrone says flatly, "They're never true."
Not that any kind of puppet video is really appropriate for work. Video written by Seth MacFarlane. Featuring Josh Radnor, Kat Foster, Nick Kroll, John Viener, Seth MacFarlane, and Erik Weiner. Directed by Bryan Carmel and Brendan Colthurst.
"The Newshour with Jim Lehrer" (PBS) reported on how the internet is at play in the Writers' Strike. Featuring an interview with Shawn Ryan, and clips from the first Strike TV meeting. Check out the clip at this address: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/video/module.html?mod=0&pkg=25012008&seg=4
WGA Member Allison Abner, who helped organize the event wrote the following report:
The WGA had a great day in Washington yesterday. The event was hosted by Reps Nadler D-NY, Weiner D-NY, Schakowsky D-Ill, Watson D-CA. Each host put in a word in support of the striking writers and vowed to aid us should we need help with negotiations this go-round.
The highlight for Congressmen/women and their staffers was the standing-room only mock debate between the Daily Show and the Colbert Show writers. "Daily Show" writers Rob Kutner, Tim Carvell and Jason Ross represented the WGA. On the other side, in suits, was the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, played by "The Colbert Report" writers Michael Brumm, Peter Grosz and Tom Purcell. The debate was 'interrupted' by protesters (writers Kevin Blyer and Peter Gwinn) who were dragged out by WGAe President Michael Winship. It was every bit as smart as you'd expect from such incredible talent as these writers. And honestly, people walked away more informed than when they came in.
The goal in bringing this mock debate to Washington was to provide a national platform for our issues, to take it out of LA and NYC, and explain (in a fun and instructive way) why we're on strike. We got a ton of press (AP, Reuters, LA Times, Washington Post, Roll Call, Politico among them).
We (which includes WGA ex director Mona, assistant director Ann Tobac, our fabulous Washington point person Margaret Cone, and Sherry Goldman, our pr person out of east) also met with members of Congress on judiciary, labor, and telecommunications. We spoke to them about the state of negotiations, our hope that we'd reach a settlement soon. We also discussed issues like the importance of residuals -- both as a form of what I call R&D, which are scripts created outside of the development system such as Desperate Housewives, that we finance on our own dime; and as part of our expected income. We also discussed how residuals from writers are different than they are for directors, and how that affected the DGA deal.
But here's the interesting part -- and what will come to be the future direction we will have to take as writers: the issue of COPYRIGHT. When the WGA formed, we wrote away our Constitutional right to own our own material in exchange for residuals. By the way, we are the only writers in the WORLD in this situation. Like a novelist, songwriter, playwright -- the concept, the idea begins with us. We fill the blank page. And like any other artist who does the same thing in different form, we deserve the right to own our material.
The example I used was the trend among artists in the record industry, who are now licensing their masters back to the majors to exploit for a set number of years (generally 7), then rights revert back to us. I explained that many artists have made their pensions and most of their income on the latter portion of this deal. And for tv/screenwriters this would also hold true: who knew the A-Team would one day be available on DVD and itunes? And who knows what other uses there will be in the future?
Going forward into new media (internet, phones, something we haven't yet invented), we should lobby to retain our copyright. This is the third-rail of studio/WGA negociations, and if we don't work towards this, we will very possibly be out on the line again in another 3 years fighting to get paid another sliver for our work.
That being said, members said they would look into these issues, as they require legislation.
All in all, it was an incredible day on the Hill, except for the part where Disney's lobbyist was following us around, including to an event across town (where there were only 15 other people in the room!). And he was furiously taking notes without saying a word; if I get blacklisted, you'll know why. Also in attendance at the mock debate was Time-Warner's guy.
The studios are used to owning those halls, and never expected us to come there and be so high profile, not to mention successful. Hopefully this will be the start of a beautiful relationship between the WGA and the Hill.
Proving that walking the picket line stimulates your comic chops, the members of the Strike Club, formerly of Sony's Madison Gate and now keeping watch over the Galaxy Gate at Fox, offer up a short film that pokes a finger in the eye of the faceless congloms.
Who are you people? United Hollywood advocates for working people in the entertainment industry facing the digital revolution. We are not an official site of any guild or union, so our opinions are our own. Founded by a group of WGA strike captains, our contributors are both writers and non-writers. If you've got any questions or stories we should know about, email us at unitedhollywood [at] gmail [dot] com.
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