...at least according to the himself incredibly talented Glasgow Phillips, whose terrific book The Royal Nonesuch I recommended a few days ago.
If you don't believe me check out his post Thomas Rigler is Clearly a Genius on The Royal Nonesuch blog, a destination well worth a visit.
Also check out this vintage edition of Backdoor Hollywood featuring Phillips as the host of a tiki-themed movie review show.
General consensus in our industry is that the most influential book published on convergent business models was last year's The Long Tail by Chris Anderson. A loyal fan and long tail evangelist myself, I recently re-evaluated my position and am hereby nominating a new contender for that precious title.
The Royal Nonesuch, written by Glasgow Phillips, is the memoir of a true multi-hyphen cross platform creative type of the sort only the Dotcom era could have produced. Seems like Phillips did it all, and years before it became hip and fashionable: Washed up novelist, indie director, rehab, Internet entrepreneur, TV writer for South Park and the list goes on.
Reading about the author's adventures on his way to adulthood (the sub-title is...Or what will I do when I grow up) comes from the same state of mind that made Dave Eggars A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius so compelling: It's an incredibly funny, well written, tell-all style memoir that doesn't shy away from stupidity and suffering...even more so it actually finds a way to make the painful moments resonate personally. And this book isn't only about real people you'd want to know, but in the case of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, people you've at least heard of.
What does any of this have to do with the Dotcom era: Glasgow Phillips apparently participated in initiatives that still impact our industry: His tales of running a branding agency dedicated to names and tag lines sound eerily familiar when considering today's intuitive witch doctors active in product branding and viral marketing. Hustling with Hollywood producers for breadcrumb budgets is more than just a familiar notion.
Phillips' countless failed and successful attempts at crossing the bridge between VC capital, television, Internet video and Hollywood may have been chaotic and sometimes ill-advised during the 1990's heyday. In a way, though, we've all been growing up trying to become mini-moguls at our own little studios, and have all re-invented ourselves repeatedly by the time we turned 30. I this regard, The Royal Nonesuch is a scary and tremendously uncomfortable read.
Phillips' efforts appear very much in tune with today's young mavericks carving out their share of an audience on YouTube and BlipTV. His guerilla approach to both business and content creation should be a blueprint for any young filmmaker getting out of school today and should probably be taught at the appropriate departments and become required reading material.
Here's a book trailer by the man himself with highlights from a decade of defiance.
Mike Shields in Mediaweek reports about the first bona-fide hit on Sony's fledgling broadband network "Crackle". Apparently The Jace Hall Show racked up 500,000 plus viewers within only a few days since its launch in June.
"The new series, the latest in a string of originals which have either launched or are scheduled to premiere on the fledgling Crackle.com, appears to be right in most young tech savvy males’ wheelhouse.
Uber-producer Hall, who’s worked on projects ranging from the third Harry Potter film to World of Warcraft, uses the talk forum to indulge viewers’ love of entertainment, particularly gaming, while also showcasing Jackass-like high jinks such as indoor skydiving.
Hall also features celebrity interviews with the likes of That ‘70s show veteran Wilmer Valderrama and Chuck star Zachary Levi."
Here a clip from the very well produced segment co-starring Zach Levi.
From Crackle:
Another example of how YouTube owns this election: On their YouChoose '08 initiative comedy gems and informative bits and pieces from voters like you and me co-exist in harmony with complete archives of campaign spots from the various camps. Refreshing.
The maverick comedy team of Public Service Administration recently added a particularly delightful episode: "He said it first" spoofs a breaking news story about presidential candidate John McCain from the pov of the newsroom. Here's the bleeped version just in case.
Pretty incredible stuff from Lisa Donovan aka Lisa Nova. Part-time cast member on MadTV, the comedienne and genuine YouTube star has posted a series of two episodes of her her new character Twitter Whore. The intro and Lisa's high-pitched voice acrobatics alone are worth the price of the admission.
The character is addicted to her blackberry like there's no tomorrow, and only twittering away 24/7 offers temporary relief. Or not...
Just some stats: 2 days after posting, Twitter Whore has managed to rack up 200,000 plus views, 1,600 ratings and 1,200 plus comments. Does she know how to engage an audience or what?
Here she is in Twitter Whore episode 2.
The International Documentary Association is very excited to announce the launch of the new IDA website, located at: www.documentary.org
The new site features some exciting changes and additions.
Documentary trailers, clips of works in progress, shorts and IDA events will be featured in our new video player.
Sincerely,
The IDA Staff and Board of Directors
From an article I wrote for the current issue of Documentary Magazine:
The Broadband Generation
The Revolution Will Be Digitized, Webcast, Streamed, Vlogged, Podcast...
The broadband video age actually already started back in the 1970s with the invention of the VCR. Rewind, Pause, Record for the first time in the history of the moving image, viewers could adapt their viewing pleasure according to their lifestyle and not resign themselves to the limitations of "live" exhibition and broadcast.
The audience quickly rid itself of linear viewing habits and hungrily requested technological innovation from entertainment giants like Sony, Philips and Apple. The resulting digital development boom still ripples through to this day.
The only difference today is this: The consumer is in charge and dictates what, when, where, on which platform and in which type and file size the industry is allowed to serve up video and entertainment. Within 24 months, thousands of video portals have launched to quench the audience's insatiable thirst for short-form video clips, movie downloads and television programming delivered through the Internet pipeline.
On-demand, speed and portability are the new standard for the broadband generation, and the parallels to the early days of television are remarkable: Back in the 1950s, a new technology was introduced to the mainstream with the tube, spawning innovative ways of storytelling, distribution, advertising, financing and monetization--just like today.
The audience consumed moving images at home instead of visiting the neighborhood movie theater. Today, computers, iPods, game portals and mobile phones lure viewers through their ability to display moving images on the go.
Even if broadband video might not quite equal the lasting impact of the dawn of the television age, it's certainly comparable to the advent of cable television in the late 1970s and early 1980s. From one day to the next, a handful of trusted broadcast entities exploded into dozens of analogue networks, eventually leading to hundreds of digital stations.
Click here for the entire article.
I'm a panelist at Cine Gear Expo Master Class Seminars this weekend on a panel moderated by Mark Vega from Omelet:
DISTRIBUTION 2.1
Delivery Channel Fragmentation Leads to Niche Audience Infiltration
Don't miss this amazing master class seminar!
Sunday June 24, 2007, 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm
Location:
Kodak Screening Room (click for map)
Eastman Kodak Company
6700 Santa Monica Blvd.
Hollywood, CA 90038
(class fee $85.00)
Moderated by Mark Vega, Principal OMELET, a new marketing studio that is ½ work-for-hire ad agency and ½ intellectual property incubator
Entertainment content today is being delivered for a profit across distribution platforms believed technically and economically untenable only a few years ago: DVD creation on demand, user-generated content on social networking websites, camera phone film festivals, mobisodic comedies.
This doesn’t mean that feature film or other long-form content is dead. It does highlight, however, the need to pay even closer attention to the audience you’re trying to reach as a storyteller. Where do they reside and where do they consume their entertainment? Only 15% of the United States uses Tivo and digital devices so we’ve got a long way to go before the user-generated content, on-demand content universe becomes the norm. This Master Class Seminar will introduce key voices to a conversation around understanding how to make delivery channel fragmentation lead you to the audience you’re trying to capture.
Panelists:
David Tenzer, Entertainment Project consultant, 23 year packaging agent veteran CAA
Eric Spiegelman, VP Biz Dev, This Just In, an original content comedy venture between HBO and AOL and VP Biz Dev HBO Labs
Thomas Rigler, New Media content strategist, co-founder of Internet TV guide community GoGooroo.com, and host of the Broadband Jungle Blog
Mike Sarner, Filmmaker of In The Crease and former film acquisitions executive at MGM
Mark Netter, VP Biz Dev, zannel.com (mobile content on zillions of channels)
Graham Streeter, Filmmaker of Cages and former news reporter/producer
To purchase a seat to this event please click this link.
A terrific and very creative example of how to program local video content for a global audience. Well produced and delivered with great heart, Minnesota Stories offers many rewarding treasures to its viewers.
The ingredients are simple: Information, humor and lots of very specific details about the urban Midwestern identity. Calling it This American Life from Lake Wobegon would be quite appropriate.
"A daily videoblog focused on what's going on in Minnesota, Minnesota Stories is an evolving showcase for local citizen media. There are so many stories in this state - personal stories, independent films and music, hyper-local politics - yet they're rarely seen or heard. Minnesota Stories puts a spotlight on the little gems that fall through the cracks of broadcast media."
How Do You Watch the Internet TV, their contribution to a network2.tv clip competition, could become the comedic anthem of broadband television and deserves to be widely seen: The brilliant team from Minnesota Stories finally clear up everything you ever wanted know about Internet television in this little late night TV parody.
Minnesota Stories: How do you watch Internet TV?
Here's a wonderfully irreverent collection of quirky videos, sprung from the dead-beat minds of LA's latest online comedy collective.
Almost Mediocre Comedy is more than ready for Revver and YouTube fame: Their biggest accomplishment so far is a clever piece of Hollywood Americana, a mini-series of 5 episodes with definite cult potential: The Quest of Super Cool LA Guy.
Intro'd by a hilarious jingle featuring a male falsetto voice that couldn't be more un-super-cool, the series delivers surprisingly high production value on an obviously shoestring budget, boasts very good editing and dead-on comedic timing. It's different and it's very funny.
Luke Gannon, the super-cool guy at the center of the shorts taking every slacker's dream version of Hollywood by storm, most certainly deserves to be discovered asap.
SCLAG is also archived on GoGooroo.
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