WALKING AROUND DEAD....AND LOOKING FOR A GOOD STORY

There's a lot of controversy brewing regarding Frank Darabont's letting go of his writing staff for the new WALKING DEAD series....

You can read about that here. Tons of comments to bury yourself wade through.

One of the comments though struck a chord with this pulpster and I think it's important to share with you because it's the formula for making a great first movie or web series, and that's what we deal with here at the old pulp HQ.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present the independent, homespun wisdom of someone named Mark Georgeff:

"If people’s idea of a quality tv show is how great it is lit and looks, then we might as well shove the original TWILIGHT ZONE down the toilet.

The really great tv shows, like movies, are great stories.

What makes a great story is great characters in great scenes.

Majority of writers on the original TZ were short fiction writers and playwrights whom creator Rod Serling showed how to re structure their stories to fit 30 minute tv slot. A few act breaks for commercials round its down to actually 20 to 23 minute episodes. 

Most were done on a studio sound stage…or exteriors on backlots or in mall towns. Having great-looking visuals or well lit scenes do not make any of those great TZ episodes stand out or stand the test of time. Since they were all in black and white anyway.

Majority of them also had a lot of unknown, but talented actors who loved to just act, as opposed to very hyped up and marketable stars.

And Serling gave them a shot. 

He had a budget and stuck to it no matter what.

Which helped him focus strictly on the story.

God knows Serling made it a point for his most powerful stories about the human condition…to be done through subtext. Not overt at all.

Maybe Darabont should take a simple education from Serling…because from what I’ve seen so far…the WD is simply run of the mill. 

No amount of bigger production budgets or simply going to freelancers is going to change this. Just find and / or train good writers. You can always get them a WGA card. 

And I love Zombies as much as the next ghoul."

Boy! This Writing Thing is Murder...

Since the Thanksgiving holidays, I've been frequenting the local Goodwill store and picking up a few bargain books in hardcover and paperback, usually for around $.99 / book. Some of the great treasures that I've picked up are several of the genuinely excellent volumes in the James Patterson (et al) WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB series.

The set up is four women in law enforcement - a cop, a medical examiner, a prosecutor and a crime reporter team up after work to exchange information and resources to solve crimes. I had only seen the television show on ABC when it aired, and hadn't read any of the books. At the price I was acquiring these used copies I now had no excuse.

I am so glad I did... for a variety of reasons.

I've read 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the series and after (very) quickly reading them, I understood exactly why WMC made it to television. Like my friend Alex says, "TV pulses" and Patterson and his collaborators' style is built along the same structure.

Each WMC book is structured as a series of pulsing mini-chapters that allow for two things:

- a cliffhanger element
- a relentless pace that allows for easy reading

Patterson & Co. have 1 page, 2 page and even a 1/2 page chapter - each one having some sort of "cliffhanger" to it - a key piece of evidence, and emotional peak (or valley), a threat, a stage to set - something to make you want to turn the page and keep reading. I can finish one of these 400 + page books in a day and end up feeling invigorated and wanting more. It's an excellent writing technique either borrowed or developed parallel to television structure.

Another technique that Patterson uses in the WMC books is the clearly defined hero in the form of Inspector Lindsay Boxer (played excruciatingly well by Angie Harmon). Even though the title of the book series is Women's Murder Club we never forget Lindsay is the hero, the focus of the books. How does he do that?

Every chapter Lindsay is in is told from her 1st person point-of-view.
All of the other chapters are 3rd person.

Read a sample from the 1st book - 1ST TO DIE - here and you'll see what I'm saying.

So yes, Women's Murder Club pulses and crackles and pulls you to and fro as you follow Lindsay and her team in solving their cases and resolving their lives. They're thrilling, sexy and scary and a good example of how to construct a story to keep the reader moving along without letting them put the book down.

Too bad the series was canceled. You'll just have to enjoy the books.

Yes, I'm Watching...

Thanks to the fine folks at TNT and E1 Entertainment I have been plowing through a stack of screeners for some fine television, some not so fine television, and a movie that...well, didn't measure up to the high standards of exploitation we hold near and dear.

So, in order of no significance whatsoever:

THE CLOSER - loved the opening of the new season. I remember when the show started and I was not so smitten as to tune in every week and see Kyra Sedgwick do her southern accent. But, like kudzu I suppose, she's grown on me with that southern charm and righteous indignation over injustice. While not appointment television (is there such a dinosaur anymore?) THE CLOSER will hit my DVD player or laptop at some point.

HAWTHORNE - uneven at best. While Jada Pinkett Smith can be charming and engaging, the whole show (the pilot) seemed to forget one crucial factor: "If this main character is putting her life back together after losing her husband, shouldn't we see more of him to understand the bond that's been severed?" I just couldn't buy into it all. I hope the second episode raises the bar considerably and really makes us feel for these people. Speaking of which...

RAISING THE BAR - into its second season now (?) and it has started to find its groove. Like CLOSER I will wait and bank some episodes before watching further. This is much better than the first pilot which looked (frankly) cheap.

THE HUNGER (SEASON 1) - E1 has reissued this Showtime series, but has cheaped out by not adding anything new to the mix. Great locations, actors and a few stories by the sharp-toothed bastard himself, Harlan Ellison. It is a show that follows the other anthology show formulas before it (TWILIGHT ZONE, NIGHT GALLERY, THE HITCHER) but with an emphasis on the weird, dark and sexy. I'm glad they were able to finally collect all the episodes (something I wanted to do when I was a t York, but was shot down because "people don't want to watch big packages of TV shows at once." This was, of course, before TV DVD took off and righteously put two slugs into that theory). The packaging is good and really reflects the nature of the show. Netflix it.

SAVING GRACE - not a big Holly Hunter fan, but this show grows on you too, as I can relate to some of the characters and their idioms. The screener didn't help change my opinion as it was poorly mastered and didn't play after the first episode, though the menu says there's three epeisodes on the disc. Oh well.

SOME WEDDING REALITY SHOW ON TNT - I watched two minutes of this (whatever it's really called) and nearly broke my DVD player in my haste to throw the disc against the wall. Hate is too weak a word for this waste of money and effort.

ELSEWHERE - a low budget indie movie that forgot that. What I mean by that is an "indie movie" is supposed to provide audiences with something they can't get elesewhere. ELSEWHERE IS supposed to be a thriller, but it forgot to be thrilling. This was a movie that played it too safe with the premise and will probably play on Lifetime at some point. I knew who did it right after he was introduced. No twists that you couldn't see a mile away. No turns, no threats (except once! I will give it that). I was extremely disappointed because I wanted this one to go for the throat and couldn't even gofor the kneecaps. Skip it.

I have TNT's DARK BLUE sitting on my desk and I'm anxious to sink my teeth into something akin to THE SHIELD. This is the impression I get from the key art so here's hoping.

They're Back...and They Brought Some Friends to the Party

Trailer here.

Is this what you were writing the other day, John?

Season premiere July 15th.

I'd Rather Be Confused For Ten Minutes Then Bored For Five Seconds

Will Dixon is the man for finding this on YouTube.



If you don't take the time to watch this then you will be lost in that forest of wannabes to be eaten by the wolves.

Now, if you'll excuse me I have to go fuckin' write.

Storming the CASTLE: And You Wonder Why There Are Pirates?

Much has been made of the recent PirateBay.org trial in Europe and what file sharing means to intellectual property holders everywhere. I don't think there has been a definitive legal decision as yet, however let me relate a simple story that should clue most people in as to why there are pirates in the first place.

I watched the ABC Television series CASTLE the other day, but was pulled out of the final two acts of the show because of a phone call. I didn't worry though, knowing I could go to the ABC website the next day and stream the rest of the show to catch up.

I went to the ABC site and clicked several buttons, waiting for the show to load up.

Nothing.

Then the website said that I needed to download an "optimized player" in order to watch the show. It was a plug-in that added to Firefox.

Great. Did that.

Then it informed me I had to restart Firefox with the possibility it wouldn't be able to restore my previous session and that I would have to click around again to find the show.

O-kay. Did that. Clicked around. Found the show.

Clicked start.

Sputter. [Excuse me, "optimized sputter"]

Pause. Allow to buffer. Play. Sputter.

Repeat as insanity.

Then I clicked off the site, went to an "unauthorized stream" and two clicks later I was watching the show with no interruption, full-screen and great audio.
--------------------------------------------

FYI - I liked CASTLE. Light-hearted, fun and a good cast. I could easily see half a dozen stories right away, and different directions you could take the premise. It's a helluva lot better than BONES and 11th HOUR combined.

And if I miss it on television, I won't be catching up with it on the network's website.

Pulp Your Cable Box...

From our friends at New Tee Vee:

5 REASONS TO FINALLY DITCH CABLE

1. The fundamentals of our economy are screwed. Seriously, do you want to keep sending hundreds of dollars per year to your cable company while your retirement fund tanks? Four out of five American households pay an average of $70 a month for cable or satellite TV, according to the WSJ. Do you really want to be one of them?
2. There are a ton of ads. Sure, we’re willing to sit through a few of them, preferably entertaining ones, to get content for free. But network and cable TV are increasingly oversaturated with them. Hulu & Co., on the other hand, have far fewer ads. A typical half-hour show features eight minutes of ads on TV, but only two minutes online. That’s six minutes you can spend looking at web sites like ours, making our advertisers happy.
3. Cable boxes suck. The simple truth is that cable companies are used to competing with pretty much no one, which is why their technology is horribly outdated. The web is full of complaints about Comcast’s DVR, and even newer boxes like Verizon’s FIOS HD DVR don’t stand a chance against TiVo’s interface. On the other hand, there are tons of new and cheap devices that bring online TV into the living room. The soon-to-be-opened-up Roku box is only $99, and it’s easier than ever to download movies through your TiVo, XBox or Apple TV.
4. There are so many other options. Hulu, NBC Direct, Amazon, the iTunes Store, Joost and Netflix Streams will all let you watch TV shows and movies free or very cheap. As the WSJ noted, 90 percent of all network shows and 20 percent of all cable shows are available online. Sure, there are some hold-outs, and networks like Showtime generally don’t make shows like Weeds available until after the end of the season. Some of our shadier friends tell us that you can always find everything right away on those torrent sites, but we of course wouldn’t know anything about that.
5. Hulu can save your marriage. People tend to argue that online TV is inferior because you can’t watch it on your living room tube. That tends to be true for most people, but it can also be a good thing. Chances are you and your spouse are busy web workers, which means you’ll both be hammering away on your notebooks while The Daily Show is running in the background. You might as well be sitting in different rooms. Remember the times when watching TV used to be a shared experience? You can go back to that. Just cancel cable, turn off the TV and cuddle up in bed watching Hulu. You’ll thank us later.

We here at the Mad Pulp Pad ditched cable years ago and upgraded the internet. Not only for the above economic benefits, but for the sake of holding onto what little sanity we have left. Now I make an informed choice on what and when I want to watch. I also watch more PBS (our public broadcaster). It's cheaper and I watch more television.

Less cost. More entertainment.

It's the pulp way.

Who's On First?

Russell T. Davies shares 6 of his DOCTOR WHO scripts.

Now if we could only get "The Moff" to share copies of BLINK.


H/T tip to Shawna who shared via Google Reader.

Fringe(d)

Saw FRINGE last night. The "underground vibrating suppository" episode.

Saw something that totally drew me out of the story 20 minutes in. One of those moments that had me frothing at the mouth and yelling at my cathode ray tube:

"What the fuck! Don't you assholes get paid enough to do the fuckin' research?!!!"

More later after I re-watch the episode today after the meds do their nasty work.

Okay I'm Back: 10:58 am

In last night's episode we have a scene where Broyles tells Olivia that Colonel Jacobsen is expecting her visit. Cut to: Olivia is at Jacobsen's house (after we see a 2nd unit shot of the exterior of the Colonel''s house to establish location) having tea and she is reminiscing with him. Then she gets to the narrative regarding the "vibrating suppository" that Jacobsen saw back in the 1980's...

And then he tells Olivia that she can look at his files on the mysterious object. He will turn them over to her.

Oh shit.
(and I'm not talking that little speck of birdie doo-doo on the sidewalk. I'm talking massive herd of Bull Elephant herd shit being dumped all over the story)

I don't care who the hell you are in the military or any other branch of the government:

YOU. DON'T. GET. TO. KEEP. CLASSIFIED. FILES. FOR. PERSONAL. USE. EVAR.

You don't get to take your work home. It stays at work. It doesn't get transmitted over the internet. It doesn't make it's way into your home safe. Even the President, when he goes to Camp David, has a staff that maintains the files that are in transit. His subordinates have to sign out the files and are responsible for their return.

Pulled me right out of the story because you can easily call "bullshit!"
Let's call that STRIKE ONE.

Another thing that really screwed with the story was the fact that Jacobsen - a man Olivia hadn't seen in years - commented on the secret relationship she had with Agent Scott. The relationship that only a few within her immediate department knew about, but didn't comment on - even to Olivia. STRIKE TWO.

Are we to believe that Walter could have escaped from the basement lab; driven away to the country to his wife's grave site; buried the cylinder then gone for a root beer float in the space of a couple of hours? Hmmmm....

Then, we see Olivia use the CCTV camera to spot the bad guy grabbing Peter, but didn't use the same tech to see Walter coming out of the lab with a "giant vibrating suppository? "

STRIKE THREE - YOU. ARE. OUT.

***Addendum***

If this were a pulp movie, we would never have been at Jacobsen's home. He would have been taken to an interrogation area (either in the Headquarters or in the warehouse where we first see the suppository - probably the latter) and he would have been interrogated by Olivia - his friend who is put in the position of needing to get info from Jacobsen after seeing a majorly redacted file of his from back in the 80's. More tension. Fewer locations. (Story told, money saved).

Seriously - they could produce this show with more tension on less money. They way they have written it - it's an expensive show, that - IMO - doesn't deliver the goods.

***Further***

It was nice to see Michael Kelly as the bad guy in this episode. He's an old friend from SC who was one of the "stars" in the aborted version of HEAD CHEERLEADER DEAD CHEERLEADER. He has since been featured in THE SHIELD as a rapist/ serial killer who tries to outwit Dutch and in UNBREAKABLE as a doctor who is amazed Bruce Willis isn't oatmeal after the train crash.

Seth Rogen Need Not Apply...

Sorry folks, whiney fanboy time:

Can you seriously see Seth Rogen (even a Slimfast/Atkins Seth Rogen) as Britt Reid?
Even in the campy, swinging sixties they cast people with serious attitude....







(And yes, I understand there are elements to this 60's styled story that don't hold up well. However for the most part, it is played seriously. The latter episodes tried to adopt the Batman camp and hastened the show's demise)

All This And The Kitchen Sink...

Captain Jack, Ianto, Gwen, Sarah Jane Smith, Martha Jones (and Mom) , the former Prime Minister, The Rhino aliens, The Shadow Proclamations, Rose Tyler and...

The D word...and let's not forget -- the R word too!

When Russell T. Davies leaves a show he makes it an event. That's for sure.

Whew!

Scifi Greenlights "Caprica" and "True Believer"

Story here courtesy Variety.

Sci Fi Channel has given the go-ahead to "Caprica," a prequel of "Battlestar Galactica" in the form of a two-hour backdoor pilot, and has signed Rosario Dawson to develop "True Believer," the pilot for a proposed series based on a comicbook she co-created.

These were two of the highlights of Sci Fi Channel's upfront presentation Tuesday night at New York City's Morgan Library delivered by David Howe, president of the network.

*** Edit to add: I sooooo cannot believe I beat Shawna to this story***

My Friday Read:

So I've been reading this article in this month's Wired regarding how everything going to the web is going to be free (a gross oversimplification of an economic formula that is far more complex than what I want to go into here). What's interesting about the article as it relates to us mediamakers is the following:

"Over the past decade, however, a different sort of free has emerged. The new model is based not on cross-subsidies — the shifting of costs from one product to another — but on the fact that the cost of products themselves is falling fast. It's as if the price of steel had dropped so close to zero that King Gillette could give away both razor and blade, and make his money on something else entirely. (Shaving cream?)

You know this freaky land of free as the Web. A decade and a half into the great online experiment, the last debates over free versus pay online are ending. In 2007 The New York Times went free; this year, so will much of The Wall Street Journal. (The remaining fee-based parts, new owner Rupert Murdoch announced, will be "really special ... and, sorry to tell you, probably more expensive." This calls to mind one version of Stewart Brand's original aphorism from 1984: "Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive ... That tension will not go away.")"

Now let's relate this to the debacle which is QUARTERLIFE.

So the word is out that QUARTERLIFE, the show that began its life as a web series and was later picked up by NBC is over with after having posted some of the worst ratings in that timeslot in 17 years (10 PM Tues). NBC has canceled the show and moved it over to Bravo for the rest of its run.

So, in the interest of figuring out the intricacies of future web-to-TV programming moves, and building a solid foundation for a viable business model, let’s conduct a post-mortem on what exactly went wrong with QUARTERLIFE and use the yardstick of "free on the web". There’s going to be a lot of finger-pointing in this post as well as Monday-morning quarterbacking, but truly that’s the nature of the beast and I’m of the opinion that those involved really didn’t follow what has to be one of the most important factors for any web series:

No one listened nor talked to the audience.

Conceptually: QUARTERLIFE had a lot going for it --

- It premiered on the web, where its core audience (under 25ers) resides.
- It was created by the gentlemen who have given us MY SO-CALLED LIFE and THIRTYSOMETHING.
- It featured a good looking cast of unknowns.
- It had a social networking component on Facebook and MySpace.
- It had enough backing to create 4 episodes worth of material (4 x 44 mins)

With all this in their corner, what QUARTERLIFE creators Zwick and Herskowitz didn’t do was understand the web and what it provides. As Jill Golick pointed out in her posts, Z & H did not utilize the social networking component of their show to its best advantage - that is, they didn’t send out updates via Facebook or MySpace. They didn’t remind (read: market to) people that their show was on the web and new episodes were available… or at least they didn’t do it enough.

( I think this is because these guys are old school TV guys. Nothing wrong with that, but they should have brought in an expert at social networking and web marketing to develop QUARTERLIFE with them. The fact is they were selling the show when they should have been selling what was showcased on the show - the fashion, the music, the furnishings, etc...)

Kent Nichols also points out that Z & H got so far ahead of themselves that they didn’t listen to the feedback they were getting from their audience. They had a lot of very-expensive (for the web) episodes in the can by the time they were getting feedback. Interactivity is a huge component of the web and to ignore, or to not be able to respond to what their audience was telling them was a major handicap.

Another huge impediment to success on the web was the fact that QUARTERLIFE looked like a TV show when it was on the web and didn’t look like a TV show when it was on broadcast. Z & H have admitted as much. Storytelling is different on the web. Period. This is going to be a lesson many of us are going to have to learn and quickly adapt to if we are to succeed.

Another impediment to success was the fact the show was so expensive - QUARTERLIFE needed a sale to a broadcast network in order to be financially viable. I blame the fact that no one in mainstream TV or movies today knows how to create media for less. There has been a financial structure in place for so long that to move out of it is really uncomfortable for production mangers and producers.

QUARTERLIFE was made for around a million an episode. Cheap for Hollywood; dollar-burning extravagance in terms of web production. Hollywood has long fallen into the trap that production value is a function of budget. All they know how to do is throw money at a problem.

Production value is more a function of creativity and planning than it is budget. This is the formula by which Hollywood, if it wants to function in this new media, silicon-valley world, is going to have to operate. Doing more with less. At least that is the mantra that they are spouting now.

(Actually Hollywood is going to have indie guys like me do the production value-thinking and buy it all after the fact)

I also think that QUARTERLIFE didn’t know its audience. I would never have placed this show on NBC. I would have placed it on MTV. Think about who watches NBC: thirty and forty-somethings for the most part. MTV is where MY SO-CALLED LIFE found its audience, and MTV is the audience that uses the web the most everyday. MTV also markets to its audience really well. They stay in touch...and more importantly they respond.

So what does this all mean for other shows moving from the web to TV like SANCTUARY?

I think it means that in developing the rest of the series for SciFi, SANCTUARY is going to have to review all of the feedback they have received thus far and arrive at a consensus as to who their audience is and what they want out of the show. The tools are there to listen, learn and move forward.

I think their production model needs to be refined. The fact that they can shoot the entire thing green screen is a big help. The fact they can now create the rest of the series on a TV budget for Scifi is a big help, but they shouldn't relax the creative muscles they've had to develop through austerity.

If the world is moving toward a "free economic model" as the Wired article indicates, then it is up to the production and development folk to make it work from their end. Yes, I am saying it has to be made cheaper, faster and with just as much entertainment value as before. Maybe not as much spectacle, but surely just as much entertainment.

And that's where we come in...

For My Pulpy Reference:

It's about the vic, the trick and to whom does it stick...

Teaser and five.

This came to my InBox....

So I thought I would share what's cooking over at StrikeTv:

Hello StrikeTVer's,

It's been awhile since we've communicated with all of you en masse, but now that the strike is over we realized an update was long overdue. We're happy to tell you that StrikeTV is thundering forward. We've truly been amazed by the response from the creative community. Although we've largely flown under the radar for the past few weeks, this has been an incredibly productive time for all of us. Currently, we've got 30 to 40 projects in various stages of pre-production, production or post-production. That's incredible for an enterprise that was only started in January. And these projects are going to give StrikeTV a truly diverse and eclectic slate of shows. We've got comedies, dramas, procedurals, some animation, game shows, sci-fi, horror and even two soap operas.

The writers creating these shows represent such well-known movies and TV shows as Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel, Tomb Raider and Die Hard, The Daily Show, The Office, Law & Order, the Child's Play films, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Prairie Home Companion, Lonelygirl 15, 30 Days of Night, Ghost Whisperer, 8 Simple Rules, General Hospital, Star Trek: Next Generation, King of Queens and the Bob Newhart Show (and yes, we've even got Bob Newhart himself!), among many others.

We've also gotten a tremendous outpouring of support and assistance from the entire entertainment community. Below-the-line crew members, actors, directors, editors, composers and even lawyers have stepped up and donated their time, expertise and energy to our mission. As to our cause -- the Writers Guild Foundation's Industry Support Fund - the fund is going to be a necessary resource for non-WGA members for months to come. The collateral damage of the writers strike, and the possibility of a SAG strike, is going to be affecting non-writing members of the industry well into the summer. So StrikeTV's purpose and mandate is still clear -- to raise money for the Industry Support Fund by monetizing original scripted content on the Internet.

But wait, the strike is over. Are you going to keep the name StrikeTV?

Yes, we are. Aside from being a strong brand name, as well as speaking to our endeavor being born from the writers strike, we want to expand upon its meaning. StrikeTV is about writers "striking out on their own," "striking while the iron is hot in New Media." It's about writers being entrepreneurial, independent and empowered.

Okay, so how do you plan on distributing StrikeTV?

To that end, we at StrikeTV Central are in the midst of ongoing discussions with potential sponsors. We're not ready to reveal specifics just yet, but suffice to say that the launch of StrikeTV is something we are handling with great deliberation and care. We want StrikeTV to be seen by as many people worldwide as possible, so it's in all of our best interests to take a little extra time and do it right. As a result, the launch of StrikeTV probably won't happen until late March. We hope to be able to make some more specific announcements very soon, and we're also planning on holding a meeting for all StrikeTV creators to discuss our launch strategy in full detail.

Until then, keep up the great work! The finished projects are already starting to come in, and we couldn't be more excited about where we're all headed.

All the best,

The StrikeTV Team

But of Course, It's ONLY Promotional....

NBC and CBS have announced they are streaming television shows across their web portals.

I am not certain if these shows pay residuals anymore, which is a win for the corporations as they will be paid (via ads) to put these episodes online and use the interest to spur home entertainment sales. So yes, it is promotional... but promotions pay too.

That's why I have always found that "it's promotional" argument to be a load. They are promoting the shows so they can sell them in a variety of other media.

In other industries they call that "business."

Forget the Past and say, "Good Morning, Future! "

Busy this morning "consulting" on a film (Hi Liz!) and finally got around to cleaning out the InBox when I found a nice little email from the folks at Content Agenda featuring two stories that speak not only to the past media business model, but to the future.

The first is an op-ed from Julian Lloyd Webber regarding the Price We Pay for Free Music. In it he discusses the fact that musicians will be putting more and more content up on the web for free and how this will hurt musicians overall - especially those without "name value."

I am certain Mr. Lloyd-Webber is a fine musician, however he knows little to nothing of the economics of the web. To be fair, not many people do know the economics of the web. That said, we all have to realize that programming on the web or television is designed to sell products through advertising. You aren't selling the programming itself, but that is the hook to get people to look at the ads and buy the merchandise.

That's the way it's always been, and people don't blink an eye at the idea of free television, yet somehow they blanch at the idea of giving things away for free on the web. People only pay for cable because it doesn't have advertising to pay for it (I'm talking HBO, etc... here), and in that case, waaaaay fewer people watch HBO programs than they do terrestrial broadcast programs.

Now understand that there is a huge fertile field of the internet out there to plant advertising. Doing an entertainment-to-ad spending comparison, there's a lot of room to grow the web.
A lot. Estimates are that right now only 14% of the web's potential is being used ad spending-wise. Already it's a multi-billion dollar business and it still has 86% more room to grow.
In light of that dollar potential for ads, is it so wrong to give music away for free?

The second article that caught my eye was the announcement by Damon Wayans that he is starting a web business called WayOutTv.com to, "feature videos produced by aspiring young comedians he handpicked. Wayans sees the free site as an online comedy club and production studio that could eventually change the way content is bought and sold in Hollywood."

Mr. Lloyd-Webber would do well to pay attention to Mr. Wayans. He is starting the online equivalent of In Living Color - the television series which brought us comedians David Alan Grier, Jim Carrey and others (including Jennifer Lopez. What? She's not a comedienne? Really?)... And like television and radio before him, he's doing it for free.

Gee, it's even happening in comics...

Are the economics that hard to understand?

Big Honkin' News...

Pay attention to this.
This speech, if not the actions after it will have major effects on the television business.
Baby steps, but steps nonetheless.

It's Primeval...

So, I caught up and downl... er, watched the premiere episode for the 2nd season of PRIMEVAL. For those few of you who aren't familiar with the show its premise is really simple:

Dinosaurs. Time portals. Present Day United Kingdom. Hijinx ensue.

Shake it up and pour into a glass. Rim the glass with a good bit of sugar and lime - ha! (see what I did there? England? Lime? Never mind...)

Series 2 is every bit as good as Series 1, and contains enough meta hooks to carry over - Where's Claudia (whose existence appears to have been written out of the timestream, or has it)? What's causing these time anomalies in the first place? How much does Helen Cutter know? What happens if the public finds out that dinosaurs are breaking through the time barrier and ravaging people everywhere..?
For those of you out there who like dinosaurs and such this is a no-brainer. Good TV special effects that are part of the story. For those that like Doctor Who type adventure (although different) this is also a gimme. For those of you who want to watch that cute, platinum-blonde young lady from S Club 7 fight dinos, then there's that. (To be fair to the ladies there's plenty of beef and nerd-cake too...)

Seek it out. It's a lot of fun.

StrikeTV

When television came to prominence in the late 40’s and early 50’s there was a heady feeling in the air that they were doing something that was entirely new and wonderful:

Pictures and sound together! Live! How wonderful.
Wait, how are we going to make this work?
Aw crap.

What many of the pioneers of early television ended up doing was sucking the marrow out of, errr… emulating, , older forms of entertainment that worked - theater, vaudeville, concerts, and yes radio programs. Your Show of Shows, Playhouse 90 and The Lawrence Welk Show followed the safe and narrow as Television found its legs.

It was after awhile when innovators like Ernie Kovacs and others (who you can see on the PBS program Pioneers of Television) were able to grab hold of the medium that it began to grow muscles and strengthen its character into something distinctive. It was only after they figured out how to pay for television via commercials that it became a truly separate means of telling stories.

It’s with that in mind that I recount my experience yesterday at the WGA Theater attending the first ever Strike TV meeting. I warn the dear reader now that this is going to be something of a bipolar series of posts as there were many things to applaud about this first effort by the WGA to lay the tracks for the internet revolution to arrive (thank you Mr. Deitchman for the metaphor), as well as shake your head at the directions the tracks seem to be heading -- straight into “Indian Territory.” (more on that in my follow up posts).

To start things off here is Ian Deitchman on the history and philosophy of Strike TV. Ian is the video coordinator for United Hollywood and a screenwriter.

More in following posts....