Daisy writes:
Traditional TV still has a bigger audience, bigger money, bigger everything. And like it or not, that’s still what most creators want.
So you know what I think web stars and shows should do? Tap into those TV coffers to their advantage. If a network is hot for you, grab that cash and use it to demonstrate to a much wider audience that there is awesome stuff originating online.
Sure bigger (theoretical) audiences are nice and bigger (theoretical) money is nicer, but as I implied those things are, well, theoretical.
When we did our first round of going to studios and talking to them about Ask A Ninja in mid-2006 and early 2007 you could tell they were interested, but that they way undervalued what we were doing. THeir offers were mid-six figures for a buyout of the IP, and it was unclear what roles Douglas and I would have mvoing forward.
I know friends who were offered TV deals that were pilot peals, which meant that they would recieve $40k for a pilot script, but they would need to shutdown their website. A website that was generating significantly more money than the $40k.
There’s other people that strictly wanted a TV deal, like the guys who did the God, Inc. show. Talked to him briefly and through other friends knew that he wasn’t really interested in staying indie. But the show sold a year ago and no news since.
With the recent Rocketboom deal I think we are starting to see money amount that make sense to work with the studios.
I know it’s very wacky to start even thinking this, but unless you have a very good business reason, you should avoid taking your popular web show to TV. They will rape your baby, and won’t want to pay you enough for that.
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t use your popular web show as resume piece to get work in the studio system. Being a gun for hire on someone else’s baby, or having them take a chance and develop a new project with you is how they should be investing in you.
But them swooping in after you’ve used your money and creativity to make a show that’s popular and good? Anything less than mid-seven figures for a buyout is a steal or if they license it anything less than high six figures.
And about that audience size. The new Fox Business News Channel is getting around 6300 households a day. There’s a ton of podcasts that beat that number handily.
9 Comments
August 9, 2008 at 10:09 am
I’m having fun sitting back and watching what is happening to different shows and what they’re evolving into. It’s been fun watching EpicFu go from where it was to where it is now. I love watching all the different things the AtheneWins crew has been doing on Youtube.
Anyhoo… Even if I was making a “show” I don’t think I’d be trying to move towards TV. Even if it was the right deal, paid good and all that, you just can’t do with TV what you can do with the Internets. I want to see more stuff like EpicFu (and I’m sure there is more out there already if I looked.) A model for making “internet shows” profitable for the web is slowly and surely coming together. When it comes to the web, I think a lot of people (as Bruce would say) are concentrating on the finger and missing all of the heavenly glory of the internet… (or something :S lol .)
August 9, 2008 at 11:12 am
I agree with everything you’ve written. The Guild is not still independent because it hasn’t gotten offers. We have not found the right fit for the show and I’m not that interested in “redeveloping” the show with that glossy TV look. I am interested in using my show as an example of my producing and writing and acting and developing other projects for “mainstream”, while keeping my show independent and on the web. It’s more creatively satisfying to have control over my show and keep it where audiences watch it (of course, there’s that small “getting a budget” problems still, haha).
I think unscripted fare will cross over much easier than scripted due to costs. The first wave, starting with the Rocketboom deal perhaps, will make the way for others to follow. In the scripted area I think it will be more talent poaching than direct transplantation.
August 9, 2008 at 11:48 am
If the evolution of media on the internet has taught me anything, it’s that TV is a thing of the past. Or at least, TV as it is right now. They’re starting to catch on, but I find that the market I’d rather create for is on the internet. So many more people that I can reach, and I get to be my own producer, as it were. Even though there’s virtually no funding, it’s still my work and I am not bound by what’s good in the ratings. There’s no real pressure to succeed, which is probably the most liberating thing in the world.
I agree with you Kent, and Felicia. What I make online is to showcase my talents to perhaps get new work down the line, not for transplanting onto the strict standards of television.
August 10, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Hey Kent – thanks a lot for the mention! It’s been very interesting to see the reaction to the “God, Inc.” sale on the web. But the TV deal was actually the best offer I got. I didn’t really choose TV over the Internet – I think as artists we’re better off being platform agnostic. If you have a popular web show, whatever the best offer is, moneywise and for the future of the project, that’s the one you should take.
For the record, “God, Inc.” is still alive and in active development. It’s just a slow process with TV, especially in the cable world…
August 10, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Great article. I am so glad I’m subscribed to you. I have been bound, determined and driven to find some success on the internet. We did have three meetings with a pretty big production company about a possible TV show. I have not bothered them since the last meeting even though they left the table still interested. Or so they said. Instead I have poured myself even further into the internet. I am hoping I am doing the right thing but basically I am just following my muse.
This posts make me feel good about that. Thanks!
August 11, 2008 at 6:04 am
Kent and Felicia:
Your insight is great and I think adds to the discussion immensely. I am going to add YOUR take on this topic to the story list for This Week in Media this week. It’s good to hear from the creators themselves about the not so great deals they have been offered and understandably turned down
Daisy
August 13, 2008 at 8:01 am
Another aspect to it all is that I don’t think there’s as much room to experiment in television the way there would be on the web. You have to get too many approvals and then the lawyers get involved picking through the minutiae (don’t get me wrong – I have a lawyer and he works in my interest, but seriously some of them are definitely “we’ve never done business that way before” types which kill any sort of deal or energy).
I like the idea of doing my own thing, and then creating something for another medium / client that wouldn’t interfere with my own work – a mini-series?
August 20, 2008 at 6:48 am
I am a huge Ninja fan, so I am glad someone else is not going to take it over. Television withoutpity is so sad now that it was bought out. The writing isnt funny anymore and the shows they follow are clearly tied into other corporate deals. They would have ruined Ninja and everyone would be asking WHY I ever thought it was any good.
My TV show is already on TV and I am bringing it to the web for the first time and it’s getting a good response. The next think I do will be web based.
Thanks for sharing your story.
Dr. Wright
The Wright Place TV Show
http://www.wrightplacetv.com
November 20, 2008 at 4:29 am
tivo sky plus HD appleTV c’mon it’s in colour whenever you want. It’s an applicance, an application, like youtube.