Last night there was a party that was nominally the two anniversary of a party held in Yahoo’s Santa Monica’s lobby to welcome Amanda Congdon to LA.
I remember that night really well, pregnant with opportunity and promise.
Last night was a little different. The last few weeks have been bleak with devastating rumors about various online production companies and the financial viability of producing for online audiences. At the same time, there’s still a lot of growth and new faces entering the arena.
We are still in the early chapters of the transition to online television. The pioneers will struggle mightily like early settlers everywhere. This economic downturn will be the harsh, first-winter of a lonely outpost. The well funded and the unfunded will survive to fight another day, the underfunded will die off.
(The difference between the unfunded and underfunded is that those who are unfunded are already getting by producing with no budget, the underfunded are those who are trying to act big, but don’t have the warchest to endure.)
I think we are about to see a wave of collapse of the first online studios, continued experimentation by the big studios into the online space, and a whole bunch of firstwave creators getting jobs for the big companies.
This is will be painful, but it’s going to help the transition. The more people in Big Media that inherently understand the challenges and rewards of producing for the online space, the more those companies will embrace it.
For the unfunded looking to a break into new media (and beyond), my advice remains the same. Use your new media series as a way to get attention and then sell a conventional TV show or film. The business model is just too unstable, the checks are too small, and there are no residuals to help give you a break to work on new projects.
The well-funded that survive will be stronger when this too has passed. They will become the new basic cable channels of the interweb. Producing consistent and quality shows that people watch and advertisers pay for. And most will partner with either a cable channel (a la FunnyorDie.com and HBO) or a broadcaster to extend their brands.
11 Comments
October 21, 2008 at 4:12 pm
I agree with you but I also think that some of us will band together and create value for sponsors and advertisers that will compete with cable television.
October 21, 2008 at 4:13 pm
You were pregnant?
October 21, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Word… my sentiment exactly.
October 21, 2008 at 4:46 pm
I question the suggestion of selling a conventional television show or film. That has much more to do with luck than talent oft times, no? Also, I would be curious to know if the production companies and the studios (that are most probably more well funded than even the well funded web series) aren’t indeed thrilled with the potential “die off” of web content creators. It would be a short sighted view for them, but wouldn’t that be par for the course?
Tony Katz
October 21, 2008 at 5:37 pm
@Tony Selling a conventional TV show or film is really more about having the next project ready to go. It’s easier to get a net project funded, but those sources are hitting rocky times right now, and have less to offer than if you aim higher to make a TV show, and then scale it back to make it more net suitable.
And New Media folks aren’t going to die off. There will just be a fresh crop. It’s like being a native american and presuming that since they killed off this wave of settlement that they have won the battle.
The creators that are in high school and jr. high now, will hopefully reap the rewards in five to ten years.
The old guard like those of us who started in 2005, and the older guard who starting in 2003 and before that are able to survive and keep producing will get stronger and those that (justifiably) take shelter in a megamedia corporation will help pave the way for those future generations.
This goes back to the fight for Net Neutrality. It’s not for us, it’s for the ones behind us. The ones that come up with the crazy and and unforeseeable genius that need to have access to the pipes.
October 21, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I like this kentnichols guy and what he has to say. Wise beyond his years.
October 22, 2008 at 7:41 am
Great post Kent!
With production money getting tight for web video content this may be the perfect time to find shows and videos to sponsor, acquire distribution rights to, establish 50/50 partnerships, etc.
My company is sponsoring a web show heading into its 2nd season and we are looking forward to its release in December. It’s amazing what the team is doing (by being very creative) on a fairly small budget.
We are trying to create more avenues for semi-pro’s or even pro’s to have their content seen, while trying to work with them to attract ad and sponsorship dollars.
If you have web show(s), pilot(s), video(s), scripts, or ideas I would love to hear from you as we are looking to work with good people who believe web video can successfully work despite this tough economic downturn.
This is such a fun time to experiment, to push the boundries, and take content in new directions where the TV networks can’t so easily go.
And I agree with Kent that there is a new production generation coming up who will tap into new models (social collaboration) to avoid the traditional studio “silos” with which most content is now confined to and created within.
October 22, 2008 at 9:40 am
Couldn’t agree more with the FOD/HBO branded programming. They need to syndicate series to save their portal strategy.
October 22, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I hear what you are saying and agree. You know better than anyone that you need to be creative to earn money and you cant depend on anyone, especially in these economic times. But, no matter what business you are in you need to keep selling, marketing and creating your services. There is no end in sight. Just keep creating, having fun and staying a kid. You may land the big budget, payday or sweet job but you have to keep creating and having fun.
Where did I see someone say there are 2 secrets of life…
1. Have fun every day. 2. There is no number 2
Life is shit sometimes so grab a spoon or just fling some.
October 26, 2008 at 5:08 pm
[...] on the Economic Crisis…From Online Video Elite! by NewTeeVee’s Liz Shannon Miller, and Despair and New Media, by Ask a Ninja’s Kent Nichols. Please promulgate us on the [...]
November 15, 2008 at 11:20 pm
LOL I was already broke anyway, and I find the low-costness of the internet terribly useful in my poverty.