I also came to terms with the tremendous opportunities still there for AskANinja in the online space and beyond.  Looking at what YouTube has done for consistent creators is inspiring.  That one can build up an audience of 10s of millions each month and make money from that is what we and everyone else has been looking for since the dawn of podcasting.  It’s now a reality.

And again when you build (or rebuild in our case) that consistent audience you can do interesting things with it (touring, TV, merchandising, etc.)

We need a dedicated producer to handle those responsibilities and guide those treacherous waters.  And I’ve always had trouble switching between producer and director/editor.  So with that in mind, we’re bringing in the internet’s Brett Register to fill the shoes of a day t0 day creative partner for Douglas.

Brett is one of the most prolific and consistent people working in the web video space.  We’re excited to see where he’ll push us creatively and how the show will grow and expand under him.  This is like when your favorite musician brings in a new producer, or a comic book brings in a new artist.  Same core, just slightly different execution.

Our new plan is to have content 5 days a week.

Here’s the tenative breakdown:

Monday — The Ninja Shows off  shows we like and want to see more of.  This will be a way to give back to the community to try and share traffic and promote worthy new shows to gain some audience.  They should be shows that appeal the young guy demographic — if you’re responsible for a show that would like to be featured, drop me a line.

Tuesday — Ask A Ninja, this is the Ask A Ninja that you know and love.  Quick and fun.

Wednesday — Ask A Ninja Vault/Experimental, this is where bloopers, unaired shows, and new Ninja Charcters and formats will live.

Thursday — Experimental sketch day, a palate cleanser for us and the audience to explore the non-ninja world.  This could be anything.

Friday — Ask A Ninja Weekly wrap, the Ninja’s take on the week’s events.

We’re planning launching the new schedule on 10/4.

Charlie Schardin was my grandfather, my Papa, but I’m not sure if I can say that I knew the man.

I certainly knew the legend, the stories, and the myths that we built around him – every family has a person that casts a long shadow – shadow is the wrong word – with Papa it was more like a spotlight.  He had the power and the brilliance to blind you at times, but he always brought light to everyone and everything around him.

Papa was born into a working class neighborhood of San Francisco, and he barely got to know his father and eldest sister before they were taken away with tuberculosis.  His mother scrimped and saved and held the family together.  And much like his native city that rose from the rubble of the great quake just over a decade before he was born and a nation drew itself out of the great depression, so Papa cast himself into the story of America.  Through his hard work he got his education at UC Berkeley.  Through his smarts and savvy he got good jobs as electrical engineers and those jobs led him to being a pioneer in the fields of Radar and Computer Science.

His whirlwind romance with Dorothy, Nana, and their adventure driving across the country before the creation of interstate highways is the stuff of legends.  This was a man who was at Pearl Harbor, who shook the hand of Einstein, and who tapped Stormy Snively on the shoulder while she was marching in the parade at Disneyland.

His marriage of over 65 years, his children, and grandchildren, and great grandchildren, will always know him, and love him by those two simple syllables, Papa.

Now your journey is over, your travels are through.  But the stories, the legends will live on, as a shining spotlight to remind us all on how to be better people, better family members, and just better.

Love you Papa.

First I know everyone, and like everyone interpersonally.

That said — either this is the community’s awards show, or it isn’t.  Right now, it’s not.  It really looks like that the Tubefilteristas wanted to make an awards show, but also wanted a fig leaf of credibility so they created the IAWTV as the nominating/administration organization.  But that they would own the cash and glory machine that is the Streamys and pack the IAWTV board.

So now that the plane has crashed and burned and the IAWTV membership and board has realized that we’ve been left holding the bag and don’t want to be humiliated again.  Now we’re all trying to figure out how to move forward.

So the options are:

• Move forwards without the Streamys name, give Tubefilter nothing
  Certainly possible, especially if Tubefilter feels that they’re owed something more than reasonable compensation.  Also the Streamys brand name is tarnished at this point.
• Move forward with the Streamys name, fire Tubefilter
  Negotiate an exit Tubefilter from Streamys LLC.  This is the happiest option for the industry.  Give the guys some sort of compensation and a limited voice at the IAWTV.  But right now they are over represented.
• Scrap everything and start over
  Depending on the way everything is setup, this might be the last but necessary option.

Regardless of what option takes effect, we as an industry must become a stronger Academy. Inclusivity, openness, and transparency need to become the hallmarks of what we do.

We also need to build an organization that can support paid staffers and can offer year round support and programming.  This means Membership dues and reasonable entry fees.

The only thing we can’t do is remain in stasis.

Mostly because I can avoid driving to get to places.  My old apartment had a walk score of 94% or something, but it was a deceptively high number.  I lived at the top of a hill off of the Sunset strip, so it was punishing to walk anywhere.  Here in Downtown, there’s a world within a half a mile, including the Central Library.

Sure, there’s a lot of humanity here to interact with — but it’s a pretty spectacular place to walk around and write in.  It’s also alive — there’s so many different types of folks here, bums and students sharing the same study table.  It’s also a vast labrynth where there’s a lot of different environments to feel creative.

My basic routine is to find a place, work at it for 45-60 mintues, and then shift when I get nasty to somewhere else in the library for two or three times.

I try to limit my internet access to my ipad so I can keep my laptop only for writing/business emails.  And then wash, rinse repeat.

Right now I’m cranking hard on the bones of my micro feature that I’m shooting at the end of June and it’s been fun to really see it come together.

I just reread my wrapup from the first streamys, what a difference a year makes.

Please note that I’m an inaugural member of IAWTV and the Webbys.

The problem with setting yourself up as *the* showcase for the industry is an incredibly double edged sword — great when you’re doing well, but disastrous when you fail.

And let’s make no bones about it, on Sunday we failed as an industry.

What are awards shows if not to showcase the best and brightest your industry has to offer.  When I read about the Country Music Awards, I see the winners, and then I become vaguely more aware of them and that industry.  The same goes for the Oscars to those who aren’t film buffs — the exposure to Hurt Locker this year from the academy awards won’t push it to Avatar groses, but it will expose that film to casual film goers and renters, as well as future generations of film buffs that will go through and watch every Best Picture winner.

So too it should be with the Streamys.  It should be a process and a night where we find and celebrate the best work being done in our field.  We should be proud of that of that work (but also not be afraid of poking a little fun at ourselves).

The reports of nominees not getting in, as well as, putting the craft awards on a separate night remind me of my college comedy troop.  In that troop, none of us were paid, but the director wanted to also have “featured players” much like SNL does.  It just created an unnecessary boundary between us actors and was only serving to inflate the ego of the guy in charge.  Same with the Craft Awards.  For the Emmys and the Oscars they put the “boring awards” on a separate night to trim down the broadcast.  Here we have no such limits and to move put them into a ghetto ceremony to just be like the big boys is vain and unnecessary,

Personally I was only able to stomach through the first commercial break of the show, when I heard the din of conversation from the lobby, I knew that something more interesting would be happening out there.  And I was right.  There were tons of friends old and new out there that I had a blast reconnecting with — at one point someone asked us to return to our seats because the house was looking empty for the live streams — lol.  Yes the streaming audience is important, but watching an unrehearsed show go down in flames is much less interesting than actually talking to real people.

If you want people to stay in their seats, and for that matter be entertained on the live stream make it about the people.  There doesn’t need to be an opening song and dance number that played fairly well in the house, but I’m sure will go down as bad as this in a few years.

Make it like the Golden Globes — a dinner party, with cocktails, and the people in their industry genuinely enjoying themselves and each other.  This should be about the people in the room and what they’ve accomplished, not about being a polished TV show.

So my concrete recommendations for next year:

• Ditch the awards show patter and the host for that matter.
• Keep the presenters from the shows
• Bring back Tay Zonday as the announcer
• Combine the main show and the craft show
• No more singing and dancing numbers
• No more bits
• More alcohol
• More kibitzing
• More food — an awards banquet sounds great
• We need to have a category for non series — i.e., best non series short form and long form

The biggest question now is how to move forward?  We clearly do need to clean house and start over, but this is a nascent industry and it’s hard to balance the needs of a career with the needs of the greater industry.

I’d love to hear your concrete thoughts on the next steps forward in the comments.

So thats the flier that my ninja partner Douglas found on his windshield over the weekend and it was was every other car on the block too.

I emailed Ms. Clor because I thought she was the victim of a horrible prank — because no one would be stupid enough to put their name, bank account, routing number, phone number, and email out into the world, right?

Wrong.

Here was her response, along with the proof she sent:

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP KENT!!!

I PROMISE TO MENTION YOU AS A MUSE IF I GET FAMOUS FOR THIS UNIQUE PLEA [FOR EMPLOYMENT FROM A UCSB GRAD. WHO MANY HAVE CALLED "THE MOST CREATIVE, ENTERTAINING, HILARIOUS, AND INTELLIGENT PERSON THEY'VE EVER MET."]  I’VE ALSO RECENTLY BEEN CALLED “MAGICAL” AND “STUNNING” AND “ARE YOU A MODEL?” BY STRANGERS.  SOUNDS GREAT RIGHT??

SO, WHY HAVE I BEEN UNEMPLOYED FOR OVER A YEAR AND CAN’T I GET A JOB THAT’S AT LEAST $15 AN HOUR AND F/T???

DO I NEED TO APPLY AT TACO BELL AND OTHER MIN. WAGE PLACES OR IS THERE STILL HOPE FOR ME TO HAVE A CAREER AND MAKE MY $80K UCSB LOANS WORTHWHILE??

I HAVE LOTS OF HOT PICS IF YOU THINK THAT WOULD HELP MY CASE.

LISA

So if you want to help or contact the “magical” “are you a model” Lisa, she’s willing to send you some hot pix.

So you’re a busy filmmaker/web series creator and you’ve been hearing a lot about using a still camera to shoot video, but you’re a little scared to go for it without some knowledge.

Well, I’ve put together my dream team of DSLR geeks for a 3 hour workshop on the ins and outs of using these cameras to create stunning images at a budget level that was unimaginable only 2 years ago.

The lineup: Philip Bloom, if you don’t know who Philip is, let me just say that when Skywalker Ranch wanted to find out about what all the fuss was about with DSLRs, they invited Philip up to chat.  Read about that adventure here.

Barry Green.  Barry is the visionary and web grunt that started and niutured one of the best web filmmaking communities in the world, DVXUser.com.  He’s seen and explained how to use every flavor of 24p video out there.  He’s a DSLR owner and fan, but is also a realist when it comes to their limits and pitfalls.  He knows his shit.

The Bui Brothers, these guys are part of the new wave of imagemakers.  They come from the still photography world, but have been web series creators since the dawn of YouTube.

Here’s game plan for the workshop, each presenter has an hour:

Philip sets it up and shows why DSLRs are such a big deal in the first hour in a session called, “DSLR Filmmaking, Unlocking New Visual Possibilities.” Showing footage, explaining DOF, explaining some history of why this is what cinematography nerds have been begging for this for the last 10 years, etc.

Barry will next talk about what the real world limitations of Filming with DSLRs in a session called, “DSLR Filmmaking, Understanding Strenghths and Weaknesses.” He’s done a lot of cross-testing in this space and can explain what the real world limitations are at this point. I think this section is key so people just don’t walk with the notion that these cameras are all sex and magic. You need to know what you’re doing especially if you’re going to attempt pro-level (or even semi-pro) production.

And then Bui brothers will wrap it up with a session on gear and workflow requirements (for both post and acquisition) called, “DSLR Filmmaking, Gearing Up For Success.” Lenses (including image stabilization vs. non stabilized), lights, rigs, audio, a sample post path, how much memory, etc.

That’s it.  It should be an illuminating three sessions, and should provide the hardcore enthusiast and novice a like a dip of the toe into DSLRs for movie making.

(BTW, a great interview with John Cooper, the new head of the Sundance Fest, is here.)

Part of what is so exciting about what the OTMM crew is doing is that starting now — during the festival (but after it debuted at Sundance) — the film is online for both purchase and download.  Their store even has an option to buy the film’s domestic distribution rights for a scant $100k.

I got Anthony, along with Stephen Hale, co-star, co-producer, co-writer, and co-friend of mine, and Michael Mohan, director and co-writer, to agree to answer some questions before they headed off to Park City.

Read the Interview after the jump!

Kent: Congrats on Making it into Sundance! How did you hear you made it in?

Mike: We all knew that these acceptance calls happened either the day before Thanksgiving or the day after. All of us were trying really hard not to think about it, but of course, every minute of every day was full of anticipation.

I got the call two days before Thanksgiving – when my phone rang, and “Sundance” popped up in the caller ID, I nearly had a heart attack. I didn’t answer it, actually, because I was too afraid that we didn’t get in, and I’d rather hear that news from a voicemail, than from a real person. I listened to the message, it was from John Cooper himself, and it was appropriately vague. When I called him back – I just couldn’t stop saying “thank you” over and over and over again. Sundance, I mean, it’s such an honor. And it meant that our film would now be seen by way more people than if we weren’t playing Sundance.

Anthony: I was in Ohio for Thanksgiving, when I got the call from Mike. I started screaming, and then hung up on him by accident. I was pretty much in shock around my family for the next two days. I had planned a trip with Tina Kapousis, who also plays Rudy in the movie, to stay at the Stanley Hotel right after Thanksgiving. This is the hotel that Stephen King based The Shining on. We wanted to celebrate if we’re accepted and rest up before the non-stop craziness (which quickly preceded) , and we wanted to be out of Los Angeles if we weren’t accepted.

Stephen: I was at work, sitting behind a desk. My co-worker was asking me a question when my phone rang. I picked up and all Mike said was “We got in” I started to say “Yes, yes, yes, yes.” I said it probably 50 times as I made my way downstairs and out into the back alley where no one was. I would have preferred to scream and cuss a lot but there is a child care at my work place and I didn’t want to freak any kids out.

Kent: When did you start this new approach of self-distribution instead of trying to find distribution at the festival?

OTMM: We were doing tons of research on the films that had sold over the past few years, and it was pretty bleak. We’re really confident in our movie, but it’s black-and-white, there are no “name” actors in it, and it was made on a super low budget (under 50K). The odds are against us. So rather than crossing our fingers going in to Sundance, and hoping that a distributor would buy our film, we realized that we just wanted to capitalize on all that publicity to our benefit. This method also just feels way more responsible to our investor too.

That said, because our budget was so low – we’re lucky that we can do this. Films that were made for even 500K – that’s a lot more responsibility, and you can’t take the same risks.

Part of this approach is being in direct contact with our fans. So ever since we started production, we had a blog, and an active facebook page, so people could really see our progress during the 2 years it took to make the movie. Hopefully these people will be so invested in our story, that they’ll want to see the final product.

What exactly is the distribution strategy and what are the goals?

OTMM: The goal is simple: to get as many people to see the movie as possible. Right now, the film is on sale at onetoomanymornings.com. You can buy an HD download, the dvd, or even a deluxe package that comes with a poster and -literally- a scrap from our set.

Was UTA onboard with this strategy, or did they need to be sold?

OTMM: I think everyone is looking at us to see to gage whether or not this model is viable. Most films who have taken a hybrid release strategy in the past have waited until after Sundance, after realizing their film was not going to get a good traditional theatrical deal. And usually this involves raising more money to put the film out there, and still releasing it like a small arthouse film. It takes a really long time to do this and we don’t want to spend the next 2 years of our life focused on releasing this film – we’ve already spent the last 2 making it.

So I think UTA, they want to learn from us as much as we want to learn from them. Michelle Satter from Sundance’s Feature Film Program, has given us so much advice throughout this process. She let us know that even though we’re doing this hybrid release, we really shouldn’t close ourselves off to other ancillary opportunities (Cable VOD, International Markets) that we don’t know about, but that UTA might.

We’re really lucky to be working with Rena Ronson, who has been giving us lots of strategic advice and has been open-minded with our unique plan. That said, we think it freaks a lot of people out.

Kent: Do you think other filmmakers will follow your lead?

OTMM: Yes. Absolutely. Traditional arthouse distributors are scaling back and downsizing – by the virtue of this they have to take less risks, cutting the chances of a black-and-white non-star-driven indie comedy getting out there. It’s not their fault. The market is changing.

We’re just trying to create our own opportunity to fill the void within that system. We’re working with this incredibly smart and progressive company called Topspin, that provides us with the tools and ideas to get or product directly in the hands of our fans.

We hope this opens the doors for other filmmakers to find their audiences too – and we hope that we can chat with other filmmakers who are looking to do this as well. Our contact info is on our website.

Kent: Anything else you want to share before heading off to Park City?

OTMM: For anyone who can’t go to Sundance – again, you can see our film at the same time the audience in Park City can. Check out onetoomanymornings.com, we’ll be blogging and facebooking all about our adventures at Sundance over the next two weeks.

Last night in one of his acceptance speeches, Cameron said that every blade of grass had to be created.  How is that different from Up or Kung Fu Panda?  If that’s the case then the design categories, especially Production Design and visual effects need to be opened to films like Up.

Last year Benjamin Button won for best makeup, but Brad Pitt was mostly CGI’ed.  Watch this TED Talk about their process here.  Now tell me it fair for them to compete in that category against a film like Hell Boy II that used way more practical effect and makeup…

Go a step further and think about what we are giving these awards for — it is for mastery of a physical technique or is it for using techniques in a masterful way to tell a story.  If it’s for physical techniques, then we need to come down hard and segregate out films like Button and Avatar into a reality like they used to do — awards for Color and Black And White films.  If it’s for using techniques to service a story, then I think we need to lift the written and unwritten bans on Films like Up for even being considered for non Animation awards.

And it’s important to address these issues sooner rather than later.  Watching a movie like Up In The Air after watching Avatar, both good for what they are, but realities and orders of magnitude apart in terms of scale and budget.  And last year some of the best Cinematography ever was in Kung Fu Panda, but that’d would never even come close to being considered for the Oscar for Best Cinematography.

If you’re thinking CGI Cinematography and Real Cinematography are different, then you haven’t spent any time on a set of a real big budget movie, where they have complete control of their environment, especially in the studio.

Anyway, food for thought.  Where is the line?  Should there be two set of awards?  Should they invite Pixar to compete in all of the categories?  Chime in in the comments!

But increasingly local broadcast TV stations are struggling to come up with the money needed to pay hefty syndication fees.

In the months and years to come, whenever big programs like The Oprah Winfrey Show sit down to renegotiate their deals with local, broadcast stations they are likely to find a grim market where station-group managers are unable or unwilling to match the fees of yesteryear, let alone increase them.

That leaves two options for the likes of Oprah. Lower your fees. Or pack up shop.

The multiverse continues to grow.  This move signals a further devaluation of local broadcast media.  The line between big network and cable network continues to be blurred, and the line between online only network and cable nets will also blur.

So how does Oprah moving away from local TV affiliates effect me and you as indie media makers?

Well, for one thing, it puts us into further competition with Oprah for eyeballs and attention.  Oprah is probably the single best self-marketer in the history of humanity.  She’s come from less than nothing to become one of the richest and famous-est people in the world, and now she’s going to be using that fame and money to build up a new media empire.

All of the same leverages that have been available to us, ownership, control, and distribution, will be available to her, and you had better believe a ton of brand dollars will flow to her.

And that’s a good thing.  It means that if you, tiny little indie media person, can build up your brand and attention, you’ll be able to get some future brand dollars flowing to you.  Once money is flowing into the space it’s hard to get it to flow to other spaces.

But Kent, you ask in an earnest tone, I don’t have a cable network like Oprah does, how will I compete with her?

Well, you won’t directly, but as eyeballs and dollars flow away from broadcast down the hill to cable, and cable eyeballs peel off into the net, you’ll see an overall growth in the the net sector.

It will be a slower process than any of us would like, but it will continue to happen.

These last three years in Hollywood has been like when your grandma picked up the rug at one end and just shook it all out and then beat the crap out of it.  A lot of violent unsettling of dust and old crusts of bread have been loosed and taken out, and though the pets and children may be confused, it’s ultimately for the best.

It’s always been hard to make it in the entertainment industry, now you’re just at the mercy of you audience, not some gatekeeper.  The gatekeeper was strict, but offered some level of security and hope that you could make your lot in life if you just kept the gatekeeper happy.  The audience may indeed be fickle, but once they are your fan, they are your fans, and it’s hard to lose them if you treat them well.

And if there’s one thing that Oprah can teach us all — be good to your fans and they will be good to you.