Dispatch from Hollywood: Product Placement in Online Video Works

http://www.beet.tv/2008/05/dispatch-from-h.html

Digital Hollywood 2010 Content Summit Panel Wrap Up Part IV

This is the final part of our wrap up coverage of some of the Content Summit panels at Digital Hollywood 2010. In these panel wrap ups I'll give you what I felt were the key points made by the panelists followed by a Key Panel Takeaway. You can also read Part I Part II, PartIII. If you are interested in some of the other panels from Digital Hollywood video is available on their site.

The Multi-Hyphenate: Actor-Writer-Director-Facebook Expert

• Jeanne Wolf, West Coast Editor, Parade Magazine, Moderator
• Kevin Pollak, Actor, Creator, Vamped Out- Pollack stressed you need both a champion and a home. He announced there would be a Season 2 of Vamped Out.
• Joshua Malina, Creator, Backwash- Backwash is a 13 part series that will appear on Crackle. It’s about three guys who inadvertently rob a bank with a salami. The story has had many incarnations from TV pilot, to film, to stage play before finally becoming a web series.
• David Nett, Actor, Creator, Gold- Gold was originally a screenplay. Nett announced they are currently making Season 2.
• Brett Register, Actor, Creator, The Crew- Register explained that the first three episodes of The Crew were written as a TV pilot. When they started to put episodes online they just kept making them until the web caught up.
• Key Panel Takeaway- All panelists cited creative freedom as a prime motivator in creating for the web. All, (except Malina whose show hasn’t premiered yet) have targeted online forums to look for audience. Register targeted Star Trek forums, Nett went to Dungeons and Dragon forums and Pollack went to vampire sites.

Digital Hollywood 2010 Content Summit Panel Wrap Up Part III

I was able to catch a few panels at Digital Hollywood 2010 and just about all of them were for the Content Summit. In these panel wrap ups I'll give you what I felt were the key points made by the panelists followed by a Key Panel Takeaway.

The Writer as Entrepreneur

• FX Feeney, writer, moderator
• Christian Taylor, Writer/Director/Producer, Valemont- Electric Farm presold the concept of a show about vampires in college before he was brought in to write it.
• Kaleena Kiff, Writer/Director/Producer, Riese- Riese was made with private investment and shot in Canada. It was originally a short film. Kiff explained they wanted to take advantage of all the talent that is already up in Canada shooting television shows. It’s important for them to remain transmedia oriented and if/when the show makes it to TV it would have companion webisodes.
• Ruth Livier, Writer/Producer/Actress, Ylse- Ylse originated as a half hour pilot. The dialog is written in Spanglish then versions are subtitled in both English and Spanish to maximize audience.
• Randy & Jason Sklar,Writer/Producer/Actor, Back on Topps, Cheap Seats- The Sklars would rather do a web series than a pilot that no one would ever see.
• David Fickas, Writer/Director/Producer/Performer, The IceMan Chronicles- The IceMan Chronicles, a Twin Peaks style comedy was created for 15Gigs and then distributed to My Damn Channel.
• Key Panel Takeaway- Once you attain a certain level you are able to bring advertisers onboard.

This is Part III, you can read Part I and Part II. If you are interested in some of the other panels from Digital Hollywood video is available on their site.

Digital Hollywood 2010 Content Summit Panel Wrap Up Part II

I was able to catch a few panels at Digital Hollywood 2010 and just about all of them were for the Content Summit. In these panel wrap ups I'll give you what I felt were the key points made by the panelists followed by a Key Panel Takeaway. This is Part II, you can read Part I here. If you are interested in some of the other panels from Digital Hollywood video is available on their site.

Web Series Development- Pilot Season Without a Net.

• Miles Beckett, CEO Eqal, Creator, Lonelygirl15, Moderator- This panel marks Miles’ first appearance as moderator. Beckett advocates a slow grow approach. He recommends building marketing into the content. Beckett feels shows should embrace interactivity and the lack of a fourth wall.
• Hayden Black, Creator, Good Night Burbank- Black warns after the show is created, you’re just starting and if you’re not prepared to do all the non-creative work yourself maybe it’s not for you. Back in the days where only a handful of content existed, they were on the front page of all the video sites. Today what appears on the front pages are not viral but paid for by studios.
• Chris McCaleb, Partner, Big Fantastic- McCaleb feels when you work with a studio you have more money which translates into higher production quality and better distribution but when you remain independent you retain complete control. He knowing what other shows are out there and not do that but be unique. McCaleb agrees with Beckett that when you own your own IP you can exploit if over time.
• Will Marks, Head of Business Development, Monkey Wrangler Productions, Code Monkeys- Marks revealed that they don’t do projects without a corporate partner to do the non-creative. When they work with a corporate brand they build marketing into the budget. Marks commented that working with a corporate partner is not selling out. He recommends creators build a reputation by establishing a portfolio. Partnerships=people who can vouch for you. They can make 6-7 figures on their projects.
• Jim Lauderback, CEO, Revision3- Lauderback says when you do it yourself you prove what you can do. That’s when they like to come in because they are really good at selling and bringing in sponsors. He told how the Annoying Orange brought in iJustine (as a pomegranate) to access her audience. Revision3 don’t look at the web as training wheels for TV. He also reveals some of their shows gross over a million dollars.
• R Blank, Armor Blank- If you know you aren’t capable or comfortable doing SEO and social media marketing then get someone.
• Key Panel Takeaway- I thought this panel was about the process of getting a web series onto distributions channels. It was about taking web series off the net and onto TV. This panel for me really illuminates the chasm that exists between the haves and the have-nots. It’s really easy to say make corporate partnerships; it’s a lot harder to do. A good portion of the panelists made their reputation in a different era. As a result they are at a higher level than anyone starting out today who a) don't have that advantage and b) can't really duplicate what they did to get to that level. The bottom line is if you are starting from square one, there is no magic bullet. You are on your own and be prepared for the long haul.

Digital Hollywood 2010 Content Summit Panel Wrap Up Part I

Thanks to a twitter contest from DigitalLA I was able to win a pass to Digital Hollywood 2010. I was able to catch a few panels and just about all of them were for the Content Summit. In these panel wrap ups I'll give you what I felt were the key points made by the panelists followed by a Key Panel Takeaway. If you are interested in some of the other panels from Digital Hollywood video is available on their site.

Web Indies Explosion-How to Create, Produce, Fund and Own Your Own Web Show and Make a Living in the Process.

• Mark Vega, Founder, Libertas Law Group, Moderator
• Laurent Touil Tartour, Creator, Urban Wolf- Tartour state that what lead him to the web was that his goal was to get his movie worldwide distribution, which is impossible for an indie filmmaker. He went on to tell the amusing story of how he secured funding by going to venture capitalists and telling them his project was a start up and not a web series. His strategy was based on the philosophy, “if the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.”
• Jacob Rosenberg, filmmaker & CTO, Bandito Bros.- Rosenberg revealed that when a company secures them to create stills for print and a :30 second spot they will budget it so they have money left to create and present a web film.
• Daniel Tibbets, SVP & Studio Chief, GoTV- Tibbets advocated doing “work for hire” to establish yourself while building your own brands.
• John Heinsen, Founder, Bunnygraph Entertainment- Heinsen related that the studios didn’t get it and wouldn’t put the That 70’s Show website at the end of episodes because they didn’t want people turning off the TV.
• Doug Cheney, Partner, Big Fantastic- Cheney described the path in which Big Fantastic took, starting with “Sam has 7 Friends” which lead to getting repped by UTA which lead to meeting with Eisner which lead to “Prom Queen.”
• Key Panel Takeaway- The strategy of two of these panelists was to trick or misdirect the people they hoped to get money from. I'm not sure that should be the model to follow but I guess you can't argue with success.

Digital Hollywood

Digital Hollywood, May 3-6, 2010

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http://www.dhcontentsummit.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/DHContentSummit

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