Monthly Archives: March 2014

Industry, Introduction, Workshops

Indie TV: Where Creators and Fans Pilot New Shows

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The Internet broke the network bottleneck. Through platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo, creators release series directly to fans who follow shows and share them with friends. Web-content creators can write stories in whatever length, style and genre they choose, on their own schedule, and with actors of their choosing. The result is a truly open television ecosystem, where creators, talent and fans work together to realize stories they want to see.

Transforming Hollywood’s April 4 panel on Indie TV will take a look at that ecosystem by chatting with top web creators. The panel is moderated by Aymar Jean Christian, assistant professor of communication at Northwestern University, who says it is “by far the most exciting panel [he’s] ever convened.” The reason for the excitement? “The creators on this panel have written or distributed multiple smart and funny series that expand the sitcom, romantic comedy, and drama television genres.”

Below, Christian breaks down why he’s so excited to engage each of our panelists in conversation.

ADAM GOLDMAN, WHATEVER THIS IS

“In the indie TV market, creators produce stories in whatever size fits the narrative. Episodes of Adam Goldman’s first series, The Outs, ranged from 12 to nearly 50 minutes. Each installment is scaled to let the drama unfold as naturally as possible. For his next series, Whatever this is, Goldman took a different approach, and, having raised more funds on Kickstarter, released six half-hour episodes. Whatever this is gives viewers a robust picture of life as a creative worker — or rather how uncreative and sad that life can be.”

 

JAY BUSHMAN, THE LIZZIE BENNET DIARIES

“On the other hand, Jay Bushman’s work on The Lizzie Bennet Diaries expands TV narrative beyond the episode to include other platforms where fans can engage with characters.  The Lizzie Bennet Diaries isn’t the first interactive series — we can think of The Spot in the mid-90s or lonelygirl15 in the mid-00s — but it is a best practices case study for the social media era.”

 

NUMA PERRIER, BLACK & SEXY TV

“Black & Sexy TV, which Numa Perrier co-founded with partner Dennis Dortch, has grown into a hub for the best acted and cinematically intimate romantic comedies and dramas on the web, helping revive a part of the black TV and film market that’s been challenged in recent years. Numa also stars in the network’s popular series, The Couple, where she breathes life into a character without a name.”

 

ISSA RAE, THE MISADVENTURES OF AWKWARD BLACK GIRL

“One of the first creators to demonstrate the power of Kickstarter to help fund and raise awareness for web comedies like The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, Issa Rae has continued to release series from other black TV writers on her YouTube channel while she develops for and works in television.”

 

AMY RUBIN, LITTLE HORRIBLES

“Amy Rubin’s Little Horribles is a series without peer on television, a comedy of errors recalling Louie or Seinfeld but focused on a self-indulgent thirtysomething lesbian in Los Angeles. Little Horribles, and many other web series like F to 7th, Pursuit of Sexiness, and The Actress, which Rubin’s Barnacle Studios’ distributes, is how writers use the short-format to their advantage and focus the humor to fit in a single location. For this strategy to work, producers have attract great actors, who respond to strong writing.”

 

BRAD BELL, HUSBANDS

“Brad stands out as a creator who writes and stars in a sophisticated show that rivals, even outdoes, a lot of network TV sitcoms starring gay characters. While it’s hard to single out what works for a show, one of the clear strengths of Husbands is its crisp writing, anchored by Brad’s engaging performance. Husbands gracefully mines and challenges stereotypes while leaving plenty of room for broad and physical humor.”

Christian respects indie TV creators so much because “they are very aware of what their audiences want, what their actors and collaborators want, and when to break the rules of medium. It takes a genius to master such a broad set of skills.”

Don’t miss a fascinating look into this aspect of the transformation of television. To buy tickets, visit https://transforminghollywood.tft.ucla.edu/conference/tickets/.

 

Entertainment, Industry, Introduction, Marketing, Workshops

Veronica Mars and the Case of the Fan-Funded Film

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The story of how the movie Veronica Mars came to be is much like the episodes contained within the series itself—a clever protagonist must work outside the system to solve the problem of an untimely death.

In this case the protagonist is Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas, the untimely death is the cancellation of the TV series at the hands of traditional Hollywood, and his tools employed include nearly every major component of the new entertainment landscape: high quality content, the power of a rabid fan base, the influence of silicon beach, and the impatience of the Internet.

As any good Marshmallow knows, the CW cancelled Veronica Mars 2007 due to poor ratings. Over the next few years, Thomas and Kristen Bell would attempt to push a Veronica Mars movie at Warner Bros. with the help of Joel Silver. But as late as 2010, the studio wasn’t interested enough to put their weight behind it.

“The idea that fans of a cult television series might be able to fund and support it over time has been floated for several decades,” says USC Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts and Transforming Hollywood 5 Co-Director Henry Jenkins. “Many of these shows lack the breadth of viewership which would sustain it through traditional broadcast channels, yet they have a depth of commitment which can be a powerful force when compared to the followings of other kinds of popular culture—from comics and books to most forms of niche music.”

Veronica Mars had that commitment, and it was perfectly paired with new technology in Kickstarter. With Warner Bros.’ approval, the now famous fundraising campaign that asked for $2M raised over $5M in a month from nearly 100,000 donors. “We can see the Veronica Mars campaign as transformative in demonstrating just how big the opportunity is here for the right creators and the right properties,” says Jenkins.

Two weekends ago, Veronica Mars was released by Warner Bros. in 270 theaters, and, in keeping with its progressive past, it was released simultaneously on VOD platforms—a first for Warner Brothers. In theaters the film grossed nearly $2M, or $6,833 per theater, landing it a bottom spot in the top ten for that weekend. Not bad for a fan-funded film.

“Kickstarter has long demonstrated its ability to fund independent and niche media, but since Veronica Mars, we are seeing more and more cult media-makers who previously worked on the edges of the mainstream—from Spike Lee to Steven Sonderberg—cross over into this space. We will see more,” predicts Jenkins.

And if the Veronica Mars movie is a punctuation mark to the series, it certainly isn’t a period. The CW announced in January that Thomas will bring the Veronica Mars world to their online platform for original content, the CW Seed.

Does this mean that the clever, cynical sleuthing of Veronica could be resurrected as a new series? If so, what does that say about the conventional wisdom of Hollywood and the power of fans to demand—and receive—the shows they want? For now, Jenkins sees limitations to funding projects in the Veronica Mars way. “These mechanisms work best where there is a recognized audience already somewhat familiar with the offering: so, we can see works by cult auteurs work here, or we can see it as the court of last resort for a canceled series. It also can work where there is an underserved population—a minority group of some kind (racial, ethnic, sexual, political, cultural) who wants to establish that there is a base of support for a particular kind of media production.”

Join us on April 4th as we continue the conversation on new forms of television production and distribution during our panel entitled “Second Screens, Connected Viewing, Crowd-Funding and Social Media: Re-Imagining Television Consumption. Panelists include Ivan Askwith (lead strategist, “Veronica Mars” Kickstarter Campaign), Vicky L. Free (chief marketing officer, BET Networks), Nick Loeffler (director of business development, Kindle Worlds), Stacey Lynn Schulman (senior vice president, chief research officer, Television Bureau of Advertising), and Sharon L. Strover (professor, College of Communication, University of Texas at Austin) and will be moderated by Henry Jenkins.

For more info, and to buy tickets, visit https://transforminghollywood.tft.ucla.edu/.

News

Discussion with Orlando Jones at TH5

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Orlando Jones, who plays Captain Frank Irving on the cult Fox series, “Sleepy Hollow,” personifies the new relationship that exists between stars/producers and fans in the era of engagement-based television. He’s taken the trouble to master the practices, values and traditions of his fan community and he reaches out to them via social media every week, helping to forge strong group support around his program. In this wrap-up conversation, we talk with Jones about fandom and the future of television, asking him to reflect on the ways social media is changing the relations between creators and audiences and to share some of his perspectives as a television performer about the ways his medium is changing in response to digital and mobile technologies.

Since securing a role in the hit Fox series, Jones created his own Tumblr blog – The Orlando Jones Tumblr Experiment – and is very active on Twitter. Jones interacts and connects with his fans in a way that very few actors do. “My approach to fan engagement is born from a genuine appreciation for the evolving and essential relationship between fans and creators,” Jones explains. “I am truly a fan of our fans. The fact that I’m involved in a creative enterprise that stimulates the creativity of others and inspires them to create transformative works of their own through fan art, fan fiction and more is one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do.”

News, Workshops

Geek Speaks: The Women Who Make Television

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On April 3, the eve of Transforming Hollywood 5: The Future of Entertainment, an exciting event will take place across town at USC, home of TH5 co-director Henry Jenkins. Geek Speaks: The Women Who Make Television pays tribute to American Public Television’s 1973 series The Men Who Made the Movies by showcasing a range of highly creative women who are now working in the American television industry as creators, executive producers, head writers, and showrunners.

A look back on a year plus of developments which have transformed television as a medium, this conference stresses the need to push beyond its focus on masculine creativity by representing the role of women through a broad range of different forms of television programing, including sitcoms, dramas, and fantasy/science fiction programs, that have worked for both broadcast and cable networks.

The evening will consist of two sessions. The first, “Creative Process,” from 4-5:30, explores the panelists’ paths into the industry, their relationships to their mentors and creative partners, and the changing contexts in which television is produced, distributed, and viewed. Panelists include Kim Moses (Ghost Whisperer, Profiler), Alexa Junge (United States of Tara, The West Wing, Friends), Nell Scovell (Warehouse 13, Sabrina the Teenage Witch) Felicia Henderson (Fringe, Gossip Girl, Sister Sister), and Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, Kyle XY). The panel will be moderated by Erin Reilly, Creative Director for Annenberg Innovation Lab and Research Director for Project New Media Literacies at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism.

The second, “Creative Products,” from 6-7:30, deals with the content of their programs, their relationship to their genres, issues of representation, and their perceptions of the audiences for their work. Panelists include Winnie Holzman (Huge, My So Called Life), Robin Schiff (Are You There Chelsea, Huge), Jenny Bicks (The Big C, Sex and the City), and Meg DeLoatch (Brothers, Eve, Family Matters). “Creative Products” will be moderated by Francesca Marie Smith, a doctoral student at USC where she focuses primarily on rhetorical representations of (dis)ability in mass media, situating her work at the intersection of rhetorical theory and criticism, cultural and fan studies, and media criticism.

Women still face an uphill struggle to gain entry into the television industry, yet these women have shattered through the glass ceiling and can now stand as role-models for the next generation of women and men who want to change what kinds of stories television tells and what kinds of audiences it addresses.

To RSVP, visit: http://rsvp.uscannenberg.org/rsvp-page/geek-speaks-women-who-make-tv

Entertainment, Industry, Marketing, News

See TH6 With WESAWIT

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Next year, as attendees of Transforming Hollywood 6 post photos and videos from the event, they will be aggregated and displayed on the Transforming Hollywood website and Facebook page as well as across monitors at the conference through TH6 sponsor, WESAWIT, a fan engagement platform for the entertainment industry.

WESAWIT, a co-venture of UCLA Producer Program alums Thibault Mathieu (’12) and Morgan Rostagnat (’11), uses proprietary technology to help event organizers understand their audience better by managing and interacting with fan content gathered from the social web.

“Today’s live event spectator is more savvy than ever, embracing multiple forms of online engagement and we expect this market segment to grow dramatically as technologies continue to expand,” says WESAWIT CEO and Co-founder, Thibault Mathieu. WESAWIT’s proprietary technology manages all visual fan content in one platform, making it easy to curate, display and interact with social content generated at individual events.

WESAWIT works with some of the most popular live entertainment venues in the U.S., including STAPLES Center, Hollywood Bowl, Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and Goldenvoice.

Director of Communications & Social Media at STAPLES Center and Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE, Cara Vanderhook states, “WESAWIT has become an extension of our online marketing efforts at STAPLES Center and Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE, providing us with valuable insight about our fans and making it easier for us to interact with key audiences in real time at each and every event hosted on site.”

STAPLES Center, recent host of the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards®, collected over 2,415 photos and 274 videos from this one event alone.

Visit WESAWIT online: www.wesawit.com, follow @wesawitapp on Twitter, and give them a like on Facebook www.facebook.com/wesawit.