When Should You Take a Deal?

When Should You Take a Deal? from 1timstreet on Vimeo.

She's been on TV's Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Monk and also writes, producers and stars in her own online video series The Guild but Felicia Day recently told me at NATPE's LATV Fest that she's not just going to take the money for her online video series. Right now Felicia's going the Independent route getting donations, winning awards, and selling DVD's. She's also looking for "smart money" to help her grow the number of webisodes she has and more importantly grow her brand.

I think we are going to see more smart actresses like Felicia Day realize the power of the Internet in creating their own careers and launching their own brands.

Look out, Q4 and 09 are going to be fun times.

Will Joss Whedon Be The Mad Scientist Who Kills TV?

Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

Joss Whedon has made a lot of hours of television. Joss Whedon has made a lot of money from making a lot of hours of television. Now Joss Whedon has the potential to be the guy, the person, the Mad Scientist Who Kills Television. Or at least turn an online video into a household name.

In case you don't know and/or you are too lazy to Google Joss Whedon, he's the guy who brought us the TV shows Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly and he happen to write a few small motion pictures like Toy Story and Alien: Resurrection. Now Joss is launching a web series Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Will it be a hit? I sure hope so.

For years all of us independent content creators have been doing our thing trying to make a go of the online video game and a few of us have made a little bit of money but none of us have become household names. None of our shows are as popular as Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Now, I like to think of myself as the guy who saved Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I was a young writer/producer/director new to Hollywood and Warner Bros. ask me to work on an "Upfront" presentation (a trailer for a TV Show that networks show to advertisers to get advertising dollars in advance) for a new show that they were thinking of putting on The WB. I watched the pilot episode and except for the fat girl that played Willow I loved it. I loved the fact that it had the TastersChoice® Coffee guy in it. I loved the fact that it had funny hot sexy girls in it. I loved everything about it especially the humor in it, like when just after bumping into Buffy and spilling her stuff, Zander picks something up off the ground and mutters to Buffy, "Hey, You forgot your stake." and then holds up a wooded stake that Buffy dropped. Because I loved the show so much I worked really hard on the presentation coming up with a trailer that used dialog from the pilot episode itself to explain what the series would be about instead of using a voice over narration to explain where the series would go after the pilot episode.

I turned in my cut to the guys at The WB and they loved it but they didn't like the pilot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They didn't get it. They thought it was cheesy and they made me change the name of the show in the presentation to "Slayer" because they thought it was tougher. I begged them not to do it. But they did it anyway and I heard that when they showed it to Joss Whedon and he flipped out and hated it.

I told them how cool the show was but they said they weren't going to put it on the schedule that Fall and they didn't. They told me they really liked the trailer I had created and if it tested well they might put "Slayer" on as a mid-season replacement in the Spring. I was depressed. I thought they just didn't get it but come Spring Buffy the Vampire Slayer made it on air not "Slayer."

Joss Whedon fought with The WB to keep the name of the show from becoming "Slayer" and of course he was the one that really saved Buffy The Vampire Slayer but I'll tell the kids at UCLA, USC and any other schools I get to speak at that I was the guy who saved Buffy The Vampire Slayer just cause it makes me feel good.

Oh, I almost forgot. I think I once got a call from Joss Whedon but he didn't say who he was when he called. After the pilot of Buffy The Vampire Slayer aired and did really well I sent a congratulation package to Joss Whedon. It had a note that read, "Hey You Forget Your Steak." and instead of it being a "Stake" I sent a "Steak." a raw steak.

Shortly after sending it my phone rang - and no one ever called me - A guy asked me a lot of questions about what my company did and then said, "Thanks" without identifying himself and hung up. In hindsight it was a pretty stupid idea to send a raw blood steak to a guy who didn't know me but at the time it just seemed pretty clever.

From the looks of the trailer of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (with a voice over narration that sounds a lot like the guy who called me on the phone many years ago) looks pretty clever but I think some people are going to think it looks cheesy and they just won't get it. I do however think that there will be a lot of people who will love Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and based on the story I've just shared with you and the fact the Joss Whedon doesn't need to get any TV Network's approval to launch Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog I think Joss Whedon just may be the Mad Scientist to kill Televison or at least to make an online video series become a household word.

Lower your head, watch your step, and enjoy the rest of your day on the Internet or at least have fun checking out the best new videos on the 3G iPhone that you can find. - and let know what they are.

The Real Power of the Upfront Presentation

While network upfronts are on the out this year I feel the "Upfront Presentation" or Upfront "Trailer" is an important tool in explaining to advertisers what your show is and where it is going. These short form marketing tools can be emotionally engaging and aid in closing ad sales. Many shows' advertising have been sold on just an upfront presentation. In fact I created one presentation for a show (that will remain nameless) that hadn't even been filmed yet. We faked the whole thing and made it look like the show was in production when they were still casting it. (That presentation won an award)

Now I did have the pleasure of creating the Upfront Presentation for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and working on that project for Bob Bibb and Lew Goldstein at The WB and that gave me a lot of insight into how TV Networks picked shows and I still think there is a lot to be learned from Network Upfronts.

If you are going after advertisers for your online video and you are just getting started you might want to create a presentation that explains the details about your show and where you see it going in the future. An "Industry Trailer" that's not for consumers but for advertisers and other companies that might want to partner with you.

Networks are still going to go after Upfront money for their shows. They will still meet with Ad Agencies and Media Buyers from large advertisers and ask for their advertising buys before new shows launch. Why wouldn't they? And there's no reason for the online video advertising world not to do the same.

I think we should get together and have online content creators meet with advertisers at a cocktail party and we should show them our Upfront Presentations.

Maybe we could do one in New York, one in Chicago, one in LA and one in San Francisco.

Would any of you be interested?

Video Advertising on YouTube

Video Advertising is something I’ve been doing for years on Network and Cable Television. I’ve created promotional spots and campaigns for shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer to UFC as well as TV commercials for feature films like Fight Club and Sin City. I’ve also produced “different” Online Advertising like French Maid TV but in all my time in advertising there has never been a big day like yesterday.

Yesterday Google announced that they are launching overlay advertising on Youtube Videos. I’m very excited about this and look forward to see how things will play out.

This is a really incredible time to be producing emotionally engaging online videos that cut through the clutter, launch new brands and drive consumers to act. Oh right, and the video can really be measured. But as someone who is plagued with ideas it’s more exciting to know that I can run with an idea, produce it, post it on YouTube and finally get paid for it.