Vloggercon

I'm excited about the upcoming Vloggercon June 10-11. The conference brings together many of the personalities exploring the outer reaches of Internet TV.

While many vloggers are using the medium as a diary of their lives, some are creating political sites, while others are producing short TV shows and films. Rocketboom being one of the most popular. This grassroots approach to video production really caught on in 2005. I think 2006 is the year it breaks through to the masses.

Maybe I'll see you at the conference!

The casting meeting where no one showed up...

A few days ago, I had appointments with 4 candidates for a TV host job. Not one showed up. I think if even one person had kept their committment, I wouldn’t be writing this.

When I called each of the actors to confirm our meeting an hour ahead, two of them had completely forgotten about the appointment we had made only 5 days before. One tried to blame me for her forgetting; explaining that it was my fault because I didn’t call her earlier.
It was unprofessional not to show up for a meeting or call ahead to cancel.

Here’s what I think happened. Actors send blanket submissions to listings; especially on Craigslist, which is where I posted the notice. When the actors got a call from me to discuss the job, it was probably the first time they realized a fact that I stated clearly in the ad: “Low pay. Only a stipend, but a chance to grow with a show”

Each of them heard those words and immediately decided they didn’t want the job. Never mind that it's a great opportunity.

But they didn’t tell ME.

That’s a problem. Actors (especially actors) need to have the courage to state their truth. If they’re not interested in the job, they should say so! Then they don’t waste other people's time.

Put another way: “if you treat people around you seriously, then you will be taken seriously”

Whole lotta shakin' going on...

Welcome to TV Quake, where your humble observer will be reporting on the Internet TV revolution. Since the ground is already shaking, we’ll have to move fast!

I’ve worked in the trenches of the television networks for over 15 years (mostly producing promos). A tsunami of change is swamping the industry right now. Every day brings new developments and announcements, so I’ve decided to throw my observations into the blogosphere.

But how do we make sense of it?

We have some recent history for guidance… the Music Industry. It's only been 7 years since Napster started. Think about all the changes that have rocked the music autocracy in that time. Similiar changes (but more profound) are now happening to the television industry. I see 5 main trends:

1. Disintegration – The few become the many. The old guard broadcast and cable networks no longer control entertainment and news. They have been joined by millions of "garage producers". This trend has been happening for years, but the changes are now impossible to ignore. The consumer is now the producer… and the consumer… and the tastemaker. This trend is closely related to, but distinct from:
2. Peer-to-Peer (or disintermediation) – Now we can easily share what we produce with like-minded souls in our town and around the world. Portals like YouTube show us what's popular and talked-about. We don’t need a TV network to distribute our stories.
3. Reality – Seeing our peers in an “entertainment” program can be (and often is) just as entertaining as seeing celebrities.
4. Time-shifting – The arbitrary programming schedules of the TV networks will eventually be a thing of the past. Consumers will want to see shows when they want, not when the networks decide. Tivo and the Net provide that option.
5. Serialization – Once we establish a presence on the Net, it makes sense to continue developing our ideas. Whether we’re throwing karaoke clips up on YouTube or creating shows with characters, we’re finding people want more. One-shot ideas like movies will have to adjust and create additional content. Things that remain static on the Net will whither and die.

In the coming months, I plan to:

• Share interesting news and developments
• Provide commentary and observations
• Post interviews with leaders in the industry; both TV professionals and the hackers and video bloggers (or vloggers) who are driving the grassroots changes.
• Give updates on my own efforts to produce an Internet TV show.

I hope you’ll join me. It’s going to be quite a wild ride!