Old Media, Meet New Media

In the grand scheme of things, it's hard to fault new media for attempting to duplicate what old media used to do.

In fact, there are many things old media has done for so long that its way of doing things works very well. There's a reason it takes "x" number of people to get things done. It's very, very difficult for one, or two, or even three people working together to create a broadcast ready live gaming solution including:

• broadcast operations center (from scratch)
• set design AND construction
• show formatting & creative structure (game operations, titles, content, and structure)
  
• show graphics
• physical operations (crew hiring, payroll, coordination, etc.)
• host casting (posting for, screening, meetings, etc.)

Anyway, that's not one person overseeing, that's one person DOING all those things.

While I agree wholeheartedly that there are layers of operations in Hollywood that aren't necessary in New Media, there's a good number that are for sheer number of hours in a day vs. the number of things to get done.

Now, as the last portion of the VS. Los Angeles is the most difficult, most expensive place in the country to produce content. This is something I've espoused for a long, long time, and have always made known to anyone who wants to ask.

I've produced in Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Tennessee, and Texas. Along the way, I've had to organize or coordinate shoots in Nevada, Utah, Georgia, West Virgina, Kentucky, and Iowa.

I've got a pretty good frame of reference on LA being the hardest and most expensive place to produce content after a decade of living and working here.

The lessons that New Media still has to learn is, Los Angeles doesn't have a corner on the talent market, overall.

Hire a good leader, and that leader will find the right people no matter where they are. That leader might come out of LA, since that's where they make the best living (if they are good at what they do), and rest can follow. But producing everything in LA, is about the worst idea new media companies can have (unless they have created great local infrastructure, which I've seen in about 1 of 100 companies, and it cost them a LOT of $$$$).

In my opinion, if new media is too succeed, it has to recruit key members from established places and let them find the local talent to move you forward.

Anyway, enough blathering. Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, I've been butt over teakettle trying to make a new media show work that probably shouldn't have ever tried to set up in so-cal (and I said as much in the interviews).... and yes, I have been building sets, and computers and show rundowns and motion graphics, all by my lonesome..

Oh heady days.