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Couple weeks ago, got an interesting call to put together something for MyDamnChannel, and below is the result.



I have to say, I'm pretty happy with the result, if not perfect. Terrell, J and Paul were all a pleasure to work with, and they made it easy, and 13,000+ views in 2 days online? That's not bad either!

It's also a cool format idea to have celebs sit down and have a conversation with each other and see what they say and we had fun making it:)

UPDATE: 9-15-08
WOW! In a little over a month, this first of two episodes has racked up over 200,000 views. That's pretty rockin'!

Cato on Copyright

Great article today over on Cato about copyright being stretched until it's broken. In many comments around the web, the sensible reaction is "well, let's abolish copyright."

I don't necessarily disagree, even as a content creator.

I thought this bit in the article was really important:

Adding more “content” will strictly speaking produce no value — whether culturally or economically. What’s valuable is supplying a context where people can come together to create meaning out of abundance. The digital world poses questions whose answers can’t remain within the digital sphere. A key challenge is to relate the digital to that which is not digital: time, space, human relationships, and so forth.

The digital world poses questions whose answers can’t remain within the digital sphere. A key challenge is to relate the digital to that which is not digital: time, space, human relationships, and so forth. Kevin Kelly, the founding executive editor of Wired magazine, has recently captured it well: When copies are superabundant, they become worthless, while things which can’t be copied become scarce and valuable. What counts in the end are “uncopyable values,” qualities which are “better than free.”

This "frame of reference" in the first paragraph, and the "uncopyable" values in the second, I really think are the key to the next for-profit generation of entertainment.

It's important to note that "for-profit" segment, as the not-for-profit content creation market will continue to explode, and erode the ability of a large segment of people in the entertainment industry to make a living. This is simply the way the world changes.

So how are you going to evolve your style?

Power to the Producers

I think sooner or later we have a couple of game changing things we need to be aware of as content producers.

1. Audiences are (mostly) unwilling to pay for content.
   
   Movies are still an exception, but only when priced fairly. The collapse of the movie rental industry (in their $3.99 Brick and Mortar incarnation anyway) is a clear sign of this. As is the drop in attendance at movie theaters the last few years (though gaining in overall dollars as ticket prices are hiked - again, at odds with the continued perceived decline of the quality of the product).
   
   
2. Advertisers are willing to pay for access to the audience that wants our content.
   
   Unfortunately, I know most of us really hate advertising, but in lieu of a better way to pay for the cost of the creating content in the first place, this is about as good an option as we have.
   

In light of those facts, Chris Anderson over at The Long Tail has put up some great data on Ad CPM's that I strongly believe are a leading indicator of putting power back into the hands of the producers.

The data shows that higher traffic websites (eg - bigger distributors of content), receive far lower CPM's than smaller traffic websites that deliver more focused demographics.

The vast majority of content created today really *does* fall into niche categories - and niches where even a (relatively) small number of viewers could potentially turn a profit for smart producers.

It also means that as producers we have to be more savvy about *where* our audience is, what their interests are, and how to engage them, and how to earn enough revenue from them that we can survive, maybe even thrive.

It means we have to be smart enough to adapt and learn more about business than maybe we did in the past. It may mean extending your product "brand" to finite goods ahead of seeing if you have a hit movie or not. With low/no cost on-demand product fulfillment these days, there's absolutely no reason you can't launch your new online series with a shopping cart and backend vendor already set up to sell t-shirts or mugs or whatever with your show logo on them or catchy phrases from your script (think: "I drink your milkshake").

This is all usually way out of bounds for producers, as studios took that to run with themselves, but as our business models change, so must the things we do to keep our livelihoods lively.