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Web TV for You and Me (A dream deferred)

In 2008 HBO lined up some dough for a couple of dudes to build a website filled with funny videos. Wow, where can I get that deal, you ask? Well, if you're names are Ferrell and McKay and you are responsible for the film "Anchorman" its a lot easier to grab that slice of the pie. Now, two years later, according to Web TV News Warehouse Tubefilter, HBO is using "Funny or Die" to launch new content for their TV network.

Well, what good is that for me? I didn't play George W. Bush on SNL, who's gonna buy my show? Wrong-o buster, take this as a good sign for you, the small but plucky Web TV wannabee.

The more stories that emerge of those with the cash (a la HBO) spending any of their precious pennies on video for the web, and better yet having success with it, the likelier these honchos will be more inclined to find new talent.

 

So what should you do if you're an aspiring Web TV Creator?

1. Keep Creating

Hone your skills, discover your voice, sweep the leg (only applies to Kobra Kai's). Do whatever you're doing to build up a following but also just to get to know what works and doesn't work for your own Web TV goals.

2. Support Others

Find people creating Web TV shows that you like and show them support. Watch their show and share it with your friends who might like it as well. The whole viral/social media thing is real and it's a great way to get your product out to people.

3. Join the Community

Find those people who are doing it too and reach out to them. Offer to help them and they'll help you too. Most of us trying to create original content for the web don't have "Talladega Nights" money lying around so we need to help each other create.

In Chicago, I am working with other likeminded souls to create an actual community who meet, network, hang out and get to know each other's projects. If you're in Chicago, ask me about "Let's Create". If you're not, find those people in your area and do the same.

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Stay vigilant friends, and keep doing your thing. We won't all get rich and famous with our Web TV shows, but then again, maybe we will.

Web TV - The British Sitcom Model

Should Web TV follow the British Sitcom Model?

Through the magic of a Netflix subscription, my laptop and an HDMI to Mini-display port converter, I watched an entire British series (The IT Crowd) - from start to finish, every episode - in about 4 days time. Now before you accuse me of being a potato of the couch variety, keep in mind a few determining factors of this amazing feat.

1. My wife was out of town and left to my own devices very little happens.
2. British sitcoms tend to be only six episode seasons, and last about 3 seasons total. That's 18 episodes. In the early years, "The Simpsons" would knock that out before Thanksgiving.


So, right here on this very blog I am advocating the British Sitcom Model for the advent of the Web TV Age. As the medium matures and the inevitable mixing of regular TV with web TV takes place, this seems to make the most sense. What has made Web TV so intriguing so far is the experimental nature of it. The fact that you can produce a program by yourself, with little to no money, and distribute it as far as your Facebook friends will take you, truly lends itself to the short and unsentimental style of our former masters (oh I hate that King George III).

By developing an idea that you can play around with, get a feel for what the characters are like, but remain experimental, this could free up people to constantly come up with new material and challenge the network structure that would rather try out an unfunny, large chinned hack in prime-time over an interesting scripted show.

This is just a theory I'm playing with, and in trying to develop a few series of my own I decided to throw it out there and see how the rest of you feel. So, let me know what you would like to see from the shows coming out on the Internet.

Should we go with 6 episodes a season, 3 seasons max; or should we keep going and going and going until we get to the "Facts of Life Down Under" episode in Season 10?