I have no special talents. I’m only passionately curious.
Albert Einstein (via alexheath)
That’s becoming more and more of a talent these days.
Why did Trump drop out this morning?
Very simply: because NBC’s upfronts are today (where networks put on a song and dance in NYC to sell most of their ad time for the next year) and NBC needed to be able to assure those advertisers that they had their shit together. Nine Billion Dollars is at stake for this year’s upfronts, and NBC wants and needs every penny that their fourth-place network can get.
So they put a huge number on Trump’s table ($60M) and said “End this now.”
And he did.
It’s just business, nothing personal.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings on HBO, Cord-Cutting and Amazon
Speaking of expired season, I’ve heard some networks talk about extending the life of shows they were going to cancel if you’re going to pay them to keep going. Does that make sense?
Yes. For example, “Friday Night Lights” wasn’t going to get continued two seasons ago on NBC, and DirecTV did a deal to extend that show. So we can see ourselves doing something like that–extending a season of something that was doing well on Netflix.
Quality and big names are no guarantee of a show’s success, or of the success of a backer of that show, for that matter.
Before You Get Excited About Netflix TV, Read This | Mediaworks: Tuning In - Advertising Age
This article has been making the rounds today on Tumblr and Twitter. Most of the focus has been on the Netflix vs. HBO plot line but the above quote strikes me as as key point.
On the web, specifically in regards to original web shows, authenticity trumps production values. I’m not saying great equipment, strong editing and lighting and cool post-production don’t make for great web shows, but they are not necessary to be a success.
What is necessary - no, required, is a passionate creator who knows how to find and build their audience. Make content that is an extension of your passion. Find people who appreciate your passion. Watch your show grow.
(via evangotlib)
They’re making a television show for the Web. It’s different…
(via mikehudack)
I was saying the same thing this morning in #webserieschat (so if you were there, feel free to skip my reiteration here.) The distribution mechanism is not the medium. TV streamed on the web is still TV, just as a “made-for-TV” film is still a film and “straight to DVD movie” is still a movie. The creation mechanism is the medium.
Netflix is creating television content because it stacks up well against the other content they already have, the vast majority of which was already created with televised home viewing in mind (both film and TV.)
(via mikehudack)
A quick thought about the difference between HBO and Netflix…
…is this: While the House of Cards deal is pretty exciting, I genuinely wonder about what will happen when the show premieres — because of the lack of a live airdate.
Sure, when I watch HBO series on the regular it’s often via TWC’s VOD the day after. (Though with Game of Thrones, I’ll probably DVR it because HBO VOD isn’t in HD and wow I am a nerd who loves her acronyms today.) But there’s something about the awareness that a show is premiering at a certain time that helps build awareness, makes the arrival of each episode into an event that you look forward to, even if you don’t watch it live — something that is fun to do with HBO, by the way, because of the lack of commercials.
Given how Netflix is historically quiet about when content premieres or drops off the Instant service, it’ll be weird to see it bring that sort of energy to House of Cards’s launch. Will there be some effort at getting us to sync up hitting our Play buttons, like an accompanying live Tweet stream? Or will a premiere on Netflix be just another quiet upload, thrust to the top of our suggested viewing listings, and ignored in favor of rewatching Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
A good point.
Netflix To Enter Original Programming With Mega Deal For David Fincher-Kevin Spacey Series ‘House Of Cards’ – Deadline.com
Video streaming juggernaut Netflix is becoming an original programming player. In what is probably the biggest gamble in its 14-year history, I hear Netflix has outbid several major cable networks, including HBO and AMC, for Media Rights Capital’s drama series House of Cards, executive produced and directed by David Fincher and exec produced by and starring Kevin Spacey.
Negotiations are still going on, but I hear Netflix landed the drama project by offering a staggering commitment of two seasons, or 26 episodes. Given that the price tag for a high-end drama is in the $4 million-$6 million an episode range and that a launch of a big original series commands tens of millions of dollars for promotion, the deal is believed to be worth more than $100 million and could change the way people consume TV shows.
via kthread
*sigh* I really need to start blogging longer thoughts again. At NATPE and in a few business meetings just before, I said that Netflix needed to begin making original programming to keep from getting fucked by the studios in their upcoming negotiations. I don’t think it was exactly genius level prediction, just understanding positioning within the marketplace.
Anyway, right move on their part as this is the exact right sort of positioning: Oscar-level talent making original programming only available on their “network.” Two more spends on this level and Netflix becomes a new HBO (incidentally, this sort of content positioning is also a big reason why HBO became HBO.)
Great music wasn’t created by the first people to grab an electric guitar or a synthesizer. Great snowboarding moves didn’t come from the guy who invented the snowboard… No one thinks Gutenberg was a great author, and some of the best books will be written long after books are truly dead. Only when an innovation is dead can the real work begin. That’s when people who are seeking leverage get to work, when we can focus on what we’re saying, not how (or where) we’re saying it.
Seth’s Blog: Bring me stuff that’s dead, please
We’re gonna have to agree to disagree on this one Seth. While I agree that breaking the rules of a medium (what much art is composed of) can only happen once those rules are established, I disagree with your comment of “These people rarely do anything of much value, though” followed immediately by examples of people inventing or creating entirely new things.
There is value in both the creation of art, and in the creation of the medium/tools that enable the art. Neither exists without the other and we’re all better for them both.
VW blends print and mobile advertising to illustrate new technologies — Autoblog
This is seriously cool. Worth checking out for sure.
War is a series of tubes
A study commissioned by the OECD has concluded that the Internet kill switch favored by Senator Joe Lieberman could “cause more problems than it would prevent”. The study also found “a tendency to exaggerated language, an over-reliance on military concepts of war and defence and plenty of confused thinking”.
It’s nice that someone did the study, but I could have told you that for free.
(via mikehudack)
Sprint in talks to acquire T-Mobile USA, report claims | BGR
I’m not sure how this would function, given that T-Mobile is GSM with their 4G hat thrown in to HSPA+ and Sprint is CDMA with their 4G via Wimax (and later plans to transition to LTE.)
It does however show how difficult it must be to compete with AT&T and Verizon on the national level. Also it would make the already small number of national wireless providers that much smaller. Given the enormous costs of competition (and new business startup) on a national wireless level, that contraction could lead to some very difficult decisions in the future.
Here’s the deal, NBC…
If you only have the latest three episodes of your show available on Hulu, and nothing but clips on your website, then when about a million people tell me to start watching Community I won’t. You see, I want to check out the pilot (first episode) so I know what the hell is going on instead of checking out episode 17 of season 2. This is basic marketing 101 here, and it should go like this.
“Hey Barrett, you should check out community.”
“Really? How?”
“Oh, here’s a link to the first episode.”
Make sense? Good. Now pull your head out of your assisted living facility aged business model and understand that if I can’t find your content, I can’t enjoy your content. After all, in the end it’s just a TV show and my interest (and attention span, memory, etc.) is fleeting.
The scab you’re picking at is called execution. Studios are hardwired not to bet on execution, and the terrible thing is, they’re right. Because in terms of execution, most movies disappoint.
Scott Rudin, as quoted in The Day the Movies Died: Movies + TV: GQ
Let’s just all say it again: Idea is nothing; execution is everything.
I know this article has been floating around for a bit, but it’s worth reading if you haven’t gotten around to it, or re-reading if you have. If you want to know where entertainment is going to be in 5-10 years, read the panic between the lines of every quote in this article and figure out a way to subvert and execute.
My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each other’s negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Great things in business are not done by one person, they are done by a team of people.
Jerk Ethic - To Be Continued...
I read this yesterday, and it hit me like a hammer to the face. I literally found myself (while sitting in a Starbucks and waiting to meet a business partner) examining the way I do business and approach both large and small projects. I felt…uncomfortable in my conclusions. My list of “future projects” is fairly large, but I had always thought of that as the buildings of a future “to-do” list while I work through my current set of five main projects. They were my rewards for a job well done on my current work.
The “just do it” philosophy and I have had various issues throughout the years, as I’ve always preferred to let ideas mature and aerate in my brain before tackling them. I’m a procrastinator, but that time is spent generally working through the problems and solutions internally. “Release, and iterate” is something that I’ve had to push myself into - ditto for “Minimum Viable Product,” as the whole idea of not showing your best vision always felt like copping out or taking the easy route. I understand the differences, but that sense of unease remained.
Either way, this essay really hit home for me, and I have a feeling I’ll need to revisit it a few times to fully absorb it completely. It really challenged the way I approach business ventures, ideas, and creative endeavors. I highly recommend you take a look and give it the time it deserves. Thank you Ainsley.
An interesting metaphor for the current state of television. We are all platforms. Television has rested its business model upon us for quite some time now, with the assumption that things would never change.
From everything I’ve seen, all evidence points to the “future of TV” from the network side being a lot of smoke and mirrors to try and emulate the same things from the past.
