Last Sunday Tom Hanks gave the Commencement speech to Yale graduates. Like many Commencement speakers, he urged the class to choose faith over fear and move forward with their lives. But the real star of Hanks' talk was not his message, but Sam Tsui, one of Yale's graduating seniors.
Some of you may not know Sam Tsui, Yale class of 2011, although I've written about him before. Search for "Michael Jackson medley" on the web, and you'll see a video of several versions of Sam signing all the parts to an accapella medley of Michael Jackson songs. The video was produced by Kurt Johnson, Yale 2010, and has received millions of views since it was posted. Sam and Kurt created other videos that made Sam an internet star, whose video views run in the hundreds of millions. Tom Hanks referenced Sam Tsui's success at this several times during his speech, and using him as an example of someone who followed his passion, and still got his Yale education.
Can Sam's success teach content creators anything? I wouldn't be writing about this if I didn't think so. One thing we can learn is the value of actually creating the content you're dreaming about -- no one can watch your videos unless you make them. Go and do it. Second, it's important to be original. This concept was fresh when it appeared, and became viral when people started sending it to their friends to view. So make your video fresh. Don't imitate others: create your own compelling content. Remember you have no control over how the public will respond to your work; your job is to make it as compelling as you can.
If you dedicate yourself to creating your content and making it as good as possible then perhaps one day you'll be as famous and accomplished as Tom Hanks -- or Sam Tsui.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
What Programs do networks want?
Fans of this blog and friends in the busines frequently ask me "What are the networks looking for?" I also ask cable networks a similar question -- "What shows do you want to air?"
It's tough for most networks to answer that question except in the most general terms. Even if you have aimed your network at a particular audience segment -- for example, Women 25-49, or men 35+ with average incomes of $75,000 per year -- your audience is always changing and evolving. Women ages 25-49 do share similar interests in products, for example, but they don't all buy the exact same products. Each member of that group is a person making their own individual choices. Every year, fashions change, tastes change, and a network needs to evolve with their audience or lost them.
While network executives can usually articulate what sorts of shows they will consider, they are also willing to push the envelope if that means they can add a hit show. For example, MTV started as Music Television. When was the last time you saw music videos on MTV in prime time? The network changed, because their audience's taste changed
So the answer to the question, "what do networks want?" is simple. They want hits. But no one really knows for sure where the next hit show is coming from. So in my opinion you shouldn't spend a lot of time tailoring your idea for a specific network in the beginning. Create as strong an ida as possible. Prove to the network that you have a potential hit for them. Then what will the networks want? They will want you.
It's tough for most networks to answer that question except in the most general terms. Even if you have aimed your network at a particular audience segment -- for example, Women 25-49, or men 35+ with average incomes of $75,000 per year -- your audience is always changing and evolving. Women ages 25-49 do share similar interests in products, for example, but they don't all buy the exact same products. Each member of that group is a person making their own individual choices. Every year, fashions change, tastes change, and a network needs to evolve with their audience or lost them.
While network executives can usually articulate what sorts of shows they will consider, they are also willing to push the envelope if that means they can add a hit show. For example, MTV started as Music Television. When was the last time you saw music videos on MTV in prime time? The network changed, because their audience's taste changed
So the answer to the question, "what do networks want?" is simple. They want hits. But no one really knows for sure where the next hit show is coming from. So in my opinion you shouldn't spend a lot of time tailoring your idea for a specific network in the beginning. Create as strong an ida as possible. Prove to the network that you have a potential hit for them. Then what will the networks want? They will want you.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Why not call it a Variety Show?
When I was young The Ed Sullivan Show was the #1 show on television. Ed was endlessly imitated and kidded for his stiff manner -- he would never be a show host today -- but he was a savvy promoter and showman. Ed had a great talent for booking acts that America loved -- not just the Beatles, but also the Rolling Stones, along with vaudevillians, comedians, dancers, and novelty acts. There was something that appealed to everyone in the family, and families watched Ed togther.
The #1 show in America today is American Idol. American Idol brought competition to the variety format, and has been followed by a host of imitators: America's Got Talent, Dancing With the Stars, and very soon, the new Simon Cowell show, the X Factor.
I recently watched the American Idol results show. It did feature some competition elements: they told us who was safe, who was in the bottom three, and who was going home at the end. In between those moments, it looked like a variety show. Popular singers performed, Ryan made some jokes, and the ensemble sang a number. Would a variety show without a competition element succeed in primetime? The networks wouldnn't produce one -- variety shows are dead. Yet competitive variety shows have never been more popular.
What does that mean for you? As a content producer, look for ideas that worked in the past, and aren't on television today. Think about them: Can you give a classic idea a modern twist? If you can, you might have a hit on your hands. Just don't call it a variety show.
The #1 show in America today is American Idol. American Idol brought competition to the variety format, and has been followed by a host of imitators: America's Got Talent, Dancing With the Stars, and very soon, the new Simon Cowell show, the X Factor.
I recently watched the American Idol results show. It did feature some competition elements: they told us who was safe, who was in the bottom three, and who was going home at the end. In between those moments, it looked like a variety show. Popular singers performed, Ryan made some jokes, and the ensemble sang a number. Would a variety show without a competition element succeed in primetime? The networks wouldnn't produce one -- variety shows are dead. Yet competitive variety shows have never been more popular.
What does that mean for you? As a content producer, look for ideas that worked in the past, and aren't on television today. Think about them: Can you give a classic idea a modern twist? If you can, you might have a hit on your hands. Just don't call it a variety show.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
High Stakes = High Ratings
Have you been watching American Idol as I suggested in my last post? We've had the usual run of terrible performances mixed with people rising to the occasion and outperforming expectations. Once again it's the number one show on television, even if ratings are down from last year. How do they do it? The answer is two words -- High Stakes.
Each performance on American Idol can literally break, if not make, the performer's career chances. It doesn't matter how much you've performed before, or even how you performed during the dress rehearsal. It comes down to your three minutes of singing, with millions of people watching. If you survive, you go on. Those are high stakes -- and people watch.
It's the same reason why there are so many police and doctor dramas on television. In these occupations the stakes are life or death -- at least during their hour on television.
When you're creating your program, make the stakes as high as possible. Even if the stakes aren't literally life and death, it must feel that way to the character. Look at this year's Oscar winning film, The King's Speech, for a great example of how to make something that isn't life or death (stuttering) feel like it is.
As always, feel free to send me any comments you have.
Each performance on American Idol can literally break, if not make, the performer's career chances. It doesn't matter how much you've performed before, or even how you performed during the dress rehearsal. It comes down to your three minutes of singing, with millions of people watching. If you survive, you go on. Those are high stakes -- and people watch.
It's the same reason why there are so many police and doctor dramas on television. In these occupations the stakes are life or death -- at least during their hour on television.
When you're creating your program, make the stakes as high as possible. Even if the stakes aren't literally life and death, it must feel that way to the character. Look at this year's Oscar winning film, The King's Speech, for a great example of how to make something that isn't life or death (stuttering) feel like it is.
As always, feel free to send me any comments you have.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
What Are You Watching?
In his book On Writing, Stephen King said the two most important things an aspiring writer can do are: 1)Read a Lot, and 2)Write a Lot. If you're an aspiring television or content producer, the same advice applies: 1)watch a lot of content; 2)Create a lot.
What shows are you watching? If you want to create a content for a specific medium, whether it's movies, television, or a web site, you need to be familiar with the other content that's already successful. You don't need to imitate that contentbut you do need to understand what elements make a piece of content successful. If you can incorporate the successful elements into your own story, you will go a long way toward making your story succeed.
That's also important if you want to sell your content. When I was in network programming, nothing made me more upset than a producer who proposed a program idea we already had on air. Clearly, they weren't watching.
So watch your favortie shows. And watch the shows you don't like, but are popular. Don't watch just to enjoy them -- watch critically. Analyze why a show is successful. Learn from its successes and its mistakes. Remember almost nothing that you create will be perfect the first time. Apply the lessons you learned from other content in the revisions. Your work is important to you; it's worth putting in the time necessary to make it as good as possible.
What shows are you watching? If you want to create a content for a specific medium, whether it's movies, television, or a web site, you need to be familiar with the other content that's already successful. You don't need to imitate that contentbut you do need to understand what elements make a piece of content successful. If you can incorporate the successful elements into your own story, you will go a long way toward making your story succeed.
That's also important if you want to sell your content. When I was in network programming, nothing made me more upset than a producer who proposed a program idea we already had on air. Clearly, they weren't watching.
So watch your favortie shows. And watch the shows you don't like, but are popular. Don't watch just to enjoy them -- watch critically. Analyze why a show is successful. Learn from its successes and its mistakes. Remember almost nothing that you create will be perfect the first time. Apply the lessons you learned from other content in the revisions. Your work is important to you; it's worth putting in the time necessary to make it as good as possible.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
The New American Idol
Let me state right at the top that I'm a fan of American Idol. I enjoy watching the auditions -- they remind me of some of the auditions I had to sit through while I was a theatre director. I love Hollywood Week -- the pressure to perform is so intense it raises the stakes to amazing heights. The competition shows are almost a relief by comparison, but it's always fascinating to watch the personalities emerge and watch the performers grow. And who cares if the Idol winner has a great career afterwards or not? It still makes great television.
Why didn't Fox just let it go after last year's lackluster performance (by Idol standards)? Simple. The show remains a formidable force on broadcast. Even if it's only the number two show on broadcast, it's tremendously profitable for Fox. It's a great platform to promote their other shows. Trust me, when you're head of programming for a major network, you will do whatever you can to save your #1 show. What surprised me is how well the show's producers managed it.
This year on American Idol is mainly an exercise in making the show seem different while actually changing as little as possible. Yes, we have two new celebrity judges, but that just restores the total number to the original three. Jennifer Lopez has many of the same qualities as Paula Abdul, without the craziness. Randy has moved to Simon's old seat, but it appears that both he and Steven Tyler are trying to bring a little of Simon to the show. They've moved the first show to Wednesday from Tuesday.
And it's working. Last week both American Idol shows were the #1 and #2 highest rated regular programs (the Grammy Awards was the highest rated). Steven, Randy and JLo are making me forget Simon Cowell -- at least the Simon of last season who was clearly bored by the proceedings. They have managed to re-invigorate the show without re-inventing the format. If you think that's easy, then you have never produced television.
If you want to produce television, you should study why American Idol is such a success. The lessons we can learn from it can help us no matter what type of show we're producing. Watch the show for a couple of weeks and I'll write about those lessons in a later post.
Why didn't Fox just let it go after last year's lackluster performance (by Idol standards)? Simple. The show remains a formidable force on broadcast. Even if it's only the number two show on broadcast, it's tremendously profitable for Fox. It's a great platform to promote their other shows. Trust me, when you're head of programming for a major network, you will do whatever you can to save your #1 show. What surprised me is how well the show's producers managed it.
This year on American Idol is mainly an exercise in making the show seem different while actually changing as little as possible. Yes, we have two new celebrity judges, but that just restores the total number to the original three. Jennifer Lopez has many of the same qualities as Paula Abdul, without the craziness. Randy has moved to Simon's old seat, but it appears that both he and Steven Tyler are trying to bring a little of Simon to the show. They've moved the first show to Wednesday from Tuesday.
And it's working. Last week both American Idol shows were the #1 and #2 highest rated regular programs (the Grammy Awards was the highest rated). Steven, Randy and JLo are making me forget Simon Cowell -- at least the Simon of last season who was clearly bored by the proceedings. They have managed to re-invigorate the show without re-inventing the format. If you think that's easy, then you have never produced television.
If you want to produce television, you should study why American Idol is such a success. The lessons we can learn from it can help us no matter what type of show we're producing. Watch the show for a couple of weeks and I'll write about those lessons in a later post.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Unique Ideas
I can't count the number of times that people not in the television business have said to me, "I have a great idea. It's like nothing else on television."
In my experience, that's very rarely the case. There are very few unique ideas. If you have an idea, it's very likely that someone else had a similar idea. The difference is in the way you execute the idea. There are many steps between the conception of an idea and a finished television program are movie. There's writing, casting, filming, production, and post-production. All of them have to work well together for the final product to work. If one of them goes wrong, your project could fail.
A successful producer or director can shepherd a project through all of these steps, keeping its essential integrity and telling the story clearly and compellingly. The people at the top of the profession -- a James Cameron, for example -- make millions of dollars because they've demonstrated that ability in projects that earned hundreds of millions of dollars. And in some cases they can spend years on a project and it can still fail to find an audience.
So if you have an idea, that's great. Remember that the idea is only as good as its execution, and spend time developing it the best way possible.
In my experience, that's very rarely the case. There are very few unique ideas. If you have an idea, it's very likely that someone else had a similar idea. The difference is in the way you execute the idea. There are many steps between the conception of an idea and a finished television program are movie. There's writing, casting, filming, production, and post-production. All of them have to work well together for the final product to work. If one of them goes wrong, your project could fail.
A successful producer or director can shepherd a project through all of these steps, keeping its essential integrity and telling the story clearly and compellingly. The people at the top of the profession -- a James Cameron, for example -- make millions of dollars because they've demonstrated that ability in projects that earned hundreds of millions of dollars. And in some cases they can spend years on a project and it can still fail to find an audience.
So if you have an idea, that's great. Remember that the idea is only as good as its execution, and spend time developing it the best way possible.
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