If your answer is "everyone," that's an indication that your idea is not focused. 'Everyone' will not like your work (see my previous post on that subject). Remember, everyone does not watch the Super Bowl.
Any media company that's interested in your work will want you to answer that question. You need to know. At Golf Channel we built a successful business aiming our programs at the core golfer, an adult male with a large annual income. Advertisers were willing to pay a premium to reach that audience, even when our overall numbers were low compared to other networks. We knew our audience. Do you know yours?
Knowing your audience does not mean pandering to them. It does mean shaping your work so they can relate to it. It might mean putting music from the early eighties in a work intended to reach 35-45 year-olds. If you were 10 in 1980, you're 40 this year. It will inform the type of vocabulary you use, the camera angles you choose, and the references your characters make.
It's a truism of creating content that the more specific you are, the more universal your appeal can be. Sesame Street is aimed at pre-school children, but its humor even amuses adults. The Harry Potter books were aimed at tweens, but then parents discovered how good they were. The recent Paranormal Activity was aimed at horror fans, but found a much larger audience.
Keep your audience in mind while creating content. Picture them if possible. It's a great way to keep you focused on the spine of the piece.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Five Lessons from Atomic Tom and Viral Video
Already over 1.5 million people have seen Brooklyn band Atomic Tom's you tube video for their latest song, 'Take Me Out.' If you haven't seen it yet, here's the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAllFWSl998
The video was shot on the subway in New York, by the younger brother and friends of the band on their iphones. The band plays the song while sitting in subway seats using their iphone instrument apps -- piano, microphone, bass, guitar and drums. They sound and video quality are fabulous. The song is catchy, but it's the idea and the execution of it. Word is spreading fast. People are sending it to friends. You will probably do the same after you see it.
If we analyze the elements, there's much to learn from this example to apply to our own work.
1. They had a great idea: Not just recording with the iphone apps, but playing on the subway and recording it on iphone cameras.
2. They executed the idea well: It's not enough to have an idea, you have to try to implement it. If they hadn't shot the video and edited it so well, the fact that they used itunes apps wouldn't be enough.
3. They were willing to try something different. Conventional videos hadn't helped the career of Atomic Tom (how many of you heard of them before this) so they were willing to try something unconventional.
4. They were ready to take advantage of their opportunity. had spent a great deal of time polishing their musical skills. Because they were accomplished musicians they made the best use of the iphone apps. They practiced for years so they would be ready for the opportunity when it came.
5. They weren't afraid to look ridiculous. They certainly thought they had something unusual and different, but the band had no idea if people would like it or not. They put it out on the web anyway.
How many of these lessons are you applying to your project? The band created a popular video success for a fraction of what it would cost a major media company. They didn't get paid directly, but the payoff will come in acclaim, tours, and downloads of their music. They had no money to pay a professional company to shoot their video, and used their creativity to make up for that.
Don't own an iphone? There are plenty of other phones, webcams, and reasonably priced HD cameras out there. What are you waiting for?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAllFWSl998
The video was shot on the subway in New York, by the younger brother and friends of the band on their iphones. The band plays the song while sitting in subway seats using their iphone instrument apps -- piano, microphone, bass, guitar and drums. They sound and video quality are fabulous. The song is catchy, but it's the idea and the execution of it. Word is spreading fast. People are sending it to friends. You will probably do the same after you see it.
If we analyze the elements, there's much to learn from this example to apply to our own work.
1. They had a great idea: Not just recording with the iphone apps, but playing on the subway and recording it on iphone cameras.
2. They executed the idea well: It's not enough to have an idea, you have to try to implement it. If they hadn't shot the video and edited it so well, the fact that they used itunes apps wouldn't be enough.
3. They were willing to try something different. Conventional videos hadn't helped the career of Atomic Tom (how many of you heard of them before this) so they were willing to try something unconventional.
4. They were ready to take advantage of their opportunity. had spent a great deal of time polishing their musical skills. Because they were accomplished musicians they made the best use of the iphone apps. They practiced for years so they would be ready for the opportunity when it came.
5. They weren't afraid to look ridiculous. They certainly thought they had something unusual and different, but the band had no idea if people would like it or not. They put it out on the web anyway.
How many of these lessons are you applying to your project? The band created a popular video success for a fraction of what it would cost a major media company. They didn't get paid directly, but the payoff will come in acclaim, tours, and downloads of their music. They had no money to pay a professional company to shoot their video, and used their creativity to make up for that.
Don't own an iphone? There are plenty of other phones, webcams, and reasonably priced HD cameras out there. What are you waiting for?
Friday, October 15, 2010
All Rights in Perpetuity in all media that currently exists or may be conceived
That phrase sounds a little like the Constitution, doesn't it? It isn't the Declaration of Independence, that's for sure. That phrase or something like it is becoming the standard request from media companies seeking to license your work, whether it's a movie, show, or five minute youtube video.
Media companies have a good a reason for that -- for example, they do not want to spend millions of dollars to license television rights for live major league baseball games only to find out that the baseball leagues are streaming games live on line to compete with them. Media companies have lost billions of dollars over the years through not anticipating future trends. Some movie companies didn't think it was worth the filing fee to renew copyrights on what they considered disposable entertainment, which is why so many films are in the public domain. In the early days of television the networks only licensed one play and one repeat for shows like "I Love Lucy," Just like the movie companies undervalued their films, the networks assumed sitcoms had no shelf life. Can you imagine the hundreds of millions CBS could have earned had they been able to negotiate a percentage of future earnings of "I Love Lucy?" Media companies are using this very broad language because they do not want to make that mistake again.
Should you agree to this? If you're just starting out you may not have a choice. Just recognize that this language eliminates any future earnings you'll have from the project, and sell it for as high a price as you can. As your work becomes more popular you will gain more negotiating leverage, and you may be able to retain some rights to your work. However, if you are going to retain certain rights make sure you can exploit them. For example, don't retain international rights to your show if you have no idea how to sell them. You may be better off taking a percentage of the ancillary income -- all sales made beyond the initial license. If your show becomes a theme park ride, shouldn't you get some money for that? You only will get that if you put it in your contract.
As I've said before, don't sign any agreement unless you've had your own entertainment lawyer review it. It will be more than worth the legal fees to make sure your rights are protected.
Media companies have a good a reason for that -- for example, they do not want to spend millions of dollars to license television rights for live major league baseball games only to find out that the baseball leagues are streaming games live on line to compete with them. Media companies have lost billions of dollars over the years through not anticipating future trends. Some movie companies didn't think it was worth the filing fee to renew copyrights on what they considered disposable entertainment, which is why so many films are in the public domain. In the early days of television the networks only licensed one play and one repeat for shows like "I Love Lucy," Just like the movie companies undervalued their films, the networks assumed sitcoms had no shelf life. Can you imagine the hundreds of millions CBS could have earned had they been able to negotiate a percentage of future earnings of "I Love Lucy?" Media companies are using this very broad language because they do not want to make that mistake again.
Should you agree to this? If you're just starting out you may not have a choice. Just recognize that this language eliminates any future earnings you'll have from the project, and sell it for as high a price as you can. As your work becomes more popular you will gain more negotiating leverage, and you may be able to retain some rights to your work. However, if you are going to retain certain rights make sure you can exploit them. For example, don't retain international rights to your show if you have no idea how to sell them. You may be better off taking a percentage of the ancillary income -- all sales made beyond the initial license. If your show becomes a theme park ride, shouldn't you get some money for that? You only will get that if you put it in your contract.
As I've said before, don't sign any agreement unless you've had your own entertainment lawyer review it. It will be more than worth the legal fees to make sure your rights are protected.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Competition
In my post 'Lessons from Lone Star,' I pointed out that the main problem with the show was its unsympathetic, if good-looking, hero. In USA Today last week, (after my post) TV writer Gary Levin agreed that Lone Star's "con-man concept was a hard sell." Fox marketing chief Joe Earley is quoted saying "viewers may have found that a turnoff." I'm sorry the show failed, but glad to hear Fox agrees with me.
Levin also cited the show's tough time slot, 9:00 PM on Mondays, as another factor. The show was scheduled against ABC's Dancing With the Stars and CBS' Two and a Half Men, two of the most popular shows on broadcast television. Both shows have long-time fans that make appointments to see those shows.
Competition for eyeballs is something programming executives need to keep in mind, but something creators need to forget while developing their content. You need to focus on making your content as compelling as possible. Don't worry about anything else on television or being developed. Make your show so good that your competition will avoid you.
Remember the top shows are #1 until someone knocks them off. Two and a Half Men is the top-rated sitcom now, but some day another show will come along that will be more popular. That may be your project. Just appeal to more people, and you will have higher ratings. Since it takes time to develop shows, you never know what show will be popular when yours is ready to premiere. Don't worry about the competition. Make them worry about you.
Levin also cited the show's tough time slot, 9:00 PM on Mondays, as another factor. The show was scheduled against ABC's Dancing With the Stars and CBS' Two and a Half Men, two of the most popular shows on broadcast television. Both shows have long-time fans that make appointments to see those shows.
Competition for eyeballs is something programming executives need to keep in mind, but something creators need to forget while developing their content. You need to focus on making your content as compelling as possible. Don't worry about anything else on television or being developed. Make your show so good that your competition will avoid you.
Remember the top shows are #1 until someone knocks them off. Two and a Half Men is the top-rated sitcom now, but some day another show will come along that will be more popular. That may be your project. Just appeal to more people, and you will have higher ratings. Since it takes time to develop shows, you never know what show will be popular when yours is ready to premiere. Don't worry about the competition. Make them worry about you.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Lessons From Lone Star
What can we learn from the swift cancellation of Fox's new drama "Lone Star" after only two episodes?
First: You need to reach your audience out of the gate. If your show doesn't get good ratings from the start, it will be gone. How strong is the beginning of your show or movie?
Second: No one knows for sure if a show will succeed until the audience gets a chance to see it. The best film and television programmers are right more often than they're wrong, but even they don't know for sure. "Lone Star's" fate is one more proof of the great William Goldman's statement about the film business: "Nobody knows anything."
Clearly Fox thought "Lone Star" had great potential. They scheduled it on Mondays after "House," one of their most popular shows. The high-salaried cast included veteran stars like Jon Voight and David Keith and many attractive young actors,led by star James Wolk. A team of experienced writer/producers spent a great deal of time and money on writing and production values. Yet the show's premiere lost more than half of the audience "House" delivered and was close to the lowest rated show in that time slot. I saw both episodes of "Lone Star" and believe I know what went wrong.
Viewers didn't like James Wolk's lead character, Bob. In the first scene of the first episode we see Bob leaving his middle class girlfriend, who he loves, to travel for his job. It turns out this nice young man is married to a different pretty girl, who is filthy, Texas oil rich. Then we learn this same nice young man is actually a con man, who married the girl so he could rob her family. That's where they lost me, although I stayed to the end for professional reasons. Why should anyone root for a crook?
Some shows featuring criminals have achieved success on television -- but in those shows the thief was usually reformed and working for good guys. "White Collar" on USA is a current example of that show. The producers may have thought the audience would sympathize with the hero because he felt bad about being a con man and said he wanted to go straight. But he didn't.
The second episode of "Lone Star" had even lower ratings than the first, despite receiving a promo spot in almost every break of "House," and Fox had no choice but to cancel the show.
Third: It's much better for your piece if your main character is struggling to do good than if he's passively accepting his evil role.
Fourth: If you ever become a network programming executive, have a deep bench. Fox can afford to cancel Lone Star because they have episodes of the more popular series "Lie to Me" in the can to start playing next week.
First: You need to reach your audience out of the gate. If your show doesn't get good ratings from the start, it will be gone. How strong is the beginning of your show or movie?
Second: No one knows for sure if a show will succeed until the audience gets a chance to see it. The best film and television programmers are right more often than they're wrong, but even they don't know for sure. "Lone Star's" fate is one more proof of the great William Goldman's statement about the film business: "Nobody knows anything."
Clearly Fox thought "Lone Star" had great potential. They scheduled it on Mondays after "House," one of their most popular shows. The high-salaried cast included veteran stars like Jon Voight and David Keith and many attractive young actors,led by star James Wolk. A team of experienced writer/producers spent a great deal of time and money on writing and production values. Yet the show's premiere lost more than half of the audience "House" delivered and was close to the lowest rated show in that time slot. I saw both episodes of "Lone Star" and believe I know what went wrong.
Viewers didn't like James Wolk's lead character, Bob. In the first scene of the first episode we see Bob leaving his middle class girlfriend, who he loves, to travel for his job. It turns out this nice young man is married to a different pretty girl, who is filthy, Texas oil rich. Then we learn this same nice young man is actually a con man, who married the girl so he could rob her family. That's where they lost me, although I stayed to the end for professional reasons. Why should anyone root for a crook?
Some shows featuring criminals have achieved success on television -- but in those shows the thief was usually reformed and working for good guys. "White Collar" on USA is a current example of that show. The producers may have thought the audience would sympathize with the hero because he felt bad about being a con man and said he wanted to go straight. But he didn't.
The second episode of "Lone Star" had even lower ratings than the first, despite receiving a promo spot in almost every break of "House," and Fox had no choice but to cancel the show.
Third: It's much better for your piece if your main character is struggling to do good than if he's passively accepting his evil role.
Fourth: If you ever become a network programming executive, have a deep bench. Fox can afford to cancel Lone Star because they have episodes of the more popular series "Lie to Me" in the can to start playing next week.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
How is the Head of Programming Like a Baseball Manager?
Simple. Both know they're hired to be fired.
Most baseball managers, no matter their success, are eventually fired. The Yankees fired Casey Stengel after he'd won 10 pennants in 12 years. More recently they fired Joe Torre after the most successful pennant run in recent history (OK, technically they didn't renew his contract, but it was still a firing). Two of the most successful recent managers, Davy Johnson and Tony LaRussa, were fired by several teams. Occasionally the team will allow you to announce your retirement, like the Atlanta Braves are doing this year with Bobby Cox. But in almost all cases, baseball managers are fired.
A similar fate awaits those heading the entertainment divisions of the major networks or movies studios. Even Brandon Tartikoff only had twelve years as Head of NBC Entertainment. Why is that? The people who rise to these top jobs generally have creative flair, a successful track record, and competitive instincts. Why is it so hard to stay there?
Tastes change. What works one year may not work the next. The audience likes their favorite shows, but they also crave variety. For example, police procedurals like Law and Order, CSI, and NCIS are popular, but there is a law of diminishing returns. The next police procedural is less likely to be popular. And in all of those jobs, the goal is to predict public taste one, two, three, or even ten years in the future. No one can do that consistently over time.
So if tastes change, and it's difficult to pick the hits, what do we do as creators of projects? We make our projects as good as we possibly can. We work on several projects at the same time. We remember to be original -- Look for what's not being done, and put your own original spin on the material.
Finally, we should make friends with people at all levels in the business. This has two purposes: 1) You'll have more friends. You can never have enough. 2) You never know when today's development assistant may head the network tomorrow. Jeff Zucker, although he's leaving as head of NBC Universal, started as a research assitant on the Olympics.
So keep working. What have you done on your project today?
Most baseball managers, no matter their success, are eventually fired. The Yankees fired Casey Stengel after he'd won 10 pennants in 12 years. More recently they fired Joe Torre after the most successful pennant run in recent history (OK, technically they didn't renew his contract, but it was still a firing). Two of the most successful recent managers, Davy Johnson and Tony LaRussa, were fired by several teams. Occasionally the team will allow you to announce your retirement, like the Atlanta Braves are doing this year with Bobby Cox. But in almost all cases, baseball managers are fired.
A similar fate awaits those heading the entertainment divisions of the major networks or movies studios. Even Brandon Tartikoff only had twelve years as Head of NBC Entertainment. Why is that? The people who rise to these top jobs generally have creative flair, a successful track record, and competitive instincts. Why is it so hard to stay there?
Tastes change. What works one year may not work the next. The audience likes their favorite shows, but they also crave variety. For example, police procedurals like Law and Order, CSI, and NCIS are popular, but there is a law of diminishing returns. The next police procedural is less likely to be popular. And in all of those jobs, the goal is to predict public taste one, two, three, or even ten years in the future. No one can do that consistently over time.
So if tastes change, and it's difficult to pick the hits, what do we do as creators of projects? We make our projects as good as we possibly can. We work on several projects at the same time. We remember to be original -- Look for what's not being done, and put your own original spin on the material.
Finally, we should make friends with people at all levels in the business. This has two purposes: 1) You'll have more friends. You can never have enough. 2) You never know when today's development assistant may head the network tomorrow. Jeff Zucker, although he's leaving as head of NBC Universal, started as a research assitant on the Olympics.
So keep working. What have you done on your project today?
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
A Life in The Theatre
Tonight I saw the first preview performance of the Broadway production of David Mamet's play A Life in the Theatre starring Patrick Stewart (of Star Trek fame) and TR Knight (Grey's Anatomy). Previews are public performances with a paying crowd but everyone understands that these shows are not in final form. The director and actors expect to make changes before opening night, depending upon the audience response at previews. No matter how well you think things are going in rehearsal, you don't know what's working until you put it in front of an audience. There was much to like about the play, but based on the performance I saw they still have work to do.
In case you haven't seen the play, A Life in Theatre follows the relationship between two actors -- an older actor, played by Stewart and a younger one played by Knight. At the start of the play, the older actor (Stewart) is the star and the young actor (Knight) is naive and eager. Over the course of working together in several plays (some of them quite hilarious) their relationship changes and the mentor becomes the supplicant.
I saw the original production of the play off-Broadway 20 years ago (starring Jose Ferrer). The virtue of that production was its simplicity. There were two actors, a few set pieces that fit all the scenes. In the current Broadway production there are large flats that glide in and out. I felt like we spent as much time watching the scenery move as we did watching the actors. Patrick Stewart and TR Knight did well, but still need to grow into their roles.
But this isn't a theatre review blog; why am I telling you this? To remind us of two things: 1) Keep it simple. The core of your project is the story and characters -- special effects, elaborate scenery and costumes can enhance a good story, but they can't save a bad one. They can hurt a good story, if they're not based on the needs of the piece.
2) No matter how much success you achieved in the past, each new project has its own challenges. I am sure the director, designers, and actors will eventually fix the problems and improve A Life in the Theatre. If these successful artists don't always get it perfect the first time, you shouldn't get down on yourself if you don't, either. Just keep trying to improve every day.
In case you haven't seen the play, A Life in Theatre follows the relationship between two actors -- an older actor, played by Stewart and a younger one played by Knight. At the start of the play, the older actor (Stewart) is the star and the young actor (Knight) is naive and eager. Over the course of working together in several plays (some of them quite hilarious) their relationship changes and the mentor becomes the supplicant.
I saw the original production of the play off-Broadway 20 years ago (starring Jose Ferrer). The virtue of that production was its simplicity. There were two actors, a few set pieces that fit all the scenes. In the current Broadway production there are large flats that glide in and out. I felt like we spent as much time watching the scenery move as we did watching the actors. Patrick Stewart and TR Knight did well, but still need to grow into their roles.
But this isn't a theatre review blog; why am I telling you this? To remind us of two things: 1) Keep it simple. The core of your project is the story and characters -- special effects, elaborate scenery and costumes can enhance a good story, but they can't save a bad one. They can hurt a good story, if they're not based on the needs of the piece.
2) No matter how much success you achieved in the past, each new project has its own challenges. I am sure the director, designers, and actors will eventually fix the problems and improve A Life in the Theatre. If these successful artists don't always get it perfect the first time, you shouldn't get down on yourself if you don't, either. Just keep trying to improve every day.
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