Community Powered TV

Wallstrip's monday show, Jack In The Box, which I ran on this blog was certainly one of the funniest things they've done so far.

So I am fascinated about the way it came about. One of the show's viewers, Shane from WallStreetFighter, came up with the idea for the show and sent it to Howard. Now that in itself is pretty great. Does SNL take skit ideas from the people who watch it? I am not sure, but I think they should.

And Jason and Amanda from The Peeled Apple did the music and the vocals, which are a big reason why the show was so good.

So that show was a colloborative effort between Wallstrip and a number of bloggers. From the start, Howard has been serious about using blogs as the fabric of the show. I met Howard from his frequent comments on AVC. I would bet that he met most of the people involved in Wallstrip the same way. He is a master of networking via blogs.

So a natural next step would be for Wallstrip's network of bloggers who watch the show, comment on it, and link to it, to start developing ideas for it. And there we have it - Jack In The Box.

What's next? Does Wallstrip put up a page on YouTube where its fans can contribute shorts of their own about stocks? Does Wallstrip start recruiting talent for its shows from the audience? Who knows, but one thing I am sure, Howard is going to push the envelope of community powered TV. He gets it.

Comments

[steve]

Agreed this is exciting and impressive -- but doesnt such collaboration only work when there is essentially no money at stake?

I'd guess SNL would be delighted to take ideas from strangers... that is, until the strangers (or their attorneys) started demanding a revenue share.

Ask anybody on the producing or studio side of Hollywood -- strangers/fans submitting ideas and material has been going on literally forever. (Most Hollywood production entities are inundated with stuff.) And the litigation is endless. And in the end very difficult to settle. Here's a movie idea: alien from outer space gets stranded on earth and needs human help to get home. ET? Or Starman? Or K-PAX? All three?

I don't think its cynical, only common sense to predict that if WallStrip starts earning big bucks, the free-form collaboration ends.

[howard lindzon]

good points steve. TV is a different animal for now.

Just in case - We have awesome attorneys :)

all kidding aside, I think we are pushing the community envellope and think we are a ways from the way you think it plays out. In he meantime, integrity to the community matters and with the abundance in talent and the goal for so many people to just be heard and recognized,our model should continue to work.

Plus, we are very upfront in asking for ideas and in communicating with the contributors like shane about what could happena nd what we are able to share.

[Scott Crawford]

Yup. Look to revenue share deal GoogTube just announced. Not a long stretch to get there with any community generated idea.

Keep at it Howard!

[steve]

GooTube has (kind of sort of) announced they are going to do revenue sharing but with zero details on the plan. And the devil is in the details in revenue sharing maybe more than in any other thing. "Hollywood accounting" anyone?

IMHO for GooTube to create a revenue share that works they will have to radically re-evaluate their own place in the value chain -- typically the creator of successful content gets a huge share (often the biggest share) and distributor gets a smaller piece.

And successful content creators negotiate their own deals, they don't accept blanket formulas (though of course amateurs or beginners do.)

Any number of examples here -- Michael Crichton versus NBC on E.R. Steven Spielberg versus movie studio. Tom Cruise versus movie studio. Rolling Stones versus record company and music retailer.

I suppose maybe the future is like the fine art market -- the painter gets a commission on initial sales of work but then completely loses control of work and gets no further revenue. Or maybe its the book publishing industry -- a few major major stars (S. King. T. Clancy, D. Steele et al) make killings but the average content creator is lucky if they make a living.

But somehow I suspect that even the simplicity and economies of digital distribution will not somehow make content creators abandon their rights and revenues.

[Gregg]

Kudos to Howard! So much attention is spent on how technology affects distribution and consumption of entertainment and not enough time is spent thinking about how to leverage technologies in the creative and production processes. After all... without creation and production you don;t have a product to distribute! Great video. Keep up the good work!