Season Four Is Over!

Matt Pavlosky (Todd) and Kevin Koch (Dex) in the WANT FM green room.
30 episodes. 300 (or so) minutes. 5 hours of original, scripted / improvised, collaborative content created by over 20 actors, a handful of assistants and one frequently sleep-deprived producer.

And now, we rest.

Thanks to everyone who watched us this season, who gave us feedback, who helped us improve. Thanks to our supporters of all stripes, who help keep the magic happening. Thanks for spreading the word and helping more and more people find out about Something to Be Desired -- without you, we stay in our little bubble forever.

Thanks also to the cast, who continually give great effort and create intelligent, multi-faceted and often hilarious moments among characters. You tell the story we all come back to see, and share.

If you missed any part of Season Four, you can watch any episode here. Or just start at the beginning. (Or, if you're so inclined, the REAL beginning -- though you'll need a few days to work your way through the archives.)

We'll begin filming for Season Five soon enough. We'll also be making various changes to the STBD site, fixing some things and improving others. New videos will pop up on the site from time to time -- subscribing will ensure you don't miss one. And this blog will probably see a bit more activity now that we're not filming / editing under such a time-consuming schedule.

Now... where's the bar?

STBD Season Four: Episode 30 "The Wedding Date"

Click to Play

There's a wedding. To say more would only complicate things. (13:00)

Music by ZOX, Mofessor and Discover America

Matthew Ebel Outwits the RIAA

All right, maybe "outwits" is a slanted term. But "Matthew Ebel Empowers His Fans With Groundbreaking Announcement" seemed too peppy.

Either way, here's the deal: Matthew Ebel (he of the smooth talking and bird fascination in last week's episode of STBD) has announced he's allowing his fans who've recorded his previous online concerts in Second Life to release a bootleg CD of those performances [called Virtual Hot Wings] with his blessing.

Or, in other words, a guy who's already known mostly for creating podsafe music has now taken the anti-label stance a step further by allowing his fans to openly share their recordings of his music with the world at large.

Onward and upward to a day without restrictive copyright law!

(Read more and Digg the story here!)

STBD Season Four: Episode 29 "Moving Out?"

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Leo's in no hurry to move out, but Caroline's already found a new roommate -- Alexxxis. (9:10)

Filmed at Affogato and Torque Denim

Music by ZOX, Mofessor and The Valentines

Glenn Goes Digging

Rick Hertzig (front left) and his crew after a day in the mines.
Rick Hertzig, who plays Glenn (aka "the writer who sits in the corner of the cafe") on STBD, worked on a National Geographic production this past weekend. He portrays the leader of a work crew that escapes the flood which trapped the Quecreek miners a few years ago.

You may also have seen him in this recent Carlow University commercial, or on the set of the upcoming Spike TV miniseries Kill Point -- where he worked as an extra for 16 hours yesterday and received one official meal...

Hmm... Flooding mines and starving extras? Who says acting is all glamor?

STBD Season Four: Episode 28 "Tim Takes a Stand"

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When another man makes a move on Tim's woman, Glenn helps Tim take a stand. (6:13)

Guest-starring Matthew Ebel, iJustine and John Carman.

Filmed at Affogato

Ustreaming with Matthew Ebel

Last night, we filmed a scene at Affogato for next week's STBD episode featuring traveling troubador Matthew Ebel, who happened to be in town mid-tour.

iJustine was there too, and each of them ended up Ustreaming the filming live... which is odd, considering the folks watching their Ustreams were able to see the live filming of what will end up being an edited video. How meta can we get?

The revolution will be Ustreamed...

En Route to Atlanta

I, along with a few other new media folks, have been invited to Atlanta for a brainstorming session by [A CLIENT] whom I can't discuss to to a non-disclosure agreement.

I think.

I guess I'll find out what I can and can't say over the course of the next few days.

Meanwhile, I see via Twitter that one of my fellow travelers has arrived at the hotel (a Marriott) and found there's no wireless connection.

What would possess a hotel in a major business center to NOT offer free wireless? I know how much this room costs. It's not cheap. And if I were booking the accommodations myself, I'd rather stay in a $30 fleatrap with free wireless. Connectivity is king.

[Arbitrary travel note: the grandmother playing a dice game with her (forty-something) kids at a nearby airport table has to stop soon, "so she can say her rosary"... Travel is great for people-watching. I could write a novel based on any one leg of a trip I've had this decade...]

STBD Season Four: Episode 27 "The Ultimatum"

Click to Play

And just when Leo thought things were going so well... (9:35)

Music by ZOX and Mofessor

Filmed at Affogato

Pig Heart Saturday

I'm sitting in the Quiet Storm cafe, where Ann Turiano (aka Caroline) and Kevin Ford (aka Tom Simmons) from STBD are performing in a student film for a friend.

The sequence is fairly simple: Kevin's character realizes Ann's character no longer loves him, so he gets up and leaves.

The twist?

On his way out, he turns back and says, "I guess this is yours" -- AND TEARS OUT HIS HEART, leaving it (beating!) on the table.

Apparently, the Quiet Storm forgot they agreed to let this sequence be filmed here, so now the crew is trying to race through the shot while creatively hiding the ACTUAL PIG'S HEART (and "blood" tubes) from the Saturday brunchtime patrons... which include lots of kids.

I love independent film.

Length Matters

Liz and Lloyd know the value of length...
When STBD began, our first "season" consisted of 5 episodes averaging 10 minutes in length, released once per month.

In an effort to get episodes out more often, we switched things up in Season Two: 2 episodes per month, 5 minutes apiece. Then our audience weighed in, letting us know that 5 minutes wasn't enough to make the story feel "full." So we adapted again.

In Season Three, we kept to the 5 minute length, but sped up production again: episodes were released at least weekly. (For a brief stretch, they were even released daily, and then we [meaning I] burned out.) And, still, the frequency of release didn't offset the length issue for our audience -- even with twice as many episodes, 5 minutes just didn't feel like "enough" of an experience.

So, this season, we switched to 10 minute episodes, released weekly -- or 4 x the amount of production we were pumping out in 2003!

And yet, there are STILL fans who suggest we make the episodes EVEN LONGER.

The Problem with Length

Forget for a moment that we're creating 40 minutes of original content on a shoestring budget each month and giving it away for free. Further complicating the issue are the logistics of planning. 12+ hours a week spent editing an episode is nothing compared to conceiving of the scenes, writing the scripts, scheduling the actors and actually shooting the footage.

If we moved to a 22-minute approach, similar to traditional sitcoms, we'd be looking at twice as much work per week. (Plus, traditional sitcoms have the offsetting benefit of those 8 minutes of commercials to pay the bills...)

Add to that the bandwidth issues, the conversion / upload / download time and the doubled stress on data management and storage, and you see a hydra of reasons why we shouldn't EVER go longer than 10 minutes.

And yet...

In Praise of Length

There are times when even 10 minutes doesn't feel like "enough" time to tell a story.

When we pace episodes, or compare our arcs to those of like-minded shows, we're inevitably at a disadvantage. Sex and the City has an extra 10 minutes of context / subtext / tension to build toward a payoff. STBD has to pack as much as possible into only 10 minutes, which means something -- plot, character, nuance, dialogue, action -- will suffer.

That's not to say that length is a cure-all. How many 3 hour films have you sat through, lamenting their decision NOT to edit it down to 90 minutes? (Return of the King, anyone?) But having more space to play would certainly open up our options in terms of storytelling.

The question is -- and again, let's temporarily forget the cost and logistics -- would longer episodes help us to BUILD an audience, or would the additional investment of time drive them away?

What's the perfect length?

Heading Into the Home Stretch

Only 4 more episodes stand between us and the end of Season Four of Something to Be Desired on May 28th.

Originally projected at 40 episodes, we decided to shorten the season to 30 when production threatened to engulf us this past winter. Since taking a hiatus in February, we've received lots of positive buzz from new and old fans alike (which leads us to believe we're doing something right).

These last 4 episodes will tie up many (if not all) of the plotlines and loose ends that have been generated this season...

But what then?

We'll be filming for Season Five all summer, but in theory, those episodes won't start anew until September. In today's snack-based culture, falling off the map for that long is the kiss of death.

We have a few ideas for keeping the STBD flame alive over the summer. They include:

- a daily "minisode," 0:30-1:00 in length -- character-building scenes, stand-alone jokes, etc.

- a weekly "behind the scenes" video -- interviews, story meetings, rehearsals, making-of, etc.

- weekly Ustreamed live chats with the cast / creators

- character videoblogs

- or, quite simply, starting the next 10-episode story arc in July.

We could do one or two of those, but we can't do ALL of those -- we're not made of time.

So: how would YOU like to see STBD spend the summer?

The Case of the Mysterious Child

Like Caroline, you may be wondering why there's a child in the apartment in this week's episode.

Easy answer: it's Dan Stripp's (aka Jack Boyd's) daughter. He and his family came to Pittsburgh for a visit and he told us he had time to film a quick cameo. But his wife and daughter had no place to hide while we filmed, so the quick solution was to explain her away as a babysitting favor on Dierdre's behalf.

Which begs the question... who would trust Dierdre with their child?....

The ONE Campaign

Kellee Maize (aka Celeste) will be performing live at Creative Treehouse this weekend, along with a number of other musicians and DJs. The cause? A fundraiser for the ONE campaign to end poverty.

(Note: If you've never seen Kellee perform, you're missing out. She's one of the best -- and endlessly proactive -- hip-hop artists in Pittsburgh.)

Some of the STBD cast will be on-hand to cheer Kellee on... and probably do some filming. Suggested donation: $5, which goes to the ONE campaign. Care to join us?