STBD as Case Study

I met Kfir Pravda, a bright young guy from Israel (who happens to also be a huge STBD fan), at Video on the Net last month. He has a lot of great ideas about the future of web video. As a marketer, he also understands that ensuring content creators get paid for their efforts is integral to the sustainability and growth of the field.

He references STBD in his most recent blog post regarding the differences in production and cost between old media and new media. Is the ability to create sustainable content on the fly a positive or a negative? Definitely worth a read, even from a non-STBD point of view.

Justin Kownacki (STBD) Speaks @ Video on the Net

Justin Kownacki speaks at VON 2007 San Jose. Photo by Cirne.
My VON speech, in which I tout the merits of Something to Be Desired in specifc, and sustainable episodic web content in general, is now available in streaming WMV format.

Egad.

Never before has so thin and pale a man been so riveting for 7 minutes...

(You can see all the other speeches from VON at that site as well.)

STBD / VON Interview on Geek Riot

On Sunday night, Shawn and Justine at Geek Riot invited me to talk about the STBD relaunch and my experiences at VON.

Joining us for the first hour of the show is Jeff Pulver, VON creator, who also talks about his Video on the Net Alliance and its impending battle to preserve web video from the prying eyes of the FCC.

It's a good all-around show, and features a healthy mix of STBD and VON topics. The whole enchilada clocks in around 2 hours (!), but you can stream and skim if you so desire.

What VON Means for STBD

My head is still spinning from the VON experience. After three straight days of conference interaction, it can be tough to articulate every observation and event that's worth noting. I'll be breaking my thoughts down to bite-sized highlights over the coming days, starting here with:

STBD @ VON

I was invited to the VON conference to speak as the creator of Something to Be Desired, which is one of the web's longest-running video series. In addition to the general schmoozing and information-gathering, I had a seven minute speaking slot in which to wow the audience with whatever nuggets of wisdom I'd gathered in the past four years.

My speech doesn't exist on paper -- it was almost entirely improvised because I could never whittle it down to the 7 minutes I'd been alotted -- but the gist of my message was this:

Engaging Sustainable Episodic content.

That's what will help web video emerge from its current haze as the bright, shiny object people are still wrapping their heads around and allow us to move forward into a space where the average web user begins to realize that:

- there's more to web video than lip-synching videos and guys getting kicked in the crotch on YouTube,

- there's content being created that asks for (and is actually worth) more of your time and effort than the snack-based culture we're currently experiencing,

- this sustainable content is what active communities are built around, and

- this type of content is increasingly inexpensive to produce.

Anti-Snack?

I have nothing against snacking. I do it all the time. Our attention spans continue to evolve, meaning we can absorb more information in shorter amounts of time. This renders the old "meat and potatoes" theory inert.

If you're going to provide more than a snack, the time invested (on both sides: creator AND audience) had better be worth spending.

With STBD, we've created a show with a very long tail. It's sticky. It also requires more time and effort on the part of the audience to fully grasp what it is we're doing.

This means our core audience still hasn't arrived on the space yet because nowhere else have they seen any reason to invest more than a passing glance at a video whose elements never change over time.

Both the audiences AND the creators need to realize that this space enables us to do much more than just spoofs, skits and one-shots. Web video can be the new TV, the new film school and a whole new way of communicating, all in one.

And Now for the Big Surprise

Two elements I included in the speech generated the most buzz afterward, which makes sense because they were designed to stand out:

1. STBD will be franchising.

As I'd alluded to months ago on this blog, the time is ripe to branch STBD out beyond the borders of Pittsburgh. There's nothing stopping us from creating an STBD New York, and STBD Los Angeles and an STBD London (etc.) tomorrow, except for time and talent.

This concept really caught on with a few of the attendees, and many of them approached me afterwards with questions about how such a thing might be possible. One person in particular is quite interested in branching us out to one of the cities mentioned above. Obviously, all talk of this nature is just discussion until decisions are made and events are put into motion, but the opportunity for growth is certainly an embraceable one.

2. STBD is going open-source.

In the old media empire, the creators and studios talked AT the audience, and then hoped the audience talked amongst themselves ABOUT the finished product.

In the new media revolution, everyone is on even footing. This means the opportunities for audience interaction and creative input are immeasurable. Why not take advantage of that interest and empower the audience to take part in the ongoing creation of STBD?

How we do this will be seen over the coming months, but early elements include:

- Leaving certain elements of each episode open for public creation -- scenes, scripts, plotlines, etc.

- Empowering the audience to submit music, scout locations and rally extras for STBD shoots

- Offering audience interaction tools that will enable viewers to reinterpret our story from their own POV

Sound interesting? It is. And it definitely struck a chord with the audience at VON, who are VERY interested in seeing what STBD can accomplish by opening the doors and ceding certain areas of creative control to our fans -- which will, in turn, grant everyone who works with / on / around the show a greater sense of belonging within the community, and generate new reasons for each of them to spread the word.

Hush-Hush

In business, as in life, nothing is ever final until the last guest leaves the party. However, early indications from conversations that occurred at VON lead me to believe that at least one, if not several, of the following events will occur in the very near future:

- STBD will become a production umbrella, rather than a single show

- STBD will develop working partnerships with individual advertisers and ad networks

- STBD may be moving to a new online home

- STBD may no longer be my only "web job"

Of course, none of these events may happen as well. But the odds are that in seven months, when I'm at VON Boston in October, it may be under a very different set of circumstances...

To hear more about my POV @ VON, call in to Geek Riot this Sunday (March 25) @ 10 PM EST. Hosts Shawn Smith and iJustine have a big show lined up, including yours truly, who'll be talking about the VON experience AND the STBD relaunch beginning Monday!

PlugSearch 2007

What happens when you have several thousand tech people in the same building?

A) The internet moves like molasses.
B) Forget about Twitter.
C) No outlets!

My battery will shortly be dead.

Meanwhile, Mike Ambs just won the N2 $25,000 prize. See his video here.

STBD won an honorable mention -- and $1,000! Thanks, Network2!

Packing for VON

I'm packing my luggage and checking my must-bring list for Video on the Net, which starts today in San Jose. I'm flying in tonight and will be speaking on Wednesday morning, at a panel entitled "Meet the Producers," along with Steve Garfield and Brian Conley of Alive in Baghdad. It should be an interesting, well-rounded selection of points of view.

Since STBD resumes new episodes starting next Monday, and I'll be in San Jose for four days this week, I'm currently trying to figure out how to squeeze 12 G of video onto my 3 G-free laptop so I can edit on the go. It seems some backing off is in order...

How time flies: at the last VON in September, I was editing the 2nd episode of this STBD season. This week, I'm editing the 21st...

More updates from VON both here and at my personal blog throughout the week -- or add me (or STBD) on Twitter.

A Week Until VON

Next Monday, I'll be at Video on the Net in San Jose. I've been asked to speak during a segment called "Meet the Producers," which occurs on Wednesday, March 21. I'll be sharing the stage with Steve Garfield and Brian Conley, among others. It's great company for Something to Be Desired to be in.

The last VON conference was in Boston in September. It's hard for me to believe, but that was 6 months ago. Since then, numerous things have changed for me and my fellow new media creators, including:

- Chris Brogan was hired by Jeff Pulver to help launch Network2,

- PodCamps were held in Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Toronto and abroad,

- Blip TV became darlings of the new media startup set, and

- Amanda Congdon went "mainstream."

Things have also changed for STBD in that time:

- 20 new episodes were produced.
- WANT was shut down.
- Dierdre was hired at Affogato.
- Lloyd has come and (for the most part) gone.
- Our audience found new favorites in Rich and Tim.
- We created our first Halloween episode.
- We took a 6-week hiatus to better plan for the future.

That future is now.

On March 26, we return with all-new episodes to close out Season Four. After that, who's to say where we'll go next?

We have some ideas. We have some projects in the works.

All we know is, in six months, STBD -- and the new media playing field as we know it -- could look VERY different... Stay tuned!

Mental Projection and John Ritter

I've not been paying much attention to reports about the iPhone, nor the Apple TV. I decided long ago that the means of distribution for media will evolve long past my time on this planet. I also realized, when I was in college -- studying computer animation, no less -- that my interest in computers themselves was limited. As a means to an end, sure, but as an individual box to drool over, not so much.

(Insert horrendously inappropriate yet unavoidable "box-drooling" jokes here...)

How can I so easily disregard the New Hotness of 2007? Because I don't particularly care what rectangular surface STBD is viewed on, as long as it's being watched.

I've realized that my true passion in the new media is the same as it was in the old media: telling stories. Instigating responses. Creating conversations.

To me, it doesn't matter if that conversation, that response, is generated by images and sound emanating from an iPod, an iPhone, an Apple TV or a feature film screen. Despite some logistical differences in the way content will be produced to match the size of the screen and the length of the audience's attention span, we content producers are still involved in the process of communicating information. That was the case when the printing press roared to life and it'll be the case long after we're all in touch via ESP.

As I've been saying since watching the earth tremble at Video on the Net in September: When we all start mentally projecting images from our foreheads in 50 years, we'll still need episodes of Three's Company to share with each other.

So: what stories are you telling?