Online video, online video publishing, streaming media, OVP, OTT, web television, video advertising, marketing, startups, gadgets, social media, videoconferencing, collaboration and related topics are discussed here. Thanks for stopping by the "Klessblog."
Since September 2007, online video columnist, producer, reporter and author, Daisy Whitney has provided insight and analysis of the business of online video through her weekly web television show, The New Media Minute. This past week marked the final episode of her four and half year run. In her last episode she featured an interview with Metacafe CEO, Erick Hachenburg, who shared tips to better optimize your videos for search and discovery. While Whitney is retiring the New Media Minute, she says that she will continue to be very active and is "just going old school reporting on media in articles and columns instead!"
And on that note, here is the farewell episode of The New Media Minute! Complete w George Costanza too daisywhitney.com/newmediaminute...
Many friends and fans have expressed how much they'll miss her weekly online video news updates, but as she said you can read her daily Mediapost column, VidBlog and articles other media outlets.
As a big supporter of her and her husband, Jeff Brooks, I wish both Daisy and Jeff all the best for continued success.
One of the highlights of my Streamy Awards adventure was to finally meet some of the cast and creative team behind the comedy web series Safety Geeks: SVI, which chronicles a CSI-like team that investigates safety accidents, leaving a swath of comedic chaos and destruction in their wake. According to Dave and Tom, the comedy team who created, wrote and produced the series, imagine Inspector Clouseau as a team of people, trying to make the world safe, and ironically making it more dangerous. Add in a dash of Adult Swim sensibility, and that is Safety Geeks: SVI.
Season One of Safety Geeks SVI is directed by Roger Tonry and introduces P.O.S.H. (Professional Occupational Safety Hazard) team, which is made up of offbeat characters Dave Beeler as Reginald Syngen-Smythe, a retired at birth trillionaire, Tom Konkle as Budwin Yacker, a former head of O.S.H.A. with a safety-scared childhood and Brittney Powell as Dr. Randi Minky, a curvaceous and beautiful former stripper turned abnormal psychologist, Mary Cseh as Sparky Van Der Graaf, the computer expert hub of POSH control and Benton Jennings as Hopkins, the ever faithful and condescending butler to Reginald. In the first episode, the P.O.S.H. team intercepts an emergency call of an unfortunate accident at a warehouse, which sets off a series of more unfortunate accidents that are inadvertently caused by the P.O.S.H. team.
The cast are all professionals in LA who put their heart and souls into this web series on deferred salaries because they believe in Dave and Tom and the project. Safety Geeks was a nominee for Best Visual Effects and was a winner of two awards in Special Effects, Comedy or Drama Series and Special Effects, Comedy or Drama Series in the Los Angeles Web Series Festival 2010. The show was shot entirely on green screen and all of the backgrounds are either CGI, photo plates or 2D for 3D composites. The visual effects were created by Thor Melsted and Mike Smith who also worked for free and for long hours using their own equipment to create some 1300 visual composite effects shots – more than the first three Star Wars movies combined, very unusually, that's in a comedy. A number made more impressive by the less than $10,000 budget and post-production team of three people.
In this short video from the 2010 Streamy Awards, I caught up with some of the cast and crew of Safety Geeks: SVI, including Dave Beeler, Brittney Powell, Benton Jennings, Mike Smith and Thor Melsted, who shared some exciting news about Season 2. They told me that they are repurposing Season One as a 3D and will be shooting Season Two as a full stereoscopic 3D experience. To their knowledge they will be the first web television series to pioneer this technology. The other exciting news is that new cast members will be joining show, including the great John Cleese, who is actually a fan of the show. Missing from this interview is Tom Konkle, who like Elvis, had already left the building.
Since I missed Tom in this interview, I contacted him and asked him to share what's in store for Season Two, and his thoughts on the evolving web television space. He had this to say:
"I think most important for the Safety Geeks show is exploring the characters now that we know them as an audience and build more absurdity into the situations they find themselves in while creating real relationships between them. This season will be about the team as family and how they work together as a dysfunctional one and how relationships might blossom, especially unlikely ones such as the one Randi and Budwin might find themselves in and destructive ones like the one Reg finds himself in over his head. Adding some exciting new characters and hopefully a few names you'd recognize might up the game as well.
We have a lot of ideas that we are excited about with regard to the production, storytelling and character aspects of the new season. Will they be able to keep the team together? Will he see that he is being manipulated? Can Budwin and Dr. Randi stop more accidents happening and will they be together? Can an OSHA inspector shut down the team? Having to put aside petty differences with Sparky, and using Hopkins knowledge of Reginald’s past as a guide and trap, season two takes the team balls deep into industrial intrigue, a new arch nemesis, and possibly losing forever the founder of the team to the sexy allure of hazardous, workplace practices.
The space is evolving fast. We want to stay in the game and make a decent enough income that we can still do this. Views aren't enough we need our fans and we want to interact and create new fans. I think before big business totally takes over our fans and creative spirit will be the only think that makes them take us at all seriously and we hope they do because we love doing these shows."
- Tom Konkle Producer/Actor/Writer/Director
Tom also forwarded a few links for all the Safety Geeks fans out there:
This is the true stereoscopic Safety Geeks trailer for people with 3D computer screens and 3D TVs
The Streamy Awards were more than a week ago and a lot of the web television community has moved on from the controversy surrounding the event. Apologies have been made, myths have been dispelled and the community got together and celebrated the web in an post-Steamy Awards event. I recorded a lot of video that evening from my seat in the front row of the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles (thanks to Kodak for the Zi8 Pocket Video Camera), and I have a few more videos to share here on the blog before I get back to covering the online video news cycle.
I was glad to be able to capture and share this performance of The Gregory Brothers doing a live version of "Auto-Tune the News #8" at the Streamy Awards – which for me, was one of the highlights of the show. The orginal version of their video on YouTube has over 1.3 million views, which you can watch here. Enjoy!
The Gregory Brothers are a professional band singing folk, soul, and pop music consisting of Evan, Michael, Andrew, and Sarah Gregory, who is married to Evan. The Brooklyn, New York-based group is most famous for their viral video hit series the Auto-Tune the News on YouTube and Next New Networks, which uses real video clips like news broadcasts, viral videos and other talking head content to create funny music videos. Interviewers, celebrities, and politicians alike break into song in these innovative comedy mash-ups.
This is the first of several videos I'll be featuring from the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards from my view in the front row at the Orpheum Theater, Los Angeles, California. This video captures Auto-Tune the News performing "Magical Streamys Remix" live on April 11, 2010. You'll see Shaycarl and his wife KatiletteOlgaKay dance on stage for a cameo.
Auto-Tune the News won three Streamy Awards for Best Experimental Web SeriesBest News or Politics Web Series, Best Experimental Web Series and Best Original Music in a Web Series,and is nominated for 2 Webby Awards. Vote for them here: http://nxtnw.tv/goATTN and here: http://nxtnw.tv/voteATTN . If you're a fan, spread the word and get out the vote!
This video was shot with a Kodak Zi8 video camera. Many thanks to my friends at Kodak for hooking me up!
Also a big thanks Glenn Gutierrez and all my friends at Popscreen including Kevin Nguyen, Nick Palacios, Kenneth Sok and Vance Lawrence, for getting me into the Streamys!
By now, most of the Internet has in some way heard about, watched, commented on, or experienced the 2010 Streamy Awards first hand, which for many, failed to meet the expectations set by last year's awards show. I was excited to be a guest and attend the event in person, and actually ended up with a front row seat to what's been called, "the train wreck awards" or as Kevin Pollack called "the best rehearsal award show". The reactions have been vocal and varied, with several themes have emerged regarding the #streamyfail memes. People have been forgiving of the technical problems with the video playback, stalls and miscues, but less forgiving for the audio problems in the venue and on the live web cast and some outrage at the tone of show that came off as sophomoric, tasteless and self deprecating humor. I know the organizers meant well and worked hard to make the Streamy Awards a success, but the overall execution of the show, which for many went from bad to ugly, set it on a collision course with the devoted web television community who want to be taken seriously.
I'll also be posting some videos that I shot at the event.
Now onto the good, here's the Fine Brothers video, HOW TO get Nominated for A Streamy Award, that was cut short during the live show due to technical difficulties, and the list of winners who are all talented and top-notched web television creators. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees!
Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series
Felicia Day — (The Guild)
Best Male Actor in a Drama Web Series
Mark Gantt — (The Bannen Way)
Best Female Actor in a Drama Web Series
Rachael Hip-Flores — (Anyone But Me)
Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series Easy to Assemble (Illeana Douglas, Justine Bateman, Eric Lange, Michael Irpino, Cheri Oteri, Daryl Sabara, Michael Panes, Rob Mailhouse, Sean Durrie, Tom Arnold, Ed Begley Jr., Tim Meadows, Ricki Lake, Greg Proops, Kevin Pollak)
Best Guest Star in a Web Series
“Weird Al” Yankovic — (Know Your Meme)
UPDATED: Last night the Streamy Awards kicked off the first of its 2010 awards season at the Barnsdall Theatre in Hollywood, California for the 2010 Streamys Craft Awards which was short and sweet and over in 45 minutes. Liz Shannon Miller commemorated the spirit of the event through giving a rundown of the the event through a series of bullet points on NewTeeVee. The Streamy Awards ceremony on Sunday kicks off with a live online Red Carpet Pre-Show starting at 4:00 p.m. PT, broadcast exclusively on Ustream.tv and streamys.org.
The live online broadcast of the Streamy Awards Ceremony, hosted by actor/comedian Paul Scheer, begins at 5:30 p.m. PT on streamys.org. Or, you can download the FREE 2010 Streamy Awards iPhone app and watch it live on your iPhone. The app was developed by Metranome, the Official Mobile Apps Partner of the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards. Check the Streamy Awards blog for updates and be sure to vote for your favorite Audience Choice Award finalist. A full list of all the nominees is here, a big congratulations to all the nominees.
UPDATE 4/10/10: Here's The Web.Files #35 – Streamy Craft Awards, which Web Files’ host, Kristyn Burtt, who is also a Best Web Series Host Streamy Award nominee, gives a NY shout out to the nominees and winners of the craft categories for the 2010 Streamy Awards hosted by Jim Festante. The Web.Files is a weekly entertainment talk show that exclusively covers the "web celebs” involved in creating the best, most-watched, highest-rated, and most talked about series on the web. The show is created and hosted by entertainment reporter and media host Kristyn Burtt and produced and directed by Sandra J Payne.
Without further ado, here are the 2010 Craft Award winners...
In other Streamy Awards news, Chad Hurley, co-founder and CEO of YouTube, has been selected by the International Academy of Web Television to be the inaugural recipient of the Streamy Visionary Award. Also, Streamy Awards technology partner Unicorn Media has announced that they will provide their Media-as-a-Service™ solution to power both the live and video-on-demand (VOD) broadcast of the 2010 Streamy Awards. For the Streamy's, Unicorn Media is integrating with PLYmedia for multiple language subtitling in support of a global viewing audience. Unicorn's dynamic media synchronization technology will also enable the management of live and VOD iPhone streaming.
I'm going to the 2010 Streamy Awards! Thanks to my friends at Popscreen, I'm extremely excited to announce that I'll be attending the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday, April 11 starting at 5:30pm PT. Presented by the International Academy of Web Television and co-hosted by Tubefilter and NewTeeVee, The Streamy Awards is the first awards program of its kind to recognize outstanding achievement in global web television arts and sciences for broadband distribution across 35 creative categories, from acting and directing, to editing and special effects. Now in its second year, the annual ceremony, and its live online broadcast, is at the focal point of the digital entertainment revolution and brings together top talent, decision-makers and influencers shaping the online entertainment industry.
Streamy Awards excitement kicks off this week in LA with 2010 Web TV Week, a full week of web television and digital entertainment related events from April 5 to 11, in celebration of the 2010 Streamy Awards. See Marc Hustvedt's post, Web TV Week Kicks Off in LA: Babelgum, blip.tv, HRTS, Streamys!, for more information. The Streamys Craft Awards ceremony will be held on Wednesday, April 7th at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Hollywood and will recognize that many editors, cinematographers, art directors, producers, and other artistic and technical teams behind the Streamy Awards nominees.
The Streamy Awards live Red Carpet Pre-Show starts next Sunday, April 11 at 4 p PT, broadcast online exclusively on Ustream.tv and streamys.org. The live online broadcast of the Streamy Awards Ceremony, hosted by rising actor comedian Paul Scheer, begins at 5:30 pm PT exclusively on streamys.org.
Over 175 shows and individuals were nominated in thirty-five award categories which includes The 12 new categories. According to Marc Hustvedt, Tubefilter News Editor and Streamy Awards Executive Producer, Academy voters had their hands full this year in pairing down the submission of some 2,000 web shows from over 100 different countries. Last year’s inaugural Streamy Awards received over 100,000 unique public submissions from over 89 countries, hundreds of thousands of votes for 10 Audience Choice Award Finalists, and a groundswell of support from both the traditional and new media communities. See Marc's post on Tubefilter News for a summary of this years nominees. Many web creators have produced Streamys Attack Ads to promote their series and grab the attention of web television fans. Laurie Percival collected a handful of them here.
Voting has already begun for the 2010 Streamy Awards Audience Choice Award for “Best Web Television Series” and were announced on March 22nd in a special video presentation featuring comedian and actor Nick Thune, who also stars in the Web series Nick’s Big Show on MTV Network’s Atom.com. You can vote every day for your favorite Streamys Audience Choice Award Finalists. Head to vote.streamys.org to support your favorite show.
Audience Choice Awards Finalists
The Streamy Awards Audience Choice Finalists for Best Web Television Series are:
Keep up to date on all the Streamy Awards News by following @streamyawards on Twitter and become a fan at www.facebook.com/streamys. I look forward to seeing my web TV friends and meeting many of the creators and stars of my favorite web series.
After many long months of hiatus, award winning internet culture web show EPIC FU, produced by creative team Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf, returns to the web on January 21st. In a celebration at the Tubefilter Hollywood Web TV Meetup in Los Angeles sponsored by HP and Intel, the sixth season of the "premiere web show about emerging culture" will be screened and a discussion with Steve and Zadi will follow. The event will be streamed live on Stickam at 7:30 PM PST.
EPIC FU premiered on June 1, 2006 with Zadi Diaz as the host as a weekly show focused on emerging art, music, technology and internet culture. Described as a "hyperfast-paced pop culture newscast" by Wired, the show will relaunch into a new format with two shows a week focused on music and film, and a new blog network featuring daily fresh content.
I recently spoke with Zadi at Streaming Media West, and she shared some advise for web producers trying to break into the business. Zadi said it's important to connect with your audience, and EPIC FU is a pioneering example of how to build a global community around your web show. Zadi also spoke with Peter Cervieri for a Streaming Media West 2009 Red Carpet Interview, about the evolution of her show and the growing pains felt by the web television industry. EPIC FU has won two Webby Awards and a Streamy Award, and remains independently owned and produced by Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf.
"The shortest explanation is really the least sexy: we needed to do other things to make money. We made some television commercials, we worked with PBS, we made a new 6-episode show for Next New Networks, and did a couple dozen other production and consulting gigs.
Throughout that entire time we were always planning the next iteration of Epic Fu in our minds. One of the things that we feel makes us different from other shows is that we are not afraid to change the show in response to the way the Internet changes. People interact with show like Epic Fu in a different way now than they did a year ago, and two years ago, and we need to change in accordance."
Since EPIC FU went on hiatus in the spring of 2009, many have both hoped and speculated that the revered web show would return. Now, for the many fans and supporters of the show, come January 21, the wait will be over.
Congratulations Zadi and Steve!
About the creators of EPIC FU(Bios courtesy of Tubefilter)
Zadi Diaz is a Webby and Streamy Award winning new media producer, digital filmmaker, and host of EPIC FU. She began her online career as a videoblogger and media activist, creating short-form personal documentaries and video mashups that garnered the attention of the New York Times, CBS Evening News, MTV, The Assoicated Press and other national publications. She is a Film Independent Project:Involve Fellow, a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, the International Academy of Web Television, as well as a member of the Transatlantic Network 2020, an international initiative founded by the British Council to help bridge cultures.
Steve Woolf has been working in online media for over a decade as writer, producer, and technologist. As a two-time Webby Award winner and four-time nominee for EPIC FU, Steve co-created, writes, directs, and produces the pioneering show about web culture that has become one of the most well-known shows on the Internet. He was also honored with a Streamy Award and two nominations in 2009. Steve is an inaugural member of the International Academy of Web Television, a member of the Open Entertainment Alliance, and sits on the PBS Engage Advisory
UPDATE 1/16/10: The deadline for Public Submissions has just been extended to 11:59PM PST on Monday, January 18. Certified Submissions will still close after 11:59PM PST on Friday, January 22, 2010.
Last year’s Streamy Awards received over 100,000 unique public submissions from over 89 countries and hundreds of thousands of votes for 10 Audience Choice Award Finalists. Big winners were Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and The Guild, and both Joss Whedon and Felicia Day, who provided heartfelt acceptance speeches that both inspired the audience and legitimized the art and craft of the independent web series producer.
Day called herself, "a square peg and I’ve been trying to fit into a round Hollywood hole for a very long time." She thanked all the Hollywood establishment for beating her down and forcing her to pick up a pen and write her own web series. Whedon referred to himself as “the establishment guy" noting that while the television industry is in a funky state, web television is on the rise and web series producers are the pioneers, "of what’s going to be not just the new media, but the media."
See more videos from the 1st Annual Streamy Awards here.
Nominees and winners will be honored at the second-annual awards program to be held on Sunday, April 11, 2010 in Los Angeles. Submissions will be accepted via the Streamys web site at www.streamys.org beginning today through January 22, 2010. This year's Streamy Awards features 12 new categories.
"to include different types of online series, recognize more talent and technical areas of excellence, and highlight viewer experiences unique to the medium."
The new categories include awards for Live Production, Foreign Series, Vlogging, Interactive Experience, Branded Entertainment, and Mobile Experience. After the close of public voting and content creator submissions, nominees across the 36 categories will be honored by the International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV), a member-run non-profit organization comprised of leaders and stakeholders within the growing web television industry, and the official presenting body behind the Streamy Awards. The Streamy Awards are co-hosted by Tubefilter and NewTeeVee.
With the growth of the independent producer community and new channels of distribution in the last few years, the groundbreaking success of the 1st Annual Streamy Awards shined a light on the community of web television innovators in this emerging entertainment art form. Web television is finally recognized as a legitimate entertainment platform.
"The 2010 Streamys is about advancing open entertainment and its benefits to both consumers and creators by showcasing the staggering creative expression online. Our goal is to propel the new entertainment ecosystem by empowering a growing group of creators while helping everyone else find content that they love."
At Streaming Media West 2009, I caught up with Amanda Congdon, new media producer and host of, Sometimesdaily, which can be seen on web and mobile television. Amanda and her small production team that consists of her husband Mario Librandi and brother Andrew Congdon, were at Streaming Media West to promote FLO TV, the live mobile TV service from Qualcomm. Their show is available on FLO TV handsets and has wide mobile distribution on FLO TV-capable phones reaching 200 million cell phone users throughout the United States.
Amanda became an Internet video star on Rocketboom, the daily news show that she hosted and produced from its debut in October 2004 to June 2006. She followed that with a number of other video projects including, Amanda Across America, a blog based on her travels, a weekly video podcast for ABC and another weekly video blog, Starring Amanda Congdon, produced by her production company Oxmour Entertainment. Amanda also was the co-executive producer of JETSET (now EPIC FU) for the first several episodes of the show. In this interview, she shares similar tips, as her friend Zadi Diaz did in the previous post, for people trying to break into the web and mobile television space.
Amanda says, to be successful you really have to do 3 things:
Keep the content short (2-5 minutes max)
Make content that you are the expert on (and passionate about)
Find your niche audience (and build relationships through email, blog comments and social networks)
Amanda also discussed how the FLO TV distribution model works for her show, which is through licensing. She says their content is uncensored and is exactly as you see it, from the video edited on Final Cut to the FLO TV network. The wide mobile distribution through the FLO TV network expands the reach of SometimesDaily to hundreds of millions of mobile phones, far beyond what the web could provide.
FLO TV president Bill Stone kicked off Streaming Media West and addressed how mobile television is growing both on the mobile phone and on to other consumer devices. See the article by Tim Siglin and keynote video: Streaming Media West 2009 Keynote 1: Bill Stone, President, FLO TV.
Sometimesdaily is an interactive online variety show. Throughout the work week Amanda and company tackle the topics of the day through short videos handcrafted for easy digestion, just like homemade pasta. These episodes include Amanda-on-the-street interviews, quirky skits and news vignettes. Because videoblogging is an interactive medium, we incorporate viewer feedback throughout the show. Our viewer created tagline is: Sometimesdaily - Taming the bizarre for normal people to enjoy.
I'm pleased to present this Streaming Media West 2009 Red Carpet Interview, which I interview Brent Friedman, Co-Founder and President, Electric Farm Entertainment, a leading digital media company specializing in the development of intellectual properties across multiple platforms. At EFE, Brent works on the bleeding edge of online storytelling producing high-end webseries that are distributed globally on broadcast, broadband and mobile. These unique "entertainment experiences" offer audience full immersion and interactivity. Brent created, wrote and produced EFE’s first two groundbreaking webseries, Afterwold and Gemini Division distributed by Sony and NBC respectively. Brent is presently serving as Executive Producer on EFE's next webseries, Woke Up Dead, a "zomedy" done in conjunction with Sony and Kodak. He is also the Co-Creator and Executive Producer of Valemont, EFE's collaboration with MTV. Upcoming is Prophet, another webseries Brent created and will produce for Disney.
Brent spoke as a panelist on the Streaming Media West session Web Television Comes of Age which was moderated by Marc Hustvedt, Co-Founder, Tubefilter & Editor-in-Chief, Tubefilter News and also featured Zadi Diaz, Creative Director, Co-Founder, Smashface Productions, Jenni Powell, New Media Consultant and Thom Woodley, Partner, Chief Creative Officer, Dinosaur Diorama.
Electric Farm Entertainment recently made NewTeeVee’s Next Big Thing List for 2009, which recognized 10 companies that are rapidly gaining traction in emerging aspects of the online video business. Brent also spoke at NewTeeVee Live 09 and shared his prediction on where he sees online entertainment going which he also discussed on the Streaming Media West web television panel session and in this Red Carpet interview.
Brent says,
"My prediction moving forward, is there's going to be a greater stratification of web content. You're going to see more professional content come in with higher budgets and become more ambitious. And the user gen and amateur content isn't going to go away. I just think you're going see a little more disparity between the haves and the have nots in terms of budgets. And what I think you're going to see with the bigger budget projects is it's not just going to be about the webisodes anymore. It's going to be creating much more of an integrated entertainment experience."
Brent sees fully immersive destination sites evolving out of big media companies looking to create a much deeper level of engagement to the point that he calls, "universes worthy of devotion." This takes the notion of fan sites to a new level, where fans can interact with an existing narrative but add to it, much like the social entertainment experience first pioneered by the creators of LonelyGirl15.
Brent described that with the current project, Valemont University, the story has bled over into other platforms. Users can register for the student community through the web site, join the Facebook group, follow Twitter updates from the main characters, see photos on Flickr, watch the webisodes on MTV and get extra dirt and mobile content from the product integration with Verizon. He noted that the community has grown organically, with tens of thousands already registered on the web site playing along as part of story. EFE is currently working on securing a second season of Valemont on MTV.
Brent thinks that we're in the dawn of the web television era. As companies like Verizon, MTV, Sony and others partner with content creators he sees more opportunity for experimentation in non-linear or transmedia storytelling across platforms (mobile, TV and computer).
Mergers and acquisitions continue to heat up in the online video market and consolidation in the space is not just happening to video technology companies. In a strategic move that merges two hot web TV news and promotion properties, LA-based web television company Tubefilter, Inc. has acquired New York-based web televsion news and media company Tilzy.TV, LLC, according to paidContent who broke the story last night. Respected leaders in web television news industry, both companies have been leading authorities in covering episodic web television and web series and passionate advocates of the space.
Tubefilter and Tilzy have each spent considerable time and energy over the past few years working to grow the audience of web television through industry events like first annual the Streamy Awards, which they co-produced with NewTeeVee, Tubefilter's Hollywood Web Television events and Tilzy’s annual Onfronts, which matches online entertainment executives with the press and major advertisers and the creation of the International Academy of Web Television.
Tilzy was founded by Jamison Tilsner and Joshua Cohen in early 2007 and have both reported on the growth and guided the web video scene. In a joint statement on Tilzy.TV, Jamison and Joshua said:
"Though our form has changed over time, our goals today are much the same as when we launched. The industry and artistry that we've watched develop look much as Josh and I anticipated when we began our conversations about the medium in 2006. Though it has taken longer than we ever expected, the efforts of those devoted to online video have brought upon a seismic shift that benefits both creators and consumers. We're proud to have grown up with this community. The combination of Tilzy.TV and Tubefilter — under the Tubefilter brand — will allow the five founders to best serve the community of creators devoted to the advancement of open entertainment. "
Founders of both companies will be taking on new roles with official corporate titles.
(Left to Right) Brady Brim-DeForest, Marc Hustvedt, Jamison Tilsner, Josh Cohen and Drew Baldwin (Photo by Wm. Marc Salsberry)
Tubefilter co-founder Drew Baldwin will serve as Senior Vice President, Product
Tubefilter co-founder, Brady Brim-DeForest, has been named CEO of Tubefilter, Inc.
Joshua Cohen is the new Chief Information Officer,
Tubefilter co-founder Marc Hustvedt will serve as Senior Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of Tubefilter News
Jamison Tilsner is the new Chief Operating Officer
"Going forward, Tubefilter is now a bi-coastal media company, with offices in Los Angeles and New York. This allows us to expand our operations and with that our News coverage, adding a strong crop of writers with solid backgrounds in web entertainment. And in terms of events, the Web TV Meetups will now be signature events on both coasts, bringing together online creative communities for some quality face time."
Congratulations to Brady, Drew, Marc, Jamison and Josh! Thanks for your tireless efforts in growing the audience of web television and building out the online entertainment ecosystem!
About Tubefilter, Inc.
Tubefilter is the definitive source for industry news, program reviews, events and online entertainment market intelligence services for the Web Television industry. Properties include Tubefilter News, the leading authority for Web television industry and Web series news; Onfronts, the annual upfronts for professional Web TV creators and advertisers; and business services, including entertainment industry market intelligence. The company is a pioneer in the digital content ecosystem and co-founded the annual Streamy Awards, which honors excellence in web television programming. Tubefilter is headquartered in Los Angeles and has offices in New York.
Tubefilter also kicked off Web Television Week Fall, a full week of web television and digital entertainment related events from October 19-23, 2009 in Los Angeles.
I'm pleased to announce the web television panel session that I'm programming for Streaming Media West that will be on November 17 at 11:30 am in San Jose, California. While so much focus in blogosphere is on video platforms and the technology and business that powers the industry, it really comes down to telling a good story with compelling content that attracts an audience and creates a dialogue and conversation. There are many success stories in the independent film and video space and the explosive growth of online video producers and viewers has given rise to web television.
The first annual Streamy Awards was a watershed event that shined a spotlight on a new breed of independent producers who have found some success in producing low-budget web television series based on their own unique vision. But in our current economic downturn some web television studios have been forced to close, and the reality is that it's still difficult for web series to gain the reach and sponsorship, and many are still trying to find the right business model.
That was my vision for this session, which I think captures the essence of where we're at right now in the coming age of web television. A big thanks to Dan Rayburn, Streaming Media West Conference Chair, for finding a place on the schedule for this session and my thanks to Marc Hustvedt, Co-Founder, Tubefilter & Editor-in-Chief, Tubefilter News, for taking on the role of moderator and to our great panel of speakers.
Original episodic web television has grown up in a short time and is now recognized as a respected and legitimate entertainment platform. But in our current economic downturn some web television studios have been forced to close and the reality is that it's still really difficult to create a sustainable business model. Some creators say that until the web can provide the reach and a real source of revenue for independent producers, there's no way it will ever truly become the future of TV. In this session, hear from some of the producers in this growing space on what it takes to create, market and sell a web television series as we debate the future success of web television.
Moderator:
Marc Hustvedt, Co-Founder, Tubefilter & Editor-in-Chief, Tubefilter News Marc is a co-founder of Tubefilter, Inc. Los Angeles-based web television company and the Editor-in-Chief of Tubefilter News, the leading authority in episodic web television and web series. He is a veteran entrepreneur, investor, writer, speaker and web TV producer. He is founder of the International Academy of Web Television and Executive Producer of The Streamy Awards. He's crazy about web series, web television and the revolution in digital entertainment and thinks it just getting started. Tubefilter's mission to grow the audience of web television. Tubefilter News helps you discover and keep track of the stories you care about.
Speakers:
Zadi Diaz, Creative Director, Co-Founder, Smashface Productions Zadi Diaz is a new media producer and co-founder of Smashface Productions, a new media production company focused on developing original programming for the web, bridging new and traditional media, and building and cultivating online communities. She is currently the co-creator and host of EPIC FU, a popular Streamy and Webby award-winning web series about internet culture, as well as co-founder of Pixelodeon, a screening festival recognizing innovation in global online video.
Though filming, writing, and directing are Zadi’s main focus, she also speaks on panels and teaches people around the world about social movement media and media literacy. Her work has been highlighted in the New York Times, Forbes, CBS Evening News, MTV, The Associated Press, The Guardian, and many other national publications. She is a Film Independent Project:Involve Fellow, a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS), on the advisory board for PBS Engage, as well as a member of the Transatlantic Network 2020, an international initiative founded by the British Council.
Brent Friedman, Co-Founder and President, Electric Farm Entertainment Brent V. Friedman is a founding partner in Electric Farm Entertainment, a leading digital media company specializing in science fiction. Brent created, wrote and produced EFE’s first two groundbreaking webseries, Afterwold and Gemini Division, distributed by Sony and NBC respectively. Brent is presently serving as Executive Producer on EFE's next webseries, Woke Up Dead, done in conjunction with Sony. He is also the Co-Creator and Exec Producer of Valemont, EFE's collaboration with MTV. Upcoming is Prophet, another webseries Brent created and will produce for Disney.
At EFE, Brent works on the bleeding edge of online storytelling. Producing high-end webseries that are distributed globally on all three platforms: broadcast, broadband and mobile. These unique "entertainment experiences" offer audience full immersion and interactivity. Additionally, EFE partners with major brands such as Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, Kodak and Verizon to integrate their products and services into the content and into the narrative itself. The result is a dynamic new form of branded entertainment with an innovative, lucrative business model. He got his degree in Creative Writing from UCLA and currently resides in Washington.
Jenni Powell, New Media Consultant Jenni has been deeply involved in innovative online communities for several years, dating back to the cult internet series Nobody’s Watching(over 40M views) and later becoming a central figure in the web video breakout lonelygirl15 fan community. This led to her creating the fan-favorite parody series LonelyJew15 which landed her a job at lonelygirl15’s production company EQAL. She has a strong background in production working for Upright Citizen’s Brigade (UCB), A&E’s Deadliest Catch, and Lifetime’s Lisa Williams Life Among The Dead.
Online, Jenni has worked on many popular web series such as the smash Microsoft-sponsored hit The Guild, Streamy Award-nominated With the Angels, Poor Paul, The Crew and Comedy Central’s Atom.com standout The Legend of Neil. She freelance writes for popular web entertainment site Tubefilter News and consults on and produces various transmedia entertainment projects around Web
Thom Woodley, Partner, Chief Creative Officer, Dinosaur Diorama Thom Woodley is a writer, musician and web video pioneer based in Brooklyn, New York. He's creator and producer of web video series The Burg, The All-For-Nots and All's Faire. Ten of his scripts have been staged in New York, Boston, and Pennsylvania and two have been optioned. His short film Go for the Gold! was independently released to regional festivals in 2004.
He is also a member of the bands Infidels and [bert], which have toured the United States and released four CDs, and the comedy music duo Dawghaus, who have performed at numerous comedy festivals around New York City and released sketch videos. Temp of the Year, 2001. Thom is also a copywriter at Euro RSCG New York, specializing in digital advertising and branded content.
About Streaming Media West Attended by more than 2,500 executives last year, Streaming Media West is the only show that covers both the business of online video and the technology of streaming, downloading, Webcasting, Internet TV, IPTV, and mobile video. Covering both corporate and consumer business, technology, and content issues in the enterprise, advertising, media and entertainment, broadcast, and education markets, Streaming Media West is about more than just streaming!
Streaming Media West 2009 combines cutting-edge exhibitors and intensive conference sessions with more than 100 speakers, giving you the chance to hear and see the best and the brightest minds in the online video industry—at the podium, in the Exhibit Hall, and among the attendees. We look forward to seeing you at the show!
