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Post by milowent on Mar 22, 2007 12:58:50 GMT -5
www.columbian.com/lifeHome/lifeHomeNews/03222007news118171.cfmFort grad grabs online crownThursday, March 22, 2007 By MIKE BAILEY Columbian staff writer Ex-Disney chief backs Web's 'Prom Queen' One of Doug Cheney's responsibilities as junior class president at Fort Vancouver High School in 1993 was planning the school's prom. "It's ironic how, after all these years, the prom is back in my life and has become one of the big breaks in my career," Cheney said. Cheney, 31, is one of four members of Big Fantastic, a group of media-savvy entrepreneurs who recently inked a deal with former Walt Disney Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Eisner. Big Fantastic is producing an 80-episode Web video mystery, "Prom Queen," for Eisner's new Web site, Vuguru. The daily 90-second films begin April 2 and can be seen at promqueen.tv. Cheney, who now lives in the Los Angeles area, said the show isn't based specifically on his experiences at Fort Vancouver High School. But the series is a moody teen drama filled with the gossip and the politics behind a typical prom. "It's like a reverse mystery," he said. "Viewers know already that something bad is going to happen on prom night. The 80 shows represent the two months leading up to that night." (sounds like a remake of the samhas7friends premise ...) "Prom Queen" is similar to a Big Fantastic production titled "Sam Has 7 Friends" that appeared online last year. The $50,000 Web cast ran through December and caught Eisner's attention. He bought rights to that series as well as the idea for "Prom Queen." (wonder if samhas7friends will continue then?)"The opportunity to work with innovative creative talents such as Doug is one of the reasons I'm getting into the online content business," Eisner said in an e-mail sent by his publicist. "When it comes to developing quality, story-driven content exclusively for the Internet, Doug and his partners at Big Fantastic are true pioneers." The deal was brokered by Brent Weinstein, another Fort Vancouver High School graduate, who heads up the online division at United Talent Agency in Los Angeles. Cheney studied film production at Fort Vancouver and attended Washington State University in Pullman. "He was an exceptionally creative student," said Andy Berhow, who has taught audio-visual production classes for Vancouver Public Schools since 1986. "You just knew he was going to get into films. He was such a big fan of Steven Spielberg." An early encounter with Spielberg had a significant impact on Cheney. "I love his cinema, from 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' to 'Empire of the Sun' to 'Amistad,'" Cheney said. "When I was 13, my mother drove me from Boise, Idaho, to Ephrata, Wash., so I could try to catch a glimpse of Spielberg, who was rumored to be shooting 'Always' at a hangar in the desert. "We hung out on the edge of that set all day. Finally, people became curious about the young kid who wouldn't go away and eventually I was invited onto the set with Spielberg. I sat next to him in his director's chair and watched him shoot take after take. It was an incredible moment for me and it solidified my resolve to be a filmmaker. "I told him I was going to make movies just like his some day, and I still hope to." After several years working as a cinematographer in Spokane and Los Angeles, Cheney made a permanent move to Southern California in 2003 to pursue opportunities such as producing films for the Web. "It was really exciting when UTA signed us," Cheney said. "There is so much potential for storytelling on the Internet. The Web is not just a place for videos of kids wiping out on their skateboards." (UTA is the agency that started an internet division sometime around the height of lg15 hoola, IIRC)Cheney said Eisner's interest has left members of his group a little shellshocked. "I don't think any of us really expected Michael to meet with us when we were asked to go to his offices in Beverly Hills," Cheney said. "We just expected to meet with his people. But he came into the meeting and sat down and his level of enthusiasm was fantastic. I think the realization we have signed a deal with him is still setting in." Cheney said all four members of Big Fantastic serve as writers and directors. About 20 of the 80 episodes of "Prom Queen" had been filmed as of last week. Berhow isn't surprised Cheney found success. "I actually expected it," Berhow said. "There are people who have creative talents and there are others who have the technical skills in films. Doug has both of those things. And on top of that, he has the dedication to see it through. That's a perfect combination to make things happen." Doug Cheney's high school highlights Served as Associated Student Body president as a senior at Fort Vancouver High School, and was a star athlete in cross country and track. He also wrote and directed a short film that was presented during a student assembly. The film, "Senior Jones," was a clever takeoff on the movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark." Made a 20-minute movie based on a true story of a cross-country runner who was severely beaten. Teachers and other students starred in the film that he wrote and directed. Edited, produced and wrote a 60-second commercial with classmate Brian Brown that took second place in a national video production competition in Louisville, Ky.
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Post by milowent on Mar 22, 2007 13:54:28 GMT -5
www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=21681&hed=Eisner%E2%80%99s+Indie+Gamble§or=Industries&subsector=InternetAndServicesEisner’s Indie GambleFormer Disney mogul turns to ad-supported Internet content. But will viewers watch? March 18, 2007 By Michael Cohn Michael Eisner may have left Walt Disney, but he certainly isn’t out of show business. That much became clear when the former Disney CEO and chairman announced last week he was launching Vuguru, a new independent movie studio that will produce advertising-sponsored content for the Internet, cell phones, and other emerging distribution areas. “We will be distributed to almost every web site that has original video content,” Mr. Eisner (right) told Red Herring. Mr. Eisner’s venture is the latest effort by traditional media types to tap in to the emerging potential of digital media. There is little doubt that Internet users are gobbling up all sorts of videos, whether they are professionally produced or user-generated. But those same viewers have a strong aversion to watching ads or paying for content on the Internet, a fact that raises some doubts about Mr. Eisner’s indie studio project. “I question who will pay for it in terms of advertiser dollars or pay-per-view,” said James McQuivey, principal analyst at Forrester Research. If anyone can pull it off, Mr. Eisner may well be the one to do it. The former Disney executive steered the company that Walt built into a number of businesses during his 21 years at the company. He embraced computer animation by teaming up with Steve Jobs’ Pixar Animation Studios, which produced hits such as Toy Story and A Bug’s Life. He also oversaw Disney’s acquisition of the ABC TV network, and he recognized early on the potential of the web by launching sites like Disney Online and turning search engine Go.com into a portal. Now Mr. Eisner is taking a shot at Internet content. Vuguru’s first project is called Prom Queen, a scripted, serialized mystery about a high school senior told over 80 episodes, each running 90 seconds, starting April 2. Prom Queen episodes will be available on various video sites, including Google’s YouTube, ELLEgirl.com, and Veoh, in which Mr. Eisner is an investor. Vuguru has also lined up sponsors such as Fiji Water, POM Wonderful beverages, and Teleflora.com. In Good CompanyMr. Eisner believes Prom Queen could well herald the beginning of a new trend in which advertiser-supported content proliferates across the Internet. He certainly has some high-profile company—veteran TV producers such as Steven Bochco of Hill Street Blues and Mark Burnett of Survivor have also begun creating content for the online world. “Several Hollywood people are trying to reinvent themselves as providers of professionally produced content that goes on web sites,” said Mr. McQuivey. “These professionals are saying to themselves, ‘If everyone wants to watch content online, why limit ourselves to stuff made by skateboarders with a camcorder?’ There should be a healthy middle ground of content that’s well produced yet only distributed online.” The challenge could be to cash in on that content. A Harris Interactive poll released earlier this year indicated that nearly three-quarters of adults who frequently visit YouTube would do so less often if they were forced to watch a short commercial before they could view a video. But those data points don’t concern Mr. Eisner, who seems convinced the time is right to start producing story-driven content for a broadband environment. The show is designed to appeal to younger, technologically sophisticated viewers and allow them to find out information about the characters, watch past episodes from the web site, and interact with the show and each other. They can also buy clothing worn by the characters. Market for Talent“There will be a market for original talent online,” Mr. Eisner told Red Herring. “There will still be movie theaters, there will still be television, and satellite and so forth. [The Internet is] just a place where it’s going to be more concentration.” In many respects, according to Mr. Eisner, there are many parallels between his days at the Mouse House and his newest venture. “It’s pretty much the same as I’ve done my whole career,” he said. “What’s the story, who’s the director, who’s the cinematographer, what’s the cast, what are the emotional ups and downs, do you laugh and cry?” But there is one crucial question on which Mr. Eisner’s project depends: Will Internet users be as willing as TV viewers to watch those pesky ads?
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Post by milowent on Mar 29, 2007 11:39:44 GMT -5
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/29/BUG41OTHIK1.DTLEisner's online video ventureIts first production plays out in 90-second episodesEllen Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, March 29, 2007 Since taking off his Mickey Mouse hat, former Walt Disney Co. CEO Michael Eisner has donned a new cap, that of Internet media entrepreneur. Founder of the Tornante Co., an investment firm, Eisner was one of several backers to sink $12.5 million into Veoh, an online video service, last year. This month, he also teamed up with private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners to buy trading card and candy company Topps for $385.4 million. His most recent project is an independent studio, Vuguru, which will introduce its first show on Monday. "Prom Queen" is a teen murder mystery that plays out daily over 80 episodes, each a minute and a half long, on the Internet at promqueen.tv and on cell phones. In a recent conversation with The Chronicle, Eisner discussed the challenges facing media companies as people increasingly turn to the Internet for entertainment. The following has been edited for clarity and length. Q: What are you doing with Vuguru and Veoh in this online medium? A: The key thing is trying to create professional content for the broadband space. It just seemed the time was right for content providers to enter, in an aggressive way, this new world. Heretofore it has been mostly made up of user-generated or adult or off-network material, but now there's technology for story-driven material. Q: You have a background in what is called traditional media with Disney. A: I would say I've had a background in almost all different kinds of media, and it wasn't all traditional when we started. It started off in broadcast television, then cable came in, then video, then direct-to-video productions, and now broadband. It evolves, from three channels to 500 channels. This is another way to express yourself in a story-driven format to an audience. People say traditional media, old media, new media, insightful media. It's all really just terminology because what I'm interested in is emotional media. How do you tell a story that makes people laugh and cry and be amused, be moved? That's really the essence of "Prom Queen." Q: Where do you see the traditional media heading? A: There is no such thing as traditional media. That's the traditional media trying to come up with a way to describe themselves. There's media, and there's a new outlet for people to express themselves. Q: "Prom Queen" is being presented in 90-second increments. That's different from sitting down and watching a two-hour movie. A: It will originally be 90 seconds on a daily basis. Then after the first week, we'll put together the first 10 1/2 minutes into one act, and that will rest online. Then the second week, it'll be (another) 10 1/2 minutes. At the end ... it'll be cut into a feature-length presentation. [milo adds: interesting ...i wonder if that will feel very choppy, i know from watching 20 SH7F episodes in order that your brain starts to do funny things trying to keep all the short clips in mind]Q: Do you think that's one of the challenges with the Internet, the shortened format? A: I don't know if that's a challenge or an opportunity. We've been telling stories in 30-second form forever. At Disney we made 90-second commercials telling stories about our products. The idea of short form is analogous to a poem or an essay or short story to a novella or a novel. It's just different lengths for different folks. Q: Where do you see the broadband evolution going? A: I think it's going in many directions. The peer-to-peer technology is taking it in a direction that's exciting and relatively inexpensive to distribute. Obviously the streaming technology is there. There's the client-based technology, which Veoh has, where you can have your own kind of TiVo-like application. It's giving consumers more power over how they would want to consume entertainment and information. It's just going in many directions and many exciting directions. But the bottom line is if you want to be entertaining, you still have to go back and figure out how to tell the story. Q: Do you think Vuguru will be able to compete with Disney or other movie studios as they start sinking their money into Internet productions? A: Yes, I think we will be able to compete. It'll be more difficult and more expensive, but you'll have more people who are experts at how to do it. The talent pool will be bigger. The technology will be better and better and there will be a lot of players competing in this arena. Q: Is there room for all of them? Or just a few dominant players? A: There will be room for those who are the best at what they do. If somebody can tell a story well, who can make you laugh out loud, cry hard ... they can play. There is room for everyone, but not everybody will succeed. Q: Is this an opportunity for a company like Vuguru to become as big as Disney is now? A: Maybe 75 years from now. I would say Vuguru has a ways to go to be competitive in that realm. Q: Do you hope Vuguru will be able to do that? A: All I'm hoping to do is to tell a good story on Monday and to go from there. Q: What do you think of copyright issues online? A: Copyright is the backbone for intellectual growth. Patents and copyright are as important to America as almost everything, so I'm a big advocate for strengthening copyright, for rewarding the appropriate people for inventions and things of the mind. Q: Do you see consumers taking more control of the media, such as taking clips from movies and television shows and mashing them up? A: I think there is a place for a professional product that does not get tampered with. I think consumers have the right to create their own products and copyright them and protect them and get rewarded. I think that's a fundamental aspect of the American system of creation. That doesn't mean I don't support fair use and parody and all of that, but ... we have to have respect the product that's created. Q: How do you think Disney is doing nowadays? Do you keep up with them? A: I think they're doing very well. I'm rooting for them, and I certainly do keep up with them.
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Post by milowent on Mar 29, 2007 20:24:41 GMT -5
Although nobody at the Cove besides Milo is likely to care, I created a wikipedia page for Prom Queen. It's recent media blitz has made it notable per wikipedia's standards. Prom Queen on WikipediaCool, Jay. Actually I see that a number of people have joined the cove in the last two days and appear to browse this forum. (You are welcome to post.) We have yet to get any witty commentary from the old salts yet .... come on guys ... were are the old "how to make money off an IMS" analyzers? This is a test tube baby here ... |
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Post by milowent on Apr 1, 2007 12:59:37 GMT -5
little tease about the 1st episode in this pretty-big-hype article. www.baltimoresun.com/features/custom/aetoday/bal-te.to.onlinetv01apr01,0,3322013.story?coll=bal-aetoday-headlines Old-media stalwarts wade into Web 'TV'Heavyweights bet on future of online fareBy David Zurawik Sun Television Critic Originally published April 1, 2007 In the new murder mystery series Prom Queen, the action begins when Ben, a star student-athlete, receives an anonymous text message predicting that he is going "2 kill the prom queen."The show's fans, however, will learn his victim's fate not in hourlong episodes broadcast each week on their television screens, but in 90-second installments streamed daily on their computers, cell phones and iPods. Produced by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, the series will premiere tonight on the popular Web site, MySpace. The new show is a forerunner of what Hollywood insiders call the next generation of entertainment programming: high-quality, original dramas and comedies made specifically for the Internet and other forms of digital distribution. The blossoming online video market is already valued at $20 billion annually, analysts say. Prom Queen, which will be streamed in 80 short segments with weekly recap episodes, is not the first Internet drama - other online video series such as Sam Has 7 Friends and Lonelygirl15 have established themselves as hits among millions of plugged-in teens and young adults. But Prom Queen is the first such show to be produced by a major industry player and to arrive fully sponsored by national advertisers. "The show matters because it's Eisner, one of the biggest names in Hollywood, investing his money and experience in a series made for digital distribution," says Dianne Lynch, new-media expert and dean of the Park School of Communications at Ithaca College.
Prom Queen is the contemporary equivalent of The Jazz Singer (the first feature film with spoken dialogue), she adds. [milo adds: like hyperbole much, mr. writer?]Eisner is not the only old-media heavyweight betting on the future of high-quality Web programming. Last week, for example, archrival networks NBC and Fox formed a joint entertainment Web site intended to compete with YouTube by offering network-quality programming specifically produced for online streaming. Depending upon whom one asks, these moves mark an exciting new era in Web entertainment - or the closing of an online frontier that once promised anyone with ambition, a digital camera and a computer the chance to find an instant audience. "That's the history of every new medium in the 20th century, from radio to cable TV. First, great promise of grass-roots democracy - and then corporate control," says University of Maryland media economist Douglas Gomery. "Why wouldn't you expect the Internet to move in that same direction?" Thus far, the typical online viewer fits the demographic most coveted by advertisers: young males ages 12 to 34 who are inclined to try new technology and who are heavy media consumers. Although these tech-savvy young men are the demographic most resistant to television's appeal, they make up the majority of the 123 million consumers in the United States now streaming video each month, according to comScore Video Metrix, the industry's leading Internet audience measurement service. That's why Google agreed to pay $1.65 billion in October for YouTube, the Web destination most popular with those streamers, point out analysts. In addition, there are at least a dozen Web sites that are potentially worth as much as YouTube, which is why even the most conservative estimates of the online video market start at about $20 billion. The trick to cashing in is finding the right content. [milo adds: so livevideo.com and revver.com and break.com are also all worth $1.65 billion each? come on.]"That's where the money is: finding the kinds of storytelling and narratives - the content - that will draw consumers, especially young ones, to your online site," says Gomery. "There are tens of billions of dollars to be made for those who get it right. That's why you see NBC and Rupert Murdoch and Viacom and Eisner and all the other Hollywood giants now focusing their efforts in trying to find the narratives that will be to the Internet what I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke and The Milton Berle Show were to early TV." That hunt - for new programming that will replace or complement today's homemade, grainy, YouTube-style videos - is a driving force for media corporations, says Vivi Zigler, executive vice president of NBC Digital Entertainment and New Media. "When you think of where we've been in online video, it's been short clips about almost anything - and the stranger, the better," Zigler says. "Certainly one of the reasons for our new joint venture with Fox is the belief that there's also a strong appetite for quality video online and quality content that can be consumed en masse." Eisner shares the conviction that there is gold in programs that go beyond YouTube's grassroots, mostly reality-based imagery. "I'm not interested in reality, variety, or user-generated programming in the sense of nonprofessional clips," Eisner says, describing the agenda of his new independent production studio, Vuguru, the maker of Prom Queen. "What I am interested in is good storytelling that features emotionally driven characters. ... In the past few years, the development of innovative digital media technologies has outpaced the creation of great content. We're going to provide that content for the evolving media landscape." Comedy Central, the home of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, is one of the cable channels that have led the charge onto the Internet with original programming targeted at young men. "That's our audience - that young male demo," says Lou Wallach, senior vice president of original programming and development at Comedy Central. "They have iPods, cell phones and PDAs with video capabilities. When they sit down at night, TV is on in the background a few feet away as they sit at their desk or on the couch with their laptops and desktops on as well." Among the cutting edge offerings that in recent months have drawn young men to comedycentral.com is The Watch List, a show featuring comedy sketches from a group of Arab-American comedians touring the country as a revue titled the Axis of Evil. "With the right kind of online programming, getting that young male demo is no longer a theory for us: It's a reality," says Wallach. "The guys are already online. Get the good content, and they will come to your online site." Doug Tolerton, a junior at Goucher College, is a fan. A typical night of "TV viewing" for the 21-year-old communications major and his girlfriend consists of sitting in a dorm room, streaming an episode of the Fox network's anti-terrorist thriller 24 on their laptops. [milo adds: geeks!]Tolerton estimates that 50 percent of his "TV viewing" these days is done online - a significant increase in just a year. He attributes the change to technical improvements in Web sites and the explosion of major network and cable series that are offered online free. "With my schedule, I often don't have time to catch a favorite show when it airs," says Tolerton, who in addition to attending class, works part-time, volunteers at the National Aquarium in Baltimore and writes for the campus paper, The Quindecim. "In the past, I would use various back channels to find episodes of 24 on the Web after they aired on Fox," Tolerton says. Sometimes he'd wind up watching bootleg versions of 24 with Chinese subtitles. Now the Baltimore native streams episodes of the drama offered on MySpace. The hit series is available there, because Murdoch's News Corporation owns both MySpace and Fox. Lending credence to Eisner's belief in the power of character-driven programs, Tolerton says his online viewing is determined mostly by the "kinds of characters" that a show offers. On the other hand, he says, he is not a big fan of dramas told in the super-short segments of Prom Queen. "To watch a show regularly, I have to be attracted to a character. The characters have to be compelling," he says. "I'll probably check out Prom Queen, but not in the 90-second bites they're offering each day. I'll probably watch the weekly recap to get a better feel for the characters, and then decide if it's worth my time." Though most consumers still draw distinctions among DVDs, TV and Web TV, those differences are rapidly disappearing, she says. "Pretty soon, we're going to have one big screen, and all kinds of content is going to come through that screen. And we're not going to care where the content comes from as it long as it entertains us," Lynch says. |
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Post by milowent on Apr 1, 2007 13:02:42 GMT -5
i posted this only for this quote: "It's the 'The O.C.' meets 'Lonelygirl' with a MySpace twist," Jeff Berman, MySpace's general manager of video, said of "Prom Queen."
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'Prom Queen' drama to debut on MySpace
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 03/31/2007 11:26:58 PM CDT
Episodes of the new Internet drama "Prom Queen" will make their exclusive debut today on News Corp.'s MySpace social-networking site.
The deal gives the new teen series access to a huge audience from the start, rather than having to build fans by word of mouth or other means - the way many previous Web shows, such as "Lonelygirl15," have done.
"Prom Queen" is the first show to be produced by a new studio formed by former Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner. It will consist of 80 episodes, each lasting 90 seconds.
Each episode will appear during a 12-hour window on MySpace before showing elsewhere, including on its own dedicated Web site.
Financial terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.
Each of the show's characters will have his or her own profile pages on MySpace. Fans can post messages and get responses from the characters, who also will reveal more of themselves by posting items on their blogs. MySpace users also will be able to post the episodes on their own profile pages.
The added level of interactivity is similar to the way "Lonelygirl15," a pioneer in the area, has allowed fans to interact with characters and even influence the story line.
"It's the 'The O.C.' meets 'Lonelygirl' with a MySpace twist," Jeff Berman, MySpace's general manager of video, said of "Prom Queen."
MySpace has become a destination for Web video and plans to expand that role with other partnerships, Berman said.
"Prom Queen" is the creation of the same team of writers behind the popular scripted Web show "Sam Has 7 Friends."
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Post by milowent on Apr 2, 2007 14:28:43 GMT -5
Rick Aristotle Munarriz (where did he get the Aristotle from, you know?), frequent analyzer of lonelygirl15 at motley fool, weighs in on prom queen, with annoying editorializing by me:www.fool.com/investing/general/2007/04/02/and-the-prom-queen-is.aspxAnd the Prom Queen Is ...By Rick Aristotle Munarriz April 2, 2007 Hollywood will never let us forget that prom queen is one of the country's most dangerous professions. Whether it's Prom Night, Carrie, or Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, there's obviously a lot of pain beneath every tiara. Hopefully, the cliche will get a clever tweak with today's debut of Prom Queen. The episodic thriller will be releasing daily 90-second snippets from now through mid-June. The 80 installments will be put out through various video-sharing sites, though a distribution deal with News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace will land new episodes on the social networking site a day early. Anchoring the series to MySpace is a smart move. It appeals to the target audience that would relish a springtime thriller, doled out in daily teaspoons, revolving around five attractive prom-queen hopefuls. Thirteen of the characters already have their own MySpace pages. However, let's not mistake this for a MySpace property. In fact, the initial video embedded in the official PromQueen.TV website is actually being streamed from Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) YouTube. Buzz cutMaybe you're wondering what all the buzz is about. A cinematic online serial with a murderous hook? That's exactly what Sam Has 7 Friends accomplished a few months ago. That series also had an attractive cast of unknown actors, with daily installments served for free through sites like Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iTunes, YouTube, and Revver. It wouldn't be fair to call Prom Queen a Sam Has 7 Friends rip-off for one simple reason: It's the handiwork of the same production team -- Big Fantastic -- that brought us Sam Has 7 Friends. Some are comparing Prom Queen to Lonelygirl15, but that's not accurate. Lonelygirl15 doesn't have a set schedule of release dates, and as ponderous as YouTube's most subscribed-to serial can feel at times, at least it feels interactive. The community chimes in to help guide the series from time to time. When Hershey (NYSE: HSY) contacted the LG15 creators with a product placement deal for its Ice Breakers Sour Gum, the series creators polled their users. All but three of the 203 votes cast claimed that they would keep watching despite the obvious plug, so in it went. So why is Prom Queen necessarily buzz-worthy? The public itself hasn't caught on. Despite the publicity of MySpace as its distribution hub, the Prom Queen page has amassed a somewhat minuscule 821 friends. [milo adds: you'll note i've been keeping a tally of their myspace friends on another thread on this board.] That doesn't seem like much of a crowd for a series that has received coverage from financial heavies like BusinessWeek and The Wall Street Journal over the past few days. [milo adds: You don't have to subscribe to watch the show, however. lg15 always gets more views than her subscriber count on youtube. 20hours after release the 1st video on myspace has just over 20,000 views. i think the show must be given at leat the 1st two weeks to see how/if the audience grows ...]The key to the journalistic appetite for Prom Queen is that the Big Fantastic series is being put out by Michael Eisner's Vuguru studio. Eisner's investment arm launched Vuguru just last month as a way to cash in on the "clip culture" revolution. Eyes on EisnerSince being nudged out at Disney (NYSE: DIS), Eisner hasn't kept still. He acquired a production company that makes college-sports DVDs geared toward toddlers [WTF?] and a stake in video-sharing site Veoh last year. He made bigger waves last month with a bid to acquire trading-card giant Topps (Nasdaq: TOPP) in a $385 million deal. Eisner's Rolodex and the seasoned experience of Big Fantastic's sophomore stint find Prom Queen at an advantage to the original Sam Has 7 Friends. There are plenty of sponsors and product placements already on board. The serial is being broadcast through Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) VCast, and the first installment is padded on both ends with an ad for the upcoming Hairspray theatrical remake. Prom Queen has potential, though it's always tricky to launch a series with a quarterly lifespan. If it takes too long to build momentum, the June 16 finale may come too soon. Then again, for a Web video audience that is accustomed to short-form celluloid, this may be as good as it gets. The future will bring more opportunities for community building and viewer interaction. [good thoughts.]As for the overdone prom theme, let's hope we don't see a slasher chasing Jamie Lee Curtis or a bucket of pig blood hanging delicately over Sissy Spacek's head. If it's been done before, there's no point in doing it again in smaller chunks. Disney is an active recommendation in the Motley Fool Stock Advisor newsletter service. Sure, you can check out the service for the rest of the month -- or through the 30th episode of Prom Queen -- for free. Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz can't remember what he wore to his prom, much less who was ultimately voted prom queen. He does own shares in Disney. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early. The Fool has a disclosure policy. [does ANYBODY remember who their prom queen was? unless it was, like, you or your date?]
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Post by milowent on Apr 2, 2007 14:35:19 GMT -5
The Daily Reel weighs in also:www.thedailyreel.com/news-opinion/news/the-prom-queen-has-12-friends-latest-web-serial-tracks-her-killer?gnewsid=1175520846.95
The "Prom Queen" Has 12 Friends: New Web Serial Tracks Her Killer By Anthony Kaufman April 02, 2007 Could "Prom Queen" be the next LonelyGirl15? [WHAT AN ORIGINAL LEAD!] Aimed at a young audience with its MySpace launch today, "Prom Queen" – from old-media tycoon Michael Eisner and the makers of new-media serial "Sam Has 7 Friends" – kicks off with its surefire combination of "Beverly Hills 90210" melodrama and teen-slasher foreboding. The first of the serial's 80 episodes – each running 90 seconds long – begins tantalizingly enough, with a teen girl waking up in her backyard wearing only underwear. After sneaking back into her house, popping some pills, the young woman utters "Oh god," in a British accent. What she sees: a running videocamera placed on the top of her dresser. The first project of ex-Disney chief Michael Eisner’s Vuguru (www.vuguru.com), which promises to bring TV-worthy content for the web, "Prom Queen" is being produced and directed by Big Fantastic -- Douglas Cheney, Chris Hampel, Chris McCaleb and Ryan Wise – the four guys responsible for last year's webisodic suspense serial "Sam Has 7 Friends." "Prom Queen" is more polished than "Sam," but it has the same cliffhanger construction (and pretty L.A. cast) that the team pioneered with their first series. WARNING-SPOILER FOR EP2: For example, episode 2, airing tomorrow, introduces us to our lead character, Danica, the British girl from episode 1 doing a video project, "What is the American obsession with prom?" She does short interviews with the other characters, succinctly introducing these teen archetypes ("most likely to succeed," "class flirt," "most likely to save the world"), followed by an ominous text message that one of the kids receives: "u r going to kill the prom queen." Fade out. Big Fantastic's Chris McCaleb says things are different from "Sam," which they pulled off during weekend shoots, in between intense day jobs. "There was absolutely no template to go from, so we had to make it up as we went along," he says. "The characters in 'Prom Queen' are much more interconnected than those in 'Sam.'" But the format also continues to have its challenges, explains McCaleb. "It starts with writing - how do you tell a compelling story in just 90 seconds? Then, how do you do that every single day, 7 days-a-week, while continuing to advance the larger story line?" McCaleb and his team are still working around the clock prepping, shooting, editing and delivering new episodes (every day, they produce 3-4 installments, which each take a few hours to shoot.) They also need to stay attuned to the "metaverse" of the series, he says, meaning constant attention to the MySpace profiles of their characters and message boards comments. ("You have to have pretty thick skin to read them," adds McCaleb. "The audience pulls no punches, but we wouldn't have it any other way.) [Milo adds: The comments on myspace to the 1st vid convey a culture quick to criticize similar to youtube.]And although the Big Fantastic crew is working with a big-time established player such as Michael Eisner, one thing seems consistent from last year. "Everybody in the cast and crew is getting paid a little, as they did on 'Sam,'" adds McCaleb, "but certainly not enough to pay the bills. What keeps everyone coming back is a commitment to doing something new, exciting, and something that has never been done before."
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Post by milowent on Apr 5, 2007 16:13:31 GMT -5
From the Arizona Daily star, an interview with PromQueen producer and Anchor Cove member (one post anyway!) Chris McCaleb: www.azstarnet.com/sn/ent_index/176614Catalina Foothills High grad on rollBy Phil Villarreal pvillarreal@azstarnet.com Tucson, Arizona | Published: 04.05.2007 Catalina Foothills High School graduate Chris McCaleb's Web-based drama series, "Sam Has 7 Friends," has garnered 2.5 million downloads since it debuted Aug. 28. It's also drawn the attention of former Disney boss Michael Eisner. Eisner is serving as executive producer for "Prom Queen." Big Fantastic, a production company McCaleb runs with friends, is co-producing that mystery series. "Prom Queen" started Monday and will roll out daily 90-second episodes for 80 days. You can watch the show on promqueen.tv. McCaleb, a 29-year-old Los Angeles resident, spoke to the Star via telephone. Tell me about your breakout series. "We did a Web series last year, 'Sam Has 7 Friends.' We self-financed 80 episodes. It was a serialized mystery drama. It got a lot of attention and got us agents. UTA — the United Talent Agency — which is starting to look at online entertainment, set us up with Michael Eisner, who we're doing a new show with." Was it intimidating to meet with Eisner? "No, he's relatively laid-back for a guy who ran the Walt Disney corporation for 21 years. He's surprisingly laid-back. In the first meeting, an agent said he might be in attendance. I said I would eat my pants if Michael Eisner is in a meeting with a bunch of Web guys. But he showed up. He was quizzing us on how we did 'Sam.' " Does the new series mean life-changing money? "No. I have to say I haven't really made any money in months. I was working on 'Miami Vice' as an assistant editor. I worked with Michael Mann for four-and-a-half years." What have you learned in your career so far? "First, the Internet opens a lot of doors. Everything I learned about film production came from working on big films, talking to people and watching Michael Mann. I also worked with John Sayles a few years ago. That was an incredibly amazing education. I learned how to treat a crew. When you don't have a lot of money, you have to treat people right from the top down. When everybody feels like their contribution means something, they work harder. I always felt that way. In filmmaking, the best advice is to treat people well, work with friends, and always be learning and trying new things." How did you come up with your idea? "I saw people were doing comedy stuff on the Internet, but there weren't really any dramas. We didn't spend a dollar on marketing, because we didn't have a dollar to spend. It was all word-of-mouth. We e-mailed as many people as we could, and the press gave us a little attention. The Internet audience loves a good mystery, a good 'Twin Peaks' style — not whodunit, but who's gonna do it. You watch knowing something bad's gonna happen." Are you using this as a launching pad for a film career or are you happy to be on the Internet? "This is where I want to be right now, put it that way. Nobody's doing this, so there are no rules. I can't even express how exciting that is, to have almost no rules and try something that's never been done. It's really frightening sometimes. It's 4 in the morning and you're trying to get the episode on the Internet right now. I'm still battling with the fact that we're just making things up right now. The Internet offers so many more opportunities to do things quickly and be creative than feature films do. "I came out here because I want to make movies. All I wanted to do was make films, but I couldn't be happier about this." |
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Post by jayhenry on Apr 6, 2007 13:56:56 GMT -5
Catalina Foothills High School graduate Chris McCaleb's Web-based drama series, "Sam Has 7 Friends," has garnered 2.5 million downloads since it debuted Aug. 28. Remarkable number. That'd be an average of 30,000 per episode. Looking through the Sam7 accounts on YouTube or Revver, the numbers are way lower than that. That's too small of an audience to be useful on cable television. But, even if you pro-rated an advertisement for an audience of that size, it'd still be useful because of the number of episodes. A typical network show only has 20-some episodes a season. On the other hand, a network show has room for more commercial breaks. I guess I have no point; I'm just thinking out loud. |
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Post by milowent on Apr 9, 2007 12:39:15 GMT -5
"OMG!!! PQ MILDLY ADDICTING" says Business Week: www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2007/tc20070409_067246.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_technologyMedia Moguls Make Their Move OnlineFormer media titans such as Eisner and Bochco are finding lots to like as they produce new shows aimed at social networking's explosive growth by Ronald Grover The acting is wooden, the monologue darn near nonexistent. But there's something mildly addicting about Prom Queen, the ballyhooed new online series of two-minute episodes that former Walt Disney (DIS) Chairman Michael Eisner has brought to the Web. It features hot chicks, rock-hard guys, and a hint of sex (one kid streaks through a soccer practice, a girl seductively kisses a guy). And it has a secret: Someone is out to kill the prom queen, who hasn't been crowned yet. Better yet, Prom Queen has what every wannabe Internet mogul wants—a sponsor. Each episode follows a brief plug for the movie Hairspray, which will be released on July 20 by Warner Bros.' (TWX) New Line Cinema unit. Is this the future of online video? Who knows? But just about every media mogul worth his reservation at Mr. Chow seems to be trying to find a way into the world of social networks, blogs, and online video shorts. Eisner, who left Disney in 2006 and has been building an online media business that includes a stake in YouTube (GOOG) clone Veoh, has started his own digital video studio. On Mar. 29, Eisner announced a deal to distribute Prom Queen through social-networking behemoth MySpace, owned by News Corp. (NWS). Steven Bochco, a mega-TV producer with such hits as L.A. Law and Hill Street Blues to his credit, has jumped in and will create a string of videos for user-generated site Metacafe.com. "TV people know that the future is changing," says Herb Scannell, former president of Viacom's (VIA) Nickelodeon Networks who is co-founder of the Next New Networks, a month-old startup that intends to program and create 101 specialized social networks over the next five years. Edgy on a Micro-BudgetWhy all the fuss? Blame it on YouTube, which has proved it can bring together an audience of more than 30 million sets of eyeballs each month to watch cats burp and soda bottles explode. That's helped free up venture money in a hurry. Scannell and co-founder Fred Seibert, a onetime MTV creative director, had little trouble raising $8 million in seed money from such media heavyweights as former AOL Time Warner Chief Operating Officer Robert Pittman, private equity firm Spark Capital, and Haim Saban, the billionaire entrepreneur who popularized the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Next New Networks is already stocking content on five channels, with a sixth to launch shortly, including Pulp Secret for comic book fanatics, Threadbanger for do-it-yourself fashion, and VOD Cars for car-crazed folks. The content, for the most part, is edgy and—like Prom Queen—not ready for prime time. But that's the way the wandering media moguls seem to like it. "Just as broadcast TV was for large audiences and cable TV for niche audiences, the Internet is offering entertainment for small communities," says Scannell. The cost of making shorts is absurdly small by Hollywood standards—$10,000 or less for a few minutes, compared with the going rate of around $2 million for an hour-long prime-time show. Not Just OnlineScannell has already lured an advertiser, synthetic oil producer Royal Purple, for VOD Cars. Scannell says the show has already collected thousands of pieces of user-generated content. Still, he says he gets pitches from more traditional TV folks as well. "But we tell them that this is what we intend to pay and if they're interested, fine." Still, it takes a lot of guts to break free from the mother ship—that is, the large media companies and their deep pockets. Several of the onetime moguls have ventured out with deals that will funnel some of their new content to mainstream media outlets. Jordan Levin, the former chief executive of Time Warner's WB Network, last year co-founded the part-talent-management, part-content-creation company Generate with a deal to develop content for MTV's television, online, and wireless outlets. His company makes the online comedy Home Purchasing Club (with its regular feature, the Men's Hygiene Forum) for VH1's VSpot site. The show was created for Generate by writer/actor Sean Masterson, who has appeared on Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Jimmy Kimmel Live, and was developed and directed by Emmy Award winner Brian Roberts, whose credits include The Drew Carey Show and Everybody Loves Raymond. Big Media's Opportunity, TooMoguls on their second careers bring a keen eye for what sells. Not all the user-generated content they get will be packaged for their sites, says Albie Hecht, a former head of Nickelodeon's film studio, whose company Worldwide Biggies is collecting user-generated pet content for its just-launched site, Worldwide Fido—which he calls American Idol for dogs. Hecht, who also has a deal with Nickelodeon, scored his first hit when he saw a documentary film about kiddie stars The Naked Brothers Band. Hecht has since produced shows for Nick featuring the group, as well as 13 webisodes and 13 specially made podcasts. "Making multiplatform shows requires a different DNA than traditional media," he says. His six-person company—soon to expand to 20 folks, he says—is built "on the notion that people want content wherever they happen to be, so it has to be tailored to a different viewing experience." As for the big media companies, they're also producing their share of online shorts. ABC, NBC (GE), and CBS (CBS) are all gearing up in-house operations to pick and choose from potential projects they can put on their new, hypercharged network sites. ABC.com has streamed more than 55 million episodes of Grey's Anatomy and its other hit prime-time shows. Bruce Gersh, ABC's senior vice-president for business development, says that in a two-week period the network served up more than 600,000 views of its short series Voicemail, a comedy about what a guy named Michael does while he is checking his messages. Even the pitch for the show had online written all over it: Creator Michael Elide, who concocted the idea after saving more than 3,000 of his own voice mails, pitched the show to ABC brass on his iPod (AAPL). Says Gersh: "I've been in a lot of pitch meetings, but I have never seen that."
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Post by milowent on Apr 9, 2007 12:47:57 GMT -5
this article basically says that marketers should watch how PQ does, its an experiment. starbulletin.com/2007/04/08/business/success.htmlWhat we can learn from Michael EisnerIf you haven't heard, Michael Eisner has partnered with MySpace to promote his "Prom Queen" series. No, he didn't drink the new media Kool-Aid like every blog and new media evangelist out there is saying. He's just a smart businessman. How and what can we learn from Eisner? The "how" part is quite simple -- just observe! Do I see some things that Eisner and his team could do differently with the Prom Queen promotion on My-Space? Sure, but what do I know? What does Eisner know? Any top marketer knows that you cannot predict what your target audience is going to do. You do your research and then take your best shot. From there it's all about testing. By observing and tracking how your target audience reacts, you can make adjustments and continue to test. Eisner's target audience will tell him and his team what they did right, and what could be done better. The secret to success in marketing with new media or old is the same: Research, test, adjust, retry. It really is that simple. The "what" part is yet to be seen. Follow along with Eisner and learn from his efforts. You can do it on your own, tracking and documenting simple changes to the pages and ads, and by watching the comment-and-friend numbers. Or, you can follow along as we make this a long-term case study on Advanced Business Blogging over the next 2 1/2 months as Eisner and company roll out 80 sequential episodes (one per day) going into the real prom season. For instance, on the first day of "Prom Queen" being released, there were 31 comments on the page (diverse, all appearing to be real profiles.) And there were 987 friends.
Just one day into the Prom Queen promotion, there were 64 comments and 4,730 friends. The Prom Queen page is still prominently positioned on the MySpace home page driving traffic to the Prom Queen TV home page.What does the number of friends relative to the number of comments mean? What's the relationship of comments to episodes? What about page structure and layout? No telling what these things mean right now. But, within the next 30 days or less, a pattern will begin to develop - a pattern we can all learn and profit from. This takes patience and consistency. It's not sexy, but it sure as heck is how the millions in marketing are made. Happily, you and I know that we're in good company with the likes of Michael Eisner, Seth Godin, and Jay Abraham. We don't know anything. Your market knows it all! Let's watch, learn, and profit! |
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Post by milowent on Apr 11, 2007 19:52:15 GMT -5
Overall, a pretty positive review today in the Hollywood Reporter: www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9031Prom QueenBottom Line: Michael Eisner's latest a byte-size potboiler. By Steve Bryant Apr 11, 2007 Promqueen.tv Teens, you might have heard, speak the ling. That's "ling" as in lingo, as in whatev for whatever, ridic for ridiculous, obvi for obvious, duh. The words are glib but the shorthand, meant to convey maximum meaning in minimal time, is useful. Teens are efficient that way. They come pre-edited for time, if not for content. The same goes for "Prom Queen," the teen murder mystery that bowed April 10 that represents the first production from Vuguru, Michael Eisner's new-media studio. Made for generation ADD, the show unfolds in 90-second segments via Veoh Networks, which makes the series available online at sites including PromQueen.tv, ElleGirl.com and MySpace. The production company is Big Fantastic ("Sam Has 7 Friends"). That's 90 seconds, as in half the time of a typical commercial break on television. Doled out over 80 consecutive days -- "OMG, prom is sooo close! Getting closer! LOL!" -- the segments combine to form two hours of teenage scheming, dreaming and hooking up. Light fare, lightly sprinkled. Here's the setup: Danica, a British exchange student, is filming a video yearbook. The series opens when she wakes up, "Donnie Darko"-style, in her host's backyard -- scantily clad and with perfect hair, natch -- stumbles into her room, and finds her minicam is still filming. "Oh no," she says. Cut. That's Episode 1. Episode 2: We're introduced to the dramatis personae as Danica uses that minicam to interview her schoolmates about "this American obsession called prom." The characters are caricatures: There's blonde-haired Nikki (www.myspace.com/nikkiwagner), who hearts Chad; blue-eyed Chad, (www.myspace.com/radchadmoore) who hearts Nikki; and mousy Sadie (www.myspace.com/sadiesimmons), who hearts Morissey (but makes eyes at Chad). Then: Slutty Lauren (www.myspace.com/sexylalalauren) (who has daddy issues), surly Curtis (www.myspace.com/defconcurtis) (who has anger issues), and rich boy Nolan (www.myspace.com/thepillionaire) (who's just an ass). Sophisticated Courtney (www.myspace.com/urastarkid) is a brunette foil to Nikki, and the enigmatic Josh (www.myspace.com/gambitodelrey) is the requisite troubled teen. Rounding out the cast is Ben (www.myspace.com/bensimmons4prez) who plays sports, excels in school and receives an anonymous text message at the end of Episode 2 that says "U R going 2 kill the prom queen." Bum bum bum! Given all these characters (there's actually about 15 in all) and so little contiguous time to develop them, "Prom" relies on visual shorthand. Instead of dialogue, monologue. Instead of scenes, scene changes. It's almost as if the show is a trailer for itself. This isn't entirely a bad thing. For one, you literally have no time to get bored. And the only challenge is remembering the names of so many good-looking white people. [so true!]Help comes in the form of the characters' MySpace profiles, which are constantly updated with new friends, new comments and even personal videos. And then there's the sex. "Prom," like the real-life MySpace, is honeycombed with sexual subplots. In the first few episodes, Curtis talks about getting laid, Lauren tries to jump Josh in her car, Lauren's mom comes on to Ben, and Chad gets off-camera oral sex in the boy's locker room. Typical "Degrassi"-style titillation, but somehow the MySpace tie-in makes it feel more transgressive. That's why the show compels: This could be your high school. Or your kid's high school. Each segment feels like a synopsis of daily drama, a "Max Headroom" blipvert for an oversexed cohort. It is among the first mainstream online video dramas, and it demands your attention. On that very important level, "Prom" succeeds. |
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Post by milowent on Apr 24, 2007 12:51:16 GMT -5
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Post by milowent on May 14, 2007 14:18:33 GMT -5
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