Since President Bush will be delivering his State of the Union address this evening, it seemed appropriate for me to deliver my own as well, as the
STBD Guru. This will be a long post, so the time-pressed among you may want to skim the Overview and Summary sections first.
THE OVERVIEWIt's been a good four years here in STBD-ville. We've grown from a small, self-contained story into a sprawling, organic experience involving dozens of actors, multiple locations and a storytelling style that increases in value the deeper you dig.
New viewers seeking to catch up with the history of STBD can now expect to spend over 10 hours in front of their computers (or on their iPods). That's a huge investment in time -- comparable to following a network TV show, but without all the ads and cross-promotions (yet).
And what are we, as creators of a web sitcom, providing in return? What value can you expect to receive during your ten minute investment of attention per week?
To be honest, I think what we're providing is good, but it's not as good as it will be.
As a story -- and as storytellers -- Something to Be Desired continues to expand and improve. We're honing our craft, learning what works and what doesn't, and creating what we feel is a window into a set of characters and situations who are endearing, compelling and believable.
As an experience, we're still limited in our scope and our execution. We know that certain elements of our website, our community development and our story itself, can all improve. New aspects must be added, old services must be overhauled or replaced, and the whole concept of Something to Be Desired must continue to grow beyond the show itself and into the fully-realized experience we continue to envision for ourselves and our fans, our collaborators and contributors.
It's been an adventure simply to have survived this long, as a ship at sea in the ever-widening world of web video. What began as an experiment has evolved into a central part of many people's lives, and we couldn't be happier with the impact the series has had on each of us (and each of you). But the opportunities and challenges that await us are far larger than any we've encountered in our first four years, and we need the help of everyone aboard -- cast, crew, viewers and friends -- to help this ship stay the course to both financial and artistic success.
STBD: THE ARTISTIC SIDESeason Four has been our most ambitious season yet. We've added more cast members, filmed in more locations and will end up telling a longer story than we have in any previous season. And yet, even as we grow and improve, we encounter new problems that force us to re-evaluate our direction.
As some of the commenters on
my previous post about STBD's potential improvements have pointed out, the storylines in the STBD-verse tend to move a little too slowly. As much as I'd love to defend that as an artistic choice in the name of character development, I must agree. Although we claim to be half sitcom and half soap opera, it's clear that the glacial pacing of most soap opera plotlines is seeping into our process.
Breaking All the RulesIn the web world, if not everywhere these days, speed is of the essence. Our competition is not just our fellow webcasters but the entertainment industry as a whole, which means we need to play to our strengths. As a guerrilla video unit, that includes being able to move quickly and accomplish things that larger, more bloated productions can't (because of the cost and time involved).
The key to accomplishing that would be to revolve around a small, regularly available cast, ensuring that their storylines were the central focus of every episode, OR revolving around a single location, which would allow for a wide variety of characters and storylines to pass through its doors.
Oddly enough, we've managed to avoid both of those bits of wisdom.
When the show began, we had a core cast of 8. Over the years, actors have come and gone, but by and large we've continued to grow. We now have around 25-30 recurring characters. Why?
Heavier Ships Sail More SlowlyA lack of budget (which means I can't guarantee the availability of my actors, who need day jobs to eat) and a lack of planning (because I end up handling all aspects of production, promotions, business, etc., myself, and there's only so much time in a week), the element of the series that suffers the most is the long-range continuity that comes with taut storytelling. Inflating the cast in order to make up for availability concerns has, paradoxically, made the scheduling process even more complex because there are now twice as many characters involved in each storyline as there were in the first place.
So now, instead of being able to adhere to 2 or 3 core storylines, I have a dozen mini-threads weaving around each other based primarily upon the availability of the actors in question. Wondering where certain subplots (like the dismantling of WANT) go for long stretches of time? Look no further than your calendar, where some actors find themselves unavailable to film with other actors in their plotline for weeks on end.
The positive aspect of a large cast is that the world of STBD keeps getting larger, which gives us many more story opportunities. The downside, obviously, is that we lose focus. So instead of seeing the world through Jack Boyd's eyes (as was the original concept for the series four years ago), or Caroline's, we end up cycling through various viewpoints, with central characters rotating from the foreground to the periphery over time. If done well, and if built around one central theme, that can work. I don't believe it's worked for us yet because the unifying spine of their multiple experiences hasn't been established.
A Roof Over Our HeadsSo, if what we haave is a gigantic cast, the solution is to pin them all in one location, no?
Well, that was the reason for setting the show in a radio station. And, as we'll reveal in the coming days, that solution backfired on us in a big way earlier this year.
Now we have
Affogato as our central location, more or less, which works out great for planning and plotline purposes -- every character could justifiably be in the cafe at the same time, if need be -- but doesn't do much to further the concept of showing a large world. Had we started in the cafe and built out, we could slowly show the worlds these characters work in. But having already seen where they work (WANT, Vanity Press, etc.), it now seems confining to limit their experiences to what happens while they're drinking coffee.
Thus, we end up living a nomadic existence around the city, showing glimpses of stores, restaurants, bars and apartments -- which, actually, was the goal all along in utilizing all of Pittsburgh as an element of the series. Although this definitely helps the show "feel" larger, it also adds a LOT of variables into the scheduling and logistics because we not only have to worry about actor availability but location availability as well. (No wonder Caroline, Dierdre and Leo live in the same apartment, eh?)
Proposed SolutionBeing in thick of the writing / planning process on a daily basis, I can tell you with authority that the show won't be getting smaller anytime soon. The directions we're pointed in don't allow for a collapsing in of the STBD world to narrow focus onto a core group of characters -- at least not this season -- without sacrificing the breadth and scope of the show that I feel is one of its greatest potential assets.
What I see instead are two interconnected solutions that, when enacted by next season, will help us right the ship and allow us to sail along much faster.
1.
Shrink the cast.Hard as it is, certain choices must be made to ensure that the STBD storyline is as tight and compelling as possible. While telling an ensemble story is, and always will be, integral to the vibe of STBD, it's clear that an ensemble won't work without a directed focus and a rapid progression through increasingly heightened conflicts, which have proven to be too difficult to execute in our current incarnation. Thus, the core cast of STBD must be compressed in order to work more efficiently next season. However, the actors we work with are so talented and dedicated, and their stories so disparate, that filing the focus of the series down to tunnel vision would cause us to lose a lot of the variety that flavors the show as we know it.
Which means...
2.
Spin off new series.I believe we've established a sufficiently large world in which the STBD characters live, one that stretches beyond Pittsburgh and includes a number of stories that only tangentially intersect. Instead of chopping burgeoning storylines off at the head in order to narrrow our focus, I feel it's more valuable to diverge those storylines into their own, more closely united mini-verses that allow for their own natural unfolding. While the possibilities for this type of expansion are numerous, the most likely options would be to separate the WANT, Affogato and Vanity Press threads into their own individual entities. Characters would still overlap and move through each series as needed, but would generally stay true to their own trajectories within one specific series to aid with momentum and logistics.
So: how does a series that isn't actually profitable and is currently overwhelmed with time constraints going to spin itself off?
STBD: THE BUSINESS SIDEIt's no secret that the business aspect of STBD is almost non-existent. While that attitude was completely acceptable during the years before the iPod could play video, the new shift towards a video-based web economy has forced everyone to decide whether they're a hobby or a business, and adjust their production process accordingly.
Given the amount of time I spend creating STBD on a weekly basis, there's almost no way I could justify it as anything other than a business, despite my inability to make the choices and take the actions necessary to accomplish that part of the plan -- until now.
Broadening the STBD world means broadening the STBD brand -- which means establishing the brand in the first place. It also means generating revenue in order to fund the continued growth that accompanies the goals of a production company, which is what STBD intends to be part of.
This means creating merchandise.
This means involving advertisers on the show and the site.
This means acquiring sponsors.
This means applying for grants.
This means finally making those long-desired DVDs available.
This means pursuing all relevant avenues of revenue generation that strengthen STBD's ability to grow with the market while not polluting the viewing and community experiences that we seek to build.
How can we do this? I have my ideas, but I'm honestly not a businessman, I'm a creator and a creative problem-solver. That means I need a team of people who can help me, and STBD, chart an acceptable and accomplishable course. If you have ideas, I'm certainly open to them. This is an open discussion.
Proposed SolutionThe three target areas we need to focus on in order to establish and expand both our brand and our business are:
1.
Increased viewership.Despite being online since 2003, our dedicated viewership ebbs and flows far under the radar of most of our contemporaries. This is due as much to the uneven progression of the narrative as it is to the lack of time and resources spent in appealing to and retaining new viewers.
We don't advertise, and we may never do so if we can avoid it. We prefer to build our audience through word of mouth because we believe that generates more passionate fans than blanket advertising campaigns would. However, we realize it's difficult to build word of mouth without providing our fans with the proper tools to do so. (More on that in the following section.)
Our goal, humble as it may be, is to achieve 10,000 recurring weekly viewers. Considering many of our contemporaries are enjoying audiences more than 10 times that number, it may seem that we're aiming low. But we believe the 10,000 viewer platform is the level at which the show can generate sufficient residual buzz to begin to generate a life of its own outside of our first-person, conversation-driven method of spreading the word.
In order to achieve that number, we intend to rely more heavily on the established methods (email, MySpace, YouTube, internal promotions, street teams) that have been proven to work for us in the past -- when we (meaning I, Ann or Erik) have had the time to devote to them -- as well as emerging technologies, web applications and local and regional partnerships designed to expose STBD to new viewers who may not otherwise have had the opportunity to discover us.
2.
Revenue generation.Loathe as we are to spend our own money on advertising, we're more open to enabling other businesses to advertise within our space, especially if that trade-off enables us to continue growing and producing quality web art.
STBD will be actively soliciting contributions from advertisers on both a local and a national / web-based level. As our viewership numbers continue to grow, we intend to find organic ways to include advertising and product placement in a way that will provide minimal distraction for our viewers and maximum benefit for the advertisers themselves. Ideally, that would involve a small number of sponsors whose contributions become an organic (and therefore unobtrusive) element within the STBD viewing experience.
However, to be honest, our target goal is to provide an ad-free viewing experience. This means finding alternate ways to generate revenue, which traditionally includes merchandising or memberships. In a perfect world, we would prefer to rely upon the passion of our viewers for our livelihood than to rely upon the whims of advertisers, and all steps will be taken to ensure that this direction remains our primary choice for self-determining revenue generation. However, at the present time, it is not the only avenue we can afford to explore.
3.
Sustainable income.In the long run, STBD as a production company requires a sustainable source of funding to remain operative. That cash flow can come from merchandise, advertising, sponsorships, affiliate deals or other licensing options, as well as long-term agreements with larger production companies and distributors. The end result must generate a sufficient amount of revenue to provide for the ongoing growth of the company, and ensure that we can spend the bulk of my time creating an experience people value, rather than finding new ways to fund the old operations each month.
By attending to these three needs, I believe STBD can turn the corner from a time-consuming hobby to the fully operational business I'd expected to be running. I believe this is accomplishable within 1 year.
STBD: THE EXPERIENCEThe artistic side and the commerce side combine to create what I see as the complete STBD experience that I'd originally envisioned for the series / site when we first began: a place where viewers can interact with the creators and directly influence the direction of the show through instant feedback.
To do this, we need a wide number of changes made to the existing website, including design, interactivity and navigation updates. Episodes need to be comment-able and more easily searched. The forums need to work and be active. The entirety of our archives need to be more easily graspable -- a brand new viewer should be up to speed in three minutes, not 10 hours.
But more important than any cosmetic or production change we could make is the culture of STBD itself: we need community.
Something to Be Desired is named as it is because, in addition to be a show, a brand, it's also a mindset, a state of being. Everyone who conducts independent thought finds that life after college (if not beforehand) is far from the satisfying holistic whole they envisioned it being as a child. The stories we tell on STBD are based upon the universal experiences of love, friendship, work and play because those are the bonds that unite us as we try to navigate this new and uncertain world that's ever-changing and frequently leaves us feeling as though we're never quite up to speed.
The only thing that helps us through the dark times is the knowledge that we're not alone.
Thus, STBD is meant to become more than a show, more than a series of entertaining and occasionally insightful videos that, when viewed over time, comprise one person's (or, more accurately, one creative team's) point of view on the world we know. Heady as that already is, we also strive to provide a place where our viewers can become our collaborators and our friends.
It's not just that social networking is the trendy buzzword of the late 2000s; it's that the world is waking up to the concept that the people are the engine that powers every experience, no matter if you're providing a service or a product. STBD is both and neither, but in the end, STBD is all about me, and therefore you, and thus everyone in-between.
STBD is a community that needs to be built.
Proposed SolutionTime and money must be allotted to the repair, expansion and improvement of the online experience. This means I need to scale out blocks of time for website maintenance and community development. More accurately, it means I need to apply the incoming funds from the aforementioned business growth to find passionate people who can maintain these aspects of the site -- and the experience -- for me.
However, in lieu of an official STBD Community Developer, I intend to develop the following:
1.
STBD Street Team.
This existed once. It did pretty well, too, generating us new viewers in several cities. As with most peripheral aspects of STBD, it fell by the wayside as my plate filled up with production needs. It needs to be recreated.
My goal is to develop a small but dedicated cluster of individuals who enjoy the STBD experience enough to voluntarily spread the word online and around their cities / campuses, using provided materials (blogs, blurbs, links, graphics, trailers, postcards, posters, etc.), in exchange for greater involvement in the STBD creative process. Having a coordinator for this team would ensure that this arm of the promotions world doesn't fall by the wayside again.
2.
Individual Blog Reach-Outs.Bloggers are the new journalists. We've received a lot of positive attention (and traffic) from them over the years, and we appreciate their opinions about the series (even when we disagree with them). The tricky part is in getting their attention.
Press releases are dead, but personal emails and comments of value are what matter in this new age of one-on-one journalism. Justifiably, most bloggers are wary of cold-contact emails or blind comments that appear to be nothing more than pleas for PR or traffic-generating devices. That said, the bloggers who consider themselves the tastemakers of specific sub-cultures -- the tech blogs, the video blogs, the pop culture blogs -- are always on the lookout for news they can break.
STBD has the dubious distinction of being around long enough to be reputable but still small enough that it can be considered "breaking news" or "an undiscovered gem" by most bloggers -- which means we need to take the time to reach out and contact those bloggers whose opinions we value and whose audiences we feel would enjoy our particular point of view.
3.
Make Feedback Easier.This one is the key.
When I started STBD, I envisioned the situation as follows:
We write, film and edit an episode. We post it online. And then, based upon the flood of immediate comments we receive from our legions of viewers, we craft the following episode to a balance between their desires as an audience and our desires as artists.
That hasn't happened yet, mostly because we haven't provided the proper communication devices our audience needs to voice their opinions.
Comment-able and rate-able episodes, working forums, email blasts, AIM conversations, blog interviews and customizable STBD widgets that allow viewers to share their favorite episodes with friends and visitors to their own websites will go a long way toward fostering a two-way dialogue that will help make the show a completely original production.
But those aren't the only options.
Do we need a wiki?
Do we need open rehearsals?
Do we need live monthly meet-ups?
Do we need faster filming-to-airing time? (Hard to do, trust me, but we can always go live... or daily... provided we can afford to.)
Do we need special MySpace scripts that encourage instant feedback, more character blogs, publicly-written scripts and an open-source approach to all aspects of the series-making process?
I think the answer to all of the above is yes, but I'm only one man.
Do you have ideas? Do you have time? Help make this the first step toward that two-way conversation.
THE SUMMARYTo conclude, there are three major shifts that need to take place within the STBD world:
- a return to tightly-focused storytelling
- proper attention paid to the business side of the process, and
- a devotion to the growth of the interactive STBD community.
I obviously have my ideas about the future of the web, the future of video, the future of our series and how it all fits into my own personal goals and lifeplan. You have yours. This is a conversation, and I welcome all feedback on how I can help create the STBD that you want to participate in.
I'll be speaking at
Video on the Net in San Jose in March, and I expect to have more answers (and more questions) by then. In the interim, look for small changes in the way STBD operates, as I continue to improve the experience -- and the story -- one step, one week, one day at a time.
Thanks for your support and, as always, if you like what you see, please spread the word.
Labels: businessplan, somethingtobedesired, stateoftheunion, stbd, vide
Tonight I saw Absolute Wilson, a documentary about theatrical genius Robert Wilson. Perhaps best-known in America for the play / opera Einstein on the Beach, which he created with composer Philip Glass, Wilson is renowned throughout Europe for his groundbreaking (and mind-blowing) concepts.
