spytap:

The Past

So apparently I pissed of half of the known internet today. I looked it right in the eyes and told it yes, its ass did look fat in those jeans. In other words I gave my honest opinion without regard to feelings, sentiment, or repercussion.

In return, I got called a number of colorful names by people whose feelings I’d hurt. Some were semi-sarcastic, some were very spirited, and all were probably partially truthful. Many people agreed with me though.

Now the video in question was recorded back in May but was reposted to twitter this morning. A half hour later, it was the spark for a firestorm of discussion, commentary, argumentation, and the occasional brief moment of agreement.

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I’ve been MIA on this discussion, but I’m getting caught up now.  I just commented on David Nett’s Facebook response to this, but I figured I’d post something here along similar lines.  For those of you reading in both place, forgive the semi-duplication.

I agree with Barrett’s video in spirit, but I’m a bit more pragmatic. We need an *industry* before any of these arguments matter. An industry by definition generates revenue. An industry has its own identity. Web video has no identity, nothing for us to rally around, support, or argue about. Maybe it’ll always be that way, I’m not smart enough to know. 

But I do think that in order to build an audience and sustain itself, a show must offer something that the viewer cannot get anywhere else. In the case of The Guild, that show just wouldn’t be on TV. It’s a perfect case of a small step forward, not a giant leap out into the unknown. It’s a large targeted niche audience that is not big enough for TV to care about. So it works, assuming you can write, act, edit, and promote as well as that production has done.

But the future holds much more interesting things for storytellers. Writers must evolve. If this was 1950, I see web series people putting a camera in front of radio plays.* But who is making I Love Lucy? I look to YouTube for that, mainly because it involves their viewers in such an intimate, personal, authentic way.

It all depends on what you want from this whole thing. A career in tv? Great, I wish you luck, and go kick some ass. I’ll be rooting for you. I’m personally interested in building an industry, and I just don’t think that happens with people who have their eye on a different prize.

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* That little metaphorical nugget stolen from a conversation with the heretoforementioned Barrett Garese