Technically a short, not a pilot, but I'd love to see this as a show.
How Not To Adopt a Child From Africa - Watch more free videos
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
New Web Series - Three Percent Enemies.
My friend Barry sent me a link to this series. It's well written and reminds me of THE BURG, in a good way. The first episode clocks in at a daunting twelve minutes, but episode two has been brought down to nine. While I'm not a strict "five minute" fundamentalist, shorter generally makes things more watchable.
That being said, I liked this and look forward to future episodes.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Backstage West's 5 Minute Sitcom How-To
What a Buzz Mill! (From Backstage West)
Their key points:
Keep it simple, keep it short, do it often.
Good advice for everyone. They have an interesting quote from an exec from the (now defunct) Revver, who says that 3.5 minutes seems to be the sweetspot. Speaking from experience, this may be the case as there's a definite 2nd act lag in most five minute scripts (including, alas, mine), but I'm hoping this problem is surmountable because 3point5minutesitcom.com doesn't really have the same ring.
Their key points:
Keep it simple, keep it short, do it often.
Good advice for everyone. They have an interesting quote from an exec from the (now defunct) Revver, who says that 3.5 minutes seems to be the sweetspot. Speaking from experience, this may be the case as there's a definite 2nd act lag in most five minute scripts (including, alas, mine), but I'm hoping this problem is surmountable because 3point5minutesitcom.com doesn't really have the same ring.
John August on short scripts
Www.fiveminutesitcom.com aspires to be 1/100th of the blog that johnaugust.com. John is both a great screenwriter and a nice man, and meeting him was a bright spot in the 2007/2008 WGA strike.
As I've taken to viewing his blog as the final word on pretty much anything, I was psyched to see him answer questions about writing shorts (not strictly the same thing as a five minute sitcom, but a 5ms is like a short that.
My favorite part: The hero’s fundamental problem/challenge/obstacle needs to occur by the time you get to the 1/3rd mark. So, if your short is meant to be three minutes long, the big event needs to happen on page one. If it’s a 10-minute short, it happens around page three. It’s not that you’re worried about your reader getting bored before then — if you can’t entertain us for three pages, there’s a problem — but rather that if you delay any longer, your story is going to feel lopsided: too much setup for what was accomplished.
Do yourself a favor and read this article.
Scripting a short film (from Johnaugust.com)
As I've taken to viewing his blog as the final word on pretty much anything, I was psyched to see him answer questions about writing shorts (not strictly the same thing as a five minute sitcom, but a 5ms is like a short that.
My favorite part: The hero’s fundamental problem/challenge/obstacle needs to occur by the time you get to the 1/3rd mark. So, if your short is meant to be three minutes long, the big event needs to happen on page one. If it’s a 10-minute short, it happens around page three. It’s not that you’re worried about your reader getting bored before then — if you can’t entertain us for three pages, there’s a problem — but rather that if you delay any longer, your story is going to feel lopsided: too much setup for what was accomplished.
Do yourself a favor and read this article.
Scripting a short film (from Johnaugust.com)
New five minute sitcom from Disney - Squeegees.
Disney Introduces the 5-Minute Online Sitcom.
(From Romow.com)
1) People like to return to fun characters. Lorne Michaels has made fortunes based on this fact.
2) Brevity limits the scope of storytelling, but doesn't hurt the immediacy. Five minute shows live or die on how well the characters are set up.
Apparently SQUEEGEES hasn't hit the sweet spot, but that's just a matter of cracking the formula. I always liken it to comic strips - vivid characters live and breathe in four panels a day, but it took decades to figure out the format for the modern strip:
Modern comic strip:
Early comic strip:
If Disney wants to succeed with the five-minute online sitcom, it will need to take lessons from many of the most popular contributors on YouTube: keep it simple and keep it real.
(From Romow.com)
Disney is imagining just such a scenario, and has produced the first ultra-short form sitcom: called “Squeegees.”
Squeegees is being produced by Stage Nine, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Disney Corporation which is dedicated to integrating online and television content. Stage Nine’s mission is to exploit the popularity of Web video sites such as YouTube and Myspace, and develop original programming designed to bridge the gap between online and television entertainment.
The new mini sitcoms are approximately 5 minutes long — and that’s including commercials! They will be debuted on both YouTube and ABC.com. Squeegees is a comedy about four characters who wash windows for living, clinging to the edges of high-rise buildings in Manhattan.
The article voices a familiar question: "Is it possible to grow to love and empathize with characters they see only briefly in five minute intervals?" It's a standard question, but people seem to forget two key points.1) People like to return to fun characters. Lorne Michaels has made fortunes based on this fact.
2) Brevity limits the scope of storytelling, but doesn't hurt the immediacy. Five minute shows live or die on how well the characters are set up.
Apparently SQUEEGEES hasn't hit the sweet spot, but that's just a matter of cracking the formula. I always liken it to comic strips - vivid characters live and breathe in four panels a day, but it took decades to figure out the format for the modern strip:
Modern comic strip:
Early comic strip:
If Disney wants to succeed with the five-minute online sitcom, it will need to take lessons from many of the most popular contributors on YouTube: keep it simple and keep it real.
For sale: baby shoes, never worn.
The above is an example of "flash fiction," a six word short story by Ernest Hemingway (the great man considered this one of his favorite works). This story and others like it are evoked in this Wired article from 2006.
Personal fave: Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time
- Alan Moore
Some are funny, some are strange, but all strive to create a powerful, evocative context with just a handful of words.
Flash fiction is illustrative for students of the five minute sitcom. You've got five minutes in which to tell a story, and the little boxes you're streaming in hamper the audience's ability to read lips. Keeping lines short and potent helps you keep your final cut lean and mean, and keep your points, message and humor vibrant and punchy.
As the Simpsons say, "Brevity is... wit." Most jokes benefit from taking words out of the setup and stressing the punchline.
Personal fave: Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time
- Alan Moore
Some are funny, some are strange, but all strive to create a powerful, evocative context with just a handful of words.
Flash fiction is illustrative for students of the five minute sitcom. You've got five minutes in which to tell a story, and the little boxes you're streaming in hamper the audience's ability to read lips. Keeping lines short and potent helps you keep your final cut lean and mean, and keep your points, message and humor vibrant and punchy.
As the Simpsons say, "Brevity is... wit." Most jokes benefit from taking words out of the setup and stressing the punchline.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
How Much do the social networks pay per minute for scripted content?
From www.unitedhollywood.com:
WSJ today gives overview of social networking sites getting into business of producing online video. Article features three shows:
- Kate Modern, a mystery on social networking site Bebo.- Roommates, a soap opera on MySpace TV- Special Delivery, a hidden camera reality show on MySpace TV.
It notes that while MySpace and Bebo push into original content, Facebook hasn't and other internet companies - AOL and Yahoo, specifically - are backing away from it.
Article doesn't disclose budget for KATE MODERN but says Bebo sells sponsorships at $400,000 for six months.
Claims production budgets for Roommates and Special Delivery are about $1000 per minute.
$1,000 dollars per minute for ROOMMATES? Well, I guess the girls are sorta hot.
http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/2008/02/wsj-today-gives-overview-of-social.html
WSJ today gives overview of social networking sites getting into business of producing online video. Article features three shows:
- Kate Modern, a mystery on social networking site Bebo.- Roommates, a soap opera on MySpace TV- Special Delivery, a hidden camera reality show on MySpace TV.
It notes that while MySpace and Bebo push into original content, Facebook hasn't and other internet companies - AOL and Yahoo, specifically - are backing away from it.
Article doesn't disclose budget for KATE MODERN but says Bebo sells sponsorships at $400,000 for six months.
Claims production budgets for Roommates and Special Delivery are about $1000 per minute.
$1,000 dollars per minute for ROOMMATES? Well, I guess the girls are sorta hot.
http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/2008/02/wsj-today-gives-overview-of-social.html
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