Tribeca Talks Panel Series Announced For 2008 Fest

The Tribeca Talks Panel Series line-up for the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival has just been announced. Like years past, the traditional panel series continues with the addition of a new program, “Behind the Screens: films and conversations about truth, clarity and responsibility” sponsored by iShares. “Behind the Screens” will feature three half-hour, in-depth discussions and audience Q&A with film participants following select screenings at the Directors Guild Theater. The 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by American Express, runs April 23rd – May 4th. Be sure to stay tuned to The Film Panel Notetaker. We will be out in full force at the Tribeca Film Festival. Now, here is the line-up:

BEHIND THE SCREENS

Lake City
This screening of Lake City, directed and written by Perry Moore and Hunter Hill, will be followed by a conversation with actress Sissy Spacek. The film is a dramatic narrative about a family threatened by violent criminals and a mother and son who must reconcile the past in order to save their home. Powerful performances by Spacek and Troy Garity highlight this potent drama, which also features Dave Matthews and Rebecca Romijn.

DATE: Saturday, April 26
TIME: 6:30 PM
LOCATION: Directors Guild Theater

Confessions of a Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
Melvin Van Peebles will discuss his career and his latest film, Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha. Written and directed by Van Peebles, Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha is a semi-autobiographical boisterous adventure that ranges from Harlem to the high seas and follows the exploits of an unforgettable character (MVP, natch) who’s always on the move—but keeps ending up back in New York.

DATE: Thursday, May 1
TIME: 6:30 PM
LOCATION: Directors Guild Theater

Under Our Skin
Andy Abrahams Wilson, director of Under Our Skin, will talk with Dr. Richard Horowitz and author/Lyme disease sufferer Amy Tan about his provocative and often terrifying documentary about arguably the most overlooked and misdiagnosed ailment currently verging on epidemic throughout the United States - Lyme disease - and the shocking controversies surrounding its identification and treatment.

DATE: Sunday April 27
TIME: 6:30 PMLOCATION: Directors Guild Theater

TRIBECA TALKS PANEL SERIES

TRIBECA TALKS: Mike Figgis
Hosted by Skillset
Despite being nominated for an Oscar®, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe, Mike Figgis is still considered an “indie” film maverick. He was ahead of the digital filmmaking trend with 2000’s Timecode, is a founding patron of the online community Shooting People, and created a stabilizer for digital cameras known as the “Fig Rig.” A world-class director, writer, and composer, Figgis believes that cinema is today’s best storytelling medium, and his constant evolution in digital filmmaking challenges the way we experience those stories.

This special Tribeca Talks is hosted by Skillset’s Trailblazers program—a showcase for the best and brightest of new British cinema talent.

DATE: Monday, April 28
TIME: 6:30 PM
LOCATION: Directors Guild Theater

Pangea Day, TED & Tribeca
If you had the world’s attention, what story would you tell? The Tribeca Film Festival joins CNN’s Christiane Amanpour and TED Prize-winning filmmaker Jehane Noujaim (Control Room) to discuss the launch of Pangea Day (May 10, 2008)—a moment when the world stops, watches, and listens to each other’s stories around the world’s first global campfire. Moderated by TED curator, Chris Anderson.

DATE: Tuesday, April 29
TIME: 7 PM
LOCATION: Directors Guild Theater

Injecting the American Dream
Part of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival
America’s performance enhancing appetite has never been bigger. And it’s not just in pro-sports or Hollywood. From high school locker rooms to anti-aging clinics, our nation is embracing steroids and human growth hormone like never before, spurring a furious debate about the ethics of enhancement. Join filmmaker Christopher Bell, who documented his brothers’ struggle to be “the best,” Victor Conte and others in a provocative discussion about the pitfalls and promise of the asterisk era, and where we go from here. Moderated by Steroid Nation author Shaun Assael.

DATE: Saturday, May 3
TIME: 5 PM
LOCATION: PACE

TRIBECA TALKS – INDUSTRY

Tribeca Talks Industry: Shane Meadows
Hosted by Skillset

With over 30 short films to his credit, self-taught director, writer and sometime actor, Shane Meadows is well regarded as one of the shining stars of British cinema. A 2008 BAFTA winner for Best British Film forThis Is England, Meadows brings a thoroughly unique post-modern style to filmmaking. With each of his films, set in the Midlands, Meadows gives audiences a front row seat to the broad experiences of disenfranchised youth. Join us for a conversation with Meadows and his writer Paul Fraser as he brings his latest, Somers Town, to the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival. Moderated by film journalist Anthony Kaufman.

This Tribeca Talks: Industry panel is hosted by Skillset’s Trailblazers program—a showcase for the best and brightest of new British cinema talent.

DATE: Saturday, April 26
TIME: 3 PM
LOCATION: Kellen Auditorium

Reuse, Remix & Renew Film tools for the 21st century
Being an indie filmmaker is expensive—emotionally, financially, and legally. Many young artists don’t have the tools to create the films they want or to license them for future use. How does one navigate the uncharted legal waters of the internet, blogs, and podcasts? How can a “some rights reserved” approach to copyrighting benefit filmmakers and film fans alike? Join Eric Steuer (Contributing Editor, Wired; Creative Director, Creative Com­mons;) Paul “DJ Spooky” Miller, Himanshu Singh from the University of Southern California, and filmmaker and Webby Awards founder Tiffany Shlain for a discussion about technology, intellectual property, and the future of participatory media.

DATE: Thursday, May 1
TIME: 5 PM
LOCATION: Kellen Auditorium

Click To View: The Future of New Media
Sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter
Writers fought for it, directors want it, and actors are next in line. What is “new media,” and what does it mean for artists and audiences? Join those on the frontlines of this fast-growing industry for a conversation with filmmaker Isabella Rossellini, whose series of short films were created for mobile devices, and Gaurav Dhillon, founder and CEO of Jaman, about what we watch, make, and distribute outside the multiplex. Moderated by Georg Szalai (Hollywood Reporter).

DATE: Friday, April 25th
TIME: 5 PM
LOCATION Tribeca Cinemas, Theater 2


CONVERSATIONS IN CINEMA

Standard Operating Procedure
Can a photograph change the world? Can an expose also be a cover-up? In Standard Operating Procedure, Academy Award-winning director Errol Morris turns the camera on the American soldiers who took the infamous Abu Ghraib photographs. Join filmmaker Errol Morris in a conversation with Jarhead author Anthony Swofford following the North American Premiere of Standard Operating Procedure.

DATE: Thursday, April 24
TIME: 6:30 PM
LOCATION: Directors Guild Theater

2001: A Space Odyssey - Ahead of its Time
Sponsored by Alfred P Sloan Foundation
It’s one of the most spine tingling and memorable lines in movie history "Just what do you think you're doing, Dave?" - and it was spoken by a computer. 2001: A Space Odyssey was ahead of its time in many ways – depicting the most accurate vision of outer space to date (the weightlessness, the silence), to predicting many "modern" inventions: credit cards data strips, flat-screen TVs, in-flight entertainment and voice recognition. Join us for a special discussion following a screening of Kubrick's futuristic masterpiece, where pilot and astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11, the first lunar landing, will join scientists and Contact screenwriter Ann Druyan to discuss the realities of the film, and the realities of artificial intelligence.

DATE: Sunday, April 27
TIME: 3PM
LOCATION: PACE

90 Miles The Documentary
The title of Grammy-winner Gloria Estefan’s latest album, “90 Millas,” refers to the distance between Cuba and southern Florida, a region that has become synonymous with Latin culture. At the core of that culture is its music, and Gloria’s husband Emilio captured the blood, sweat and tears that went into the new record in this very intimate film about the music-making process. Join director Emilio Estefan, Gloria Estefan, and musicians Nelson Gonzalez, Johnny Pacheco and La India for a candid discussion after the screening.

DATE: Thursday, May 1
TIME: 6 PM
LOCATION: BMCC

Celebrating Berlin
Hosted by the School of Visual Arts

Lou Reed's critically acclaimed 1973 album "Berlin" was yet another musical step forward in the career of the man who brought the darkest themes of literature to rock and roll. For years, "Berlin" was considered one of the more eclectic works in Reed's extraordinary catalog, but one that clearly cried out for a theatrical presentation. In 2006, backed by a full orchestra, Reed performed the mini-opera in its entirety over five nights at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, NY. And, under the direction of painter/director Julian Schnabel, this historic event was captured on film.

Join Lou Reed in a conversation with Vanity Fair's Lisa Robinson following the premiere of Julian Schnabel's film Lou Reed's Berlin.

DATE: Sunday, May 4
TIME: 7 PM
LOCATION: Directors Guild Theater

Females bring home the bacon

4/27/07 Bringing Home the Bacon
They act. They write. They Produce.

I went to see Eva Mendez , Julie Delpy, Rosario Dawson, Julia Styles, and Mary Stuart Masterson this week at Tribeca Film FEstival. They are all actresses and all have a film (or two) they’ve produced. What a great panel to attend as I’m pouring through my movie, driving it to the finish line. Not only did these women assure me that it can be done and it’s worth it, but that yeah, it’s really really hard.

You have to do everything. You have to have your hands in all aspects of filmmaking. Julia Styles said that she learned even more about acting and what reads well on screen while helming her feature, Raving. Julie Delpy’s Two Days in Paris developed her love for editing and says that’s when you really make the film. Rosario Dawson talked about her producing partner, someone she’s been working with since NYU. They funded their shorts with the money she made from Pluto Nash and are working together to put different stories that matter to them out there.

Eva Mendez came on as Executive Producer for her film, Live!. It was a story she responded to and wanted to know what it would take to make it. She and Julia talked a bit about how they love to play characters that could be transposed into men. Mary Stuart Masterson loved the heart and innocence in her film Cake Eaters and pushed herself creatively writing, directing and producing.

They went on to discuss gender and how women may be more nurturing, but whoever you are, you have to be tough to helm a film. It was funny to hear that they get phone calls from people who want a “female director”. What does that really mean? And why would Julie know less about a soldier at war than a male director who’s never been?

The playing ground still isn’t necessarily equal and women do seem to strive to be better than men. For anyone to be a director, you have to be calm under fire—something not mistaken for weakness. Being aggressive for the sake of it is transparent. Having temper tantrums (they mentioned David O. Russel in passing here, the point being that this applies to men too) don’t really reflect well on anyone who’s head of the ship—you just won’t be taken seriously.

Another good thing to hear is that it’s an excellent move to have a ton of ideas. Eva said to put yourself out there, get exposure—just do stuff and who knows what will come to you. I tend to be all over the place with ideas, and think that the more you have developed, the more you expand your vocabulary as an artist which makes you more versatile.

Mary said you just have to be passionate about the project (not do it because that’s what’s trendy or available) and always have other ideas that you toss around to see what sticks. Rosario said that having strength and integrity is the best you can show to people. The director/producer thing is a thankless job. It’s about spontaneity and doing what comes to you.

Tribeca Talks – Fame! I’m Gonna Live Forever – May 3, 2007

Tribeca Talks – Fame! I’m Gonna Live Forever – May 3, 2007

Actor Bruce Dern signs a copy of his new book, Things I've Said, But Probably Shouldn't Have: An Unrepentant Memoir, after the panel discussion.

Panelists:
Bruce Dern (BD) – Academy Award® and Golden Globe-nominated actor, Coming Home
Jake Halpern (JH) – Author, Fame Junkies
Robert B. Millman (RM), M.D. – Saul P. Steinberg Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health at the Weil Medical College of Cornell University
Janice Min (JM) – Editor-in-Chief, Us Weekly

Moderator:
Josh Wolk (JW) – Senior Writer, Entertainment Weekly

(JW) Does fame make people nuts, or are people nuts about being famous?

(RM) Both are true. Think of Bill Clinton. He came from humble beginnings, but knew that he was ready for bigger things. When you do well it changes you and exacerbates narcissistic qualities. Some people get famous by accident. Narcissism can be developed in the first two years of life, but I also think it can be developed much later if for example you become an amazing athlete or actor and you think you deserve the attention. An example of a story about a narcissist- Once at a party, a guy was talking about how his finger nails needed a manicure and the next guy over talked about how he just had triple bypass surgery, but the guy with the finger nails thought he was more important. Another example – a baseball player. If a nine-year-old sees a baseball player walk into the room, he will look at the baseball player and not be interested in anyone else. The baseball player know that people are only interested in looking at him.

(JW) When you star in a movie, what’s it like when people look out for you?

(BD) I’ve played the nastiest bastards in film. I’ve been fairly approachable to it. I have seen it with people in my age group. I’ve been lucky to work with famous older movie stars who also worked on TV like Donna Reed. They treated fame as if it were nothing. Older stars were greater with it much more than my generation. We never get the adulation that musicians get. It’s not near as prevalent with guys that aren’t athletes unless you’re Tom Cruise or Robert Redford from my generation. In my generation, Redford and Paul Newman got the most attention. We all had to work our way up in our generation. I talk about a story of fame in my new book when I was at the Actors Studio with Marilyn Monroe who asked me if I would walk her across town to her apartment on Sutton Place. As we turned into Sutton Place, a lady looked at them and got into a cab and drove off. Marilyn was in tears and asked me if I knew who that was. It had been Greta Garbo. The reason Marilyn was crying was that Greta Garbo didn’t recognize who Marilyn was.

(JW) Are things worse now that they were before?

(JM) Celebrities have more exposure to the world now. They used to be able to go to the grocery story without someone like Perez Hilton blogging about it. Being a celeb now is a 24/7 job. You’re held accountable for your actions wherever you go. For example, what happened with Michael Richards and Mel Gibson last year. These stories broke on to the Internet really fast. Another example are female actresses/performers that have no real acting credits. An example- MTV reality show “Laguna Beach” star who dated Nick Lachey and got onto the cover of US Weekly (demographic is women 30 and younger). Fame has become their ultimate goal. They only live for the media. Young Hollywood gets pleasure out of fame. It’s extraordinary their drive to be famous. It’s more about who they’re dating and the clothes they’re wearing. They get a gratification that people think they’re pretty and popular. It’s as simple as that. Another recent example happened at a party where one celebrity just showed up who wasn’t even invited to have their picture taken on the red carpet and then left. Despite the often shaky relationships with celebrities and photographers, the worse outcome would be not to be photographed at all.

(JW) If a celebrity is unhappy, can fame make them happier?

(RM) You can never be satisfied. Your sense of yourself is so fragile. If something negative happens, your self-esteem plummets. You have an exaggerated sense of self-importance and a deeply dark sense of horror. Most people aim to be somewhere in the middle.

(JW) Can you tell us about this program where kids go to learn to be famous?

(JH) In my book, I talk about going to a convention in Los Angeles where parents take their kids to learn how to be famous. They didn’t let journalists in, but I was given a badge for agents and one five-year-old kid came up to me handing me his headshot and then a whole bunch more kids did the same. After this program, I called up a child psychologist and asked why American kids are like this and he told me that I had a skewed sample, so I did a survey about fame with 700 teenagers. One question I asked was do you pick fame over intelligence and most picked fame. In some schools, there are self-esteem curriculums and when they get out of school they think they’re all stars.

(RM) It’s a normal stage in development. Adolescents think the world revolves around them. Hopefully kids get out of it, but that kind of narcissism is normal.

(JH) There’s this test called a Narcissism Personality Index that was given to people of all age groups. No group scored higher than teens.

(RM) Fame is different than narcissism.

(JH) What came first? The chicken or the egg?

(JM) I think your survey that asks the teens if they have a choice between fame and intelligence is interesting because a lot of celebrities didn’t even graduate from high school. There seems to be a celebration of stupidity in Hollywood. For example- Jessica Simpson being unable to perform simple tasks is what really made her famous. These are great attention-getting devices. The road to fame is wide open, but being stupid is one way to get there.

(RM) Fame, not intelligence, gets you into places.

(JH) But you hope that intelligence would lead to fame.

(JW) What do we want from celebrities? Do we want to put them on a pedestal and tear them down? Are we more in a hurry to see these things play out?

(RM) People can go up to celebrities because they are just like us. We read about them because they’re talked about as if they are family.

(JM) You can bring up people like Anna Nicole Smith at a dinner party and everyone feels like they have something in common. People want connections to celebrities. There’s both worship and contempt for them. It’s a way to feel better about ourselves. Celebrities are willing to expose their personal lives. TV ratings and box office receipts are lower than they’ve ever been. The entertainers’ personal lives are becoming more popular then the entertainment.

(RM) It’s difficult to be a celebrity, in their defense. If you’re a celebrity, the people around you want to always be with you. Everyone has to recognize your great work all the time. You become more isolated, because you don’t relate to them. You become empty and isolated and think everyone is using you. Jealousy is always inevitable with celebrities.

(JW) Is it possible if you’re a huge celebrity to navigate your lifestyle away from this?

(RM) Some become reclusive like Greta Garbo. Some take the fake humility road by acting like a nice person, but really being a killer.

(BD) At events, sometimes when you get out of the car, outside is your entourage. I always felt without them, I’m nowhere. I appreciate them. You can tell who will go down the red carpet by looking at them.

Audience Q&A

Q: How is it that celebrities have a knack screwing up profitably? Is there any end in sight?

(RM) Often, they’re not doing it on purpose. They don’t believe the world can hurt them, even though they’re paid well.

(JM) The lack of repercussion for screwing up is interesting. It’s just another thing to deal with on your road to stardom. For example, DVD sales of Seinfeld skyrocketed after the Michael Richards’ incident. The outcome is gratification, not punishment.

Q: What are some positive aspects of fame and how do you attribute fame to luck, perseverance, and talent?

(RM) An example – an athlete who grows up in the projects has to think he’s got it. They have a sense of themselves early to get where they are. Another example is Bill Clinton. He was born with a sense of need.

(BD) I’ve always likened it to a marathon. None of us think about racing until 16 miles into the marathon, then you ask yourself, “Can I catch you?”

(RM) People who get famous may only have a moment of fame and then may go down because of narcissism and go down a painful trip.

(BD) Artists are about their body of work, not an individual piece of work.

Q: How do publicists and tabloids create fame?

(JM) You can’t really manufacturer fame. A lot of publicists push to get their actor clients through, but still can’t always get what they want. The quality that Hollywood values about these actors is what makes you want to know more about them.

(BD) You have to ask yourself, why did you come to Hollywood or New York City in the first place? Was it to better your craft or to get fame? People who get better with their craft get it over people who come just for the fame.

(JH) There’s a statistic where people in the 1950s were asked if they thought they were an important person and about 12% answered “yes,” and that same question answered today yielded about an 80% “yes” answer.

(JM) At the Oscars, the real competition is who’s best dressed, not the awards.

Q: How do you take criticism?

(BD) I guess it’s necessary. I remember the negative reviews word for word. I enjoy critics that white lie just enough to allow people to decide to see the film or not. I find it important. If it’s fair, it’s good. We all need criticism. We need it more from the audience than from other actors.

Tribeca Talks – Cinema 2.0: Me, Myself and IPOD – April 30, 2007

Last night’s Tribeca Talks panel discussion on Cinema 2.0 was really fun because not only did the moderator and audience ask good questions to the panelists, but the panelists also asked good questions to each other, so you’ll see that represented in my notes below. If you attended this panel and would like to contribute any additional notes, please do so in the ‘comments’ section.

Tribeca Talks – Cinema 2.0: Me, Myself and IPOD – April 30, 2007

Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival. Left to right: Brent Weinstein, Kathleen Grace, Charles Leadbeater, Jonathan Lethem, Jerry Paffendorf and Georg Szalai.

Panelists:
Brent Weinstein (BW) – Head of the Digital Media Department at United Talent Agency
Kathleen Grace (KG) – Co-Creator, Producer, Director of theburg.tv
Charles Leadbeater (CL) – Journalist and Author of We-Think
Jonathan Lethem (JL) – Best-selling novelist of The Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn
Jerry Paffendorf (JP) – Resident Futurist of The Electric Sheep Company

Moderator:
Georg Szalai (GS) – New York Bureau Chief and Business Editor of The Hollywood Reporter

(GS) Can you tell us about your work and how you do it?

(KG) Started out working in theater. Created theburg.tv with a friend. We wanted to do an online television show. We thought, why wait around to pitch it to networks? Let’s just do it ourselves. In May 2006, we launched our first video on YouTube and on June 25, 2006, we launched the website. We received media coverage in such places as the Gothamist. We shoot the show on weekends.

(JL) The Promiscuous Materials Project is an analog gesture in digital clothing. I use the web to make them known and available. I’m a novelist and short story writer. I came around gradually to the Internet because of the provocations that digital media makes. I’m an advocate against the perceived notions of copyright. There’s been an exaggeration of the undertow of the legal concept around it. Giving something away was my gesture about how I feel. It’s non-commodifiable and connects with artists by going completely outside the world of movie studios, agencies, and brokers of materials. Directly from one artist to the next.

(CL) I published my first draft of my book online in October 2006. Did it out of the frustration with traditional publishing. Wouldn’t it be better to create conversations about your book before you publish it?

(BW) Our agency mined the Internet for talent. We took a hard look at the Internet. There are artistic voices that speak directly to these digital platforms. We identify and represent these digital artists and make deals for them to create content.

(JP) The Electric Sheep Company builds things inside 3D online environments and avatars. I’m a futurist on the team. We think ahead. Online creative environments are the next innovation of the web. The web can be a lonely place, but in these environments, you don’t have to be alone watching a video by yourself. We focus on the virtualization of everything by turning the web into a video game. It’s fascinating to watch what’s happening in these virtual worlds like Second Life. Machinima is making movies inside virtual worlds.

(GS) What’s your reaction to traditional media and what conflicts exist between it and new business types?

(KG) We haven’t got a lot of reaction by the traditional media. Some people I work with at my day job think our show is just cute, while there some others who take it more seriously and some people don’t get it at all.

(CL) Technologically, it’s simple. What’s challenging for people is why you would do it at all. The organization question is – how do you organize it? There’s a mixture of intrigue and an undercurrent of alarm by professionals. In the long run, there will be more ways to make money from these new business types.

(JL) I’m perfectly entrenched in a career based on the old media business model. I like it. I have affiliations with book sellers and publishers. All are puzzled by these notions and gestures. Some aggressively ignore these new possibilities. I’m not terribly interested in business models. I’m more interested in recognizing the non-commodifiable parts of them such as building social functions. Culture is ultimately owned by everyone and no one.

(CL) Does the potential for engagement excite you?

(JL) I’m not shopping around for someone to write the last chapter for me. I’m interested in having it fooled around with after it’s published online and then repurposed from the reader to the critic to the satirist. I want to be aware of these things. It’s more valuable than dollar figures.

(KG) We get lots of comments on our site. For example, someone wrote a 250-word comment that theburg.tv is everything that’s wrong about Williamsburg, so we created a video response to that. In October 2006, we wrote a Halloween script online, but didn’t have the time to shoot it. The range of interaction varies. We even named a character after a commenter. One commenter told us we were racist because of one Asian character they thought was misrepresented, but it was the Asian actor that made the choice of how to portray that role himself, so we gauge our responses to these reactions.

(GS) Do you get jealous of people who may have better ideas than you?

(CL) If someone has a good idea, I’m extremely grateful for it, but I still have the notion that my argument is still mine. I’m the one who’s writing it. Most creativity comes from collaboration. I will credit all contributions people make.

(JP) It’s interesting to watch these things play out. Second Life builds a virtual world in real time. If someone has a cool idea, we try to contract them, but there’s always an issue of ownership. There’s a quote on Second Life that says it’s “different than the web, because you don’t have sex with a Google page.”

(CL) Will Google work in virtual worlds?

(JP) People want to opt into living spaces. We’re becoming a human computer.

(GS) How are your agency’s digital artists, such as LonelyGirl15, different than traditional artists?

(BW) There’s not that big a difference. We help then get their work seen by people and attach a business model to it. If corporations are involved in make money off of it, then so should the artists. We sign an artist, find out what they want to do next and take them there. They make money and advance their art at the same time.

(GS) How do you know what will work?

(BW) Unique artists are hard to come by. An artist’s appetite is pretty well-defined and we help them realize it. If it’s the right type of client and idea, we might pitch it to the traditional media, but the client might want to keep it to the web.

(GS) Is any of this paying your bills? Is money your focus or are you all about creating?

(JP) Most everything online that makes money is through online advertisements. In Second Life there are virtual currencies called Linden Dollars, some of which are transferred legally and illegally. This is a conflict discussed in the book Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. China is concerned about virtual worlds competing with their own currencies.

(BW) There is a quantifiable business model online. Some clients only make a little money, while some make a lot of it. Television is an ad-supported medium. The Internet will become a much more competitive platform for services. The audience can participate in content, which makes it much more valuable.

(KG) We haven’t made any money yet, but we’ve gotten some interest in sponsorships such as Dewars. We are signed with CAA. We did our first whole season on credit cards. Theburg.tv is different than other viral videos because we have seven recurring characters and shoot on multiple locations. It’s a TV show fit for the Internet. We need to pay some of our actors, because they’re SAG. We’re still figuring it out. A lot of people suggested we take the show to traditional TV. We may pitch it to a network, but it’s not creatively where we want to be. We like that a network can’t tell us what or what not to do. We get most of our viewers through RSS feeds.

(JL) Repurposing materials is not a money area. It functions as publicity. I got an interview with Forbes the other day, because I’m giving stuff away.

(JL) What’s your position on Net Neutrality (the idea that the Internet belongs to everyone)?

(BW) As an agency, I’m not authorized to make political statements, but as a human being, I think Net Neutrality is amazing. We would never know about our artists if it had not been for Net Neutrality. For example, we discovered an episodic mystery online and sold their next idea to Michael Eisner.

Audience Q&A

Q: Is there an idea of the format and length that will be palatable enough for the Internet?

(KG) There’s no magic number for the length of a show. Peer-to-peer technology will make things easier for people to download things at any length. There’s no rules, which is the great thing about the Internet.

(BW) There are starting to be rules. Advertisers need to know what they’re buying, but what’s online now is all over the place. When people more frequently use computers as a television device, things might change. It’s a lean back vs. a lean forward experience. Shorter tends to be better on the Internet than longer.

(JL) There are different lengths when you’re watching things alone vs. with other people.

(BW) There are more people watching TV today than ever before.

(CL) My kids’ media habits and attitudes are so different than mine.

(JP) As an example Justin.tv is this dude and his friends in San Francisco who wears a camera on the side of his head and records his life 24/7. People sponsor him. He posts a schedule of where he’ll be, and you can even watch yourself watching him. He puts the entire unedited video online, but there are no tools that allow the viewers to edit what they want to see. The tools that allow something like this to happen can be found at click.tv.

Q: I avoid YouTube because it looks like crap, but the industry is looking for hits. There’s a strange discrepancy between quality and hits. Where do you stand?

(BW) Media companies are trying to tap into the widest possible fan base. At the agency, we don’t care about hits, but talent. Places like YouTube have the ability to direct people back to the artist’s URL.

Q: Creativity beats money most of the time on the Internet. TV stops creativity. Young people are excited by the Internet because it brings them surprises. How can the Internet be a profitable domain in the future?

(BW) Even though more people are watching TV than ever before, the viewing is chopped by so many different channels. If you want to get something on TV, it has to have a broad appeal. For the Internet, you can program for a niche audience. It’s an inspiring innovation. Half of the business at our agency is facilitating the development of artists online.

(CL) There’s a gap between amateur creativity. How do you sustain people? If online depends on volunteering, we will need to find some sustainable way to keep it going.

(KG) We all just want to work on it part-time and not go into debt.

(JP) My favorite thing in 2006 was Four Eyed Monsters who went into debt, but made something kick ass by creating an online grassroots distribution model.

Q: Is there a way to collaborate on a consensus of the value of art online?

(CL) Science has always been valued without money. What you do is really what counts. Commerce and community exist in different ways. The community gets turned into the audience and participants.

(BW) Check out zefrank.com, an innovative interactive experience.

(JP) Check out iminlikewithyou.com, where you can get points for answering question.

Q: (Arin Crumley, Co-Director, Four Eyed Monsters) What are some qualities of this notion of Cinema 2.0 or Web 2.0 that new media has?

(KG) Things are now sharable and spreadable. We’re a part of Creative Commons, which allows people to share content from your site as long as they cite where it came from.