Music (used with permission): Goodbye Horses (Extended Version) by Q Lazzarus (Download from TrashMenagerie.com).

Watch and share on YouTube, Vimeo, or Flickr.

Links:
Daily Self Portrait Outtakes - March 2009
Daily Self Portrait Outtakes - February 2009
Daily Self Portrait Outtakes - January 2009

Why do we praise the mainstream for adopting new media? Is it the excitement that we feel when our industry is being validated, or is it just our kindhearted nature to pat the mentally challenged on the back when they finally learn to do something right. Unfortunately, I believe it’s a hint of both.

This morning Marc Hustvedt, founder of web television news site Tubefilter twittered the above message announcing:

Marc Hustvedt: Disney becomes equity partner in Hulu, the premium content battle with YouTube heats up. This will be good for content creators.. [Link]

His positive and enthusiastic remark set off a brief, but meaningful discussion on whether the new partner will, in fact, be good for content creators:

Casey McKinnon: @MarcHustvedt The problem is that Hulu is a gatekeeper, not an open platform. Have they spoken about opening themselves up? [Link]

Marc Hustvedt: @caseymckinnon, @ebregman, @nickpepito - indie creators will benefit too, it’s about first creating competition to distribute content [Link]

Nick Pepito: @caseymckinnon, @marchustvedt I think Hulu will move beyond studio content & begin to sign indie, they’ll have to. [Link]

Casey McKinnon: @nickpepito Hulu doesn’t “have to” do anything. It’s a site owned by NBC/FOX/ABC, who have obvious vested interests. [Link]

I’ve been getting more @replies on Twitter about this topic, so allow me to explain further in 140 characters of more…

As I mentioned on Twitter, Hulu is a site owned by three major networks; NBC, FOX, and ABC (Disney). They use the site to distribute their TV shows online in order to garner more views and to prevent the black market propagation of their shows on torrent sites. With the exception of made-for-the-web production Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog, Hulu is available exclusively in the United States.

Though Dr. Horrible was an indie production - a very expensive one - creator Joss Whedon has obvious ties with FOX that, no doubt, helped him distribute his content on Hulu. Most other web series listed on Hulu also have mainstream ties, like:

• The show is a web-based series created by a major network (Example: FEARnet)
• The show is created by or stars known celebrities (Example: Pink)
• The show is made by talented indie creators - most probably living in Los Angeles - who have been lucky enough to get a licensing deal (Example: Squeegees)

Sure, there are exceptions to the above ties to the mainstream, like Gary Vaynerchuk’s The Thunder Show (aka. Wine Library TV), but with his growing popularity it’s not absurd to assume the other shows have licensing deals or friends in high places.

So what does the ABC Disney partnership mean for us indie creators? Nothing until we see a more open platform on Hulu.

Some have mentioned on Twitter that Hulu needs to shift their entertainment to include more indie web content or their numbers will flatten over time… and I wish that were true, but mainstream TV shows made by already famous people have a built-in audience. Indie web series creators have a much larger ladder to climb to get the same viewership as people like Joss Whedon, and the best thing we can do is to “never give up and never surrender!”

This is why I am unperturbed by the new ABC Disney partnership. In essence, it’s just more of the same… and a very obvious merger. Also, let us not forget that ABC has been distributing their shows online for a long time now… they just had a less than desirable user experience. So, to celebrate their partnership with Hulu in a world where content should be (and already is) cross platform, is rather redundant.

Marc Hustvedt believes that creating competition to distribute content will eventually help indie creators, but since Hulu and YouTube are in a competition over TV shows and movies I feel that indie web productions are being left in the cold. Perhaps someday we’ll be reminiscing on all the crazy videos we used to watch on YouTube… whatever happen to those anyway?

PodSafe music: Roller by MonkeyBacon (Download from GarageBand.com).

Watch and share on YouTube, Vimeo, or Flickr.

Links:
Daily Self Portrait Outtakes - February 2009
Daily Self Portrait Outtakes - January 2009
Daily Self Portrait Outtakes - December 2008

The great Percy Carey interviewed me this week for his column Percy Carey’s Comic Book Corner at Complex.com. Click here to read the article.

Josh Allard!!!

This means that Josh’s image will become the new icon of my next web series (announcement coming soon).

Special thanks to all the talented illustrators that entered, including Vincent Cruvellier, Mo Ali, and Chuck V. All entries were impressive and had really unique takes on the Lichtenstein look.

Related blog post:
Photoshop/Drawing Contest: Casey Lichtenstein!

—>
Download the full-size version of my photo here.

A couple of guidelines to make it work:

1. Make sure my eyes are green
2. My hair should be black with blue highlights
3. The ben-day dots are important

The best Casey Lichtenstein rendition will become the avatar for my next web series and the winner will be promoted on the new site with a link to their site and a special thanks.

Submit your entries to casey at caseymckinnon dot com. Deadline: April 1, 2009.

N.B.: Please do not enter this contest if you’re not cool with me using the image for commercial purposes.

Over a year and a half ago I wrote an article for The Guardian entitled “Online-only shows don’t rate at IMDb.” At the time, there were very few web series listed on the site; Ask A Ninja was amongst the few. Today there are dozens of web series listed on IMDb, but they continue to be listed as TV Series. At SXSW this year I asked Col Needham, IMDb founder and managing director, for an update in person on whether they plan to start a category for web series.

The answer is a resounding yes. In the second or third quarter of this year (anytime between April 1st and September 30th), IMDb will roll out the ability to tag a submission as either a web series or an individual (one-off) online video.

Click on the player below for an embarrassingly mediocre audio copy of Needham’s reply.

(N.B. I was asked to speak loud because the microphone wasn’t functioning properly.)

This is big news… much bigger than learning that IMDb will also begin streaming videos (yay?). Of course, the announcement will beg more questions on what credentials are necessary for acceptance to the database under those categories. When I spoke with Needham a year and a half ago, he mentioned the following credentials for submitting a web series:

• Notable press coverage;
• Large view count;
• Notable enough to have its own Wikipedia page.

I’m guessing these credentials will be similar to those they will use to accept new submissions in the future. Time will tell.

Related Links:
Now on IMDb!
Listing Web Video Series on IMDb

I went to a meeting the other day and while I was waiting in the lobby a bunch of people started talking about Twitter… so, naturally, I couldn’t help but butt in.

When I told them I was on Twitter and that I just Twittered 5 minutes ago from that very location, they preceded to ask question after question…

“What do you Twitter about?”
“How many times do you Twitter a day?”
“Do you HAVE to follow everyone?”

(It was kind of sweet, actually, because when the executive I was there to meet came down to the lobby I was surrounded by a swarm of Twitter groupies.)

Over the past 2 years, I’ve been thinking of Twitter mostly as a marketing tool - and part of that is developing an audience WITHOUT marketing, but instead sharing links and anecdotes pertinent to the subject you would normally want to advertise. But, after talking to these n00bs in the lobby about how I use Twitter I realized something deeper… Twitter is my water cooler.

Twitter is the place I go to when I’m not in the headspace to work. The place I go when I need a break. The place I get my news, gossip and information about my friends. And, as someone who works from home, Twitter filled a real gap in my social life (anti-social life?).

Just a thought. /thought.

Above photo courtesy of CC Chapman.

PodSafe music: El Fin by Klassick Productions (Download uncut version here).

Watch and share on YouTube, Vimeo, or Flickr.

Links:
Daily Self Portrait Outtakes - January 2009
Daily Self Portrait Outtakes - December 2008
Daily Self Portrait Outtakes - November 2008

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how Twitter has finally permeated the mainstream. It came in waves… starting with the San Francisco tech community and moving through my own beloved social media friends. Chris Brogan was the first to send me an invite to the site, but at that time I was already so busy on social networking sites that I just wasn’t interested in bothering with another one. After resisting for months, it was this chat with Clintus McGintus on February 17, 2007, at 11:26pm EST that finally convinced me to join:

me: my twitter life would be boring

Clintus: no way
!!!
are you kidding
you are so ooooo interesting
and funny
your twitter life would be aweome

me: woke up
did some editing
went to fridge
did more editing
watched days of our lives
did more editing
answered fan mail
did more editing
went to bed
very exciting

Clintus: haha
yes but it would be put in a way that would be humorous
I know it
I mean just look at your flickr photos

me: perhaps
thanks man

Clintus: you are amazing. and I truly believe that anything you do will have that amazing feel.
I did always wonder why you and rudy or atleast one of you didnt twitter.

me: FINE! i’ll do it

Since then, much has happened. SXSW 2007 made (but nearly broke) Twitter - must have been those Twitterdildonics - and Twitter has had pretty steady growth since then.

But it wasn’t until the San Diego Comic Con last year that I noticed a whole new group joining the site. All my comic creator contacts finally moved from trashy MySpace profiles to Twitter. And now, with LeVar Burton and Ashton Kutcher paving the path, more and more Hollywood celebrities are signing up too. Fun.

The future of Twitter and online communities is bright, but it depends how these Hollywood n00bs (and you) decide to use it. My advice is to pay attention to what your followers are trying to tell you in their replies to you and block people saying nasty shit, reward random sweet followers with sweet/witty replies, and follow new and interesting people you grow to appreciate. Twitter is your garden, go plant the seeds and architect its’ growth.