Ha-ha, just kidding. But my rantings the other day about "new media" and television are eerily prescient (see Writers' Strike and New Media).
I don't know if you saw the other day that NBC has picked up the web series Quarterlife to air on their network.
Granted, Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick who created "Quarterlife" have dabbled in television before, creating such shows as "thirtysomething," "My So-Called Life" and "Once & Again." But still, the fact that they're TV-insiders is not really important, what's key is the money and control here.
In the deal with NBC Herskovitz and Zwick will retain 100% ownership and creative control.
How is this possible? Well, first off the thirty-six 8-minute webisodes were written to be combined into hour-long episodes, six in total. And second, the WGA Strike has really threatened the big networks. I mean, shoot, is this were a normal year do you really think that the GEICO Cavemen would still be airing?!
If the strike isn't settled by then, NBC is going to need all of the new programming it can get come January. "The Biggest Loser" and "Deal or No Deal" will get old if they're on every night of the week.
There's one paragraph from the Hollywood Reporter article that's really important, though:
- Even with that additional financial help by NBC and the network's license fee for the show, Herskovitz said "Quarterlife" is still losing money due to startup costs and the challenges of launching an Internet series. He declined to discuss the size of the license fee NBC is paying, saying only that it is "substantially less than what they would normally pay for a drama series."
But if it's a hit, and it will totally be worth it if Herskovitz and Zwick can sell 10 bazillion DVDs or Blu-rays (BRs? Blu-ray Discs? BRDs??), as they'll own the rights to all of that.
This could also help the writers' cause, too. The fact that a web-series can make the leap to television should prove that the two media aren't that far off, and the web really should be considered an viable distribution channel.
Pretty interesting times we live in ...
