down the avenue

Startups Need Stories

The final panel at The Israel Conference crowded themselves onto the stage, three judges and five digital entertainment start-ups in a simulated Hollywood pitch meeting.

The most valuable lesson was the insight into how ideas are sold in the entertainment industry.  Apparently, the people who write the checks have attention spans that make Twitter seem like Tolstoy.   Or perhaps it's just that in Hollywood pitching stories is the norm, so people need a narrative.

Like the rest of us, really.  When the judges looked bored their expressions were matched by the members of the audience.  One of the threads woven through the day's panels was that we need to tell good stories.   The themes of Israeli character were brought up again and again, usually in the context of a story.  The conference included a surprise visit (and story) from Lou Lenart, one of the heroes of Israel's war of independence.

Perhaps the most illustrative example on the panel was when Yosi Glick pitched Jinni, a movie search engine that helps you choose films based on search terms that have meaning and texture rather than flat keywords with no emotional content. Think - "I'm in the mood for..." instead of "Where are your action movies?"

Here's how Glick, the company's president, started: "I don't know what movies my wife likes and I've been married to her for 24 years.  Plus I have no idea what her mood is.  So I have a challenge, because I want to save my marriage."   His business idea was going to be the cavalry in his life's own romantic comedy, and we were ready to buy tickets.

Shortly after he went to the slide presentation we started to get lost.  Most demos can't avoid the PowerPointed details, but it all should feed the story - one of the judges, David Wertenheimer of USC's Entertainment Technology Center, even suggested that he have some slides at the front and back of the presentation, at first fighting over a movie choice and at the end watching happily into the sunset. 

The other presentations are in streaming video available at the conference link above.  It's worth a look, both for the content of the pitches and for the process itself.

An Early Reading of Eve Ensler's New Play O.P.C.

Pat Mitchell moderated an on-stage chat with playwright Eve Ensler and Global Green's CEO Matt Peterson after an early reading of Eve's new play O.P.C. at Santa Monica Bay Woman's Club earlier this month.

The cast includes acclaimed actress Stockard Channing, a favorite of mine, who as always, managed to add charm to her character, the mother of the lead, who is running for Senator.

O.P.C. is short for Obsessive Political Correctness, which combines all things green or lack thereof, over consumption, alternative energy, the ozone, wildlife, carbon footprint meets addiction to Prada, politics and the questions we face during our 'coming of age' and beyond.

Below: Eve with Pat and Matt in a discussion after the reading

Mark Cuban on TV & Online Business Models

Mark Cuban was at D last week in a blue and white football jersey. It's hard to believe that the man is neary 51. Still engaging and (okay, hot), he draws the audience in with controversial comments and an air of leadership.

He reminds us that 99% of people still watch TV versus online despite the growth of online video, especially for movies, "HDTV is a big part of people’s lives in the living room," says Mark.

“When Google bought YouTube, they didn’t monetize it immediately. The message was volume and ubiquity, and if that’s the criteria, then you don’t pay attention to money right away.”

As for Cuban on his future plans, he says, "it’s a big fight and really expensive to have anything stand out. Unless you think you can create a platform that out-numbers YouTube, and then you have to work up against some really big pockets."

Despite some that say online viral will work alone, there’s still a huge cost of marketing, particularly if you want to stay in the game long term. Walt Mossberg asks him whether he actually watches online video and we learn that he does but it's not "substantial."

Video for the internet becomes a testing ground for mediums that have revenue and actual businesses that can be profitable. Rupert Murdoch, who was sitting three seats away from me in the front row, was busy jotting down notes as Cuban talked about online video business models. And then he changed direction, "What happens if someone outgoogled Google?" he asks Walt in an intimate on-stage dialogue.

He expands on business models. "Facebook has a large user base but is experimenting with everything else." Mark reminds us that everyone has a primary area and then everything else. He says, "Google has search that they monetize and that subsidizes everything else. Everyone has their one big thing where they make money and it subsidizes everything else."

Swisher asks him what he thinks the business model is for Twitter, still determined to get an answer a day after the Twitter founders were on stage. Cuban responds, “its not a question of a business model, it’s a question with what. They’re just having fun teasing everyone and playing with people, but its just a question of when.”

Charisma and a sense of authority remains, football jersey and all. Latest stats I've seen is that he has a net worth of $2.3 billion. Not bad for recessionary times.

Mediabistro Circus 2009......

Mediabistro Circus 2009 is coming up in NYC June 2-3, 2009: Where media meets technology and where the two are heading. Some of my favorite people in the industry are speaking and attending.

See highlights from 2008 here and register here.

My favorite advice from the speakers last year was from Wired's Chris Anderson who emphasized the importance of being laser focused and having a Raison D'etre. You need to be about something. He said: "Social networking is a feature, not a destination......jts not someplace you go to......we need to take social networking out of Facebook and bring it into our sites in our own way....."

Hear hear. We need to be about something and have a clear sense of purpose. That means create a vision and own it baby, own it. And, that means living it and being it. Ethically, authentically and passionately every step of the way.

Talk Show Tips

Out this week, TalkShowTips uncovers 72 Secret Master Host Techniques.

More than a book, Susan Bratton has compiled a culmination of learning from five years of podcasting, hundreds of interviews and more than a dozen years of public speaking, emceeing and moderating panels. Anyone who does interviews would be interested in learning more about this new system: bloggers, vidcasters, podcasters, radio and TV hosts or interviewers.

It contains a eBook with all the techniques and teachings, a worksheet for sending a guest invitation, a script for talking to a publicist or assistant to book a guest, a Mad-Lib's style worksheet to cement the format and flow of your show, ton's of in interview tricks and techniques, a strategy called, The Grid, that helps you get ready for a show efficiently.

Kitchen 4B: Get Your Appetite Ready

The New York Times Magazine cooking videos, formerly known as ‘Tiny Kitchen,’ are back under a new name: New Kitchen 4B.

They will be posting two webisodes a month. Jill Santopietro's latest webisode featured a caramelized onion, fig, bacon and Gorgonzola pizza. Stay tuned. Kitchen 4B also now airs on the New York Times channel on JetBlue.

Network Numbers: Scary and Getting Scarier

This week's Time (yes, I mean the hard copy - I still read magazines :-), has a piece on the collapse of TV, the reason networks are fading and includes a series of numbers they got from Nielsen Media Research.

Take a look at their stats on percentage of households watching ABC, NBC and CBS in prime time through the years:

1952-1953 - 75% (I Love Lucy on CBS, highest of all the numbers at 67%)
1962-1963 - 55% (Beverly Hillbillies high at 36%)
1972-1973 - 56% (All in the Family big)
1982-1983 - 51% (60 Minutes had 26% on CBS)
1992-1993 - 37% (60 Minutes still hot, but down to 22%)
2002-2003 - 22% (CSI - never actually watched it)
2007-2008 - 18% (of that 18%, 16% went to American Idol on Fox - ouch)

As networks fade just as newspapers are dying off, there won't be budgets to make the next West Wing (my favorite by far in the last two decades). Free is where it's at everywhere. Free TV, free magazines, free advice, free offers, free, free, free, and more free.

Says Time, "the irony of the nostalgia for TV's 'golden age' is that it romanticizes the very things people used to condemn. Mass media were once homogenizing; now we miss how they unified us."

People are finding other means to get unified, largely social networks which includes TV over at YouTube and Vimeo, as well as Twitter and niche communities inside social networks, demonstrating that the Long Tail is indeed in play.

Behind the Scenes of The Wizard of Oz

At the Roxie in San Francisco tonight, Evan Schwartz reveals the hows, whys and psychology behind the characters of the Wizard of Oz, as originally told by L. Frank Baum. (there will be two matinees on Saturday as well)

His new book Finding Oz, conveniently launching during the 70th anniversary of the Wizard of Oz, will bring a new perspective to the American story that everyone knows and loves so well.

Below Evan in 826 Valencia who will receive 10% of Finding Oz book sales.

Transcendent Man World Premier: April 25

Starting at a World Premier in New York on April 25, 2009, Ray Kurzweil's Singularity and thought process behind it comes to the theatre in a film called Transcendent Man.

Director Barry Ptolemy traveled to five countries and followed Ray Kurzweil for two years, documenting Kurzweil's journey to bring the ideas from his best-selling book The Singularity is Near to a global audience.

Ptolemy explores the social and philosophical implications of the transformative changes that Kurzweil predicts including what its promise means for humanity. There are conversations with world leaders such as Colin Powell, technologists such as Hugo de Garis, Peter Diamandis, Kevin Warwick, and Dean Kamen and journalists such as Kevin Kelly and Tom Abate; and luminary musician Stevie Wonder.

Award-winning American composer Philip Glass composed the original theme music, which mirrors the depth and intensity of the film. For a glimpse of the movie trailer, click here.

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL SCREENING TIMES:

• Saturday, April 25, 8:00 pm: School of Visual Arts, 333 West 23rd Street, New York
• Sunday, April 26, 4:45 pm: AMC Village VII, 66 Third Avenue, New York
• Tuesday, April 28, 7:00 pm: School of Visual Arts, 333 West 23rd Street, New York
• Friday, May 1, 5:00 pm: AMC Village VII, 66 Third Avenue, New York

Who is the Real Wizard?

Have you ever wondered, either as a child or an adult, who is the wizard? The real wizard? Evan Schwartz who did a three minute talk at TED in February, just released the book Finding Oz, which you can now purchase on Amazon among other places.

Here is a creative and fun YouTube movie with a bit of tease. You can also join the growing in popularity Facebook Group.