Territan (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} territan) wrote,@ 2007-11-07 06:40:00 |
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| Current location: | home |
| Current mood: |  hungry |
| Entry tags: | television |
Mr. YouTube, you're on in five.
I don't watch much television. This is a mixed blessing, because while it spares me from caring about any series that will ultimately be cancelled by an executive pinhead more interested in short-term advertising profits than in long-term plot development and character arc, it also cuts me off from some conversation at work. Because I don't know what happened in the latest episodes of Heroes or Lost, I find I sometimes have reason to give talk at work a wide berth. Not that it's a bad thing, though, because it's accepted by most people who know me that I could probably write weirder stuff in my sleep.
So then the people who write the shows fell out of lockstep with the people who greenlight and produce the shows, and suddenly Hollywood is staring a writer's strike in the face, and the rest of the country is facing a drought of content. <span class="sarcasm">Waaaaaaah.</span>
Part of me can't help laughing. In fact, part of me is lounging around the living room in its underwear, giggling maniacally and playing with the bubble machine, having freebased a chunk of schadenfreude and gotten higher than the aggregate of any three space missions of your choice. Hey, I have a sizeable stockpile of the stuff. I might as well indulge. Oh hell, actually most of me is laughing at this.
And the rest of me? Well, not exactly sad. More like intrigued and expectant. See, a lot of these people are suddenly going to realize that the big content providers aren't providing content. The well will go dry, the collective of couch potatoes will look up, intone "We Must Be Entertained!", and start looking around for something new to watch.
Meanwhile, there are all of these little video services out there like YouTube and Google Videos that... well, sadly, most people don't so much produce content themselves as want to show other people content from other sources that they liked. The big content providers are obviously trying to stomp down on that because they don't think they need the popularity and free marketing. Copyright lawyers can sometimes be funny.
But some people do produce content, and they can inspire others. For instance, the classic short film Tony vs. Paul got enough people interested in stop motion animation to create answers, responses, take-offs..... and ironically, a sneaker commercial which even more ironically I don't have a link to. It seems the guys behind the Pollinate videos were dead-on: rip-offs can occur in all directions, and creativity is something to aspire to.
Let's get back to original content. With the major din of the the major content providers dying down due to repetition and a lack of new material, some people may be inspired to produce something of their own. And in the absence of something more professional-looking, it could catch on.
Will it start a revolution? Probably not, but now that the guards are asleep in the towers, it seems like the best time to attack.
Anyone got any links they want to share?
