Digital Talent Agency

Planning for Social Memes... Case Study: Susan Boyle, the internet singing sensation.

"ITV, YouTube and Simon Cowell have missed sharing a million-pound windfall because they have failed to reach a deal to sell advertising against clips of Susan Boyle, the internet singing sensation.

The Scotswoman’s performance on ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent has been watched more than 75 million times on YouTube in a fortnight, but the television network is insisting that no advertisements be shown against the clips while it negotiates with the Google-owned video site"

We advise that media companies introducing new individuals to mass media and the public take the time to develop the appropriate social profiles and media channels BEFORE that personal or brand is presented to the public.  First movers typically develop and control the audience, and if something takes off, control the revenue.

Here's the complete article.

Susan Boyle competitor Shaheen Jafargholi is looking to become another social meme.

The Burden of Interactivity: Jimmy Fallon uses the latest 2.0 tools.

"For nonreviewing viewers, interactivity is an opportunity for fun, creativity, intimacy with the talent, exposure to advertising and giveaways and community. For talent — for writers, actors, journalists and directors — interactivity often seems like a nightmare: ceding the artistic control (to hordes, no less) that is the whole reason they like this work in the first place. Still, it makes perfect sense that NBC right now would put aside qualms about interactivity to build a better viewertrap."

Here's the complete article.

by Virginia Hefferman for the NY Times.

Hybrid firm combines Hollywood, digital media (last we checked)

from the Los Angeles Times

"Agency 3.0, will help companies, content providers and advertisers navigate the digital landscape by performing some of the traditional functions of an ad agency in addition to tackling technical areas such as user interfaces and product development."

William Morris’ decision to take an undisclosed equity stake in Agency 3.0 signals the talent agency’s desire to play a larger role in digital media.

This year it announced it was joining with Silicon Valley venture capital firms Accel Partners and Venrock, as well as telecommunications giant AT&T Inc., to invest in consumer technology and media start-ups.

Other talent agencies have taken different tacks when it comes to new media. Creative Artists Agency joined with Sequoia Capital to back Will Farrell’s online entertainment site, FunnyOrDie.com. And advertising agency Spot Runner and United Talent Agency helped start 60Frames Entertainment, which creates short-form online content."

Interesting concepts but perhaps a lack of direction as their blog hasn't been updated since July. Watch this space ;)

Complete article here.

The World Loves American Media, Even If It Hates Our Politics

by Tim Arango for the New York Times.

"Media companies have gotten what they wanted, even if the White House has not. In the last eight years, American pop culture, already popular, has boomed around the globe while opinions of America itself have soured.

The television program “CSI” is now more popular in France than in the United States. Hollywood movies routinely sell far more tickets overseas than at home. A Russian remake of the TV show “Married With Children” has been so popular that Sony, the producer of the show, has hired back the original writers to produce new scripts for Russia. Even in the Muslim world, American pop culture has spread."

The complete article here.

Repurposing Archival Footage

Here's the original.

Here's the VW re-appropriation.

Golden Era TV meets the Digital Age

By David Sarno

When shows like "The Frank Sinatra Show" and other television series were produced, no one predicted Youtube.

"As television collectors large and small continue to digitize and upload thousands of rare old film reels and videotapes, YouTube is threatening to become a repository of television history that could rival the nation's leading broadcast museums, both in the scope of its offerings and in the number of people it can reach."

With this YouTube-based resurrection, however, has come not just nostalgia but a set of legal questions as tangled as a reel of tape that's come off its spool.

For one thing, a Dickensian legal impasse arises when a collector owns a piece of one-of-a-kind footage that's still under copyright. In a case like that, the collector owns the footage, but not the rights, while the rights-holder owns the rights but not the footage."

Here's the complete article.