Great - thanks for replying so thoroughly. I did wonder when I walked out of my sweaty dark basement office into the crisp blue mountain afternoon whether I'd veered from legitimate observation into snark, and I hope not. Like Jeffrey, I totally see the value and importance of this. If anything, a focal point for the web TV show industry is overdue. And it helps focus the mind on the idea of organising for non-commercial artists.
On 9-Mar-09, at 5:15 PM, joshuajcohen wrote: Rupert - You bring up some great points and valid concerns. Let me try to address them: 1) Limit on numbers - We wanted to limit the initial numbers of the IAWTV so we could create a nimble organization that in its inaugural years is capable of getting a lot accomplished. That includes designing an organizational structure that will address a lot of the online video community's concerns. In too many instances we've seen fledgling organizations buckle under the weight of their membership before they were ever able to really get off the ground. I think we have a great core group that's a well-balanced mix of independent content creators, executives, agents, and other creatives who are invested in the industry and its future. In the coming months they'll shape the way the academy grows and the induction process for new members. That being said, I would love to see more independent content creators represented as the IAWTV moves forward and if you have any suggestions on the types of, or specific people you'd like to see in the academy, please send them over. 2) International - Agreed, there admittedly isn't a whole lot of representation outside of the US at this moment, but hopefully that will quickly change (in fact, we're building in support for non- English language selections for next year's Streamy Awards). Again, if Jeffrey or anyone else has recommendations for people who live outside the US who are dedicated to the space, please send those names over. 3) And to Jeffrey's point, ultimately the IAWTV is about providing legitimacy to and growing the web television space. I think an organization like this can have a much bigger voice than the sum of its parts and bring a lot more well-deserved recognition to the online video community as a whole, which I believe is good for everyone. Moving forward, I also hope the IAWTV is able to accomplish a lot of what Jeffrey mentioned: best practices and labor standards and providing guidelines and resources for emerging talent. We all realize the IAWTV is a nascent organization within a burgeoning industry. If you have any suggestions on membership or roles you see that the academy could play, please get in touch. - Josh _________________ Josh Cohen http://www.tilzy.tv joshuaATtilzyDOTtv --- In [email protected], Jeffrey Taylor <thejeffreytay...@...> wrote: > > Big pet peeve of mine when US orgs call themselves international in word, > but not in deed. I'm willing to help in any way I can, and have lots of > ex-US contacts, so anyone "in charge" please feel free to ping me. I > understand that there's reps from international companies, but a big missing > I see here is the independent creators from outside the US. They need > empowering, too! > > In any case, I'm glad this is coming up. Commercial online video producers > need legitimacy, best practice and labor standards in the face of > traditional corporate hegemony. Traditional media execs needs to know that > online "shows" are not cat pissing in toilet vids on YouTube. The community > needs to develop guidelines, not a set of rules, that can help emerging > talent create their own wins. And most importantly, commercial online video > producers need to ensure that they're not relegated to being "cheap labor" > just because they can do everything studios can with fewer people and less > overhead. Cheaper is fine, exploitive is not. For these reasons, I really > hope that the iawtv is a success. > > I think the thing we all need to realize now is that the medium is > developing to the point that different genres are solidifying in online > video content. This is a wonderful thing, and we need to ensure that we put > the cheering on of people following their bliss at the forefront and put our > "I don't like this" and our "I wouldn't do it that way" types of statements > on the backburner. > > > > 2009/3/9 Rupert <rup...@...> > > > Here's the kind of post that would have induced a feeding frenzy back > > in the good old bad old days here on the group. Like throwing an > > underling to the piranhas. In the spirit of that, I give you: > > > > The International Academy of Web Television > > http://www.iawtv.org/ > > > > Just launched last week, though no one mentioned it here. > > > > Members are voting on The Streamys awards which Josh Cohen announced > > a while ago here. The Academy was created by a cartel of the main > > web video news sites: Tilzy.tv, Tubefilter and NewTeeVee. > > > > They've published their inaugural membership list, featuring some of > > our friends from the group. Most of those you'd expect, who have > > popular shows, know a lot of people, do the social media thing well, > > and connect in real life in the right circles at meetups in NY, SF or > > LA (But not Scoble or Feldman or Ze Frank). Not just performers and > > show producers, but executives and talent agents. > > > > I'm not quite sure why the limit on numbers - other Academies have > > hundreds or thousands of members, and there are quite a few people > > I'd want to see on the list who aren't there, because they're either > > not commercial enough or not well enough connected - even though they > > have strong and interesting voices and ideas about web television and > > independent production. That said, I'm particularly glad to see W&S > > in there. Although I clearly remember Quirk saying that awards were > > pretentious and pointless, and belong on the wall of real estate > > offices, so I hope you're not going to vote in the Streamys. (I > > nominated you). > > > > And so much for "International" - as far as I can see, the only even > > vaguely non-US representation there is Daily Motion's US > > representative and RDF television's US executive. Not even anybody > > from any other English speaking countries? That's just lazy - I > > wouldn't be so bothered by it if it wasn't called the "International > > Academy of Web Television". If you're going to call it that, you've > > got to go out of your way to get some representation from other > > countries, on more than a token level. > > > > Anyway, now the media has an official organisation to talk to when > > they do stories about Web TV. So if the rest of us want to have a > > voice in media discussion of web video (its present state and its > > future), we'd better follow Jeffrey's lead and organize ourselves. > > > > Rupert > > http://twittervlog.tv > > > > > > > > > > -- > Jeffrey Taylor > 912 Cole St, #349 > San Francisco, CA 94117 > USA > Mobile: +14157281264 > Fax: +33177722734 > http://twitter.com/jeffreytaylor > http://organicconversations.com > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > Rupert http://twittervlog.tv/ Creative Mobile Filmmaking Shot, edited and sent with my Nokia N93 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
