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Ten glimpses into the crystal ball: the future of documentary
Written by David Tames on June 18, 2011
Filed Under Business, Distribution, Documentary, Film Festivals, Filmmaking, Front Page, Media Technology, New Media, Television, The Media, Web
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I’ve been contemplating the evolution of the documentary this summer and I was delighted to see that The MediaGuardian’s recent Sheffield Doc/Fest 2011 coverage includes ten articles providing a refreshing perspective on how documentary makers are finding new ways to reach their...  Continue Reading...

Philip Hodgetts of Open Television Network at New Media Expo
Written by David Tames on August 15, 2008
Filed Under Distribution, Interviews, New Media, Podcasting, Television, The Media, Video, Video on the Web
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I spoke with Philip Hodgetts at the New Media Expo in Las Vegas and asked him about his new venture, the Open Television Network which I blogged about several weeks ago.  Play Video Music by Colin Owens.  Read More →

Inventing the Movies
Written by David Tames on July 31, 2008
Filed Under Books, Business, Filmmakers, Filmmaking, Interviews, Media Technology, Television, The Media
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Some of the things I love about summer are weekend trips to the Berkshires, taking time off for a vacation, and all that means more time available to read books. On my summer reading stack this year was an advance copy of Inventing the Movies, a new book by Scott Kirsner that takes you on...  Continue Reading...

The flip side of the quarterlife flop
Written by David Tames on February 29, 2008
Filed Under Distribution, Television, Video on the Web, Web
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Articles have reported that quarterlife, the online episodic that NBC licensed for television broadcast, was deemed unsuccessful when it attracted something like three million viewers on Tuesday night. In terms of broadcast television economics, that’s considered a failure, but there...  Continue Reading...

Open Television Network lauched to serve the fat middle of the long tail
Written by David Tames on February 27, 2008
Filed Under Distribution, New Media, Podcasting, Television, The Media, Video on the Web
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The Open Television Network (OTN) was launched last month with the goal of providing a distribution network for the “fat middle” of the Long Tail, helping to build a “middle class” of media publishers. It’s a framework that allows small media producers to sell...  Continue Reading...

Time viewers spend on then net is rivaling TV time
Written by David Tames on December 7, 2007
Filed Under Media Literacy, Television, The Media, Video on the Web, Web
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An IBM survey of consumer behavior, reported by the Hollywood Reporter in the article “Study: TV is taking a back seat” by Georg Szalai, documents that the time consumers spend on the Internet is rivaling their TV time. I took away two interesting data points from the article:...  Continue Reading...

twentysomething minutes with Marshall Herskovitz
Written by David Tames on November 30, 2007
Filed Under Television, Video on the Web
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I just posted over at Art Film Talk an interview with Marshall Herskovitz in which he discusses the origins of Quarterlife, the new web-based project he’s producing with Edward Zwick. In the interview we cover the origins of the project, the writers strike, and what’s different...  Continue Reading...

Web Video: Move Over, Amateurs
Written by David Tames on November 20, 2007
Filed Under Television, The Media, Video on the Web, Web
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I read an article today in BusinessWeek by Catherine Holahan titled, “Web Video: Move Over, Amateurs” that claims that “as more professionally produced content finds a home online, user-generated video becomes less alluring to viewers—and advertisers,” and while this...  Continue Reading...