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I made a promise to a few friends that I would report back what I learned from this year’s NewTeeVee Conference. I took my trusty 3CCD video camera and thought I’d captured some TV magic. I was really disappointed to find 2 things a) I didn’t film much worth reporting and b) what I did record looks and sounds like dog poop. I hope you all will forgive me and if you’re a former colleague of mine… I swear I have not flown over the coo coo’s nest. I have to tell you guys, NewTeeVee was an incredible conference for me as I find myself bridging the gap between traditional television and new media. One of the reason’s I taped so little was because I was at the edge of my seat listening the entire day. So I hope at the very least you get a kick out of the video I cut. It’s not pretty but at least you can have some fun. Additionally my friends at Ustream recorded the event so if you’ve got the time you should have a listen. My favorite speaker of the day was Jason Kilar, CEO of Hulu.com. The most delusional of the day (no disrespect) was David Verklin CEO, Canoe Ventures.

If you’re a blogger, vlogger, lifecaster or anyone who thinks that producing content for the internet is going to make them a millionaire, then NewTeeVee was not the right conference for you. Why? NewTeeVee weighted more toward premium content than it did toward user generated content. By premium I mean shows that come from Television or have enough of a financial backing to have a high production value. As a production professional I was very excited to see television industry people accepting and starting to understand that just repackaging shows from television and putting them on the web is not enough, in fact it’s a missed opportunity. The tools to interact with your audience and give them a chance to participate and interact are everywhere. Creating community within the folks that like your show can’t be done on television, but it can be done using social media tools. To me that is a key factor and why I believe people will continue to move their viewing habits from 1-way TV to 2-way web.

There were a number of “breakout stars” that were interviewed about their success. The one common ingredient I heard from these various Internet celebrities was passion. Being a successful online content producer has no secret formula. They did what they did cause they couldn’t help themselves. Their content was about the things that matter to them that they love and want to share with the world. I think you can call it an obsession. In fact listening to the success stories: Jay Smooth, Lucas Cruikshank & Michael Buckley none of them started doing what they did because they were driven by money. They have a need to share their content and the Internet provided them with a vehicle to distribute their shows, and connect with an audience. There was one other star named Felicia Day. I stepped out during most of her chat, but she has also achieved great success with an online fictional show called the Guild. What I did hear from her was that her webisodes were just that, a series made for the web and not as an afterthought of a show intended for the big screen (in this case television).

There is a great need for online video content and from what I heard the trend is a shrinking television audience and a growing online audience. That being said, there are very few jobs like the one I had at Seesmic where I got paid to produce an online show. The exception is if your show gets millions of hits. In that case the platform, or the place you post your show, will pay you to keep you around. Every third word at the conference was “monetize.” Although that was the case, there wasn’t really a innovation in how that would happen. It all comes back to numbers and selling sponsorship and ads.

So there are my thoughts on NewTeeVee. If you watched the video above you might be thinking, but what about meeting Jesse Alexander, the writer and producer of Heroes. That was cool. As you can see I was nervous and flustered, so I’m trying to forget about it… but since I promised Phil Campbell that I would try and get an answer to a burning question he had about the direction of our favorite show Heroes I am humbly posting it, unflattering, noisy video and all.

This is just a tiny bit of the NewTeeVee experience. I have tons more to say but I’d rather hear from you and start a discussion. Leave me a video message, text or get in touch with me through my contact page. This is an exciting time to be a content producer and I am always happy to keep the conversation going.

And one more thing. Rachael Joy, if you are reading this post will you please tell us, what is transmedia?