Content is a woman, distribution is a man.

While I am not directly involved in content creation as a producer anymore, or on the distribution side of things, this article caught my eye because of my interest in seeing good content.

I’m pretty sure I have posted links to this guy’s article before - Ashkan Karbasfrooshan is CEO of WatchMojo.com, a producer of premium video content.

These two articles talk about online content and exclusivity and include what seems to be an accurate picture of content being a “woman” and distribution, a “man.”

He postulates…

By and large, distribution companies

-        never make any promises,

-        have no-strings-attached offerings,

-        make no commitments,

-        rarely seek exclusivity, and

-        when they do, it’s usually too good to be true.

Content owners, meanwhile,

-        enter distribution deals with expectations,

-        believe the promises they hear,

-        expect a commitment, and

-        want a guarantee.

In his second article on the same subject, he adds a third and fourth element to this relationship – the advertiser and the viewer and then it REALLY gets complicated. Good reading.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/154309/is-online-video-about-to-enter-an-era-of-exclusivi.html

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/163080/does-exclusive-content-matter.html#reply

Are you still doing voiceover work?

As a long time voiceover talent, I get email from past clients on a regular basis asking me if I am still doing voiceover work. I assure them that I am and their relief is followed by a script.

It begs the question though…how many times do clients return to someone and find that they are no longer in business? As technology and services change and it becomes easier for people to hang out their shingle proclaiming their voiceover prowess, it strikes me that many people who get hired today for a project (and may even do a decent job on that project) may not be able to sustain voiceover as a viable business and simply not be around when the client needs an update.

Their equipment may still be hooked up, but their new day job, the one they had to take to put food on the table and pay the mortgage is a traditional 9-5′er (or more) and doesn’t leave a lot of time to do VO work. Or time passes without doing or thinking about VO and skills (performance and technological) suffer. Their website hasn’t been updated for a couple of years and the links aren’t working anymore – or the phone number changed.

All of these things happen, so it is nice to be able to tell someone, “Yes, I still do voiceover work.”

Voiceover work has been part of my day job for most of the past 34 years. For the past dozen or so, my full-time job. That means I WILL still be doing voiceover work when a old client needs something. Oh, I imagine the day will come when I hang up the mic, or start to be extremely picky about my clients, but that day is still far down the road.

Of course there are other clients who I haven’t worked with in years who will simply send me a script and a deadline. No questions about still being in business. That happened this weekend. An International client – who I last worked for in early 2007 – contacted me about a project that needed to be done before Thanksgiving. It has been completed and invoiced.

So, if anyone asks me what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving, I will tell them my clients, new and repeat, who keep me in business, so that I can be there when they need me, whenever that might be.

I Wanna Go Viral!!!

Yeah! And I want to win the lottery too. Going viral isn’t really something you count on.

But WAIT! There may be some key elements in viral videos that if incorporated into your work COULD lead your video to end up with that all telling hit count, likes, reposts, shares, etc.

Bryan Boettger, Chief Creative Officer of The Buddy Group and creator of the Viral Barometer, just published an article on MediaPost with some tips on things that MIGHT help make your video rock the ethernet.

Bryan says, “It’s just a matter of applying some science to your art.”

Here’s the short list – check out his article for the details – including links to videos that exhibit one or more of these particular elements. I have to admit I was strangely drawn to the taxidermist spot – very odd…

1. Authenticity

2. Irreproducible

3. Odd

4. Funny

5. Musical

6. Surprising

7. Impressive

8. Parodied or Copied

9. Painful or Embarrassing

10. Pop Culture Timeliness