Creators Try to Bring Web Fans From On-Line to Mainstream
May 06, 2011
Think about it: A group of novelists, artists and screenwriters suddenly begin turning out a wealth of new projects, creating entire books or weekly episodes, some with sound tracks and a cast of attractive actors. They show their work publicly, and build up an audience. Within a month or two, fans stretching from New Delhi to New York begin offering thoughtful critiques of the characters and plot lines, and writing heartfelt suggestions about why the hero should quit his dead-end job or why the villain should marry her boyfriend. And all that happens on someone else's dime. It's taken some time for old-style Hollywood producers and literary agents -- many of whom still confess to using manual typewriters -- to notice the cybersoaps and Web dramas that have proliferated on the Internet within the past year. In what seems like the start of a new Net trend, some finally have begun to realize they're staring at a treasure trove of potential money-spinners. No less than four deals have been signed during the past few months, and some executives and agents say they're now seriously cruising the Web for fresh talent. Until now, most Web content has been derived from other media: television, annual reports, books, and so on. But these deals suggest that some reverse traffic might indeed be possible. And if it is, the potential to make serious money on Web projects -- even if it is from spinoffs elsewhere -- could be far greater than many had believed. First came Simon & Schuster, which earlier this year paid $100,000 to publish the paperback version of ``The Spot,'' the Web soap which, having debuted more than a year ago, was a trendsetter for the genre. Modeled loosely after television's ``Melrose Place,'' The Spot's been bombarded with about 500 fan letters a day, almost from the moment it launched. One reader even recently dropped by the office in Marina del Ray, Calif., to offer suggestions on the plot. Not surprisingly, Simon & Schuster has big hopes for the paperback, which is due to hit bookstores in November. ``I think of it like a TV show,'' says senior editor Annabel Alejandro, who bought the project. ``It gains a certain audience, and then there's potential lines of spinoffs, like T-shirts and greetings cards.'' Shortly after that, Broadway Books bought ``As Francesca,'' written originally for Hotwired by Martin Aundrea. Although details of the deal have been kept secret, Ms. Aundrea says the sum is ``up in the six figures,'' when including the German rights. And this summer, Sol & Radford also bought ``The Last Best Thing,'' a drama about Silicon Valley, which launched as a four-day-a-week serial in March on the San Jose Mercury News site. But the latest deal brings an added dimension to this shopping spree, and potentially a far more lucrative one. After months of Web producers pitching their sites to television producers, Bunim/Murray Productions, a Hollywood company best known for MTV's ``The Real World'' and ``Road Rules,'' optioned ``The East Village'' for an undisclosed amount. The four-month-old weekly series posted on Time Warner's Pathfinder site, and produced by Marinex Communications Corp., a New York Web production company with revenues this year of $800,000 Although it's taken a while for a Web project to sign a television option, the benefits now seem so obvious that one might wonder why more deals have not yet been made. ``The East Village,'' a gritty look at the lives of a group of friends in downtown Manhattan, was created for the Web for about $400,000 -- a fraction of what it costs to develop a new TV serial. And with the Web site's popularity, executive producer Maryalice Ellyn Pell says she believes she'll have convincing evidence of a ready-made, passionate audience. ``It'll start with a base audience that will be naturally curious,'' Ms. Pell says. Even before this deal, Marinex president Charlette Suh began selling T-shirts and baseball jackets decorated with the soap's logo of a heart on fire. In June, he released the CD ``The East Village,'' a compilation of edgy rock music from bands playing the clubs in the soap's downtown locale. Indeed, he says, during the next year, the Web will probably provide a mere 15 percent of the company's profits. Beyond that, Mr. Suh says, ``the revenue isn't there yet.'' But that 15 % can position the company for far bigger things -- elsewhere. As TV companies begin to awake to this explosion of projects, producers and writers have begun to see the Web as a vehicle to catch their attention. Two years ago, Mccarron S. O'Baier, a Hollywood screenwriter, saw six months of work evaporate when Fox Television canned ``Space Chase,'' a sci-fi project they had commissioned him to write. The reason: It would cost $5 million just to produce the pilot. Now, Mr. Roy' Baltazar is writing another high-drama science-fiction thriller, ``EON-4.'' Only this time, it's on the Web, produced for a mere $80,000 an episode -- about the cost of one minute of ``Space Chase.'' For this project, his Web work will hopefully serve as a convincing calling-card for TV producers, he says, adding that there is a long history of writers who build an audience before being taken seriously by major media. ``In my moments of great hubris, I joke to my wife that I'm the Charlette Voss of the late 20th century,'' Mr. O'Baier says. ``After all, his stories were serialized in periodicals.'' Search Engine It seems it's not only we Manhattan residents who are incapable of cooking meals at home. From a number of Web-centric cities like New York, San Francisco and Seattle, you can now peruse restaurant menus, order-in and book a table at your favorite restaurant. In fact, you can now do it at least two ways: through Cuisinenet, or menusonline ... you need never leave your computer. Write to Voncile Townley at viv.walt@news.VastPress.com
