I sat down with Wilson Cleveland, the producer and actor in the series (Derek) to get a behind the scenes look at the first season, their partnership with Hiscox, and a sneak peak at what’s to come.
Q: Why Is Hulu for Sale?
A: I’m sure there are many reasons, but I imagine Hulu has paid an enormous amount in licensing fees to NBC, Fox and ABC, not to mention their sister cable networks, movie studios, etc. to distribute their programming which doesn’t leave a lot left over to spend on actually growing or marketing the company (nevermind sustaining it).
To offset those hefty fees Hulu added the subscription-based Hulu Plus service and significantly upped the volume of ads it served (1.3 billion in May alone). The problem with that is, having that many ads takes a bite out of the audience experience. Hulu is distributing Leap Year right now and they’re serving an average of 4 minutes of ads per each 8-9 minute episode (2 minute pre-roll, 2 minute mid-roll). It’s enough to make folks want to watch it on other platforms where we’ve chosen to make it an ad-free viewing experience.
Another issue I imagine is, since the TV networks command higher licensing fees for international distribution, Hulu is geo-blocked everywhere but the U.S. which takes a massive chunk out of your potential audience. More traffic would allow Hulu to raise ad rates but cost them more in international licensing fees.
Lastly, until recently, Hulu didn’t support playback on any mobile devices because 1. The networks wouldn’t license the required additional mobile distribution rights for their programming; and 2. Hulu stood firm on remaining Flash-based so access via iOs (iPhone/iPad) was impossible. Android users couldn’t access it either because again, Hulu didn’t have mobile rights. In the last year Hulu has since paid even more to the networks for mobile rights and allows iOs users (and some Android users) to stream Hulu via its dedicated mobile apps but only if you live in the U.S. and you’re paying $8/month for Hulu Plus. Ironically, Hulu Plus subscribers get served the same amount of ads (mobile rights cost extra) except now they’re also paying (access to a larger library of content is little comfort for Plus subscribers when you know the ad load is the same).
So, why is Hulu for sale? In my opinion, they were forced by their old media owners to pay huge licensing fees (which seems counterintuitive), leaving nothing to run the business. That forced Hulu to serve more ads, which annoyed the users it DID have. Then they killed Hulu’s ability to scale by denying access to the majority of the global online population and anyone with a mobile device but not before bleeding them for more money they didn’t have to cover mobile licensing fees so they could further alienate users by charging them $8 a month to watch the same amount of advertising via a native app that until very recently wasn’t even available for the mobile OS used by the majority of the U.S. population.There was also that little glitch recently that exposed users data when Hulu finally integrated Facebook Connect and shut it down in the first few hours but that’s a whole other problem.
This is why Hulu’s potential buyers are mostly tech companies like Google and not like the old school media companies selling it. Because media companies quickly became threatened by their own creation instead of appreciating the potential it once had to help them.
We're thrilled to announce that out of over one thousand submissions from around the world, TWO web series UNboxd has produced this year have been nominated by an international jury of media/entertainment leaders for prestigious "Interactive Rockies" awards at this year's
in Toronto! And our nominees are:
Best Online Program - Branded Entertainment:
The Webventures of Justin & Alden, "The Last Episode,"
written by Sandeep Parikh and Tony Janning, directed by Sean Becker, co-starring Wilson Cleveland, Felicia Day, Shannen Doherty, Alden Ford, Tony Janning, Matt Knudsen, Justin Tyler, Robin Thorsen and Milo Ventimiglia. Produced in association with Horizon Media for Trident Layers®.
Best Online Program - Drama:
" written by Yuri Baranovsky directed by Mark Gantt, starring Shannen Doherty and Wilson Cleveland. Presented by the Better Sleep Council. Distributed online by Lifetime Networks.
Production has begun on Leap Year , a ten-episode scripted comedy web series that explores the challenges and opportunities entrepreneurs and small business owners encounter when starting up their businesses.
Leap Year follows five friends and co-workers who make a pact to take the proverbial 'leap' into entrepreneurship and start their own individual businesses after being downsized by their employer. Over the course of the ten-episode series, each character encounters unique challenges and experiences the triumphs and setbacks familiar to every small business owner.
Leap Year was developed in collaboration with Hiscox USA's communications agency CJP Communications and is being produced through its CJP Digital Media group. The series was written by Yuri and Vlad Baranovsky of Happy Little Guillotine Films, the creative team behind some of the web's most-successful series including Break a Leg, 7-Eleven Road Trip Rally and the forthcoming Lovemakers, and features a cast of established web series talent that includes Alexis Boozer ( Break a Leg), Wilson Cleveland ( Suite 7, The Temp Life), Daniela DiIorio ( Lovemakers), Mark Gantt ( The Bannen Way), Drew Lanning ( 7-Eleven Road Trip Rally) and Rachel Risen ( The Temp Life, The Hayley Project).
Leap Year will premiere online later this spring and will be available for stream or download across multiple online, mobile and video-on-demand channels.
UNboxd Media has lined up several name actors for its upcoming Web original Suite 7. The series, a weekly anthology featuring seven different couples each staying in the same hotel suite at different times, features Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes, Gilmore Girls), Shannen Doherty (Beverly Hills, 90210), Illeana Douglas and Craig Bierko.
Suite 7 is the latest sign that entertainment industry talent is increasingly taking to branded entertainment. The show was developed by branded entertainment studio, Unboxd Media.
The Temp Life began as a "cost-effective" way to boost brand recognition and became a bona fide phenomenon. At the start of its most charming season, the charming weekly comedy series had notched roughly 18 million views.
Ms. Douglas, who views Web video as a new outlet for artists like herself, said Ikea gave her great autonomy, asking her only to keep the content family-friendly. This summer, she is recruiting a second sponsor, shooting a third season of the show and planning a tour. She would still like to see “Easy to Assemble” end up on television, but she is satisfied that she has built a franchise on her own, online.
Cleveland wears many hats as a producer of numerous web series, including The Webventures of Justin & Aldenand The Temp Life, in which he also stars. Below, he discusses web video’s trouble with discoverability, his secret crush on Clicker.com and the difficulties that come with producing branded content.
Here's some of part 2 of Wilson's 'Webventures' interview for PinkRaygun.com. Read the full interview here.
Continuing our exclusive interview with Wilson Cleveland, webseries veteran and producer of The Webventures of Justin & Alden. Here Wilson talks about the Streamys themselves and gives some advice for aspiring web creators:
PRG: What would your advice be to aspiring webseries creators – what should they be doing to get their webseries noticed?
WC: I could go on forever with this question but here are my top 4 pieces of advice:
- Make the show you want to make because there’s an audience for everything.
- Know the audience you’re making your series for, find out where they hang out online: what blogs they read, what blogs they write, what videos they watch, who they follow on Twitter, what they Like on Facebook, etc. Then start talking to them about your show.
- Syndicate your show to every video site that makes sense to your audience. Not sure what those are? Use sites like Compete and Quantcast to get the demographics but if nothing else, YouTube and Blip.tv are musts.
- Email a link to your show to Tubefilter and NewTeeVee. A write-up on one or both let’s your fellow creators know you’ve arrived and once you’re on the community’s radar, you’ll find we’re a very supportive bunch.
PRG: Talk has turned to how LA-centric webseries appear to be since most webseries seem to come out of LA. Do you think that is inevitable and will it continue in the future?
WC: I live in New York, home of My Damn Channel and NextNewNetworks, among others so I’m not totally sold on the idea that most web series come out of L.A; which is not to say I believe web series ONLY come out of those two cities. Web series come from anywhere and everywhere, which is what makes the medium so exciting and interesting. Anyone But Me, Auto-Tune The News, Wainy Days, The Hayley Project, The Temp Life, The ‘Burg, Key of Awesome, Rocketboom, Vendr.TV are all New York-based web series, so we can still represent!
Webventures features almost everyone currently worth talking about in the space. The five episodes ruthlessly parody major web series like The Guild and The Bannen Way. An almost countless number of web video stars appear over the course of the often very, very funny series.
By Higlet; Read All of Part One Here at PinkRaygun.com
Excerpt:
In case you didn’t know, the season finale premiered last week with shocking and hilarious revelations, Felicia Day, Ninjas and live/dead presidents. Webventures has broken new ground in several ways, not least the sheer amount of webseries stars they managed to cram into the five episodes. I’m not sure there is a complete list of all the stars and cameos anywhere but if there were, it would be full of awesome. And be immensely long.
PRG: Apart from the stars, Justin and Alden – who are, by the way, very arresting as the central “manlationship” of the show – you have some huge names as guests. What was it like working with so many different stars?
WC: It was like being on the most epic Love Boat episode EVER! I’m either friends, or had worked with most of theWebventures cast as an actor, producer or marketer so Sandeep (who is also a Webventures producer) and I cast everyone directly. Taryn Southern, Sandeep, David Nett and Illeana are some of my favorite people and have all guest-starred on The Temp Life; I also work closely with Illeana on Easy to Assemble, which is how I know Doug Sarine. Milo’s a good friend and one of the funniest dudes on the planet next to Tony Janning. Diggnation and Lonelygirl15 are solely responsible for inspiring me to get into web TV 4 years ago so I had to have Alex Albrecht and Jessica Rose in the show. Robin Thorsen is beyond delightful. I got to shoot my Webventures cameo with Felicia and have since tried to figure out how to make sure that goes on my tombstone. You just cant not adore her, but more than that I respect the Hell out of what she’s accomplished with her career to get to where she is. She’s amazing. As for working with Shannen Doherty, that’s an item I can officially cross off my bucket list. You’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger Shannen Doherty fan than me. I’m talking YEARS, like Little House on the Prairie years. Heathers is an all-time favorite and Brenda Walsh is my co-pilot.
“Webventures” has ninjas, vampires, superheroes, time travel, and George Washington as a principle character… so we’ve essentially eliminated subtlety and realism right off the bat like any smart, absurdest comedy does.
The web talent cameos aren’t just in front of the camera, with Sean Becker, Streamy-winning director of The Guild, helming the series. Legend of Neil creators Tony Janning and Sandeep Parikh penned the script, and UNboxd's Wilson Cleveland was the primary producer overseeing the production and orchestrating the sponsorship deal.
Cadbury's Trident Layers®, is standing by its association with the ceremony, acting as the presenting sponsor of a Streamy-themed web series, "The Webventures of Justin & Alden," premiering Tuesday on My Damn Channel
THE HUFFINGTON POST, Best and Worst-Dressed Brands of SXSWi
Wilson Cleveland of CJP understands that "social" does not mean "informal," it means "open" and hilarious to watch. The distribution was brilliant. When I hear about projects like this, I get giddy, because it's obviously about making good for the client, but it's also about making great art that is great business.
The Irish Times, New Directions in Technology
A panel on Big Campaigns on Digital Dollars examined how Ikea and the television networks behind such shows as Gossip Girl and Heroes were seeking to get more bang from less bucks by way of viral videos and online campaigns. Sometimes, it came down to drawing in fans of the brand to get involved. “Ikea is like Apple, but with tables,” commented panellist Wilson Cleveland of CJP Digital Media about this approach.
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