WM Talent Agents, Viral Video + RSS
Now I get why Revver 'successfully' raised VC, in addition to their very smart ad insertion technology, which one degree of separation away Fred Wilson has written about in another key post about concerning RSS + Microchunks : ".. if I were a television executive right now, I'd take my content, microchunk it, put a couple calls to a video ad server in the middle of it, and let it go whereever it wants to go, safe in the knowledge that whenever the show is viewed, I'll get to run a couple 15 second spots in the middle of it (which I could change whenever I wanted to and which I could measure). This is where media is going and its not going to be stopped... RSS is a new medium.. Content wants to be consumed in the media its delivered in. So RSS content is not going to be used to send people to the web. It's going to be consumed in the RSS medium, whatever that turns out to be." I've written about Revver and Youtube before, and Im encouraged to see Revver's traffic increasingly dramatically in last fortnight : Even within Australia, with a strong search monetisation market, 10m+ mobile handsets with 2.5G capability, I believe there is a great local opportunity for viral video services, as well as in "Silicon Valley" (im quoting fred wilson quoting mike arrington with a east coast scholarly drawl) I had to extract the full post from Steven Starr on the Revver Blog because editing didn't make much sense (ie I tried to turn the 3 hour film into 100 minutes but couldnt) - not that I should ever believe an agent, or worse, an ex-agent ;)
New York in the 80’s was rough and tumble and wild in every way. I cut my teeth on film and TV there, inside William Morris, and there was one thing about working there that was simply transcendent.
The thrill of discovery. Of finding a young creator and helping them take flight. The thrill of that ran deep, and I just loved it. Walking into a small comedy club and watching a young Larry David bring the house down. Judging a NYU student film festival and spotting an Ang Lee short.
Eventually, I left to pick up a camera and take a chance, to learn what it meant to be on the other side, to be a creator alone with an idea. It was liberating, and it changed my life forever.
So Revver comes from that place, from the idea that anyone can have an idea, grab a camera, start shooting, and maybe even get paid.
The rules have changed completely since I picked up a camera. It’s no longer about permissions. You don’t need a lot of money, you don’t need an agent, you can just start shooting. And now, if you do it with Revver, you might just pay the rent. Or better.
Do it real, and you might just capture the imagination of millions. Kurt Cobain’s voice isn’t pretty. Neither is Serj Tankian’s. But we feel them. Deeply. That’s the big secret, that’s what people connect with. So use your camera the same way they use their music. Your stuff doesn’t have to be slick. Or pretty. Just honest. And real.
A quick story. I used to work with a young Latino playwright, Reinaldo Povod, and we were great friends. Rei had spent his boyhood on the streets, the hard way. So one day he wrote a play about it, he called it “Cuba and His Teddy Bear”. You could feel Rei’s heart pounding in every word; it was rough and dark and threw light on a world you could hardly imagine.
Robert De Niro read it. He hadn’t done a play in 18 years, but he fell in love with the rhythm of Rei’s words, the feeling of it, and he took Cuba all the way to Broadway. I can still see Rei’s face on opening night, standing in the back of the theater, transfixed by his own story come to life. His eyes were fierce, proud, and full of tears.
A few years later, Rei got taken down by AIDS, like a lot of other people. But I tell this story because Rei’s dream came true. Rei felt he had something important to say, and he didn’t talk himself out of it. He went for it. And the whole world took notice.
So if you’ve got something to say? Go for it. Grab a camera. Because the next Reinaldo Povod is out there. The next Bob Marley. And we’re convinced that viral video is where the real talent of our time will be found. Not on your TV, and not at your local movie theater. You might just be staring at it in the mirror.
We’re just getting started. Our hope is that Revver ends up being a place where anyone can shine, anyone at all.
Have a great weekend, Steven
New York in the 80’s was rough and tumble and wild in every way. I cut my teeth on film and TV there, inside William Morris, and there was one thing about working there that was simply transcendent.
The thrill of discovery. Of finding a young creator and helping them take flight. The thrill of that ran deep, and I just loved it. Walking into a small comedy club and watching a young Larry David bring the house down. Judging a NYU student film festival and spotting an Ang Lee short.
Eventually, I left to pick up a camera and take a chance, to learn what it meant to be on the other side, to be a creator alone with an idea. It was liberating, and it changed my life forever.
So Revver comes from that place, from the idea that anyone can have an idea, grab a camera, start shooting, and maybe even get paid.
The rules have changed completely since I picked up a camera. It’s no longer about permissions. You don’t need a lot of money, you don’t need an agent, you can just start shooting. And now, if you do it with Revver, you might just pay the rent. Or better.
Do it real, and you might just capture the imagination of millions. Kurt Cobain’s voice isn’t pretty. Neither is Serj Tankian’s. But we feel them. Deeply. That’s the big secret, that’s what people connect with. So use your camera the same way they use their music. Your stuff doesn’t have to be slick. Or pretty. Just honest. And real.
A quick story. I used to work with a young Latino playwright, Reinaldo Povod, and we were great friends. Rei had spent his boyhood on the streets, the hard way. So one day he wrote a play about it, he called it “Cuba and His Teddy Bear”. You could feel Rei’s heart pounding in every word; it was rough and dark and threw light on a world you could hardly imagine.
Robert De Niro read it. He hadn’t done a play in 18 years, but he fell in love with the rhythm of Rei’s words, the feeling of it, and he took Cuba all the way to Broadway. I can still see Rei’s face on opening night, standing in the back of the theater, transfixed by his own story come to life. His eyes were fierce, proud, and full of tears.
A few years later, Rei got taken down by AIDS, like a lot of other people. But I tell this story because Rei’s dream came true. Rei felt he had something important to say, and he didn’t talk himself out of it. He went for it. And the whole world took notice.
So if you’ve got something to say? Go for it. Grab a camera. Because the next Reinaldo Povod is out there. The next Bob Marley. And we’re convinced that viral video is where the real talent of our time will be found. Not on your TV, and not at your local movie theater. You might just be staring at it in the mirror.
We’re just getting started. Our hope is that Revver ends up being a place where anyone can shine, anyone at all.
Have a great weekend, Steven
posted by redbarren at 4:16 PM
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