Nine Ways To Fund Your Web TV Show

Nine ways to fund your Web show

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Nine ways to fund your Web show – from Futurescape.TV

Are you finding it challenging to attract funding for your next online production?

Chances are that the answer is yes.

The tough economic climate is one reason, as potential advertisers and sponsors may
have second thoughts about whether to back your show.

Innovation can itself also raise barriers. Arguably, the more original the project, the
harder it may be to secure funding. A production's novel features may increase
uncertainly about how it will be created, distributed and received by the online audience.

However, there are solutions.

We believe that producers secure funding because they approach Web shows
as a new medium with fresh commercial as well as creative opportunities.

They've freed themselves - and their productions - from the constraints of pitching to a
broadcaster, where a programme is typically aimed at a particular slot and demographic.

From Futurescape's international research into new creative and commercial
models for Web series, we have identified nine funding approaches with proven
effectiveness:

1) Solve a problem for the funder
2) Incorporate an industry that can be a sponsor - and attract even more sponsors
3) Match characters, themes and storylines with the funder's market
4) Match the show with the funding source's strategy
5) Match the format with the funding source's strategy
6) Gain in-company incubation and support in kind
7) Extend the production with new opportunities for others
8) Look ahead to show and format sales
9) P2P financing

1) Solve a problem for the funder

In October 2008, Bebo Director of Digital Content Dan'l Hewitt admitted to a serious
challenge.

Bebo's successful original shows, such as KateModern, still gained just a tiny amount of
overall video viewing on Bebo.

quot;The embarrassing thing is that we did a lot of research and spoke to hundreds
and hundreds of Bebo users. None of them had even heard of KateModern,
although the numbers [for the show] are incredible.

quot;We had over 70 million views of the show over 10 months. But if you do a billion
streams a month, those 70 million views, as happy as the advertisers were [with
them], it doesn't really dent the overall consumption that's going on on Bebo.quot;
(Hewitt, at the Hello Digital festival.)


There was a clear requirement for a way of encouraging Bebo members to view the
original series. But what could take on the role of a TV channel's promos?

The show that solved the problem launched in January 2009. B-Box is a weekly six-
minute entertainment magazine programme. It showcases Bebo's own productions, in
the context of pop culture coverage (band and red carpet interviews) and content from
Bebo members.

Crucially, production company RDF Digital had already established a relationship with
Bebo through the multiplatform production A Message From Earth. This was a highly
popular event that Beboers took part in during summer 2008. Hosts Alice Levine and
James Cooper also appeared on the show, so may bring fans with them.

B-Box is sponsored by the government anti-knife crime campaign It Doesn't Have to
Happen and Cadbury Creme Egg (which previously sponsored KateModern, so this
represents an acknowledgment from Cadbury of Bebo programmes' effectiveness).

2) Incorporate an industry that can be a sponsor - and attract even more
sponsors

Bebo's drama The Secret World Of Sam King is set in the music business. It has
attracted sponsorship from the Universal Music label, which uses it to showcase new
bands and lets the production shoot the series in Universal's offices

Bebo has also brought in sponsorship from related sectors with a particular interest in
music for their own consumers: mobile operator Virgin Mobile and handset manufacturer
Sony Ericsson.

And in March, music drama Rockville, CA will launch on TheWB.com. Conceived by
Gossip Girl and The OC creator Josh Schwartz, this approaches the music business from
a different angle, being set in a fictional LA club and filmed in a real one.

The forthcoming British online music show Twenty Twenty looks to have similar
potential.

The world's first format developed specifically with a social media network in mind. A
nationwide competition brings together twenty unrecorded bands and twenty first time
film-makers to produce, shoot and edit a music video against the clock and with
resources begged, borrowed and maybe even stolen from the social network subscribers.

The prize? For the bands, a chance to open on the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury 2009
and for the film makers, the chance to produce and direct a music video for a major
label act. Based on a highly successful annual event held in Leeds, Twenty Twenty will
run on a major UK social network for 14 weeks starting January 2009.

But don't assume that the industry necessarily has to be as cool and trendy as the music
biz. Some contrarian and creative thinking resulted in two series being sponsored by and
shot in furniture retailers: Ikea for Easy To Assemble and DFS for Heart And Soul.

And from a sponsor's point of view, why not look at the possibilities of setting the show
in the product? Here's a comedy from Citroën, with a busy couple who are almost living
in their C3 Picasso, Soyons Deraisonnables


3) Match characters, themes and storylines with the funder's market

Would your proposed show interest a company already involved in a particular market?

Tempting Fates is a forthcoming campus-based black comedy which follows the
misadventures of a new generation of the Three Fates as they return to college to learn
and fulfil their ancient destinies.

Part of the £180,000 budget comes from the show's own online distributor.

The comedy is co-funded by distributor Inuk Networks, an IPTV provider that focuses on
the student market via www.freewiretv.com, together with East of England regional
media development agency Screen East and independent production company Eye Film
And Television. This is a win-win for the Inuk and the producers. Inuk will have an
original show ideally matched with its student customers, while the series should benefit
enormously from the targeted distribution that Inuk provides.

4) Match the show with the funding source's strategy

The £750,000 Central Station is set in the Glasgow School of Art and combines an online
drama about three fictional students with a real-life Internet arts community to
encourage artists from around the world to post their work online. The best will be
rewarded with prizes including studio time and arts-based trips abroad, culminating in
quot;the world's largest and first social media art prizequot; (see full description).

The whole concept of the drama dovetails very well with the strategy of the Scottish Arts
Council: promoting an international arts scene from Scotland.

Not surprisingly, it reached the second stage of applying for £200,000 from the Scottish
Arts Council's Inspire Fund.

5) Match the format with the funding source's strategy

Central Station is also receiving support from Channel 4's 4iP fund for multiplatform
content. The fund aims to create tools and services with a public benefit, so how does an
art school drama fit in?

The answer is that the format of the whole production - as distinct from the drama's
storylines and characters – actually begins with the launch of the social network for
artists, not the video. In this respect, the format fulfils the funding requirements for a
useful service, as well as being an entertainment programme.

Production companies should note that the 4iP definition of multiplatform does not
particularly encourage indie television producers to apply. The company behind Central
Station, ISO Design, has a background in motion graphics and AV installations for
museums, rather than television.


6) Gain in-company incubation and support in kind

Some savvy production companies help staff make their own projects, appreciating the
potential of a win-win for the employee and employer. The individual has an opportunity
to improve their skills and the company benefits from increasingly skilled staff.

Writer Ric Forster seized the opportunity of an in-house training scheme to launch his
own Web series, LOL. It's an online drama which quot;explores the teenage world of sex,
drugs and social network-fuelled peer pressurequot; and was shot last year on the sets of
Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks via a talent development programme run by Hollyoaks
production company Lime Pictures.

Ric, who created and directed the series, explains:

quot;LOL received assistance from Lime Pictures due to it being produced as part of
their director training scheme. I'm currently an employee there working as a
storyliner on Hollyoaks and the company has a scheme for nurturing new
directing talent. I was given the opportunity to shoot a short over a weekend,
with full use of all the sets and equipment. I'd written LOL before I was accepted
onto the scheme, so tweaked some of the story and made it producible on site.

quot;We shot on Sony HDC-1500 studio cameras, recording onto XDCAM HD decks
and used a lot of lighting gear. On top of that, the company paid for sparks and
covered some minor expenses. The production was also covered by the company
insurance and we didn't need to pay any location fees as it was all shot on site.
All in all, this probably contributed about £3,000 to the production.

quot;I'm really grateful for Lime's help - LOL has much higher production values
thanks to their assistance.quot;

Ric is currently writing further episodes of LOL and developing Ghosts, a sci-fi Web series
to be shot this summer. He concludes, quot;Web series like We Need Girlfriends and
Sanctuary show that creating online content is a great way to build an audience and get
your work noticed.quot;

Similarly, BBC Scotland runs a three-person Innovations team. Its first commission is a
multiplatform crime drama, Townsville, with a £12,000 budget. The 4 x 40 mins show
will combine video, still photos and special effects, with most of the action taking place
online, and premiere in Easter 2009.

7) Extend the production with new opportunities for others

Tempting Fates is more than just a Web comedy – the production also incorporates a
training course in online production: “The first ever course of its kind, taking talented
students through the practical process of creating an online universe and helping
produce a black comedy web series. Utilising your skills in social networking, creative
writing, design and practical production you’ll have a chance to become part of a major
production due for launch in October 2009.”

As a training course, the show can lower production costs by employing students in a
legitimate capacity, not just as cheap labour, within the team. The overall team includes
online pioneers Lance Weiler at Red Eye Pictures and M Dot Strange, together with indie
Eye Film and TV.


Note too that skills development is a key part of the remit of co-funder Screen East.
Also, some of the series will be produced within a geographical area that qualifies for EU
support.

Meanwhile, several of the media development agencies are forging closer links with the
digital production sector. South West Screen, for instance, has brought in Bebo Director
of Digital Content Dan’l Hewitt as a board member.

Are there other ways in which your show’s production can benefit third parties that
would reciprocate with funding or other forms of support?

8) Look ahead to show and format sales

This may or may not secure money upfront, but when a distributor supports a show in
the international marketplace, it gives the production much increased credibility. The
rights to Tempting Fates, for instance, were represented by digital formats and
distribution specialist i-Rights even before production commenced.

Finance may also be available in such deals. i-Rights provided funding at the
development stage for Tempting Fates and at the production stage for Chelsey: OMG. In
return, the company requires both an equity stake and distribution rights, and may also
advise on exploitation and product integration. i-Rights also picks up distribution rights
for completed shows.

9) P2P financing

One radical model for financing a new production is to take it out to the audience who
might want to see it.

This P2P approach is being pioneered in music, film – and online TV. Music sites such as
Sellaband invite music fans to buys shares in forthcoming albums by new bands in
return for a share of any profits.

In film, A Swarm Of Angels is a project to crowdsource the financing of an open source
feature film, together with a participatory filmmaking community. It is supported by sci-
fi writer Cory Doctorow and graphic novelist Warren Ellis.

Felicia Day, who starred in Buffy, turned to the audience for her own Web comedy The
Guild when the production needed more funding to make new episodes. With viewer
contributions, the series was able to complete its first season and, with DVD sales,
embark on season two, when it attracted sponsorship and distribution from Microsoft.


Nine Ways To Fund Your Web TV Show

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Nine Ways To Fund Your Web TV Show