I saw an interesting interview a couple of weeks ago that featured an online video company CEO. What he said in the video was that video production studios are pretty much just banks which happen to invest in creating video content.

Here’s what I believe video production studios are:

1. Investors in creating, distributing, and marketing video content.

2. Connectors of individuals to form teams capable of undertaking their projects.

3. Buildings that have sets so videos can be shot.

4. Buyers of equipment (i.e. cameras), tools, props, and software.

Here’s how I believe collaborative video production teams can successfully operate:

1. Socially connect on Spidvid which empowers individuals to self-organize and form their own custom teams. Leadership is important to accomplishing this, so each project starts with the video creator.

2. A lot of individuals in the production industry have access to inexpensive but powerful tools. HD cameras for example can now be purchased for a few hundred dollars, and software technology such as Final Cut Pro also falls into this category. What once used to be considered barriers to entry for these people, are now commodity products available to pretty much anyone with an interest in using them.

3. Thanks to green screens, a simple set can now consist of a small sized living room located inside a house.

4. Funding is the largest obstacle in this model, but some very good quality content has been produced using shoe-string budgets, or in some cases for a cost of zero dollars. Financial options are available including corporate sponsorships, small investments coming from the creator and/or rest of the team, and community crowd-sourced funding where a few hundred or thousand people each donate say $1 each.

The big point that I’m trying to outline is that the traditional video production studio model is not as defensible as it once was. For further reading please check out our ebook manifesto entitled “Hollywood Is Doomed – The Rise of Collaborative Creation Teams”.

Jeremy Campbell News collaborative teams, empowering, new media, next-gen media, production model, production teams, video creation, video projects

A video entertainment creator/producer can go a couple of ways to put together a quality piece of video content.

1. Pay out money to individuals who can give them the team and talent needed to execute on their ideas, objectives, and scripts. This is the way that most professionals are used to doing deals in the video production industry with studios, but it’s not the only way now thanks to the new social web that’s providing access to new potential opportunities. Bottom line: each professional gets a set figure amount, but the individuals at the top (i.e. studio executives, creators, producers, etc.) obtain most of the credit, compensation, and profits that result from the monetization success of the content. Breakdown: the vast majority of power and benefits reside at the top.

2. Connect and collaborate with the individuals who believe that a new creation model is now possible via the social tools at our disposal. A production team is put together by the creator where each individual contributes his or her time, unique talent, and skills to the video project. Bottom line: Each individual on the team gets credit and compensation as set by the creator, but initially negotiated on collectively as a team. Breakdown:the team collaboratively decides on how the credit and resulting compensations are allocated to each member.

It must be clearly stated that professionals will still want to keep their traditional “safe” paying projects to pay the bills, but passion projects that position individuals as content owners should also be of interest.

Spidvid.com provides the social framework for individuals to pursue passion projects with other like-minded individuals.  These projects will lead to some very entertaining, high quality videos.

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What we are seeing a lot of within online video is individuals working with their friends and family looking to create the next big viral hit. The fact is this rarely happens because the talent being used is based on what’s readily available versus choosing the ideal talent to collaborate with.

Spidvid is all about aggregating loads of high quality talent so that video creators can identify what their needs are, outline goals for their video project, and select like-minded individuals who fit that description.

A simple example: A video creator needs an editor to piece together clips out of raw content that tells an interesting and compelling story. The creator posts a proposal outlining what he or she needs in an editor, and the objectives the editor must be able to fulfill. Upon approval, the creator invites editors to bid on the project and fields outside bids as well. Messages are sent back and forth between a few editors until the right one is found. The editor then provides the services needed to the creator, and Spidvid automatically helps the creator give credit back to the editor for work performed. This is a collaborative partnership established to assist the creator in releasing a better quality video than could be done individually, and the editor was part of a project that he or she otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to be part of.

To hear more examples for collaborative video production teams, and to learn more about Spidvid’s vision, view and download our free ebook manifesto entitled “Hollywood Is Doomed”.

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The above illustration outlines the difference between a studio entity, and what we want to evolve into a diverse video creation ecosystem.

The idea here is that a new wave of individuals are starting to not only think about video production differently, but also what possibilities and opportunities exist outside of traditional employment.

Looking at eBay’s core, we understand that the most important aspect are the connections between buyers and sellers to create a products marketplace. Firmly believing in connecting like-minded people together is the key to future media and business models, Spidvid connects video creators with production professionals to form what should be a very refreshing alternative to the traditional studio approach.

To join us on this quest, visit our site, click “Sign Up” at the top, provide your email address, and we will be in touch shortly.

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I have recently written and released an ebook manifesto and released it to DocStoc, Scribd, and Issuu. It’s entitled “Hollywood Is Doomed – The Rise of Collaborative Creation Teams” and it discusses how the traditional video entertainment studio model is losing its appeal as talent connects together on a large scale avoiding the corporate structure. This empowers individuals to form their own production entities, and create a social movement towards a more open and collaborative video creation ecosystem.

I tried to embed the document directly into this post but was unsuccessful, so if you’re interested in reading the 30 page manifesto I encourage you to visit one of the above links to view and download it. If you enjoy it and have a colleague or friend who could get value from its contents, then please share it with them.

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