I recently had the honor of doing an interview with the talented Amanda Walgrove of The Faster Times and The New York Egotist. Amanda had some intriguing questions for me, see what I had to say below.

How would you describe the Spidvid model?

So Spidvid is where the world’s video creators and talent connect, build teams, collaborate and partner up together on projects, and produce video entertainment together. Our slogan is “Make Video Together.” Spidvid’s model empowers open video production on a global level by offering a collaborative set of tools to manage projects from inception right through to distribution.

How did you come up with the idea for Spidvid?

I personally wanted to create my own quality video entertainment but didn’t want to pay costly freelancers and contractors to do so. So I thought creating web based software that enabled me to partner up with the talent I needed on my team made a lot of sense, and doing so in a formal structure outside of the traditional social networks. Additionally I was inspired by Seth Godin as in 2008/2009 he talked a lot (via his blog) about openness, collaboration, new media, and connecting individuals together. I searched for a video collaboration site that leveraged these trending elements and found nothing so that further inspired me to build this product.

What kind of unique possibilities for creative content does Spidvid provide for that we haven’t yet seen from other platforms?

I think it’s all about empowering individuals to be able to create video entertainment that they couldn’t have otherwise. It’s all about centralizing like-minded individuals together in a community where they can openly collaborate together by leveraging each other’s time and talent, and giving them the tools to manage their projects and relationships.

In terms of property rights, why is Spidvid’s revenue distribution model for the filmmakers so important or revolutionary?

Our mission is to enable team members to share content ownership together, the “project pie” as we call it. You see this happen in big Hollywood projects where key actors and team members get project percentages but it hasn’t happened in this relatively young online video space. With more and more video creators collaborating and partnering together, we see a real opportunity to offer a formalized solution to this problem. Verbal agreements have been the norm to date, but this won’t hold up long term as projects get more extensive and abundant, and this space evolves into a real business opportunity.

Will Spidvid prove to be a helpful service for those looking to break into certain facets of filmmaking?

I think it’s a great way to jump into filmmaking. So if you write scripts but need a team to collaborate with to make things happen on screen then Spidvid is a great solution for doing that.

While the Internet provides for a great deal of social interaction, it seems that in terms of content creation — blogs, vlogs, journalism — a lot of it is still being accomplished individually and then released into a community for discussion. Why is it important to stress the collaborative side of creation, not just consumption?

I think that content creation and specifically video is all about collaboration since it takes a few team members with specialized skills to be able to successfully complete projects. I think what we seen early on in online video was creators trying to do everything themselves which produced less than ideal results, but with the ability to bring on team members as partners it allows the creator to start and complete more projects easier, and it gives members a vested interest.

Why do you think studios might be hesitant to transition from traditional media into digital media?

Because they don’t want to disrupt their traditional cash cow. Studios are afraid of change, and wish that things could always stay the same, but unfortunately their production models are under pressure, their audiences are fragmenting, and most importantly their budgets are shrinking thanks to disruption on many levels. We are seeing traditional studios move towards the digital world now as digital pennies are growing to digital dimes and will eventually become digital dollars as the space matures. I believe we are only in the 2nd inning of a 9 inning game.

How do you think new media will transform storytelling?

I think that creators and producers have to listen to their audience within social media circles to see where they should take their stories, and develop their characters. If a high percentage of viewers dislike a character, or are uninterested in a particular story line then the writers and the team needs to take a hard look at the future of their content.

Was Spidvid involved in the IAWTV awards? What do you think of them?

I think that whatever initiatives are done to enhance awareness and growth of our space then it’s great. The IAWTV does a fantastic job of evangelizing online video, and the tight knit community is really growing and learning together which is fantastic to see. We’ve had many IAWTV members on our podcast, and to get their perspectives and hear their stories related to the future of online video is very encouraging and inspiring.

What’s your best advice for anyone looking to get into the startup life?

I would say to just jump in and do it. Get in early, create a crappy product, fail and learn, listen like crazy to your users, and try to find the right product to market fit. And find a solid co-founder or two who can help you in the areas you’re weak in. Take your time building your team because startups are like a marriage in that you need partners you know, like, and trust, and who can be there in the good times and especially the bad times. I would also say to not get too attached to your startup as it will make you emotional and can lead to making bad strategic decisions in every aspect of the company’s lifespan. Oh, and find mentors who keep you optimistic, hungry and foolish, and inspired to change the world.

This interview was originally posted on The Faster Times and The New York Egotist. Thanks to Amanda for this opportunity!

We are back with one of our best Spidcast episodes to date this month (listen in below and subscribe on iTunes) with a focus on web series, acting, getting lucky, and other interesting stuff. January’s Spidcast features the incredible individuals Tom Konkle and America Young. They are our amazing guests for Spidcast 14, January 2012 which you can listen to below.

Our Guests

Tom Konkle is a professional actor and writer who has also done sketch comedy for over ten years. Tom is the founding member of the sketch troupe Lester McFwap, and has performed hundreds of original shows around the country as well as having completed the television pilot, McFwap!

Tom has starred in the short films “Who Makes Movies,” and “Sanctuary” to name only two. He has appeared in comedy films with David Beeler including “Seat Fillers!,” “The Animal In Us All,” “The Secret To Happiness,” “A Paid Advertisement” “Destiny’s Stop” and “The Argument Clinic.”

Tom has written three screenplays including Village of the Darned and Last Breath. He has also written for television, short films, and industrials.

You may have also seen Tom in commercials, guest star roles on television and independent films. His stage career is extensive with shows including The Real Inspector Hound, Beyond The Fringe, Clare and Tom: A One Woman Show, Loot, Nevermore: The Black Cat, Good Night, Britcom, Double Act and many others.

The remaining Monty Python members asked him to direct, perform and ruin their never before seen sketches live in a show called Owl-Stretching Time. Tom was a series regular on NBC’s Spy TV, Sci-Fi Channel’s Scare Tactics and Fox’s The Orlando Jones Show, Arrested Development, NBC’s The Office, Back to You, Secret Life of the American Teenager and CW’s The Game. Tom stars in four episodes of Comedy Gumbo for Sony Pictures Television and is the voice of the cup in the film Behind the Cup.

Tom recently wrote for and starred in a two man sketch show with John Cleese called The Art of Football. Tom is starring in, co-writing and co-producing the comedy horror film, Quarter Cool Cthulu.

America Young helped start the Feel Good Film Festival in 2008 where it ran until May 2011, while it was at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. Her titles were Executive Director and co-Programmer. America is behind the web series Geek Therapy which is where non-geeks go to find their inner geek, and geeks go to cope with geek-related problems. She has collaborated on many online video projects, and she has been involved with many traditional films as well including Abandoned.

We thank Tom and America for being such amazing guests!

If you’re interested in sponsoring next month’s Spidcast show with a product or service you sell that’s filmmaking related, then please get in touch. If you have something to say with regards to what Tom and America talked about, then please post a comment below to continue the conversation. Thanks for listening, and be sure to share this show with anyone in your network who can get value from its content!

Full Transcript Below

INTRO

Michael London: Hi, I’m Michael London. Welcome to Spidcast, the Future of Collaborative Video Production brought to you by Spidvid.com. On this episode, we’re visiting with Tom Konkle. He’s an actor, director and co-owner of Pith-e Productions. And Thomas moved into the new media space and will tell us all about that. Then we’ll visit with a lady who has a kind of unusually hyphenated title you don’t often hear. A director-stuntwoman, America Young will be here. She has a wonderful outlook on this business and some great insights as well.

But first up is Tom Konkle. Tom, we’ve seen your face, I know we have. It’s all over TV. Tell us a little bit about your story.

Tom Konkle: I started as a professional actor and director in Los Angeles in the early ‘90s and obviously in traditional media. But I also had a background in sketch comedy. I love performing live. I had a sketch troupe for a long time. We toured many places in the world and around the US, ended up partnering up with Dave Beeler and doing a two-man sketch show as British guys. Our hook was that we would British comedy American made and we started a comedy called Pith-e Productions. Pith-e meaning when the internet, at least when it was first starting, everything had to be very short because of bandwidths and storage so we were short and pithy. So, we’re Pith-e so like email Pith-e Productions, myself and Dave and we started filming our sketches.

And I would take stuff that I would make in traditional media and I’d roll through that money very much like something like Orson Welles would do. He’d work on a studio film and then he’d do his passion project as independent project. He’d roll some of that money into it and we did a very similar thing where we took a leap and made shows like “Invention” with Brian Forbes and “Safety Geeks.”

So, my background really is as a filmmaker and actor who finally found the internet as a way of combining those disciplines.

Michael London: So, take us through that process of you venturing into internet production.

Tom Konkle: Well, the story behind me, I was very fortunate. I came out and I really had a passion for acting and directing. I came out from—I actually moved here from Virginia because I went to college at American University in DC and got a degree in Cinema and Theatre from there and I kind of moved here knowing nothing or anyone and lived in a truck and I found a place on the last day before I had to turn the truck in and have my stuff on the street. I found an apartment somewhere in Glendale, California; lovely Glendale and from there, began working getting an agent doing commercials.

I’ve probably 50, 60 commercials. It’s been a really nice way to free me up to do other creative pursuits and then I’ve always had a passion for writing and directing. I’ve done a lot of short films and short form things; beginning to develop now some features because I’ve made the connections I need to make but really I’m a unique animal and that I’m an actor who understands the technical side, the post production and production side intimately because I’ve been doing it for 17 years.

Michael London: Well, you know what, nothing speaks like experience, that’s for sure and you’ve had a lot of experience in commercials. I know you might not want about them. We want to hear about them. Where have we seen your face?

Tom Konkle: Okay, well, commercially, at the moment I have a Coca-Cola running which runs a lot during American Idol. I have a pretty famous internet meme once where I play Brahms in a thing called Raisin Brahms and I think there’s about 100 little mini-fan films where people have corrupted and changed my spot into something else. So, it’s a very bizarre spot and it’s kind of wonderful. I’ve done spots for Quiznos, most major car companies. ING right now is running where I’m up in a hedge, so there’s a bunch, I usually have four or five at any given year. So, that’s been a real boon to keeping the acting career going.

Michael London: What does that feel like? What does it feel like to be the focus of a (parity)?

Tom Konkle: I have to admit, I love it. The Raisin Brahms one with Guten Tag, I have some of them myself that I’ve saved. There’s one guy who did a screensaver of me doing Guten Tag and it’s actually me saying, “Guten Tag” for full two minutes. I was like “Guten Taaaag” it just cracks me up. I love—everything is a remix and everything is a sort of reformulation and what’s cool about the internet is it’s cross pollinating in everything that happens. We didn’t have that in the ‘90s. We didn’t have that happening and now, I can put something up on YouTube or Blip or KoldCast or wherever and it might inspire something else or I might see it reformulated and then come back to me and I love that.

Michael London: Oh, that’s great. Now, you mentioned earlier that you are a hybrid, the talent and techie and that you really put that into play on Safety Geeks: SVI, right?

Tom Konkle: Absolutely. With Safety Geeks: SVI, that was really, I wanted to see the show. I really love Adult Swim and the Adult Swim sense of humor but I always thought with the human face, being an actor, (I was) like, there’s nothing more expressive than a human face. What if you took the sensibility of Adult Swim and (married it) with actual people and of course, I couldn’t destroy a (Costco), I couldn’t do all the same stuff they do so me and Mike Smith and Thor Melsted and Dave Beeler and Brittney Powell, we all got together. We’re all friends that are professionals and said, how can we learn? What’s our learning curve to create a universe build? How do you make it effects latent comedy because there aren’t a lot of, (in fact), heavy ones and we were really groundbreaking.

We started a company called Lumen Actus which was a subcompany and Lumen Actus really is a visual FX and even 3D company and I know the post process. I’ve worked in the studio system as well and I’ve had to deliver films and television shows and I know how to cut them and if I don’t know how to physical do the mix, I know how to supervise it. And so, Safety Geeks was all these disciplines coming together into a sort of passion project of what would make us laugh, how silly can we be and how can we build a world and the effects are part of the joke and so the acting is there and the writing hopefully is there but what’s cool about is without a filter unfettered by a middle man or anything else, right or wrong, very much like putting up a play in a 99-seat theatre, you rise or fall on your own decisions and I really like that about Safety Geeks. And I think Safety Geeks are groundbreaking because it’s the first 3D web series in the world.

Michael London: You got to love that. No brag, just fact. Now, take us a bit deeper into that somewhat uncertain world of 3D.

Tom Konkle: Well, there’s been slower adoption than was predicted and I think part of that is mistakes made on both side. I think there’s still a stigma that somehow it’s a fad or a gimmick which actually came up as an objection when sound was introduced to film like, “Ah, sound will never last,” and then when color came in, they’re like, “It’s not necessary. I like my black and white TV.” But with 3D used properly, it can immerse you further into it.

I think the problem is the studios paid lip service to the company that make it but we have all hardware and not enough software, not enough shows to watch it on so I think we’re kind of upside down. It’s ironic to me the most successful 3D film in history Avatar is not available on 3D Blu-Ray which, I think, is very odd and we’ve been working to get Safety Geeks out on 3D Blu-Ray through our distributor named Yabazam. It’s a division of DDD, Digital Dynamic Depth and I think as people adopt the television and get more comfortable and hopefully, we’re getting into glasses free 3D, I think that for Indies like us, that becomes special. It becomes almost the hook, the niche is, oh, here’s some 3D content where they won’t go, “Is Will Farrell in this comedy or we won’t take it?”

In this case, well, hey, it’s in 3D. The 3D is decent. It’s good. It doesn’t need to have star names in it, big names. We have certainly some great credits because it’s in 3D, it open doors that we wouldn’t normally have opened. We never would have gotten a deal to have a 3D Blu-Ray of our web series had it not been in 3D.

Michael London: Well, that is a perfect example of collaboration as technologies helped you and you have helped pushed technology with your creative work, right?

Tom Konkle: Absolutely, yes. We broke a lot of ground with it when we started Geeks in 2009. There was really no—there wasn’t even a standard for 3D and originally, we delivered it in 2D to KoldCast who helped with some of the negative costs of creating it and it had 7,000 composite shots which is more than the first three Star Wars, the original Star Wars movies combined. Every single shot is an effect shot in Safety Geeks.

Unless you’re physically touching something and nothing is there and as a filmmaker, I was like wow, it’s an interesting challenge plus I’m in it, plus I wrote it plus I’m worrying about bringing the sandwiches. So, for me, any studio project or if I step on to a television thing, I recently did a little guest spot on community or something, it’s like taking weights off my ankles because I’m like, “Really? I don’t have to pick up the cable?” It’s kind of nice.

Michael London: I bet. And that brings me to one of the main points here today and that’s all about collaboration. I’m certain that you found along the way how valuable collaboration is.

Tom Konkle: I think collaboration is really the most important part of the creative process. Unless you’re a novelist or a painter, it is a team effort. Certainly, you have to have your own vision and people will march in the same direction with you if they feel like you know what you’re talking about but I couldn’t do it without the, they’re frankly friends, without the very dear friends that happened to be artists. We call it friendship with a purpose. Most friends get together and go to the bar, well, we, our friends all get together and go, “Okay, let’s make a show.”

And what’s nice about that is I try and bring out the best in myself and in them by enthusiasm and them knowing if I say I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it and in this town in Los Angeles in particular, a lot of people have a lot of plans and a lot of things they’re going to do but what I pride myself in is with myself or Dave and I or me or Brittney, we’ve worked on some things. If we say we’re going to do it, by golly, we go and do it and people know that it will be fruitful and that they’ll be respected and that their contribution will be considered important and for me, that’s the most exciting thing. Collaborating with people that make your game better, it’s like tennis. You want to play with people as good or better than you.

Michael London: Tom, that is such valuable advice. If you say you’re going to do it, just do it. Great stuff. Now, you might have answered a part of this next question, but what advice can you offer to those just starting out?

Tom Konkle: If you were just starting, I would say have the courage of your conviction and what I mean by that is pick a project that’s scalable that will present you and you must know thyself, you are the expert on you and if you know yourself as an artist and where your strengths are, pick a project that is scalable that you can actually do. Don’t have the helicopters coming over the hill, that’s not your first project. That’s your 50th and pick several actually and take those projects and see them through and assume you’re going to learn a lot and fall and fail and be okay with it because a perfectionist will never start and for me, the first few steps into this world, well, you copy what you like. You learn from it. Like I said, earlier, you remix and reformulate something. Make what you want to see. If no one else agrees with you, get out of the business.

Michael London: I love the advice of picking scalable projects. Now, for the beginners, Tom, how hard do they dig their heels in for what they believe?

Tom Konkle: Well, when you’re starting out, there are places what I called the heel you want to die on. If you dig your heels in and you really feel passionate about it, it’s a double edged sword. People respect that and yes, you will have a singular vision come through but make sure that’s the who you want to die on. If you’re digging your heels in because it has to be this particular store, because it has blue in it, that’s not a battle you want to fight. Where you want to dig your heels in is the integrity of the project. Is it being fundamentally altered so this is no longer yours or worse, many people fall in the trap of doing what they think someone else might want? They’re given a brief like, “Well, someone else will find this funnier. I believe this to be commercial. Or I believe this is what other people want.”

You should be your own audience. You should really develop that compass, that internal compass of taste and your own artistic limitations and say, this is to scale, this is what I can do right now really, really well and present that. It’s great to overreach a little bit, push yourself a little bit, but you’ll never start if it seems so overwhelming or if you really fundamentally don’t believe it.

And last thought on that, this comes from experience. I’ve been doing this for very long time and I’ll say half the sets I’ve been on, with all the money flying around. You’re going to have a million dollar commercial. You’re going to have a television show, you could tell when no one on that show believes in what they’re doing. They’re collecting a paycheck or it’s a machine and it’s running through the machine and it’s reflected in the art. So, it may be a (solo) piece, it may be a commercial piece, it may be fluff. But when you’re on a project and there’s an energy and everyone believes in what’s going on, it transcends even its own limitations. If you have, for example, technique but no feeling, well, then it’s like watching a virtuoso but he’s playing with no feeling.

If you have no technique but a lot of feeling, well, then you have potential there but you’re not executing it. The perfection of art is matching technique and feeling so that what you’re doing is reaching the audience that you intended for which includes you but has a technique where you can execute the idea.

Michael London: And you have indeed reached your intended audience. Where can we see your stuff?

Tom Konkle: There’s a couple of places you can see it. One is really easy, I can’t believe we got this domain name, if you want to see the Dave and Tom stuff, some of its double act which is the British comedy that we do, the sketch show, you go to www.daveandtom.com and that’s AND spelled out so daveandtom.com. Also, it has Invention with Brian Forbes which is a show that has been critically, just chugging along. We call it the little show that could; safetygeekssvi.com, you can see Safety Geeks. If you want to see it in 3D, you go to yabazam.com and I’ll spell that, that’s yabazam.com. You can download it. You can take a look at it. Stream it if you have a 3D TV or computer and the other show that I’m doing is Ask Grim.

If you put in, Ask Grim in YouTube, you’ll see a very funny show that I do with Sandra Payne and all those are there and I have an upcoming series that I’m going to be doing with Brittney Powell called Rom Com which is kind of an edgy romantic comedy which will also be on YouTube. So, any of those places you can find me. And if you’re interested in visual effects or 3D work, lumenactus.com and I’ll spell that out, lumenactus.com and that is my production company and visual effects company.

Michael London: We will meet you there. And how about a parting shot for us to take away?

Tom Konkle: A parting shot would basically be this, take a real assessment of who you want to be as an artist and how you want to present yourself. Have a very real sense of your own audience and what you are capable of creating in this moment, not I want to or I will but where you are right now and know that that art that you create now, you’ll look back and it won’t be, that will be early stage you but it’s okay. So, have the courage of your conviction. Go for it, start, begin. There’s a great quote that I’ll leave you with. I believe it was Somerset Maugham who said, “I only do something when inspiration strikes.” Fortunately, inspiration strikes every morning at 9:00 am.

Michael London: Thank you, Tom Konkle for joining us today on Spidcast.

Tom Konkle: All right, take care. Thank you so much.

Operator: Spidcast.

Michael London: Next stop is director, stuntwoman, America Young. America, thank you so much for joining us today on Spidcast.

America Young: Well, thank you very much. I’m happy to be here.

Michael London: And for the benefit of those listening who haven’t yet heard your name, they will. Fill us in. Tell us a bit about your story.

America Young: My story, I’ve been living out in LA for a few years now. I’ve moved out here to be an actress and while I was out there, I also discovered that I also like bossing people around which naturally lead to producing and directing and I’ve also been doing a lot of stunt work in the last couple of years. So, basically, my story is I’m a storyteller.

Michael London: So, how do we know if you’re telling stories right now?

America Young: I’m always telling a story. Sometimes, they’re true then sometimes they’re not.

Michael London: Well, I say, good for you then. Hey, where have we seen some of your stunts?

America Young: I was actually just in Transformers 3 doing stunt work in Washington DC and I just filmed on John Carter of Mars which is a new Pixar movie coming out and I do a lot of stunt work in a TV show called Goodnight Burbank which is on Hulu and was on HDNet.

Michael London: Oh, we recently had Hayden Black, Goodnight Burbank creator on Spidcast. So, America, how or why did you make the jump to online media?

America Young: Because I was bored and I was not creatively fulfilled by the projects I was working on. A lot of the times, you take projects that pay the bills that you aren’t necessarily proud that you’re a part of or you don’t find them particularly interesting. So, I started just doing stuff online because then you get to tell the stories that you want to tell and the way you want to tell them.

Michael London: So, you’ve kind of taken a different path than most we’ve talked to and that you already had a traditional film career, then you got involved in this new media. Has that helped or hindered you?

America Young: I think it’s only helped jumping from film to new media. I know it does seem a little bit backwards but the truth of the matter is more and more are doing it because of the creative control they get over their own projects and because of the things that they get to create. When you’re working on a film, you’re hindered and helped. I mean, granted you’re helped by the studio and their money but you’re also hindered by the fact that they’re still pulling the strings and that you’re telling the story that they want to tell.

The new media online, you are the boss and you get to do what you do, money restricted, of course, and that helps so much. It helped with my creativity, it helped with my learning of all aspects because we’re doing independent film. You’re doing every aspects of filmmaking possible and I think the more you learn about filmmaking, the better it makes you at whatever you want to be.

If you’re an actor and you learn what it is to produce something, then that makes you a better actor because you know what you’re stepping into. If you’re a director and you have to teach yourself how to edit, that absolutely makes you a better director because then you know how to shoot for the editing room. So, in every single way, it’s like an intensive course on filmmaking.

Michael London: I love everything you just said. I trust there was lots of note taking going on as well. This is terrific insight, America. We appreciate it. Tell us your experience with collaboration.

America Young: The barter system is alive and well in Los Angeles. I’ll work on yours if you work on mine and that has helped so much because there’s no better way to learn than by doing it yourself, by doing it with people who know how to do it better than you and that’s what happened is. You work on somebody’s projects for them doing what you do best. I’ll get hired on someone’s project to do stunt work because that’s something that I do well and I can coordinate and as in return of a favor, then I’ll bring them on to my project to do what they do best and then I learn from them.

So, collaboration is the best way to do this and a lot of new media is not paid or if it’s paid, it’s peanuts. What you’re learning, what you get is so much more valuable because you’re learning and you’re getting the experience.

Michael London: At times, there are things more valuable than the mighty dollar. Now, you touched on so many good points and you may have answered part of this but what are some tips for those just starting out.

America Young: I say, just do it, man. Just jump in and do it. It’s terrifying at first. it’s overwhelming at first but you learn as you go and that’s the best way to go. So, find a story whether it’s a short one-minute video that you want to go viral or if it’s a web series that you want to tell that you think hasn’t been told or hasn’t been told in this way and find somebody who’s a friend of yours who’s a writer and say, “Hey, how do this and do that?” And then once it’s written, get your favorite actor friend that you know or hold auditions and meet a brand new group of talented people and just do it.

It’s a step by step by step and reach out to people in your lives that you know that know what they’re doing or have experience and something that you have questions on. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t have too much ego to not admit that you don’t know what you’re doing and just do it. And your first project most likely will be awful. They’ll be so many things with it that you wish you had done differently but that’s the best way to learn is looking back on that and going, “Oh, my god, I really wish I had done this or wow, we really needed a sound guy on that or next time, we’re definitely having a makeup artist.” And then as you go, you learn what’s important to you for telling your story. But that’s the only way you can do it is to do it.

Michael London: Excellent, love it, just do it. So, where can we see some of the things that you have done?

America Young: Well, I’ve done a lot of work with Comediva. It’s comediva.com. It’s COMEDIVA and it’s a website that’s like a funny or die college humor specifically geared towards female comedy and I’ve done a lot of work with them creating shows and directing things and writing things. So, there’s a lot of stuff of mine on there and you could always follow me on twitter and that’s @america_young and then my website, I usually update. I’m a little behind updating because I’m so busy which is a great excuse to not update but americayoung.com. I usually eventually post links everything I’m working on.

Right before the holidays, I directed a video that was a light saber duo between Christmas elves and you can se that on YouTube. It’s called Elf Sabers and Teal Sherer was actors in it who produced it. It’s on her YouTube channel, My Gimpy Life and I also just directed a web series presentation pilot called Wrestling with Parenthood and it’s basically Mr.Mom in the professional wrestling world so we have some real professional wrestlers who are in it and that’s pretty exciting. So, I’ll be posting updates about that on my website and on Twitter.

Michael London: Lots of cool things to check out so if somebody’s listening and you want them to say, “I was listening to this pod cast and this girl named America Young said blank,” what would you like them to remember?

America Young: Bite off more than you can chew and then chew it. Jump in the deep end and learn how to swim really fast. Just do it. if you want it and this is what you want more than anything in the world, don’t let anything stop you except the law but even law can stop you but other than that.

Michael London: You know, I once had a guy tell me that there’s a wall that I never want you to go over, luckily, it’s made of rubber and I won’t respect you unless you run and hit that wall as hard as you can every now and again.

America Young: I love that. That’s a wonderful expression because it’s true, you do have to hit the wall sometimes and it sucks, man, but it’s worth it because you learn from that and it makes you stronger and if you can survive hitting the wall, you can survive almost anything.

Michael London: America Young, thank you so much for joining us today on Spidcast. It’s been a delight.

America Young: Well, thanks so much for having me. This is really fun.

Michael London: And thank you for listening to our Spidcast show. We appreciate your time and attention. You can now join the conversation at Spidvid.com on our Spidvid blog and you can join on our collaborative filmmaking community at Spidvid.com. Tune in next month for another entertaining and informative episode of Spidcast.

Is there a video project you’ve been thinking of launching but have been reluctant to do so because you don’t have the talent on your team who can help execute your vision? Don’t let lack of talent stop your project from being launched! Our collaborative community is always looking for projects with loads of potential to be part of, and join as a partner.

Want to tap into the time, talent, and expertise of our Spidvid community? Then get a free Spidvid profile, and post your project on our site for our members to explore. Or if you need some additional information about how Spidvid works, or have questions before you start, then shoot us an email. We would love to hear from you!

Cheers to the success of your video projects in 2012!

It seems that niche programming is the way that internet video is heading. Firstly, an online video channel is being used by scientists to open up dialogue about their fields of research and lives. The series is another example of a video series that appeals to a small, but dedicated market that would probably not otherwise become the focus of attention.

Publicized on the New York Times, the series is called Cambridge Nights: Conversations About a Life in Science and is hosted by César Hidalgo, a Cambridge physicist. The program has support from two scientists at the famous MIT Media Lab which has made its name with a number of innovations in the field of multimedia and technology.

The project is very much a product of its environment, as Cambridge and the area is filled with academic research institutions which make rich pickings for interview subjects. We can imagine that if he carried out his research in most other parts of the country, he’d be faced with the usual number of football fans, Party Poker enthusiasts and film buffs, without quite so many scientific minds to probe. Hidalgo explained to the NYT that when he arrived in the area he discovered the intellectual hot house that was the Cambridge area and thought a video series that had not been dumbed down would find both the perfect subjects, and also a responsive market too.

This all ties in with the statement from senior YouTube executive, Robert Kyncl who told the New Yorker recently that the site was looking to deepen it’s niche programming. He explains that niches are more immersive than general programming and the internet has the advantage for advertisers and program makers of being ‘on demand’, so they don’t have to program 24/7. You just need a few hours of content and your target audience will be happy. For YouTube, this is the direction they intend to head.

Trelby’s open source screenwriting software has an intriguing story. Blyte was originally a commercially built screenwriting product by Osku Salerma but after disappointing sales, Osku abandoned the project but open sourced it in 2006 . This strategy was to see Blyte updated and maintained by the community. Unfortunately though nobody invested time into advancing the product, so it just sat on the sidelines with little love and fanfare.

Fast forward to 2011 where a couple hero’s emerged to put the technology back on the map. Anil Gulecha was the screenwriter/developer who initiated the rebound initiative with Salerma. They decided to call the new product Trelby, tweak the functionality and design, and of course leave it open to any developers who want to iterate on the code. Trelby launched earlier this month, and it runs on both Linux and Windows.

Screenshot of Trelby below

Trelby Features

• Screenplay editor: Enforces correct script format and pagination, auto-completion, and spell checking.
• Multi-platform : Behaves identically on all platforms, generating the exact same output.
• Choice of view: Multiple views, including draft view, WYSIWYG mode, and fullscreen to suit your writing style.
• Name database: Character name database containing over 200,000 names from various countries.
• Reporting: Scene/location/character/dialogue reports.
• Compare: Ability to compare scripts, so you know what changed between versions.
• Import: Formatted text, Final Draft XML (.fdx).
• Export: PDF, formatted text, HTML, RTF, Final Draft XML (.fdx).
• PDF: Built-in, highly configurable PDF generator. Supports embedding your chosen font.
• Free software: Licensed under the GPL, Trelby welcomes developers and screenwriters to contribute in making it more useful.

Want to write your next script using Trelby? Great! You can download the software here.

Or if you want to get a better sense for Trelby before downloading it, then check out the screen shots. You can follow Trelby’s progress via their Twitter account or their blog. And if you are a developer and are interested in iterating on Trelby then you can contribute your code.

So long 2011, 2012 is here! With each passing month, online videos are getting more creative, more fun to watch, and less expensive to produce which bodes well for our Spidvid community. Below are 5 remarkable viral videos and production tips from December. There are dozens of others likely just as deserving as these, so if you have a favorite please include the link in the comments below. And here are November’s just in case you missed them.

1. FedEx Guy Throwing My Computer Monitor – Most of us have horror stories to tell of product deliveries gone horribly wrong! Unfortunately most of us don’t have these experiences on video though like the one captured below. This computer monitor likely traveled for hundreds or even thousands of miles to arrive to the customer’s doorstep, only to be thrown on the owner’s property, who by the way was home at the time. Brutal FedEx, just brutal! The views aren’t brutal though as this video has racked up over 8 million views already. Video production tip: Keep those video cameras rolling because you never know when you will catch something out of the ordinary.

2. Flyboard Zapata - This is perhaps the coolest product ever for water enthusiasts that allows you to soar through the air like a flying fish in a Mario Bros. video game. Amazing, and as for the video itself it has earned over 3 million views since December 3rd. Video production tip: Find the most remarkable product you can and give an insane video demo.

3. Most Insane Immersive Movie Experience EVER - Check out this guy’s room totally change into the movie he is actually watching! No SFX, no post production, no cuts, everything you see here is 100% for real. This could be the future of movie experiences in the home, which would give you yet another reason not to go to the movie theater! Bonus: There are more of these incredible videos at GreatFilmsFillRooms. Video production tip: Lighting is key for video production as we all know, but use light in new and creative ways to build environments that are out of this world.

4. Singing Christmas Hedgehogs – OK so Christmas 2011 may be over, but the Christmas spirit lives on with these cute little singing hedgehogs, courtesy of Birdbox. Online video is getting more and more interactive and this video is an excellent case study for the new media initiative. Video production tip: By making your videos more interactive and engaging, you also make them more memorable for your viewers.

5. Hello Little Printer - This little social printer lives in your home, bringing you news, puzzles and gossip from your friends. Use your smartphone to set up subscriptions and Little Printer will gather them together to create a timely, beautiful mini-newspaper. Cool product, but bad news for trees and the environment at large. This little social printer is launching sometime this year, and is already supported by Google, Foursquare, Nike, and other big name companies. Video production tip: Interesting products breed interesting videos, just keep it simple and make viewers think “wow, how cool, I want it.”

Create better quality video entertainment by collaborating with our talented community, be sure to get a Spidvid profile and if you need any help at all just ask us!

It was a massive year for online video in 2011, which saw our community’s content from Spidvid exceed 1 million views on UnleashVideo in 2011.

This is my 4th straight year making predictions for the online video space. If you want to see how my predictions fared in other years here’s 2009, 2010, and last year’s 2011 list. For my 11 predictions last year, I rate them a 8/11 which is pretty decent. Let’s see how I fare this year.

12 online video predictions for 2012

1. Yahoo invests $250M into original video content – Yahoo has a new CEO and seems to be getting more and more focused on online video. I think that Yahoo takes a big step towards re-establishing their corporate identity and it’s in the video space.

2. Standards for views and ad creatives are finally implemented – There is still lots of confusion as to what constitutes a video view online, and 2012 will be the year where a standard will be set. Some people think that if a video starts that’s a view, while others think a whole video must be watched for it to count as a view, clarity will come in 2012. Every video ad company seems to have their own formats but this will end as ad standards will be put in place for video, much like display banners abide by now.

3. Mobile video explodes – I’ve been predicting this for a few years and every year mobile video traffic seems to double it’s viewing audience thanks to increased penetration of iPhones, Android based phones, and tablets.

4. Apple’s “iTV” makes OTT mainstream – There are a bunch of great “over the top” products out there for your TV including; Apple TV, Roku, Boxee, and others, but as Steve Jobs says they are just hobby businesses well at least for Apple to date. But in 2012 Apple is going to be releasing TV’s in the 30″-50″ range which will sell like crazy to Apple’s raving fans, and these iTV’s will dramatically increase consumer’s use of iTunes for purchasing video content.

5. Social TV - More and more people are watching TV and sending out tweets about what they’re watching, their perspectives on what they’re seeing, and engaging with other passionate viewers. Social TV will be huge in 2012 as Twitter and Facebook create tighter relationships with the TV networks.

6. HTML 5 – This seems to be the format of choice long term even though it’s still in its infancy right now compared to flash. This format is much more dynamic than all the others and will ultimately become #1, but not until 2015. HTML 5 will see more growth than ever before in 2012.

7. YouTube will buy a company – The world’s largest video sharing site continues to build out its ecosystem both through building features internally, and acquiring technologies externally. YouTube is growing up and is stepping outside of Google’s shadow, and 2012 will be the biggest year ever for YouTube. If you are tired of YouTube coverage now, you haven’t seen anything yet!

8. Hulu gets acquired – There was a ton of speculation that Hulu would be acquired throughout 2011 but it never happened, but in 2012 it will. I’m going to double down on my Yahoo prediction and say that Yahoo buys Hulu to become a serious online video player.

9. Netflix gets acquired – There was also lots of speculation that Netflix would be acquired in 2011, but again much like Hulu nothing happened. Netflix has seen its subscriber base and stock price dramatically decrease since its pricing model changed, but it’s still a strong brand in the streaming video space. I’m going to call Netflix is sold, but not at a price that its CEO, board of directors, or investors are overly happy with.

10. Google Plus delivers big views – Facebook and Twitter drive huge video views as social video emerges. Google Plus’s social network is exploding and as a result it will become a major player in delivering video views, especially to its toddler site, YouTube.

11. More online video stars get movie deals – Famous Fred of YouTube got a deal with Nikelodeon to star in “Fred the Movie” which did quite well from what I heard. There will be more of these kind of deals happening in 2012, mainly to the YouTube partners who have strong character personalities like Fred possesses.

12. Remote video collaboration takes off – With more and more cloud based video editing platforms emerging, along with matchmaking sites like Spidvid emerging, 2012 will be a year that many video creators and talent open up to the possibility of bringing on external talent to their teams and using new tools to help manage those projects.

If you have a 13th prediction to add then please add it below!

Cheers to 2012 which will be online video’s biggest year yet!

Other online video predictions can be found on Media Post, VidCompare, ReelSEO, TubeFilter, New Media Minute, and Streaming Media.

2011 was a year when online video took another big step forward. Just a couple years ago you couldn’t talk about online video without hearing the word “user generated content.” That term seems to be on the way out as more and more quality video entertainment is getting created for distribution.

Video production value is starting to matter more and more to viewers online, which bodes well for our collaborative video production community who create and produce “mid-tail” video entertainment.

Some videos are shot on a mobile phone, uploaded, and go on to find large audiences, but unless you have a talented cat or capture a remarkably random life moment then chances are your unedited videos won’t get many views. If a video creator and his or her team don’t spend a decent amount of time on their content it really shows through, and audiences don’t spend much time watching their content as a result.

It’s now 2012, a new year, and an opportunity for a fresh start to explore new and interesting video projects. I got an email from a video creator on January 1st stating that his new years resolution was to create videos that viewers love and are proud to share with their friends and family. This guy has a perfect mindset heading into 2012! Don’t waste your valuable time developing video projects that you aren’t proud of, and aren’t passionate about as you will create a video that even you don’t want to watch. Delete your worst project ideas and stories, and leave them behind in 2011 where they belong!

If you have a killer video or film project you want to launch then get a Spidvid profile and post your Spidvid project, or you can join teams who are collaborating on Spidvid projects by bidding on them. 2012 holds tons of potential for developing new and original video content as audiences are exploding and eager to consume it. If you need to build a team of partners and collaborators then keep our Spidvid platform and community in mind, and don’t be shy to tap into their super powers.

We wish you and your video projects a very prosperous 2012!

The holidays are all about relaxing, eating deliciously fattening food, and spending time with family and friends. For some of us it’s also about finding some spare time to write new scripts for video projects, shooting video, cutting video, and hopefully uploading new content for the world’s viewing audience to watch and ideally share. If you were planning on doing a holiday parody of LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It” video you are either too late, or against some big time competition below.

I have lots of planned projects for 2012 and I trust that you likely do too! Keep in mind that by posting your video or film projects on Spidvid; you can connect with talent who wants to collaborate and partner with you, build your teams, share credit and compensation, and distribute your content to UnleashVideo and earn thousands of views! This is all easily done from your Spidvid video creator account! Or if  you don’t have a project to post, then you may want to check out the active Spidvid projects.

Happy holidays to you and your family, friends, followers, fans, subscribers, and pets too. The holidays are meant to be relaxing, but keep production projects on your mind because right now has never been a more perfect time to cost effectively create and distribute online video entertainment!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Chrismukkah or whatever holiday you celebrate, from myself and the Spidvid team

Show us some love by subscribing to our blog via email.

The incredible folks over at crowdsourcing.org recently reached out to me out of fascination for Spidvid, with regards to how we are applying crowdsourcing as a concept to collaborative video production. I was asked to write a guest blog article, which I graciously accepted, and the result is below.

When we set out to launch Spidvid, a decision had to be made–whether to form a small traditional entertainment studio which could develop original content, or do something original to challenge the status quo.

In late 2008 Seth Godin was writing about connecting people together, collaboration, openness, new media, going to the fringes, and other cutting edge concepts. Connecting the dots between wanting to do something different and what Seth was saying, it made sense to see if these elements were being applied to the video or film production model, and from our research the answer was no.

Video remixing and mashing was big around this time–where someone could upload a clip, and then others could download that clip with the purpose of adding value to the clip, and then sharing that improved clip with the hopes that yet someone else can add value to it too, and so on. While this was a cool phenomena to see the crowdsourcing power of video production on a large scale, the results were often mediocre because videos often didn’t have a compelling story, value wasn’t always added as it morphed along, and there was always someone who had to use a popular song for background music with no copyright clearances.

The goal for Spidvid was to always have an open video production ecosystem, but remixing was too open and chaotic. So the big idea was to crowdsource talent to create video entertainment where each individual on the team was responsible for something, and allow the members to set how the compensation split will work. For example, if a team has a video creator, 2 actors, 2 videographers, and an editor, the creator and team decide on each member getting 15% except for the creator getting 25%. If the video makes $1,000 in ad/sponsorship revenue then each member would get their pre-determined fair share.

So Spidvid fits into the crowdsourcing landscape as the site that aims to connect and empower individuals to create original video entertainment together, either locally, nationally, globally, or a combination of all three.

The concept came together over many months. “The back of the napkin” happened to be in the notes section on an iPod Touch leading to those concepts getting coded out as features over the next 8 months. On beta launch day in January 2010, 187 users signed up to get profiles thanks to our marketing efforts leading up to the launch day–including press releases, blog posts, getting small niche sites to write reviews, and most importantly–word of mouth and mouse.

Spidvid has grown up a ton–going from a concept with no users, to a public beta with 187, to now in late 2011 with 3,000 members, over 1,000 video projects launched, 250 projects completed, and over 1.2 million views.

Spidvid 2.0 is now being designed and developed to feature a simple and elegant user interface (UI), make video project work flow easier, add more social tools and location features. Spidvid 2.0 should launch in early 2012, and by 2015 full feature films will be produced by Spidvid’s collaborative community.

Here’s the lessons we’ve learned about crowdsourcing so far:

#1 — Projects need to be compelling, otherwise people won’t be inspired and motivated to jump in.

#2 — The collaborative objectives and goals must be clearly articulated before starting a project.

#3 — The benefits and value must be laid out so each individual understands what they are getting for their time and talent investment.

The most surprising thing to date is how fast the crowdsourcing model has taken shape over the years. It used to be that we had to educate people on our new media concept, but now the majority of users understand what’s going on as soon as they jump in to our community.

The majority of our users come from connections on Twitter, which makes scaling our community up fast challenging, but users coming in tend to be more active since they’ve had personal interaction with us before joining.

I wasn’t much of a video creator before starting Spidvid, but now I am since I have a platform to attract talent cost-effectively and quickly. I’ve been creating many entertaining “how to” cooking videos and really enjoy the connections and partnerships I’ve built up over the past couple years.

It’s exciting to think there have been many videos and films created that wouldn’t have otherwise existed without Spidvid’s crowdsourcing product to leverage. What keeps us going is knowing that the next big hit video or film may come from our community, making an impact on that production team, along with the thousands or millions of viewers that consume the content. There’s a lot to be excited about in the crowdsourcing space, especially for video production, and we hope you’ll be watching it all unfold with us.

Guest author: Jeremy Campbell is founder of Spidvid, which describes itself as “a social platform that empowers video creators/filmmakers and other like-minded individuals to connect, form production teams, collaborate on projects, create and distribute content, and automatically give credit and compensation back to each team member involved.”

Note: Here’s the original posting “Spidvid’s Lessons Learned About the Crowd and Video Production” on crowdsourcing’s remarkable site, which you should definately check out!