That time again
OK, I haven't posted about this since 2005 and it seems like it's time again.
---From my original 2003 post---
For those of you out there that are fans of Sci-Fi or Fantasy, what would be willing to do to support shows and stories like this (ETA: was talking about Firefly being canceled in an earlier paragraph)? For a long time I've wanted to start a production and distribution company for quality Sci-Fi and Fantasy over the Internet. There are so many quality show, like Farscape, Babylon 5, Firefly, you name it, that have been cut off or cheapened when they were just starting to come into their own that there has to be a way to get that quality out continuously to those of us that really want to support it.
If I'm going to start this business I need some help. First of all, I need to get an idea of what people are willing to pay to support something like this. These kinds of show are not cheap to make but there are alot of Sci-Fi and Fantasy fans out there world wide to help absorb the costs. And advertising and sponsorships will be a big part of the funding. But those people are going to want to know how large an audience they're going to be paying for so I've got set a pricing structure that's going to hit the biggest audience and still bring in enough income to make up the shortfall. I'm rambling but I just want the fans to understand where I'm coming from.
One of the prime tenants of this company would be to give the creative control to the licensee and their writers. I want to avoid censorship and creative meddling like you get with a network show so that what we get is the real vision of the show. I will have some rules but I plan on keeping them to a minimum.
I would be distributing primarily over the Internet, probably in SVCD format for low quality and DVD format for high quality.
So, if you'd like to see a company that produces top quality Sci-Fi and Fantasy help me out in my research by answering a few questions and passing these on to your friends to answer as well.
What series would you like to see? Why?
Would you rather see 1/2 hour shows or 1 hour shows?
How often should new shows come out, weekly, monthly, something else?
How often should movies and special events/features come out, quarterly, annually, something else?
How much would you be willing to pay per episode, $2, $5, $10?
Would you like to see multiple quality levels, SVCD, DVD, etc. with a layered price structure?
Would you be interested in buying series related merchandise? How much annually would you spend?
Would you be interested in buying season collections on DVD, including typical DVD special features that wouldn't be available for download?
Would you be interested in purchasing a monthly pass to multiple series? How much would you pay for it? How about annual passes to individual series?
Do you think a business like this could survive? With the ease of sharing files would enough people actually pay for the shows to keep them going?
What other web services would you like to see for the series, individual web spaces, forums, fan site space, others?
What advice or suggestions do you have?
What information would you like to see from me and the proposed company?
Is it worth going forward with a crazy idea like this?
Anyway, anyone willing to look these questions over an answer them, please pass on the answers to SciFantasyTheater at gmail
---------------
Ok, that still holds true today. I really would like feedback on this. I also need help coming up with a business plan to present to investors since every time I try to do it I wind up having an panic attack.
I really really would like to start a business like this and be able to get quality stories out. And something that encourages fan involvement as well, since fan stuff often turns out to be as good as the original content! Well, maybe not often, but it does happen with enough frequency that it's not a rare thing.
The technology for the site is now quite mature actually. Hulu.com and sites like that are pretty close to what I'd do for the viewer side of things. But we'd also have to be able to handle fan added content like youtube and have space set aside for fan sites and forums.
Anyone have any thoughts or ideas? I'm pretty much open to anything at the moment.
Thanks,
--Mav
---From my original 2003 post---
For those of you out there that are fans of Sci-Fi or Fantasy, what would be willing to do to support shows and stories like this (ETA: was talking about Firefly being canceled in an earlier paragraph)? For a long time I've wanted to start a production and distribution company for quality Sci-Fi and Fantasy over the Internet. There are so many quality show, like Farscape, Babylon 5, Firefly, you name it, that have been cut off or cheapened when they were just starting to come into their own that there has to be a way to get that quality out continuously to those of us that really want to support it.
If I'm going to start this business I need some help. First of all, I need to get an idea of what people are willing to pay to support something like this. These kinds of show are not cheap to make but there are alot of Sci-Fi and Fantasy fans out there world wide to help absorb the costs. And advertising and sponsorships will be a big part of the funding. But those people are going to want to know how large an audience they're going to be paying for so I've got set a pricing structure that's going to hit the biggest audience and still bring in enough income to make up the shortfall. I'm rambling but I just want the fans to understand where I'm coming from.
One of the prime tenants of this company would be to give the creative control to the licensee and their writers. I want to avoid censorship and creative meddling like you get with a network show so that what we get is the real vision of the show. I will have some rules but I plan on keeping them to a minimum.
I would be distributing primarily over the Internet, probably in SVCD format for low quality and DVD format for high quality.
So, if you'd like to see a company that produces top quality Sci-Fi and Fantasy help me out in my research by answering a few questions and passing these on to your friends to answer as well.
What series would you like to see? Why?
Would you rather see 1/2 hour shows or 1 hour shows?
How often should new shows come out, weekly, monthly, something else?
How often should movies and special events/features come out, quarterly, annually, something else?
How much would you be willing to pay per episode, $2, $5, $10?
Would you like to see multiple quality levels, SVCD, DVD, etc. with a layered price structure?
Would you be interested in buying series related merchandise? How much annually would you spend?
Would you be interested in buying season collections on DVD, including typical DVD special features that wouldn't be available for download?
Would you be interested in purchasing a monthly pass to multiple series? How much would you pay for it? How about annual passes to individual series?
Do you think a business like this could survive? With the ease of sharing files would enough people actually pay for the shows to keep them going?
What other web services would you like to see for the series, individual web spaces, forums, fan site space, others?
What advice or suggestions do you have?
What information would you like to see from me and the proposed company?
Is it worth going forward with a crazy idea like this?
Anyway, anyone willing to look these questions over an answer them, please pass on the answers to SciFantasyTheater at gmail
---------------
Ok, that still holds true today. I really would like feedback on this. I also need help coming up with a business plan to present to investors since every time I try to do it I wind up having an panic attack.
I really really would like to start a business like this and be able to get quality stories out. And something that encourages fan involvement as well, since fan stuff often turns out to be as good as the original content! Well, maybe not often, but it does happen with enough frequency that it's not a rare thing.
The technology for the site is now quite mature actually. Hulu.com and sites like that are pretty close to what I'd do for the viewer side of things. But we'd also have to be able to handle fan added content like youtube and have space set aside for fan sites and forums.
Anyone have any thoughts or ideas? I'm pretty much open to anything at the moment.
Thanks,
--Mav