That's Entertainment

I got in to Boston last night after a 45 minutes of being stuck in the plane and on the tarmac in Cleavland; we apparently missed our "wheels in the well" time and had to wait for the next.

Eventually I made it to the Media Lab for the first event (pre-event) for the Futures of Entertainment Conference, with 30 minutes left to go:

Jesse Alexander and Mark Warshaw in conversation with Henry Jenkins about Heroes and the changes taking place in the TV landscape. NBC's Heroes: "Appointment TV" to "Engagement TV"?

I caught part of the discussion of Heroes' new promotion Create Your Hero.  I saw the brief promo during this week's episode, and I, at first, thought anyone could sit at home, working at their desk to create a superhero and then submit it to Heroes. Then, you might find they have chosen your hero to include in the show.  I was wrong. 

If you check out the site, you'll see that they were much smarter about engaging the audience to participate than I, although this participation is more limited.  You visit the site each week, choose some attributes for the hero.  Essentially, you are voting for what the character will be like.  So, this week, for instance, you can choose between place of birth, appearance, and build.

This not only enables participation but also forces you to visit Heroes' website each week and vote for your hero build.

Anyway, there's the rest of the con . . . .

I'm particularly interested in the fan labor panel, for obvious reasons, but all except maybe the mobile media relate to my dissertation project.

Comments

[Kevin K.]

Soon they will have "Choose Your Own Adventure" television series.

[dave's not here]

Ironic (kairotic?) that you blog this during the writers' strike. Any thoughts on that? Could the "fan labor" eventually spell difficulty for the organized labor forces of creative professionals?

[Rik]

Funny you mention the writer's strike, Dave. There was a video about it, from it(?) showing how much they make: no residuals from shows like I Love Lucy, and they negotiated for a 4% take from VHS in the 80s at the behest of the Man so that the market could develop. Then, each year, as the market grew they would get more and more. But that didn't happen. As vhs transitioned to DVD and the market exploded. And they still make the 4%. Now with content being made available online, the writers are getting cut out. Response? Ask for another 4%. Denied=strike.

I'll try to get a link to the video up.

I'll do my best to respond to your concern about what fan production means to the writers' strike after I see that session.