The medium of TV is changing really quickly. Social TV, user generated content, citizen journalism, YouTube, and many other evolutionary things are bringing about significant change.
The next step on from standard social TV and user gen is, in my humble opinion, user remixes and actual show content creation.
But what if we were to leapfrog that, and go straight into a collaborative TV show?
That’s exactly what actor and producer Joseph Gordon-Levitt has done. Starting collaborative production house HitRECord in 2005, a website was created that was part social-network, part peer review, part remix/creative DJ outlet for writers, musicians, filmmakers and other creatives.
“Having someone take creative liberty with what I’ve done, it’s just fascinating. It’s like, ‘Wow they really got it.’ Or they didn’t get it. You can really tell, based on the art that they make.”
They went on to create a “professional production methodology”, which allowed contributing artists to be paid for their work, and some of that work to be shown at festivals such as Sundance.
Now the HitRECord team have moved the website into a skit-like TV show – and it’s magical.
One member will supply the story; another the voiceover; others will act; others will design. It’s crowdsourcing at it’s finest.
And in the spirit of openness and internetness, the first episode has been made available online. So watch it; and know that this is the start of something amazing.
