Hits Are Hard

Rob Long blogs:

1. Hits are hard. Liz Gannes over at the NewTeeVee site has a great post about the web video stars of 2007.  Time and Forbes may be (kind of) crowing about the short fame trajectories of yesterday’s big names, but it’s not really big news.  Hits are hard, whether you live in Palo Alto or Hollywood.

2.             Franchises are better than hits.  When studios evaluate a project, one of the things they’re really looking for are franchises.  Remember Air Bud, about the dog that plays basketball?  It had seven sequels.  I’m not sure the web has created an Air Bud.  Yet.  (And I’m using Air Bud rather than, say, Spiderman or Pirates of the Caribbean because it’s the smaller, lower profile, and – let’s face it – tackier titles that keep the lights on.  There’s nothing quite like the taste of bread and butter.)

3.              Comedy may be oversaturated on the web right now.  Maybe.  Just a thought.  It’s a challenge to cut through the clutter.  Even for big names.  Just sayin’ is all.

4.             An unscientific, indefensible assertion: when the iPhone came out, within a few days I was seeing them all over.  I haven’t seen one of these.

5.             In show business, you notice the little things.  Parking, for instance.  Every year, near the anniversary of the date your studio deal was signed, someone from the on-lot parking department will send out a new little sticker for your car.  It’s a small thing, of course, but it’s one of the ways you know that your studio deal is being renewed.  Unless they don’t send you a sticker, which also tells you something.

Oh, I suppose you could just pick up the phone like an adult, and come right out and ask the studio head, “Hey, are you extending this thing or not?” but the iron rule of the entertainment industry is, if you’ve got to ask, then deep down, you know the answer.