This post was originally published on the 2AMt blog. It summarizes the history, the reasons behind, metrics, the technical and aesthetic requirements of and the successes of our production of Better Left Unsaid TV, the first of it’s kind interactive live streamed play. To skip to the section that most interests you click the appropriate word in the previous sentence.
Miguel Govea and Jessica Arinella in Better Left Unsaid by Joey Brenneman
On January 21st of this year, my producing partners and I began previews of the first of its kind, interactive live streamed play. This was a full length production of Joey Brenneman’s Better Left Unsaid, cast with professional New York actors, staged in a small off-off broadway house in front of a live audience for a three week run. AND…simultaneously Better Left Unsaid was shot with four cameras, mixed in real time and streamed live to the internet so that anyone, anywhere in the world could see the show. The bonus for online viewers was that they could interact with the live streamed theater experience via Facebook, Twitter and chat rooms.
Producing a play is complicated. Producing a live streamed play incorporates everything it takes to produce a play and adds to that everything you need to do to produce a live television shown- with the always wavering unknowns of live streaming technology thrown in to the mix. We climbed a lot of hurdles to reach opening night, almost as many to arrive at our final performance and ended our nine month journey on the highest of notes. We had over 50,000 unique viewers join us for the final three performances of Better Left Unsaid. We received virtual standing ovations from people all over the world. We proved that people will in fact pay for online video, at least if it is positioned as theater. Finally, we had the great honor, joy and sometimes nervous breakdown of launching a brand new theatrical paradigm, born of today’s technology.
Why live stream a play? Honestly there are a million reasons- the most obvious are… click to read post…
Today is a momentous day.
Today I launched our Kickstarter campaign to raise the funds for my next online video project Better Left Unsaid.
A first of its kind, live streamed theatrical event, Better Left Unsaid combines all my passions, theater, technology, community and online video.
My love of the theater is almost as old as I am. Every decision I have ever made in my life has in some way been Read Post
(crossposted at BetterLeftUnsaid.tv)
A friend of mine, a theater professional with 20 years of professional experience was just offered an audition, via their agent, for a workshop of a new play. The director of this workshop is an Academy Award winning documentary director. The pay for 25 hours of work is $100 dollars. Total. That’s 4 dollars an hour…for a professional…with 20 years experience. Can you imagine a headhunter calling you and saying “Hey! this is a one week job with a great company! They aren’t going to pay you, but you’ll have an in, maybe, with an important company!”
So what do you get if you take this job? Finish Reading Post
In part 1 of Women in Business, A Woman’s Worth, I concluded that women discourage each other from being powerful, strong and ambitious, and that we feel that it is only acceptable to own our expertise if it is couched in our role as mother.
Part 2 is where I assert that women are not perceived of as leaders because we do not feel entitled to be heard.
A few years ago I sat on a panel about online video and social media. As was typical, I was the only woman on the panel and one of the few women in the room. The panel, was being monitored by my then boss, the CEO of an online video company. Just as the panel was ending my boss nudged me “I’m about to wrap up” he whispered “say something else”. I was taken aback. I had spoken often and didn’t have anything to add to the present discussion. Was I supposed to speak just for the sake of hearing my own voice?
As it turns out…Yes! Finish Reading Post
Well not the live part… that feels like second nature…
In a post some weeks ago I wrote about the hardest thing I’ve had to overcome and that thing of course was my fear… lotsa varieties that manifest themselves in oh… quitting, failure, overeating, procrastinating… you know… but they all boil down to one thing… fear that who I am is not enough.
Well.. here I go… tellin the world that I who I am is enough.. that I am passionate and powerful and I believe in me….
(I know…that sounds so dopey and self-helpey… but its true..if you have a better way to say it please submit!!!! I would be ever grateful![youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJPPMv_YZVk]
A fantastic DP just signed on…we will be shooting virals in a few weeks…..Everything is falling into place…. Here I go!!!
