What Dr Horrible Can Teach TV About Participatory Culture

What Dr Horrible Can Teach TV About Participatory Culture Dr Tama Leaver Communication Studies, The University of Western Australia

Image: ‘Spoilt’ by Oliver Moss, http://www.threadless.com/product/844/Spoilt

Zappers

Casuals

Loyals

‘Loyals watch series; zappers watch television’ (Jenkins 2006: 74).

Why is BSG being illegally downloaded in Australia?

Moore and the show’s creative team have actively courted and communicated with BSG fans across the world wide web for the entire duration of the current show, finding and creating many loyal viewers (as opposed to zappers). The show’s creators embrace web 2.0 and participatory culture, making many links with fans.

Like many shows, there is a large delay between the US and Australian broadcast of BSG ;

BSG has received considerable critical acclaim and is thus written about in the mainstream press, increasing the likelihood of Australians coming across spoilers either from either this source or from fan-produced blog commentaries and similar material.

 Thus, engaging with participatory culture has heightened global demand, but been blocked by outdated national distribution zones and rights. This is the tyranny of digital distance .

“ … few watch television in total silence and isolation. For most of us, television provides fodder for so-called water cooler conversations. And, for a growing number of people, the water cooler has gone digital.”

(Jenkins, 2006: 26).

Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Joss Whedon ( Buffy, Firefly ).

Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day.

Global fan engagement in lead-up (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Blog hype, Joss’s ‘master plan’.)

Musical, fannish and fan-promoted = very participator; fan promoted, not fan created.

Available for a short time online for free (freemium), or forever via iTunes.

Dr Horrible is American?

Episode one released via Hulu.com; not available internationally for first half day (massive fan outcry!).

Immediate response via Twitter (then MySpace and blogged at Whedonesque.) After a few hours, a Twitter post pointed to a website with instructions for circumventing Hulu’s geo-blocking via an ISP anonymiser. (NB: 1999, ‘bootleg that puppy’ after Buffy season finale delayed in US after Columbine shootings.)

Never available via iTunes outside of the US (different negotiations needed with each). (Lost $) Team Whedon trying to get international releases.

Dr Hulu … “ Dr. Horrible is diabolical, relentless and surprisingly hummable. … HULU hosted Dr. Horrible for free for a week, which we, the mushortio-makers, are forever grateful for, and now you can stream it for free on their site. How awesome is that? I know, you're humbled. Stop groveling. Just remember: the more you watch it, the more you will understand about life and the universe and hydroponics. You'll laugh, you'll cry.... and you just might learn long division. With songs! PLEASE watch it. We're so lonely...” - Joss Whedon, http://blog.hulu.com/2008/7/29/dr-horrible

Dr Horrible: The Figures (All approximate)

3 Episodes: Released every 2 days, in all up for 6 days. Then pulled. ( www.drhorrible.com ) Cost c.$250,000 to make.

iTunes sales ($1.99 ep/$3.99 all); $3.59 remains after Apple’s cut.

Neil Patrick Harris (Scale + 3% profit) 100,000 iTunes Sales = 3,273; 1 Million = $109,100.

Joss Whedon ($250,000 investment; 80% profit) 100,000 iTunes Sales = 87,280; 1 Million = $2.6 Million!

Dr Horrible – all 3 episodes sat atop iTunes store sales list for 2 weeks. Source: Jeffrey McManus, ‘ What’s In It For Doogie Howser?’, http://blog.jeffreymcmanus.com/896/whats-in-it-for-doogie-howser/ , 21 July 2008.

Dr Horrible “ Proving we can turn Dr Horrible into a viable economic proposition as well as an awesome goof will only inspire more people to lay themselves out in the same way. It’s time for the dissemination of the artistic process. Create more for less. You are the ones that can make that happen. Wow. I had no idea how important you guys were. I’m a little afraid of you.” - Joss Whedon, http://www.drhorrible.com/plan.html

Warren said… “ And while there are elements of the project that only someone of Joss’ position could pull off — the money, the cast, the values, etc etc etc — I think there are still lessons to be taken from it that apply broadly. Not least of which are, Be Short, Be Bold, and Get It Done.” - Warren Ellis, ‘The Guts of Dr Horrible’, http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=6206

1000 True Fans A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living. A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. - Kevin Kelly, ‘1000 True Fans’, http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php

A Horrible Model?

Whedon has a few more than 1000 true fans; Dr Horrible is clearly a huge success.

Dr Horrible ’s publicity – entirely web-based and fan-reliant – could be harnessed by entirely unknown producers with carefully designed publicity and full fan engagement (probably have to give more initially).

Tools for global distribution are getting better (Vimeo, Hulu, iTunes, etc.).

In the YouTube era, quality entertainment and quality engagement with fans still works.

So the Future Might be Horrible … … and rely greatly on the power of participatory culture and harnessing social networks … … and oddly, that might just be a brilliant thing for the niche producers of today and tomorrow!

Questions? Comments? Criticism?