Social Networking Sites Buying Internet Original Content

WSJ today gives overview of social networking sites getting into business of producing online video.  Article features three shows:

- Kate Modern, a mystery on social networking site Bebo.
- Roommates, a soap opera on MySpace TV
- Special Delivery, a hidden camera reality show on MySpace TV.

It notes that while MySpace and Bebo push into original content, Facebook hasn't and other internet companies - AOL and Yahoo, specifically - are backing away from it.   

Article doesn't disclose budget for KATE MODERN but says Bebo sells sponsorships at $400,000 for six months. 

Claims production budgets for Roommates and Special Delivery are about $1000 per minute.

Article also notes that the shows themselves aren't very profitable to their writer / producers, who are portrayed as doing internet stuff to build assets and relationships "in a bigger entertainment medium." 

If you've watched these shows, use the comments to tell us what you think. 

If you've had experience trying to sell a show to Bebo or MySpace or any other company investing in  internet original content, tell us what can about the process: deal points, budgets, development process.

WSJ article also links to excellent post by Kara Swisher where she takes Hollywood to task - creative talent as well as the companies - for being risk-averse and lazy and for making "Web material that clearly is derivative of current media like television, rather than [trying] to imagine a whole new way of creating content that reflects and excels on the online platform."

Swisher's interview with LonelyGirl and Kate Modern creator Peter Gibbons is below the break ...

Web "Pilot"

As we expand UH into a resource for the talent community exploring the creative and business aspects of new media, we will post bits of news about what's going out there. Comment, question, send us posts about what you know and what you're doing, and look for the new UH: Artists l Audience l Business in the coming weeeks.  -TES

NewTeeVee writes today about UNDER THE ARCHES, a "reality" show that began as a series of short videos online and is now being turned into a "pilot" by a company called Madwood Entertainment.

NYU student Sean Patrick Murray, who created the show, describes it on Facebook as "8 college kids in NYC, the real "Gossip Girl."  You can see the 7-minute pilot there or get a taste here on the Gawker post, which described the show as "reality schtick - [all] about the fast-moving-cloud shots, the angsty Z-100 soundtrack and the whiny blond chicks" and creator Murray as "either a complete genius or a total tool."

According to NewTeeVee, the distribution plan is "to launch a video destination site that will stream ad-supported shows for free" and then “hyper-distribute the show to other video sharing-sites and social networks."

I like that plan to build audience, but whether it's already the big win Murray suggests or just the beginning of a strategy still to be tested, we'll see.  What do you think?