Hypothetical Questions

[TWinPA]

I think it might be a good idea for Williams Street to give a set amount of money in exchange for a half-hour pilot to ten people who have proven their artistic and writing skills online, and make a full series out of their favorite (showing all ten before announcing the decision).

The questions are: Who would you want to get the series, and who else would you want to get the pilot? Who would you want to make plots based on their existing stories, and who would you rather do an entirely new story?

[Aurochs]

I think it might be a good idea for Williams Street to give a set amount of money in exchange for a half-hour pilot to ten people who have proven their artistic and writing skills online, and make a full series out of their favorite (showing all ten before announcing the decision).

The questions are: Who would you want to get the series, and who else would you want to get the pilot? Who would you want to make plots based on their existing stories, and who would you rather do an entirely new story?

I really don't think any of the existing online franchises would make good television shows. (with maybe the exception of Green Porn City and Penny Arcade) Tell me, which of these would you tolerate for thirty minutes?
Final Fantasy and/or Megaman and/or Nintendo sprites making bad puns
Poorly animated GIFs of the disembodied heads of pop-culture icons singing to the Japanese Pokémon soundtrack
Stick figures beating each other up
A polar bear in outer space
A bizarre post-modern intentionally poorly done sequence of images involving a penguin
Guys with schlocky Italian accents singing about Super Mario Brothers
Cinematics from Zero Wing narrated by a computer voice and collogued with images edited to say "All Your Base"

Seeing any of those things become a series would be hell, although they're all hilarious in the medium they exist in. So if I were to choose the ten people to make pilots in this hypothetical contest, I'd just have the authors of the above-mentioned online franchises make pilots using completely new ideas.

[Amano Ginji]

"If you don't know why the knife is in his back, you haven't been paying attention."

:p Sorry, couldn't resist.

[turbomog007]

It is never going to happen but if they were going to make a web comic into a show I would like to see PA (they have a script for a pilot episode already) become one.

[Aurochs]

"If you don't know why the knife is in his back, you haven't been paying attention."

:p Sorry, couldn't resist.

I don't get it.

[NewLib]

Sorry but Homestar has a much better than chance than Penny Arcade. Penny Arcade only works because of topics it covers and half those topics require keeping up with current events in video games which would exclude too much of the audience.

[DianaGohan]

Yeah but the brother Chaps (The Creators of Homestarr Runner) really don't want to do any features for television, so they really wouldn't be doing a pilot for AS unless they had a very good reason to. So Penny Arcade has an edge in that form.

[NewLib]

Uh The Brother Chaps offered HSR to CN a few years ago... Im sure they do it again.

[Infinity Blade]

Stick figures beating each other up


Hey, I'd watch it. :p

[bassist]

3 reasons why there will never be a web cartoon featured on AS:

1) Content - most web cartoons either contain copyrighted images or songs that would require gratuities for broadcast usage. Those that don't can be too violent (like Ninjai) or too immature. Some are just plain too weird (disembodied heads, I drink Ritalin) or too artistic (Nose Pilot).

2) Dominoes - The cost of brining these things to TV seems small, but neither WS, nor CN really wants to start throwing bones to small companies and suddenly find themselves under a torrent of pilots coming in each week. How many online shows could actually make the grade? not a whole lot, and if they open the door to one show, they open their door to every soliciting animator or geek with too much time on his/her hands that has a show they've made.

3) Money - While it may seem cheaper to get web shows that could be bought for a few thousand instead of a few hundred thousand, there will be issues with contracts and the like in most cases. I highly doubt any company could come to an agreement with a network easily and I'm not sure how much small companies want to put up with nagging corporate lawyers.

[Aurochs]

1) Content - most web cartoons either contain copyrighted images or songs that would require gratuities for broadcast usage. Those that don't can be too violent (like Ninjai) or too immature. Some are just plain too weird (disembodied heads, I drink Ritalin) or too artistic (Nose Pilot).

You have a point with the copyrighted images, I don't think you have to censor ADULT SWIM because of weirdness or artisticness. It's the "FLCL/Excel Saga is too weird/Japanese to come to Adult Swim" all over again. I swear, sometimes I don't know if people are watching the same block as I am

2) Dominoes - The cost of brining these things to TV seems small, but neither WS, nor CN really wants to start throwing bones to small companies and suddenly find themselves under a torrent of pilots coming in each week. How many online shows could actually make the grade? not a whole lot, and if they open the door to one show, they open their door to every soliciting animator or geek with too much time on his/her hands that has a show they've made. I don't really see that as a negative thing. Cartoon Network can just as easily reject pilots as they can now. They're not under any obligation, and if they've shown something by a small animator or geek with too much time on his or her hands, I'd like them even more. Although I really don't think these type of programs should clutter Adult Swim. I think these online features should get their own block, if this concept is brought to life.

[bassist]

I don't think you have to censor ADULT SWIM because of weirdness or artisticness. It's the "FLCL/Excel Saga is too weird/Japanese to come to Adult Swim" all over again. I swear, sometimes I don't know if people are watching the same block as I amIt's not that kind of weirdness factor. It's more of the Eltingville wierdness factor. Eltingville had the potential to be a great series, but it's content was too specific. It was like everything was aimed a minority of people. Sealab, ATHF, Brak, and SGC2C are all tremendously weird, but they do it in such a way that it's audience discriminatory. As far as artsiness, Nose Pilot is easily my favorite flash product on the web, but it would not work on AS because it's like an animated painting rather than a cartoon. Most of the people who watch AS watch it for comedy or for action, and until we start seeing animated dramas, artsiness doesn't really have a place on AS.
I don't really see [the domino effect] as a negative thing. Cartoon Network can just as easily reject pilots as they can now. They're not under any obligation, and if they've shown something by a small animator or geek with too much time on his or her hands, I'd like them even more. Although I really don't think these type of programs should clutter Adult Swim. I think these online features should get their own block, if this concept is brought to life.It would be nice, but what I meant was that if too many submissions come in, you end up with too much to handle, and knowing that you're not going to make all that much money off a small net-geek block, the cost of hiring people just to watch 200-500 submissions a day may not be feasable. It's too hard to dig through that many submissions day to day or even week to week, and with the popularity of flash and CG animation rising, it means that the more shows aired, the more submissions the next day. It's not a bad thing at first, but it adds up.

[Amano Ginji]

I don't get it.

www.nuklearpower.com

Go to archives and read from the beginning of the quest. It's a little something called "8-Bit Theater".

:p