Felicia Day's Keynote Speech at SXSW 20011

Liz Shannon Miller talks to The Guild Creator, Felicia Day talking about The Guild, DragonAge: Redemption, webseries and New Media (Note: there was a 'share' button under the live feed during the session which I hope might turn into a permalink....we'll see! If the video is available after I will embed)

Some Screengrabs from Flikr:

The IAWTV and Streamy Awards part company

UPDATE: Interview with Amber J. Lawson, Chair of the Awards Committee of the IAWTV on rocketstail.com (via Jeff's link on indieintertube.tv/Backchannel)

In an announcement today, the International Academy of Web Television revealed some of its plans for the future which include detaching from The Streamy Awards and creating their own awards due in Fall 2011. This has been met with surprise in some quarters, but most of the reactions I've seen have been positive. And the IAWTV and members have stressed that the parting is amicable and based on how best the IAWTV can serve the community.

Zadi Diaz, (Epic Fu, New Mediacracy Podcast and much more), the well-respected new media creator and commentator, posted her take on the announcement on her blog:

"...This change will allow the IAWTV to focus on investing all of its efforts into providing valuable resources to its membership.

Three months (six for veteran board members) and dozens of meetings (between the board and all the committees) later and I am confident that we are on a path to creating an organization that will provide great value to our community as a whole. .."

Zadi also published the announcement letter sent to IAWTV members which outlined the main reasons for the split:

"... Non-Profit vs. For-Profit: Due to the IAWTV’s legal structure as a non-profit entity with the mandate to serve the community for which it was established, all profits from an award show in which the IAWTV is involved should go back to the Web television community through programs and resources established by the IAWTV. The Streamy Awards is currently structured as a for-profit entity. We have found it impossible to harmonize these competing objectives and desired ends.

· By the Community, For the Community. IAWTV membership is growing now that open enrollment is in place. We have an awesome Executive Director, a fantastic, professional Board of Directors, and terrific members taking leadership roles at a grass-roots level. Due to these realities, we agreed producing our own awards event is possible and makes sense. Therefore, we believe it is important that the IAWTV create a non-profit award show for the community, by the community that benefits the community.

· Financial Responsibility. The primary obligation of the Board is to do what is financially responsible for the organization. We have very limited funds presently at the IAWTV. If we were to work with a for-profit entity to produce an ambitious event for the sake of maximizing profits, we would likely put the IAWTV under severe financial stress. We decided it is best to live within our means and not spend money we do not have..."

Felicia Day, (The Guild, Dr Horrible and much more) also set out her views on the announcement in a blog post:

"...My biggest hope with this change is that we can move on and focus on how the IAWTV can serve the community at large, to help and educate people who want to make their own content, but need more tools.  Opening enrollment to EVERY qualified member recently was a big step. There’s a lot of mobilization with the current members to form writing groups, producers groups, creation of a new website to connect members from around the world etc.  THERE is where the future of the non-profit IAWTV lies: in servicing the members.  And if we can have a low-key awards show to honor the members of our community for their talent, then that will be the icing on the web video cake...."

Liz Shannon Miller broke the news on NewTeeVee with the headline "IAWTV Dumps Streamys For Its Own Award Show". Reading through the article and those above, though, it seems that rather than simply 'dumping' The Streamys, the IAWTV have taken some tough decisions and come up with some solutions that should best serve the community.

It has been a long six months since The Streamys and during that time, like many people, I've been doing a lot of thinking, trying to work out what has been going on and what role I want to take (if any) in this community. I love creating, commenting and being part of the new media/webseries world, and I've made some amazing friends in the process. I wouldn't be making a new webseries if I wasn't committed.

I held off applying for IAWTV membership because I simply had no real clue what I was signing up for. The path still isn't crystal clear but I am very happy with this announcement and the direction things seem to be going in. I'll be applying to the IAWTV next week. If I get in I will take an active part in the forums and discussions because this community excites me, fires me up and inspires me. You can discuss this over at the IndieIntertube 'Backchannel' message board, where several people have already commented.

What do you think of the announcement?

Updates and observations: OH HAI INTERNET

Caution: Hubby at work!
So then, what's been going on with you? Seems like a long time since I wrote anything here but even I was shocked to see it was nearly 2 weeks! I'll be out of the Blogger's Loose Association with No Set Agenda at this rate. So - what have I been doing, I hear you ask? The answer is Pretty Cool Stuff. And because it is traditional for me to mark periods of not blogging with a megalistpost, here's a quick rundown:

• Building Sets & Polishing Scripts for 'Mind My Brains, Darling!': new posts up on HigletFilms.com about our progress. And don't forget that you still have 23 days left to help us raise the last $239 we need to reach our goal on Indiegogo.com. A huge thank you to all the generous people who have donated so far - you rock!
• Follow ups from VCON: We made some great new contacts at VCON and we're hoping to be able to share some more of this in the coming weeks. And I'll be publishing an interview with Alyssa Ciccarelli from Riese the Series on PinkRaygun soon. Riese is a Steampunk webseries that was launched in 2009. It has been picked up by Syfy.com and will be airing every Tuesday and Thursday on http://www.syfy.com/riese/
• Fighting GDS with Legend of Neil and Jeff Lewis 5 Min Comedy Hour: Guild Deficiency Syndrome can be temporarily relieved by ingesting quantities of these two shows, although 'ingesting' might not be the word to use given the last 'Jeff Lewis...' ep. And next week is the LAST EVER episode of Legend of Neil, which is a whole other type of syndrome waiting to happen. Will our suffering never end? Yes, because 'Knights of The Guild' podcast is still running with new shows and competitions! Guaranteed to cheer up the most down-in-the-mouth Guildie :)
•  IAWTV opens its doors to....everyone!: After months of debates, it seems the IAWTV has decided to allow anyone with an interest in webseries to register as a member. You might have missed this because it is not on the public IAWTV website or Twitter stream because there are issues in updating these sites. But Jack Ferry has done an admirable job of spreading the word, and it was this article by him that really got the ball rolling. Liz Shannon Miller wrote about the change on NewTeeVee.com and Tubefilter also reported on the changes. I think the challenges for the IAWTV are large but not insurmountable, and it will be interesting to see what happens. I think this a massive step in the right direction.
• Castle - must-watch TV!: Ah, there are only 2 things I'm watching on TV atm and Castle is one of them. Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic and all deliver a dependable dollop of pure enjoyment.
• Caprica - also must-watch TV!: From the ridiculous to the sublime? Possibly. All I know is that I love this show immensely and hope it is renewed for another season or five.

IAWTV: changes afoot. Meetings today and Thursday

Like many people, I've been waiting see what would happen at the next two IAWTV (International Academy of Web Television) meetings held in New York today, and LA on the 17th. After the May meeting in LA, Jenni Powell did an excellent summary, as did Liz Shannon Miller from NewTeeVee. Felicia Day, who is a member of the Board couldn't attend but wrote about her thoughts regarding the future of the IAWTV post-Streamys. The excellent podcast, New Mediacracy, also recorded a show straight after the May meeting, with Tony Valenzuela, Casey McKinnon, Barrett Garese, Brett Register, and Rudy Jahchan. This podcast is hosted by Zadi Diaz,  Steve Woolf and Chris McCaleb. I highly recommend listening because it touches on many of the pertinent matters related to the whole new media/web video community in a straightforward and personal way.

Earlier today Brady Brim-DeForest tweeted a link to an open note from him to the members of the IAWTV:

"...I am writing to inform you of my intention to resign my position as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Academy of Web Television, in concert with three of my fellow founders, Joshua Cohen, Marc Hustvedt, and Jamison Tilsner. Jamison and I will also be resigning our respective offices as Treasurer and Executive Director of the IAWTV..."

Mr Brim-Deforest and the other members will not be leaving the IAWTV but will remain members and still contribute as such. A letter from Elizabeth Flack dated May 26th, which was been posted on webseriesnetwork.com, said that this would happen and also outlined the new committees being set up. It also announced a new 'Director Emeritus' seat to be held by one of the six founding members of the IAWTV.

Real changes are afoot and it looks like the June meetings might bring about some positive plans for the future. I'm looking forward to seeing feedback from people who attend.