So, here’s the deal. Innovation, change, the next new, new thing… we never know what it will do with its ripple effects.
And, the ripple effects may lead to the death of what was dominant, and the rising of the new – and then, repeat, and repeat, and repeat…
Chautauqua gave way to Traveling Chautauqua gave way to Vaudeville gave way to Silent Movies gave way to Talkies gave way to Television which will give way to…? As a young boy, they still showed newsreels at the movie theater, and you could watch boxing matches there. I once watched Wrestlemania (# 3, I think — but it could have been #1) at a closed-circuit movie theatre screening. Pay-per-view ended those days…
And, now, everybody is wondering what comes next. So I read this this morning, from Andrew Sullivan, linked to from the article by Ned Hepburn, about Jerry Seinfeld’s internet show, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee:
Seinfeld put this together with a shoestring budget and a small team of talented people and it gave some much needed legitimacy to internet television as a whole: here was a major, major star appearing not on the screen that we had fallen in love with him on but appearing on the screen that we carry around with us (iPad), work on (laptops) and carry in our pockets (smart phones). Here was a giant giving away some of his best work for free. For free. Comedian Louis CK gave away his latest special for $5 and became a millionaire in ten days.
… When are people who make decisions – who are most likely pushing 40 or 50 or 60 and can’t understand a world without themselves because which carriage maker could ever fathom an automobile – when are they going to help themselves by helping us and take a risk and put more money into internet television? Seinfeld is showing you a door right now that you should walk through because pretty soon the whole building is going to come down.
(It is an education for an old guy like me to read the full Ned Hepburn article: Kill Your Internet Television: Why Seinfeld still matters. Read it here).
I do not know the future of this whole television show next chapter challenge. I know this – at the Emmy’s this year, the drama category was swept by Homeland (the best show I am now watching – gripping!), and Homeland is on Showtime, and in the days of Hill Street Blues, it would have been inconceivable that a “pay channel/premium channel” show would ever be in the running for an Emmy. Will an Emmy someday go to an internet show? Who would have ever predicted?
Here are a couple of thoughts:
1. Figure out what never changes. Talent; skill; putting together a good team – the need for these will never change. So, develop your talent, develop your skill, learn to work really well with others on a team.
2. But, do not be wed to what will possibly, maybe inevitably, change. Seinfeld is still Seinfeld, but he is now putting out product to the universe who can watch it anywhere – except on their broadcast or cable provider. He has talent, skill, and puts together a great team. Talent; skill; a great team — this is what is lasting… But this time, it’s not on NBC. It’s on your iPhone. Amazing.
First Friday Book Synopsis 