Behind the Scenes of The Fine Brothers

I often get asked about how we arrange interviews and I will write an entry soon on how that process happens. This particular interview was probably our most unconventional. I think I received a note via our Facebook profile that said, "When is it our turn?". I didn't even know The Fine Brothers knew our show existed, so I was completely flattered to receive the note. We happened to have an open production date, so I wrote back, "How about next week?" and we were off and running. We also shot this episode in mid-November 2009, so it has been on our back burner because we had premieres or finales to coincide with on other shows. I am happy we were able to finally bring this episode to you since The Fine Brothers offered the most brutally honest take on what is happening in the web space. You have to remember that they were early adopters to the web arena even before YouTube existed. It's hard to imagine that YouTube didn't exist until February 2005. It has become a part of our daily internet landscape and The Fine Brothers have found great success on the site.

I hope you all take in the advice that Benny and Rafi are offering. It may not always apply to your show, but you can adapt it to fit your production. They were open enough to offer up some of the things they have done wrong and where they need to diversify. Listen to their words carefully, it might help you avoid some of the missteps they made on their way to success. I am also interested in watching how this all plays out for everyone in the next few years. I hope many of you can be supported solely by new media and that there is a greater understanding from the studios with how to utilize and promote internet content.

Now to some things that wound up on the cutting room floor: one more serious, and one more fun. First, I questioned them quite intensely on the issues that YouTube has with their view counter. Why does it freeze in the 300 view range? I understand that YouTube wants to make sure that they are qualified views and not some auto-generated program to bump up the hit count, but The Web Files has experienced view counts frozen for up to 3 months. You never get those views that you missed counted again. It is one of the main reasons we switched over to Blip because we are getting a more accurate read of what our views are, what everyone is enjoying, and what type of content drives them to our site. They defended YouTube and I would expect them too as their success has been driven by the YouTube viewer and as a partner, they have access to customer service representatives. This venue has worked for them, but it may not work for everyone as YouTube becomes saturated with content.

On to the fun! I wore a shirt that quotes an Oscar winning film that I received when I worked the 2007 Academy Award exhibit, Meet the Oscars. I wore it in honor of their hit, Movie Spoilers: Oscar Edition. Many of you know I am a huge Oscar geek because I used to do media work over at the Kodak Theatre, so I am a walking encyclopedia of knowledge. I thought I might try and stump them with my t-shirt. "Well, la-dee-da!" What Best Picture film is that from? The Oscar geek in me was happy to stump them. Do you know what movie it is from? First correct guess wins an NAIAS souvenir gift pack. Comment below and check out the episode if you missed it. Wednesday brings a new episode with Casey McKinnon and Rudy Jahchan of A Comicbook Orange.