Category: Television

Talking TV Series Writing with Gene Grillo (Podcast)

Gene Grillo Part I
Gene Grillo Part II

Since 1996, Gene Grillo has been a staff writer and series editor for a variety of hit, animated TV series, including Johnny Bravo, Jimmy Neutron, and Back at the Barnyard, and Kung Fu Panda.  Like many comedy writers, Grillo began as an actor working with Second City in Chicago — a sketch comedy/improv group where performers are also writers.  Presently, Grillo is working on the new show Breadwinners for Nickelodeon.

I spoke to Gene via Skype at his home in Pasadena, CA.

Visit Gene Grillo’s IMDB page here.

A Conversation with Dan Goodman of Believe Entertainment Group

IOM Webcast – A Conversation with Dan Goodman of Believe Entertainment Group from David Newhoff on Vimeo.

There’s no question that digital technologies have fostered tremendous opportunity for any content creator with a dream and the passion to pursue it; but these technologies have also created a dynamic, even volatile, market with forces both great and small competing for ad dollars, investors, and sustainable viewer attention. At the same time, we hear an awful lot about how content creators must adapt to new business models, which can be both true and false, depending on exactly what that means.  Certainly, we have new platforms for distribution and marketing and new ways for artists and creators to break out and build a fan base; but when it comes to building a professional career or an entertainment-based business in the digital age, are all the rules really so different, or do many of the fundamentals still apply even as we learn to use new tools?

To discuss some of these topics, I met with Dan Goodman, who co-founded Believe Entertainment Group in New York City with partner William H. Masterson III in 2010.  Believe Entertainment Group is essentially a traditional, financier/studio producer of original content for the digital-only market.  Their slate of shows includes the popular series The LeBrons, which has just launched season two on Xbox LIVE; and a brand new show called EpicEDM for fans of electronic dance music, which is the first studio-originated content series designed specifically for the Twitter platform.

I believe (pun intended) companies like Goodman’s represent the future of what we now call television.  As the worlds of TV and the Internet continue to converge, it will be the producers who build sustainable models based on professional, quality content who will be the studios we talk about in years to come.

To learn more about Believe Entertainment Group and their shows, visit their website here.

DanGoodman

Dan and I spoke in Believe Entertainment Group’s Manhattan office.