Mama said never judge a book by its cover. My mama never said that, but I’m sure somebody’s mama did. But what do we do? Judge based on appearances.
It’s the reason why companies pay good money for webmasters and social media strategists. It’s why package designers exist. It’s why publishing companies spend time matching books with the right cover images.
What bothers me the most is when a work is deemed unworthy of accolades or basic consideration simply because of the way it looks. For example, read Issa Rae’s {@IssaRae} article on xojane.com detailing the racially charged feedback she received after her web series, “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” took home the 2012 Shorty Award for Best Web Show, beating out a whopping 783 other nominees. You’ll shake your head when you read comments like: “Congrats on winning do you get 3/5 of an award?”
After reading the article, I visited awkwardblackgirl.com to check out the 12 episode show. And I watched all 12 episodes. IN ONE SITTING. I laughed at some scenes until there were a few tears. (Gamma Ray, Gamma Ray, Ga-Ga-Gamma Ray. Okay, you just have to watch.)
Racist babble aside, “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” and other great online and independently produced/funded shows like it are the future of television. Don’t believe me? Consider these points and tell me I’m wrong:
Television as we know it is dead.
Gone are the days when mom, dad, sister and brother gathered around the TV for their favorite prime time shows. We were bound to the networks’ schedules. Now with DVR and the internet, television works operates our time. We’ve twisted TV’s arm until it cried “uncle” and gave us programming on demand. We now want more control over the type of programming it gives us.
Gatekeepers control television. Lucky for us, there’s more than one gate.
Cable and TV networks and advertisers control the choice of shows we get on the tube. Unfortunately, these circles don’t embrace diversity and they don’t take many chances. If one singing competition show hits the ratings jackpot, you can bet at least 3 others will rear their heads looking for a piece of the Nielson pie. If one judge show captures daytime viewership, you’ll see 4 more judge shows pop up, causing you to wonder, “Is there really that much small claims litigation going on around the country?”
On the other hand, there is a host of talent—actors, camera persons, editors—that have been begging Hollywood for a chance to shine. But the internet allows the undiscovered a way to jump the back fence and get onto the playing field. Normal people are feeding the public’s desire for riskier productions and are capturing the gatekeepers’ attention.
Normal people want to create programming for normal people.
Jeffrey Stepakoff {@JeffStepakoff}, former Dawson’s Creek co-executive producer and my graduate-level screenwriting instructor, told us that one of the reasons the show was so successful was that the writers spent their time outside of Los Angeles—away from the executives and sets. Ordinary people want to turn on the television and find people that look or act the way they do. A television writer can’t write dialogue about people outside her circles when she never even leaves town. Online shows like “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl” work because they’re created by people who mirror the viewers.
Production equipment is less expensive and more accessible.
Rapper Thad Reid’s {@ThadReid} music video was shot entirely with natural light and one digital SLR camera, which probably cost no more than $1,000. While television networks access million dollar coffers to produce shows, normal people are creating video content—for blogs, business, or both—virtually for free. The ones who are producing full-length shows are cranking out shorter episodes and are operating on considerably smaller budgets.
During a walk home from the bus stop in June 2009, Twitter told me that Michael Jackson was dead. After dinner at my in-laws in February this year, Facebook told me that Whitney Houston had died. However, in both instances, I relied on the confirmation of news sources like CNN and TMZ to confirm the facts.