More and more I will run into Independent Filmmakers that are taking their scripts, breaking them up into segments and turning them into web series. I think this is great but I warn against repurposing one media to another. Remember they did take radio programs and put them on TV.

That said, Frank Krueger has been playing around in web video for many years and has a new web series called The Darkness Descending launching soon. I caught up with Frank at a poolside cocktail party at Digital Hollywood in Santa Monica this week and got the scoop on what he’s trying to do.

(Side Note: I wanted to test out the iPhone 3GS video exposure so I let things get a little crazy with the sun on Frank’s face.)

At Digital Hollywood I interviewed Diane Charles and Ron Qurashi of Intelligent Life Productions about the broadband channel they built for Lexus and has won a Webby Award for Lisa Kudrow with a Webby Award for Outstanding Comedic Performance. As star, co-writer, and co-producer of “Web Therapy” on lstudio.com.

At Digital Hollywood Spring 09 I interviewed The Fine Brothers about all the different things they are doing to make money online with web video.

It sounds like they have quit their day jobs and they are making a little bit of money creating videos for Comedy Central and a few other but they say they are still sleeping on blow up mattresses.

I’ve been going to Digital Hollywood for many years and the funny thing that I noticed about Digital Hollywood was that this time, it was “parents and teenagers.” By that I mean there were several more of us online video people (the teenagers) there than have been in the past and it seemed like there were more of the people who work for real companies (the grown ups). As in the real word, the teens know how to use all the new toys (social media) and the adults know how to pay for the toys but are very cautious about spending money on shinning new things.

It was very cool to see these two worlds coming together and even more exciting to hear that The Fine Brothers are holding on to ownership to the videos that they create. It upsets me to no end to see people create videos with value and get paid nothing for their hard work and creativity.

If you are an online video producer, director or writer who is able to get millions of views of your online videos you have a gift, a talent that other people don’t have. Not anyone with a camera can do what you do and you should retain ownership of your videos and be paid for them in some way shape or form or be paid a lot of money upfront. Don’t be taken advantage of and exploited the way that African American recording artists were in the 1950s. You have something special. Don’t give it away.

http://1timstreet.com

When I attend different online video and digital events I’m always on the prowl looking for new ways that independent producers can make money with video on the web. While I was at Digital Hollywood I ran into Dave Toole from MEDIAmobz.

MEDIAmobz brings together buyers and producers in a one-of-a-kind marketplace to get videos made at an affordable price.

With the explosive proliferation of user-created content converging with the increasing growth of local search advertising video proves to be a compelling vehicle for communicating a business’s message or story and MediaMobz is uniquely positioned to deliver on that need.

Providing a full suite of online services MEDIAmobz facilitates bidding on media production jobs, project tracking and management, as well as a private collaborative process to get high-quality videos produced.

Business owners and/or advertisers (called buyers on MediaMobz) can get the word out about their services and products with the help of short video ads that can be created by video producers in an affordable way.

Producers on MediaMobz can get paid for their creative talents as MediaMobz brings together video producers with a wide range of skills and backgrounds, from television professionals to amateur videobloggers there is opportunity to connect with buyers.

Once a connection with a buyer and producer is made and money exchanged MediaMobz get paid a commission.

Sounds pretty fair to me.

http://1timstreet.com

I had the chance to speak with Perry Wu CEO & Co-Founder of Bitgravity at Digital Hollywood and I asked him about the threshold of entry for Independent Producers in the online video content delivery network arena.

He told me about the different online video networks that are using Bitgravity and how some of them started out small and then grew large.

If you have more than one video series that is delivering over one million views per month from your own site you might want to think about taking control of your video content as well as your online video advertising inventory.

http://1timstreet.com

Now I’ve never been one to update my web series content on a regular basis but it’s something I’m always wanting to do. I just haven’t found a cost effective way of doing it yet. But now that I’ve found a new Rev Share outlet I’m more motivated than ever to come up with a weekly version of French Maid TV so that I can reap all the benefits of fresh content.

I ran into Michael Berkley Co-Founder and CEO of SplashCast and he gave me the scoop on Rev Share for Online Video in widgets for Social Media sites.

SplashCast is distributing content and sharing revenue for Sony BMG, Warner Bros., Universal and MTV as well as bloggers, video bloggers and anyone who already has compelling content with distribution. There is one caveat: SpalshCast needs to be able to sell advertising against your content. If they can find a brand that is willing to buy your video advertising inventory then it’s a go. If the sales peeps at SplashCast don’t think they can sell your video content to an advertiser they won’t take it on.

Keep in mind you could come to SplashCast with an advertiser yourself and they might help you distribute.

If you do strike a deal with SplashCast you could get a standard 50% / 50% Rev share deal or as high as 70% / 30% if you are selling the advertising.

SplashCast is looking for video content that is episodic in nature and already has a meaningful audience with 100,000s of views that they can help turn into viral videos.

THE BIG TIP: The shelf life for video content inside a widget on social networks is very short unless the content is refreshed on a regular consistent basis. Unless you create and post new content on a regular basis people will drop your widget from their site.

There are other rev share deals for video out there and if you have one that you would like to chat with me about please let me know.