Digital Dish

It was early 2005 when I realized that television and Internet would someday converge. I wasn’t anywhere near television at the time, really. I was just a girl who had a newly launched start-up social media company and a wicked background in internet protocol (aka, the Web) that enabled me to see around corners in the business.

My work in television, in a sense, started right there. But, while most TV execs are going from the traditional tube to the Internet, my path has been the other way around. I spent three years learning, adapting and evangelizing professional (Webisodic, etc.) Internet content because I saw early on that user driven would be hard to monetize, and that ultimately, IP’s plan for you and I was simple: all things over one pipeline – the Internet.

Fast forward to the present and I’m now a television exec in a sense. I’m an executive producer on a show concept that’s already been shopped around and has “strong interest.” I’ve coordinated a crew and production, handled talent, and dealt with people’s agents, have a manager and a network approved showrunner, all in just two months of entering the business.

Believe me, it didn’t exactly start out that way, and in many ways, it’s been a crazy, harrowing experience. I first tried to work with agents at WMA and CAA but nobody would have me, even though I had since sold the Internet business (one of just 86 acquired last year) and had some proof in the market. Reluctant to give up, I studied the way the business worked, figured out who made the decisions, and crept into the networks directly myself. Within hours I had meetings with nearly all the top VPs and SVPs of development I targeted, and within a few weeks, a manager who thankfully connected me with a network approved producer. That’s when I learned the first lesson in television business: without a showrunner, an idea stands little chance.

Two months later, we’ve just finished production on the sizzle reel and have tapped into my Internet background to create an interactive element that’ll hopefully serve as a model for bridging traditional TV with the Web. I’m by no means a television business expert, but that’s why I wanted to launch a blog chronicling my efforts.

Could a Web executive make moves in the entertainment space, and more importantly, what could happen if you put geeks and creatives together? That’s the premise of Digital Dish. Three times a week, I’ll be talking about just that. Hello, Hollywood. I’m excited to be here.