Digital Dish

Who wouldn’t love to work on an entertainment Web site, especially one that has a little star power and plenty of offerings to integrate into the user experience?

It’s a great idea: Networks shaking hands with their audience, hosting cast/crew blogs and interesting, engaging content (sneak peeks, outtakes, advice, blogs and video messages from the cast and set), letting users come in, soak it up and of course, share it with their friends.

If you don’t think your audience is looking for this, you’re crazy. It’s the essential drive that sells things like In Touch and People magazines. It doesn’t have to be intrusive or involve a paparazzi chase, but offer a little extra glimpse or access to what takes place behind the scenes and, believe me, people love it.

I remember when TMZ.com first became popular. It wasn’t the stories it broke as much as the fact that it took the audience that much closer, through video, to the Hollywood/celebrity experience.

I don’t see why more networks and talent don’t capture this themselves and offer it online as a natural extension of the show brand. It isn’t just about posting photo stills from the set but leveraging talent, tools and interest into a cool, interactive experience.

Imagine the new show “90210” with a cast and crew armed with Flip video cameras on set from time to time (with warning, of course), recording, editing and uploading fun clips to a network home page. Or, if the entire cast of a film were given inexpensive digital cameras and encouraged to take a montage of shots of their experience as a film is made, to be uploaded to the studio’s site so that users could interact and watch the process.

I’d check out a really good blog by a star on a show if it were authentic. I think people would equally love to hear from directors and others on the set.

Networks can control the valve by hiring a great site editor to review cast blog/photo/video submissions and fill in gaps with daily recaps, fun posts about the production process and other content to ease the burden on stars and staff.

Success, of course, would depend on how it’s done and how well it’s integrated into the market, but if it’s everybody’s dream to meet a favorite star or sample Hollywood/celebrity life, who better to offer it than the entertainment business?