Meet take180, a Disney-owned studio in Hollywood where they only shoot programming for the web, and the audience chooses the direction for each new episode. The videos are short, just three minutes (there's a timer on the video player counting down from 180 seconds).
Viewer-driven and short. That's a killer combination for the web where brevity and unpredictability are essential for building an audience.
take180 is attracting a following with young adult-focused comedies like the pop-culture parody show, "Electric Spoofaloo" and the more dramatic "I <3 Vampires." To bring audiences into the storyline, each episode ends with a "challenge" allowing viewers to decide what happens in the next show.
To bring advertisers closer to the audience, take180 has a few options outside-the-banner. Previously, they've run short product-focused vignettes featuring a show's cast before episodes. And look out for context-relevant placement of gerbils (yes, the little furry things) across take180's lineup of shows this summer in support of Jerry Bruckheimer's G-Force (a 3-D film about guinea pigs trained as spies).
On a recent visit to take180's studio, I was surprised to find a younger, more energetic and collaborative atmosphere than traditional television and movie sets. Many participants wore multiple hats, too. Directors were actors. Actors were writers. All together, it had the feel of a web startup.
But take180's chief exec, Chris Williams, isn't new to Hollywood or the internet. Williams was one of Yahoo's first biz dev execs in 1996, and has a list of film and television producing credits to his name.
