The Elephant in the Room
We need to talk…
It’s been over three weeks and the web series community has been waiting to voice their opinions to the International Academy of Web Television and the Streamys organizers about the future of the Academy and the awards. I sent an email a couple of weeks ago to Michael Wayne, Chair of the IAWTV, to suggest a meeting and he responded saying they will be holding two meetings (in NY and LA) very soon to address our concerns.
Since then, I’ve heard rumblings that the IAWTV may be trying to separate themselves from the Streamys organizers and “taking back” the Streamys. Sounds great! The thing is… Tubefilter were a big part in creating not only the Streamys, but also the IAWTV itself. As a member, I believe the IAWTV should be independent and representing our community interests. And frankly, if Tubefilter hadn’t of founded the IAWTV, our community advocacy group New Media West would’ve founded something similar instead!
Today Tubefilter announced the launch of a new site called Rebuild the Trust. At first glance this looks like an admirable idea, but when you look at it closer you can see the agenda. This is a preemptive strike against the Board of Directors of the IAWTV.
Some quick points (because, otherwise, this would turn into a waaay longer blog post):
- Why a new site? Control. The ideal solution to the Streamys problem would’ve been to create a community discussion board on IAWTV.org, but since Tubefilter has already lost control over the IAWTV, it seems clear why they created a whole new site.
- What is the “Manifesto of Change”? Politics. It’s a manifesto created by Tubefilter, but written to sound like it was created by the community. If they get lots of “signatures” they can then use it as leverage in negotiations with the IAWTV.
- Isn’t Point 1 of the manifesto ironic? Totally. Why would we trust the people who established the close door policies in the first place? It’s time for the community to take charge, without having words being placed in their mouths.
- Why is Point 4 of the manifesto a really bad idea? More control. Privately a lot of community members agree that the Streamys organizers (Tubefilter) is to blame for the StreamyFail. That said, why would we tell them it’s a good idea to “officially” partner the IAWTV with the Streamy Awards? In my opinion, the Streamy Awards still have a lot to prove and making a formal agreement this soon is a bad decision. We need to give this relationship time and figure out what works along the way.
- Why now? Preemptive strike. The IAWTV is finally having meetings with its’ members (today there was a meeting in NY, and a meeting is being planned for LA next week). It seriously looks like Tubefilter launched the site today as a way to place blame on the IAWTV first and to get reactionary responses from their readers before listening to members’ opinions at the meetings.
The real community to me is the non-profit that is the IAWTV. Granted, they’ve been slow to get a decent web site together and it takes them forever to plan meetings, but these (among other issues) are all concerns that will be addressed at the upcoming meetings. I ask that you do not react to the new Tubefilter site thinking it’s the real opinion of the community. And be sure to read and understand the manifesto thoroughly, and make sure you understand the intentions behind it, before you decide to sign it. I will not.
I look forward to the IAWTV members meeting in LA. I don’t have the details yet, but I’m sure it will be a very heated and productive day.
The IAWTV would be well advised to have 100 percent control and ownership of their own award show. It is that simple. That is the only way they can ensure true accountability but then ONLY if the Board has an appropriate and fair composition.
It is really up to the members of the IAWTV to make these decisions. If they fail to make them then they and they alone will be totally responsible to the community going forward.
@modelmotion: Unfortunately, it isn’t simple because Tubefilter started both the IAWTV and the Streamys. The Streamys seem to be “for profit” so they have a huge stake in it.
I agree that the members of the IAWTV need to make the decisions… after all, it’s a non-profit community of individuals who have stakes in the industry’s success. Unfortunately this year they didn’t seem to be involved in any of the Streamys decision-making processes. I tried to speak up to the organizers (Tubefilter) a few times, offering my help, but they wanted to do it on their own. Now they need to take the blame on their own.
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by caseymckinnon: Why I disapprove of the new @RebuildTheTrust web site: http://bit.ly/csKd10 (cc: @Tubefilter @IAWTV @StreamyAwards)…
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by lalawag, Barrett Garese, Mike Hudack, Mike Hudack, Nick Pepito and others. Nick Pepito said: RT @lalawag: Streamygate continues: http://bit.ly/cefKcn and http://bit.ly/aXbRBr (more input and opinion) [...]
@Casey: Isn’t that kind of like saying that you should turn over A Comic Book Orange to the fans after you make a bad episode?
@Gerald V.: Hehehe… not quite. I never said A Comicbook Orange was to be written by fans in the first place. The IAWTV was founded to be made up by members of the community, and the voting body of the Streamys. In all honesty, if the Streamys doesn’t want the IAWTV to be the voting body, they can go ahead and dictate the winners on their own without our involvement. But would it be as respected? Who knows. The IAWTV doesn’t own the Streamys, but I wouldn’t be opposed to the academy founding our own awards show… just as the fans of A Comicbook Orange should feel free to found their own comic book shows ;)
The business model for the IAWTV & The Streamy Awards was wrong from the start. It was inevitable this #StreamyFail would happen. Award shows have a way of shooting themselves in the foot at least once. Okay. A few times. At last count, The Streamy Awards is 1-out-of-2.
If The Streamy Awards are to survive this horrible award show representation of this blossoming industry, only one organization must run an awards show.
The bottom line? It’s all about control. Those behind the scenes are desperately wrangling for control. In other words – ego. I would rather an industry-based non-profit run an awards show. The Board of Directors would hire a producer to create and produce the awards show.
How sure am I about my opinion? How about this. I’ll offer to produce next year’s awards show – if and only if – the IAWTV becomes the keymaster and the Board of Directors becomes more diverse. Besides, I checked my ego at the Hollywood door almost three decades ago.
Look at it this way. How in the world could I do worse?
Great post Casey!
@Stan: Well said. I 100% agree… although, we’d need to interview you before you get the job to produce next year’s awards ;) Thanks for your two cents.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Stan Gill, Hollywood South Blog. Hollywood South Blog said: Rebuild the Trust http://ow.ly/1DnKQ THE proof my Spidey senses were correct. http://ow.ly/1DnMH It's all about control. #StreamyFail [...]
I feel like I’m living some Wag the Dog moment. This isn’t a question of whether or not there are WMDs. They screwed up an awards show. So why didn’t they:
Apologize.
Have the person or persons responsible ACCEPT responsiblity/blame and step down.
Get the community involved to institute changes so it won’t happen next year.
This whole #streamysfail fiasco could have been avoided completely had this all occurred on the Monday post-Streamys. But three weeks later? This makes it seem like they DO actually have something to hide.
I saw a lot of talk about trust and transparency, and all I can think is that those words do not mean what they think they mean. People have been asking for those responsible to hold themselves accountable all along.
Also, the RebuildtheTrust.org site requires “membership” to post, and that “membership” needs to be approved. Again, for all the talk about transperency and listening to the community, this doesn’t seem the wisest course of action.
However, I am not a member of the IAWTV. So maybe this was all decided at one of your secret clcubhouse decoder ring meetings? ;)
I never even managed to make online video but I always cared about the industry and I am hopping mad about how the Streamys went down. This latest move by tubefilter has made me livid. The audacity, the transparent self-interested weasel words, the horror, the horror!
I dont know any of the people involved but as an outsider I think that anyone in the industry that really cares should never let the people responsible for this years Streamys within a million miles of the image of this young and delicate industry again. The people and entities involved were lucky to have the opportunity to represent the industry & in return do well themselves, but they dropped the ball in a terrible and unforgivable way. OK maybe a second chance was possible if they had responded to the errors in the right way, but they have really shown themselves up with this blatant attempt to cling on to power. They have soiled themselves, please dont let them continue to soil everyone else by association, the sane and dedicated people that are working hard against the odds to make something of this industry deserve so much better.
Oh world of online video, the internet giveth and the internet sure as hell can taketh away. I fail to see how the likes of IAWTV really represent the industry unless they build the nature of the internet into their very core, which means being open and having the important discussions online. Dont simply emulate the structures of old media or you lose much of the potential of the new media. Easier said than done, and of course its easy for me to snipe from the sidelines, but for crying out loud it doesnt have to be this way.
I’d sign the Casey Manifesto.
@Nina: You’re absolutely right, those words don’t seem to mean what they should. And as for secret meetings… the only secret meetings that have occurred are A) Tubefilter meetings, and B) IAWTV board meetings. Both I’m sure were planning what they need to do next… we’ve now seen what Tubefilter planned, and we’re waiting on IAWTV member meetings for the rest of us to make our own community-based game plan.
@Steve: You’re right, the IAWTV should move on to a new model.. So, it would be cool to plan a live streamed meeting. I think the first thing that needs to happen, however, is an overhaul of the IAWTV’s board of directors. We need a board made up of people who are NOT the busiest people in new media… after that, we can move on to getting things DONE!
@Matt: Hehehe… thanks, I guess?
Great post.
I think this attempt of… whatever they are trying to do… has already backfired. I’m just a web-series/web-video fan, so I don’t know that much, but from what I’ve seen today on Twitter most people didn’t buy that post.
For me, it sounded like “Hey, let’s point fingers at the IAWTV and distract people” instead of really explaining WHY those mistakes happened.
I do think there should be more transparency from the IAWTV though… especially about topics they were pointed out by Chance from Horrible Turn in his post, but that “transparency” should not be asked like that Tubefilter is supposedly asking.
In a post called The Truth About the Streamy Awards and the IAWTV I don’t see enough “truth” about what really happened to make the Streamys be like it was. And if they wanted to have a open dialogue with the IAWTV it’d help to actually contact them about it first, before creating a “manifesto”.
@Dani: Very well said. I don’t place too much blame on the IAWTV because I know first hand how, although I kept asking if I could help, Tubefilter kept insisting they wanted to plan the Streamys on their own. This will most certainly never happen again. And, good news… I was just informed that the IAWTV members meeting will be on May 12th. I’ll definitely be there and won’t be letting anyone get away with any more bullshit.
These problems have plagued fledgling industries for decades – it amounts to growing pains and I think it is right to let the community voice opinions at these open forums and come to some concensus as to how the two organizations can move forward from here.
There are strong feelings surrounding these issues and rather than let it all devolve to a pissing match I hope the leadership of the respective organizations can come to an agreement that will benefit everyone.
Peace and popsicles!
-Chris
@Chris: Good point, but I’m not sure the leadership of the IAWTV should decide their position… I have more faith in the membership as a whole. I’d like to see a democratic solution instead of a decision made by the leaders.
Popsicles? I can haz?
Casey, as you know my initial response wasn’t ‘this will sort things out’, and as I’ve read other blogs and comments that certainly seems to be the case. The manifesto is built upon a mass of assumptions, the main one that gives me concern is point 4. I’m not even sure that the Streamys name should continue, tarnished as it is, let alone that there should be a permanent agreement. The other,admittedly small point, is that the Tubefilter ‘Truth’ post was by ‘Guest Author’-very open and truthful!
Oops, completely wrong on my last point! Thing is last night I knew that. Blame not being fully awake yet. A lesson for all people posting comments.
@GrrAargh: I think the name IS reparable, but we need time to do that… and the IAWTV should oversee the Streamys next year (and probably every year) just to make sure the script and content represent the organization and its’ community properly. To be truthful, there are A LOT of people out there who don’t know about web series and have never heard of the Streamys, so though this has set the name back… all press can be good press anyways. There have been mistakes made on both sides (Tubefilter and the IAWTV), but sometimes we just have to sit back and learn from them. Thanks for your comments, I always enjoy hearing from you! :)
[...] the past few months there’s been a lot of bullshit surrounding the Streamys and yesterday’s blog post just reflected that I can’t take any more of it. You know the expression “Fool me once, [...]
Tubefilter shouldn’t have any control over producing the streamy awards. It’s a conflict of interest plain and simple. If tubefilter wants to have awards they should call it the tubefilter awards, have the editors pick the winners, and be done with it.
When I went to the IAWTV meeting in NY last November I was under the impression that the IAWTV was running the streamys. A major selling point of that membership drive meeting was that the IAWTV was not for profit. Michael Wayne mentioned it like nine times in the presentation, implying that the awards were above reproach. Now we find out that a separate for-profit company runs the awards? FAIL
And if the streamy awards are for profit why is the official website streamys.ORG? There are so many disingenuous little things like this. It’s troubling.
PS Way to steal the look and feel of the Obama campaign for the “Rebuild the Trust” website.
@Eric: To be fair, though, Tubefilter did take all that time building the Streamys brand and establishing the IAWTV as a real academy with voting guidelines and everything. It’s true that they need to be more transparent, but I really think this could be a wake up call for them. I just posted a new blog post about this here: http://www.caseymckinnon.com/blog/personal/2010/04/27/moving-on/
i took a screenshot of your post, i hope that’s okay :-)
http://bit.ly/bmtWZ8
@milowent: Usually I’d ask for a link back to the post, but it was a split second so it’s cool. What a creative retort! Well done!!
[...] is some politic’n going on between the Streamy’s and the IAWTV. I think the wonderful Casey Mckinnon breaks it down nicely on her blog. Check it out and let me know what you think. – Todd [...]