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Post by Extremis on Apr 14, 2013 16:09:07 GMT -5
Posted by SaveOurSeeker.com on June 27th/2013:
**Doing the Homework: A Quick Update about what the SMGO.TV Team is up to**
"Thank you everyone for voting and for spreading the word about the SMGO-SOS initiative! The 'Legend of the Seeker' community deserves big kudos for surpassing the voting goal. The SMGO team is very busy preparing to pitch to Disney, which involves putting together a lot of viewership data and detailing potential business models. A team of media & entertainment veterans is assisting with this project, which is a great advantage. It’ll take time to do a thorough job, so don’t get discouraged if we don’t get daily updates. No news is good news.
We can expect to get an update in about a month. We’ll do our best to keep you posted.
In the meanwhile, please keep spreading the word. Below, you’ll find a SMGO-SOS synopsis and useful links:
► ► Synopsis:
*May 20: Voting phase started
*June 9: Terry Goodkind’s Facebook post:
*June 11: Craig Horner’s twitter post:
*June 13: Reached voting goal of 15,000 votes
*June 14: Passed 17,000 votes
*June 14: Official post by SMGO: www.smgo.tv/congratulations-legend-of-the-seeker-fans/
► ► Useful Links:
*SMGO-SOS promo kit with templates/samples emails, social media posts: bit.ly/SOSsmgokit
*Printable ads for bulletin boards and DVDs: bit.ly/SOS2go
*Save Up 2 SOS: What we can do while we wait: bit.ly/SaveUp2SoS
*SMGO-SOS press/blog coverage (scroll down to the bottom of the page): bit.ly/SOSsmgokit
*SMGO BlogTalkRadio show: www.blogtalkradio.com/smgotv/2013/06/08/smgotv
sosdotcom.tumblr.com/post/54049566856/smgo-sos-update-june-27-doing-the-homework
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ATTENTION: Even though we have achieved the 15,000 Vote Goal, ("Congratulations Seekers!  ) PLEASE continue to encourage other Seeker fans to Vote, if they HAVEN'T already Voted. (Remember only ONE Vote per Person).
>>The more Votes that we achieve, the higher the number that SMGO.TV can relay to ABC*Disney, and the LOTS Producers, at their upcoming meetings.
>>Also, the more Votes that we get, the more number of Seeker fans that will be informed about the neXt phase, IF LotS is moved to the 'FUNDING' phase. (more Seekers to help fund would make things easier. )
**NOTE: If 'Legend of the Seeker' is moved to the neXt 'FUNDING' phase, SMGO.TV will offer REWARDS for our fund pledges. B)
So please continue to spread the word to other fans of 'Legend of the Seeker' if they haven't Voted yet.
www.smgo.tv/shows/legend-of-the-seeker/
>>Portable Ads that you can Print and share:
sosdotcom.tumblr.com/post/52926432969/attention-even-though-we-have-achieved-the-15-000
>>Promo Kit - Ways to spread the word to Bloggers/Reporters/other Seekers:
sosdotcom.tumblr.com/post/51923756151/sos-smgo-publicity-promo-kit
Thank YOU Seeker fans! 
NOTE: Now that we have achieved the 15,000 Vote Goal, the SMGO.TV Team will next arrange to have meetings with the LOTS Producers, & with ABC*Disney
>>SMGO.TV will keep us up-to-date with any information that they are *allowed* to share with us.
(Since there will be a delay between the Vote goal, and the date of the meetings, the more Votes that we can get in the mean time, the higher number that SMGO.TV will be able to tell ABC*Disney when they have their meeting.
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Please VOTE for 'Legend of the Seeker' on SMGO.TV (Only ONE Vote per person Please)
***NOTE: For your Vote to Count, you will have to "Sign Up" on SMGO.TV first. (You can easily "Sign up" for a SMGO.TV account, OR go through your Facebook account.)
>"Sign-Up" Link:
www.smgo.tv/connect/account/?target_id=7885
>>After you are "Signed Up", Please Click on this link to place your Vote for 'Legend of the Seeker':
www.smgo.tv/shows/legend-of-the-seeker/
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>>Once we reach 15,000 votes, SMGO.TV will then reach out to 'Legend of the Seeker' producers. (and the more Votes we get, the better B) )
(Only ONE Vote per Person Please)
****NOTE: Shows cannot transition to the next 'FUNDING' phase without ABC*Disney Production Studio approval FIRST.*****
(If ABC*Disney approves this SMGO.TV project, only then will LOTS be moved to the 'FUND' phase.
Once LOTS is in the 'FUND' phase, SMGO.TV will then be offering Seeker fans some COOL 'Legend of the Seeker'-related Reward items for our 'FUND' pledges. )
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>Information about SMGO.TV here:
*How Does it Work:
www.smgo.tv/learn/how-does-it-work/
*The Plan:
www.smgo.tv/the-plan/
*FAQ:
www.smgo.tv/learn/faq/
*UPDATE on June 14th/2013: www.smgo.tv/congratulations-legend-of-the-seeker-fans/
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Update from SMGO.TV posted on June 14th/2013:
"Congratulations Legend of the Seeker fans! You are the first show to reach and surpass 15,000 16,000 17000 votes! Way to go!
We wanted to extend a special thank you to the leaders over at Save our Seeker – they have done an exemplary job organizing this campaign and keeping you informed. Thank you again Save our Seeker we look forward to continuing to work with you to keep seeker fans informed with any major events (that we can talk about).
Because the next stage involves money, we want to prepare you for some possible outcomes early on. Our goal is to get a cable TV network interested in purchasing a 13-episode run of Legend of the Seeker. In the past this failed because networks and studios were unable to agree on a price/terms – our goal will be to fund the difference between what the network will pay to purchase the season, and what the studio will accept for the season – we expect this value to be somewhere between $1.5M and $4M.
If a suitable network cannot be found, we have a few alternatives. First, we can attempt to crowdfund a DTV film to “finish off the story” Veronica Mars style – $2M. If fans feel a little adventurous, we can attempt a mini-series – $4M-6M. Or if fans feel very adventurous, we can attempt a full 13-episode season – $13M.
So where does that leave the campaign? Our job here at SMGO now becomes getting a “hunting license” (so to speak) from Disney to go do this – to crowdfund Legend of the Seeker and to see if we can find it a new (great) home. As noted above, we will keep you as informed as we can during the process, but do know that there will be topics we cannot answer right away.
In the mean time, don’t be idle – be as active as you can. Get more people involved and bring attention to the campaign. This was just a prelude – the real fight, the part when you have the power to bring the show back is still coming.
In short, get ready to fund if we get the go ahead – and let’s save Legend of the Seeker together."
www.smgo.tv/congratulations-legend-of-the-seeker-fans/
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Hey Seekers!
Please VOTE for 'Legend of the Seeker' in the next phase of SMGO.TV
Click on this link to place your Vote -> -> www.smgo.tv/shows/legend-of-the-seeker/
(You will need to register on SMGO.TV before you can Vote, but Registration is easy & FREE)
Once we reach 15,000 votes, SMGO.TV will then reach out to 'Legend of the Seeker' producers.
More Information on SaveOurSeeker.com's new Tumblr account here:
sosdotcom.tumblr.com/post/50952622733/the-smgo-initiative-really-deserves-a-tumbr-post
**NOTE: Shows cannot transition to the next 'FUNDING' phase without Production Studio approval first.***
>Information about SMGO.TV here:
www.smgo.tv/learn/how-does-it-work/
(Banner images by Aci A Gy )
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How does SMGO work with fans to save a show?
(image from aci01 )
Suggest
The process of starting a show starts here. In this first step, we rely on members of the smgo.tv community like you, to tell us which shows we should crowdfund.
www.smgo.tv/
If you have a show you want us to help you save, here’s what you should do:
1. Navigate to Suggest a Show:
www.smgo.tv/connect/suggest/
2. Tell us the title of your show (and any other information about it you can quickly provide – year, network etc.)
* Show Title: "Legend of the Seeker"
* Network: "ABC"
* Year Launched: "2008"
3. Click Suggest
Alternatively, if you prefer, you can email your request directly to suggest@smgo.tv.
Once we receive a number of private requests for a particular show, that show is moved to our public voting system where fans can help demonstrate their commitment to bringing back their show.
Vote
Voting is the second step in the process – here we gauge how much interest you and other fans have in continuing your show. All shows currently up for voting were entirely suggested by fans using our suggestion system.
This step is crucial to bringing back your show, and you should do everything possible to convince other fans to come and show their support for the show by voting for on smgo.tv.
www.smgo.tv/learn/how-does-it-work/shows/?mode=vote
Every show into the voting phase is given a certain voting benchmark that needs to be met before going into our funding stage. Keep in mind, you can only vote once, and you need to be logged in to do so.
Once we have reached our voting benchmark, we will reach out to the appropriate production studio. We have the voting phase so we can prove to your show’s production studio that we have a realistic chance to crowdfund your show. Shows cannot transition to the funding phase without production studio approval.
Because we are still a relatively new company, there may be a small gap between when a show reaches its voting benchmark and when it goes to the funding stage – please be patient – shows are incredibly large endeavors to bring back and we need to make sure every stakeholder is on board. We will always try to keep you as “in-the-loop” as we can.
If your show has reached the voting benchmark and been approved by its parent studio, we will move it to the crowdfunding stage.
Vote now!
www.smgo.tv/shows/?mode=2
Fund
Once in the fund stage – your show has exactly 90 days to reach its funding goal. During this stage, you and other fans become Show Sponsors by choosing how much to contribute to help fund your show.
To become a Show Sponsor, simply select a reward pack that fits your needs (and pocketbook). These reward packs range from box sets and other show specific “swag,” to unique once-in-a-lifetime fan experiences, and nearly everything in-between. Some reward packs may contain limited edition/limited run items, and if you consider yourself a devout fan, we strongly encourage you to pledge early to secure these rewards. Show reward packs will be customized
Rest assured, all transactions are made through PayPal for added account security. And unlike other crowdfunding platforms, we don’t charge you a fee to fund your show. Lastly, we use an “all-or-nothing” approach to crowdfunding, meaning that if we don’t reach our funding goal, you pay nothing – no payments are triggered.
Once our goal is reached and a production contract is signed, we tell PayPal to process your payment, your money is transferred directly from you to PayPal to your show’s production studio. SMGO does not, at any point, handle your transactions or charge a fee – our role in this stage is to act as your advocate and get your show back!
If we reach our goal and a production contract is signed, your show goes back into production.
Shows to fund:
www.smgo.tv/shows/?mode=3
Produce
Hooray! We’ve reached our goal, signed a contract and your show is definitely coming back!
Producing your show is our favorite part of the process because we get to capture exclusive interviews, production stills and breaking news about your show, and put them up here at smgo.tv for your viewing enjoyment. During this phase expect lots of exclusive content, including an insider’s view into how your show is being produced.
While the show is in production we’ll also be busy getting your reward packs ready. Because shows vary in the amount of production time needed, each successfully funded project will include a production and release schedule.
Play
We did it! Your show is back for one more season and now’s the time to rally the troops, whip up your legendary party dish, grab your favorite beverage, and get watching!
Show sponsors will be able to stream their show, with no commercial breaks, here on smgo.tv.
If for some reason, you couldn’t help fund the show, don’t worry – you can still watch it here on smgo.tv with limited commercial breaks.
www.smgo.tv/learn/how-does-it-work/
Questions? Contact Us:
www.smgo.tv/connect/contact/
Want to learn more?
Visit our FAQ: www.smgo.tv/learn/faq/
or learn who we are in About Us:
www.smgo.tv/learn/about-smgo-tv/
Ready to get started?
Login: www.smgo.tv/connect/account/
or Register: www.smgo.tv/connect/account/
or suggest a show here: www.smgo.tv/connect/suggest/
----------------------
(image from aci01 )
About smgo.tv
We started SMGO.TV because we were a couple of disenfranchised fans – fans who had our favorite shows cancelled prematurely.
We were angry, how could our shows, shows that we identified with and watched every week, just get cancelled with no warning? What’s more, we were shocked that, in this day and age, there wasn’t a viable solution for saving a show.
We decided to do something about it – to create a place for fans to work together and actively save their show. We wanted to create a network for the fans by the fans, and that’s what we did. Welcome to SMGO.TV.
Below we’ve put together a few sections that better explain who we are, our mission, and what we’re doing to make a totally fan oriented online network a reality.
Who are we?
SMGO.TV is run by two entrepreneurs in San Francisco, California. My name is Dave, and I handle most of the content writing and marketing strategy here. My partner is Chehin (roughly pronounced as “Shane”), and he handles most of the business side of things here. Both of us are recent MBA grads – I have a background in film production and marketing – and Chehin has an extensive background in international banking and finance (he’s actually from France and speaks a whole swath of languages).
We created SMGO.TV because we saw there was a growing need for interactivity that wasn’t being fulfilled in the market – interactive television; a place where YOU, the fan, has a say in what gets produced. We came up with the idea of creating a network for the fans by the fans.
So, early this year, we teamed up with the amazingly talented people at Dumpark, Amazon Web Services, and PayPal to transform this idea from a concept to a reality.
Our Mission
Our mission is fairly straightforward – we want to give fans a place to actively interact with major studios, and provide them with an avenue to save their favorite television shows.
Rather than trying to change Hollywood or the system, we realized the only way to realistically achieve this mission was by translating your voice into the universal language of money. By monetizing your opinion, we give you a real chance to compete with advertisers and choose what programming you want to watch.
Our Aspirations & The Future
Our primary goal is to bring interactivity to television, and the best way to do that is getting you directly involved in the decision process – from suggesting a show, to voting for it, to making it a reality – you are the cornerstone in it all.
As the first online fan network and community, we realize that we are trying to do something that many might deem impossible. But we can no longer sit idly by when shows like Firefly get cancelled and other shows like Community are threatened.
Together we can make the idea of an online fan-based network a reality – let’s change the status quo – let’s choose what we want to watch, and let’s have fun enjoying the culture that these shows provide for years to come.
Sign Up – and let’s save your show together.
www.smgo.tv/learn/about-smgo-tv/
************
SMGO.TV Website:
www.smgo.tv/
SMGO.TV Facebook:
www.facebook.com/smgotv
SMGO.TV Twitter:
twitter.com/SMGOTV
SMGO.TV tumblr:
smgotv.tumblr.com/
Email:
Dave@smgo.tv
Chehin@smgo.tv
**************
P.S. ThanX to Seeker fan, Jon Darga, for passing along this info about this SMGO.TV opportunity
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Post by Extremis on Apr 14, 2013 16:14:15 GMT -5
>Posted by Blog of a Green Lantern:
SMGO.TV, ENTERTAINMENT'S NEW PARADIGM AND YOU
4/09/2013
The way we get our entertainment is evolving and as more as more people cut their cable service in favor of purchasing their content ala carte from internet content providers the need for networks will slowly fade. There's a growing number of people who no longer register on broadcast television's radar and it calls for a change in the paradigm about what makes a show viable in a world were the Nielsen's and advertising dollars are no longer the only barometer of success. The whole topic is very timely where the fates of Green Lantern: The Animated Series and Young Justice are concerned in light of the upcoming dialogue between Warner Brothers and SMGO.TV.
Both beloved shows had good to average ratings from a traditional standpoint, but in the digital marketplace both shows routinely landed in the top ten animated shows on iTunes, one digital portal where there is at least some barometric in place to determine popularity of the content. The million dollar question is whether or not television shows like the ones we lost even need a network to be viable when they could be offered up digitially and then sold in season sets like every other series out there. In this model the studios can control their own content without the need to depend on a network to support their content.
This is where SMGO.TV and the recent Veronica Mars Kickstarter campaign really makes this conversation interesting.
Essentially a Kickstarter for television series, SMGO.TV is attempting to put the fate of shows in the hands of the audience by giving them the chance to help fund them.
The overwhelming response from fans to both Green Lantern and Young Justice essentially crashed their server during their beta phase and the effort has led to an official conversation taking place on April 11th between SMGO and Warner Brothers.
Given that Warners okayed the highly successful Veronica Mars campaign it's not beyond reason to think that maybe the studio is seeing the writing on the wall and is among the first studio brave enough to consider the digital marketplace as viable enough to forgo the traditional model of providing entertainment.
Whether this means a new season or a series of direct to video movies is unknown, but I truly feel that we can help shape the future of these shows and influence the powers that be to consider this new avenue for providing content to a hungry audience.
We'll know more soon, but the one thing we as fans need to continue to do is make ourselves heard in a vocal but positive manner. Tweets, Facebooks postings, emails and letters are power tools that we all have at our disposal and if we truly care for these shows and want them to continue we simply cannot falter in expressing our desires. It's no guarantee that our efforts will pay off, but honestly nothing will happen if we don't step in and be the heroes for our heroes.
www.blogofoa.com/2013/04/smgotv-entertainments-new-paradigm-and.html
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Post by Extremis on Apr 14, 2013 16:15:16 GMT -5
>From SMGO.TV, March 22/2013:
**THE PLAN**
(In Detail)
Hi all, Dave here! I wanted to reach out and respond to the community, I hope to do this frequently, although I hope future responses won’t need to be quite this long.
There have been a lot of really good questions raised in the last 48 hours, and I’m going to go out on a limb and be candid with you. We live and die by our fans. What we are hearing from you, loud and clear, is that we haven’t given you all the information you want. So let’s go through the big questions, one by one, and answer them in depth.
If you have a question not on this list, please ask (my email is at the bottom) — after all we’re here for the fans.
Why has nobody heard of us (SMGO) before?
The short answer is because we didn’t have a product to show until 3pm Friday, March 15. For over two years we’ve been toying with this idea – we’ve tried multiple alphas, but for one reason or another, mostly life, we’ve never had a chance to actually make our concept into reality. That changed on March 15th.
We never actually intended for word to break out quite so quickly. We were doing some closed beta testing, and we decided to test our concept with a group that had no affiliation with us – mostly in an effort to make sure our idea was a good one. The test went well, we got some traction, we were planning on keeping it limited there while we worked to test the website/refine our content (based on user feedback)… and then someone wrote a well meaning post about us on Tumblr, word spread far more quickly than we anticipated, and things got quite crazy for us very quickly.
We asked our industry advisors if we should try to stop the growing momentum, Hollywood is very protective of their intellectual property, and we were told to go with it. So, we went with it as best we could. A lot of the questions we’ve received are a direct result of having our beta site become very visible very quickly rather than having the time we planned on to refine content. And for that, I’m sorry.
What we didn’t want to do was override your enthusiasm to bring back your shows by pulling the plug on the beta. Perhaps that was the wrong choice considering some of the very concerned feedback we have seen, but I know if I had been given the chance to save one of my favorite shows back in the day (Invader Zim for example), and then that option vanished, I would have been pretty bummed.
We are a site for fans. For you. The last thing we want to do is discourage you – your opinions are already widely brushed aside.
What about the Production Studios? Do you have any contact with them?
Yes, actually – despite what you might have heard, we do have an industry adviser, and we’re actively reaching out to production studios through back channels. There are a few reasons for what may seem like mixed signals here:
First we finally have a product to show the industry – we approached a number of mid-level execs with this idea over a year ago, and their response was simple: “Great idea! Now show me a product.” Well, we didn’t have a product to show them, nor proof of a demand for the product, until now.
Second, we were working through the proper channels, and had a planned order of operations, but the speed at which you found us (which is awesome, by the way) was not in the plan. We got such a great response from you excited fans that our beta crashed before its third day of existence! We were, admittedly, caught off guard. So while reaching out to top-level Hollywood executives was in the plan, it’s not easy to reach them in a week, let alone three days.
And finally – wow! – we were not at all expecting there to be such a demand for saving animated shows. I am a Director of Marketing at my day job, but boy did I miss the mark here. We were focusing on live-action shows, but in two days, we have had well over two-thousand people sign up for smgo.tv, and you are mostly animation fans. And here I thought Firefly fans were the strongest force in the net . . . There has been no two-way communication with your animation studios as of yet, but we’re on it.
I have reached out to Titmouse’s CEO twice by phone and once by email, in the last two days on behalf of our Motorcity fans. I’m taking time off from the previously mentioned day job to focus on reaching out to animation studios because I absolutely understand the need to have studio support, and at the rate we’re growing, we can’t wait.
So, because we have found ourselves in this awkward juggling act, trying to get the website done, while keeping up the premature (but very much appreciated!) fan momentum, the execution has been far from perfect. There are things we could have done differently — locked the beta, making it invitation only, and making our beta participants sign an NDA – but what we could have done is now irrelevant. Now it’s time to move quickly forward, and meet with the animation studios responsible for your favorite shows.
Explain your payment system –and why I should trust your crowdfunding platform?
Let me start by saying we’re using PayPal to handle all your transactions – we don’t even let you enter a credit card number on our website. That doesn’t explain the intricacies behind the payment system nor how we keep your money safe, though. To do that, I need to back up and clarify what you’re actually doing when we get to the funding stage.
Our whole payment system is premised on the idea that we are not collecting actual money until the show reaches its full funding goal and a written contract with a production studio is signed. What that means is, rather than having your card/bank account charged, we instead enter into a billing agreement with you – basically we’re collecting a whole lot of legal “IOUs” that can only be redeemed if certain conditions are met. Those conditions are a signed contract for production with the same cast and crew, a fair deliverable date for the show, and the full production/delivery of rewards to our fans (in a timely manner after the season).
Per our written agreement with PayPal, we cannot ever be what’s known as the MOR – or Merchant on Record – for a crowdfunded project. The main power we have is whether to trigger the payment or not, and the decision to trigger relies entirely off of those aforementioned contractual conditions. During the funding phase PayPal requires us to provide an account number from the studio. When we can present a signed contract from the studio to PayPal, then and only then, can we trigger payment. The funds will be directly transferred from your account to PayPal to the Studio and SMGO will never touch money during the transaction. We encourage you to contact PayPal directly if need be.
We should also point out that per our written agreement, the MOR must be carefully vetted by PayPal’s legal and security team for its legality before they can even apply to receive the funds.
PayPal takes your security very seriously, and that’s why we chose them to handle all our payment solutions. So, let me once again stress there is no way we can ever touch your funded money, and there’s no way studios can either, unless they agree to put your show back into production, give you your well earned rewards and do both in a timely fashion.
In your Terms and Conditions you note smgo does not offer refunds… Why?
Well, as we just noted above, we never touch your money. We are not, nor can ever be the MOR, so there’s nothing for us to refund to you. We do not earn revenue through the crowdfunding process, so we really don’t collect any direct money from you.
I’m sorry this was poorly worded — and I should note that I’m not saying there is not a place to cancel, modify, or return a reward pack — I’m merely stating that we, SMGO, do not touch your money and therefore are not the correct entity to contact for refunds (PayPal is).
The MOR will always be the production studio, and PayPal offers one of the best return/buyer protection systems in the world — you can and should do all of these transactions through PayPal (our site will link you there for your added convenience). Keep in mind though, that once a show enters production, it will likely be much harder to receive your refund because your collective funds are being spent creating the show.
Why will smgo’s system work?
You have to understand how the current business side of the industry works to understand why smgo.tv is going to work. You have 3 primary types of business entities in Hollywood: Studios, Broadcasters/Networks, and Advertisers.
Studios create TV shows and all related content you see on TV. Studios make their money by selling the broadcasting rights for this content to Networks here in US and internationally. The more episodes it can sell the better
Networks are in the business of selling advertising time to Advertisers. They purchase the broadcasting rights for content created by Studio in order to generate advertising revenue. The value of a show’s advertising is determined by the famous Nielsen ratings. If a show has poor ratings, watch out, it’s going to be on the chopping block.
Advertisers are in the business of selling goods and services to you! They want to reach a certain category of the population and TV is traditionally one of the best mediums to achieve that.
Our model has taken into account these three primary business groups, and combined it with a neat model that should help fans — essentially creating a win-win for every party involved.
You mentioned a win-win for everyone – so let’s start with you, what does SMGO get out of this?
We are a business (just like Kickstarter or Indiegogo), so we do take in revenue to help pay for the streaming costs and other costs associated with the crowdfunding process. But unlike other crowdfunding sites, we only take revenue from advertisements (commercials) — kind of like Hulu.
We thought it would be counterproductive — downright silly, actually — to take a fee from a project’s goal like those other crowdfunding sites do. If we took a cut, like they do, we’d make the average live action project here over a million dollars more expensive to crowdfund. Ouch.
We also thought it’d be equally ridiculous (ok, we may have said “stupid”) to have paying subscribers — the people who helped fund a show — watch commercials. They already paid to bring the show back!
Instead, we’ve opted for a system that provides the fans with a much needed (and desired) service, and helps pay our bills, but without making the idea harder to achieve, and without double dipping — you either contribute to funding the show, and watch commercial-free, or you don’t contribute, and let the commercials’ sponsors pay for your watching enjoyment.
What do fans get out of your service?
Short answer: You get your favorite show back!
Long answer: You get the first ever chance to actually revive a cancelled TV show. That alone is very cool when you consider that we haven’t ever truly had a say in what gets cancelled and what gets renewed. Shows that favor the middle always will be renewed over shows that favor niche audiences. If your show doesn’t meet certain criteria, it’s out, and no amount of kicking and screaming will fix that.
The current system for fan-Hollywood interaction is broken – broadcasters could not care less if you raise a bunch of petitions to bring your show back. Petitions have become white noise to them, and if you don’t believe me, read this article: insidetv.ew.com/2012/11/17/canceled-shows-last-resort/ .
What broadcasters and studios do care about is money. They are businesses–it’s their job to entertain you. And they’re pretty good at it. When a show gets cancelled, it’s almost always because that show did not provide good Nielsen ratings when stacked up against other shows during a timeslot. It’s not personal, the broadcasters and studios themselves may love the show, but ultimately they have a minimum cost of capital that they need to maintain, and if advertisers don’t like a show’s numbers, that show will get the axe every time.
What we’re trying to do here is monetize your opinion. Basically we’re putting you and your voice on an equal playing field with advertisers, to compete for Hollywood’s attention. By leveraging your buying power, we’re giving you a real and practical chance to save your show.
And because we realize that not everyone will just want to give away money to see a TV show, we’ve sweetened the deal by offering collectible items in return for your contribution. We want you to walk away feeling like you had power, and you got something wicked cool during the process too. We tried to accommodate income levels of all sizes with our reward packs – from simple T shirts to box sets to more expensive (and way cooler) experiential rewards like visiting a cast party, or even appearing in an episode. It’s really no different than pre-purchasing a gift for yourself, and letting us use that money to fund your show.
We want you to walk away feeling empowered and that you got your money’s worth, that’s the whole goal here. We’re doing this for fans. For you. (That may sound overly sentimental if you haven’t already read our About us on smgo.tv, but we started this whole thing because we were fans like you, frustrated at losing some of our favorite shows, so we really do mean it!).
What do broadcasters get?
Broadcasters, the business entities that air and stream produced shows, get two things out of our arrangement.
First, they can finally give fans a viable avenue to vent their frustration, and don’t have to be the “bad guys” that “cancelled your favorite show” because it wasn’t “mainstream enough.”
The second thing broadcasters get is an additional stream of revenue. As we noted, broadcasters (and studios) are businesses, and by giving them an additional stream of revenue, they can help make their shareholders happy, and help grow the industry to provide even more high quality entertainment without changing anything in how they currently conduct their business operations.
We’re not out to cut in line or step on toes – we just want to give you want you want, and make sure everyone at the table is happy with the arrangement.
What do the production studios get?
Production studios, the actual entities that make/produce the shows you watch, get broadcasting fees that subsidize the cost needed to produce a show (broadcasting fees are, on average, 50% of the production costs ). By paying for these broadcasting rights (just like any current broadcaster does) we’re helping them to push the show towards syndication. The upfront costs of producing a show are tremendous, and most shows produced in Hollywood do not earn a profit for their parent studio until they pass into syndication.
Syndication is where production studios typically make their money back (and then some). Shows that reach the minimum 88 episodes, are eligible for syndication to other cable networks, and also to networks overseas.
In our model, production studios keep all their original syndication rights and intellectual property, receive full broadcasting fees for a season, and get to continue to create good television.
Finally, what do the advertisers get?
The advertisers get exactly what they want — they receive access to a very niched, exclusive and targeted audience. This niched and exclusive audience provides them with the ability to actually target ads directly groups most likely to purchase it. Ads aren’t so bad when they’re actually for stuff you’d want to buy — advertisers know that and that’s why they spend so much money analyzing target audiences.
They want to sell stuff to you — so for example, if you’re a 25 year old male, they’d rather not show you a bunch of expensive woman’s perfume advertisements (not that there’s anything wrong if you actually are a 25 y/o male who likes perfume ads ). I hope that makes sense.
In Conclusion…
If you’re still reading by now, you’re a champ – this is a long long press release.
It also means you actually care and you actually want to save quality TV shows as much as we do. Thank you for that.
You know we started this project because we wanted to create a better system, and this type of change will always meet resistance. We’re not perfect, but we earnestly want to help fix what we see as a growing disparity between fans, broadcasters and studios. If you support us, and want to work with us to save your show, we’re more than honored to have you here with us. If you don’t, thanks anyway for taking some time out of your day to learn about us, and what we’re trying to do.
I didn’t get much time to talk about us (the founders here), I hope to do that later on if time permits – but right now I need to work hard to get a hold of a few animation studios and make sure they realize we’re here to help.
The last request was to get a full name, so my name is David M.Coduto and my business partner is Chehin Toumi. We both live in San Francisco, and if you’re living here too, please shoot us an email. We’d love to meet the people we’re helping personally (seriously).
And of course, If you ever have any questions, please reach out to us. My email is dave@smgo.tv and my partner’s email is chehin@smgo.tv.
Finally, we’ll be at wandering around at Wondercon this year. If you plan to go, shoot us an email, and find us there.
Let’s save your collective shows everyone, thanks very much for your time.
-Dave
www.smgo.tv/the-plan/
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Post by Extremis on Apr 14, 2013 16:16:23 GMT -5
SMGO.TV General Articles
Welcome to smgo.tv!
March 31/2013
Hello and welcome to SMGO.TV – the first online crowdfunding website devoted entirely to saving cancelled TV shows!
The first thing you may notice (if you were in our beta) is that some shows are missing! Don’t panic! We know from our server overload, that the demand for those shows is well over what we needed to raise. To be respectful to the process and those involved, we have made those shows private until a decision is reached. We will keep you updated on as much as we can, as soon as we can.
Don’t be overwhelmed (or underwhelmed), if you don’t see your show – you can always send an email directly to crashtheserver@smgo.tv to show support.
If you’re new here – welcome! We strongly suggest you check out how it works, ( www.smgo.tv/learn/how-does-it-work/ ) learn a little more about us, ( www.smgo.tv/learn/about-smgo-tv/ ) and sign up to help save your shows.
( www.smgo.tv/connect/account/?target_id=903 )
The short of what we do is save cancelled TV shows through crowdfunding. Promising shows get cancelled early for mostly economic reasons, and we realized could provide fans with an option that realistically could make their favorite shows go on if we raised the money for the broadcasting rights.
We also realized that people who contribute should also feel like they actually purchased something tangible and cool, so if you fund a show, you also get awesome unique rewards based on how much you fund.
SMGO never handles any fan money, nor takes a fee to use its crowdfunding service, and you don’t pay anything unless we reach our goal. Our agreement with PayPal prevents us from ever being the recipient from a crowdfunding project – only your show’s production studio can receive your money, and only when they agree to bring your show back.
Shows in the voting phase are entirely a result from fan suggestions, and are meant to act as a way to gauge demand within our community – similar to an online petition. If a show’s fans can demonstrate their commitment by reaching a minimum benchmark, we will reach out to the parent studio and show them we have enough demand to warrant a crowdfunding project. No show can enter the funding phase without express approval from the parent studio.
How it works ( www.smgo.tv/learn/how-does-it-work/ ) provides the brief overview, but if you really want the details, check out The Plan ( www.smgo.tv/the-plan/ ) – and if you’re still unconvinced, you can always write to us directly at Dave@smgo.tv and Chehin@smgo.tv and ask us anything about SMGO!
Thank you for checking us out – sign up, and lets save your shows together!
www.smgo.tv/categories/general-smgo-news/
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smgo.tv officially launches on March 30, 2013!
Press Release – smgo.tv
-March 23/2013
Transitioning to a Closed Industry & Media Beta!
Full site launch on March 30, 2013!
Folks, we cannot emphasize enough how happy we are to see this truly massive outpouring of support. You are truly awesome for leaping in and working with us on this idea. Thank you!
Tonight at 1:00am PDT, we will transition from an open beta to a closed one. For the next week, the smgo.tv beta will only be accessible to industry insiders, media and bloggers while we work to implement server and website improvements. If you are a member of the media or are inside the industry, and you would like a chance to look around and meet with us during the week, please contact media@smgo.tv.
This step is not meant to make you fans feel shut out — you’ve shown more support for SMGO in our opening beta week than most websites get in a month — we just need to pause for a moment, and make sure each and every studio is fully on board and that they have had a chance to comment and ask their questions in a private setting. With so many users on our site right now, we’ve realized that it would be impossible to give the studios our full attention, while also being able to respond adequately to our fans (not to mention improving our IT infrastructure).
Then, the most exciting part: We will officially launch smgo.tv — the full site, no beta about it — on Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 6pm PDT! And when we launch, we’ll have more than enough server space for everyone – so unlike these amazing yet paralyzed last few hours – no more errors.
Finally, your votes and requests for shows will ALL BE PRESERVED. When we do go live next Saturday, we will only permit shows with studio support to enter the funding phase.
Thank you all again for your continued support! Please continue to spread the word, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, where we will remain very active over the next week. During the closed beta, we will continue to accept fans’ “show suggestions” via email at suggest@smgo.tv.
Thanks, and let’s save some shows!
-Dave
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Post by Extremis on May 21, 2013 18:16:32 GMT -5
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Post by Extremis on May 23, 2013 22:45:29 GMT -5
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Post by Extremis on Jun 7, 2013 18:37:49 GMT -5
Do You have Questions for the SMGO.TV Team? ,
Please Join the LIVE "Question & Answer" event Tonight, Friday, June 7th at 7PM Pacific Time. (in 2 hours & 25 minutes from Now )
>Link: www.blogtalkradio.com/smgotv/2013/06/08/smgotv
(Register as a "Listener" here: secure.blogtalkradio.com/register.aspx?type=listener&aid=WBTR
and then when the event is "Live", you can comment in the 'Chat Box', or 'Skype', or 'Call' in to the phone number listed on the event. )
***If you are unable to join the event Live, you can also email your questions Now to: Contact@SaveOurSeeker.com ,
or Tweet them to @saveourseeker ,
Or post them as comments on this Forum thread.
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Post by Extremis on Jun 8, 2013 15:19:03 GMT -5
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Post by Extremis on Jun 18, 2013 3:22:12 GMT -5
Update from SMGO.TV posted on June 14th/2013:
"Congratulations Legend of the Seeker fans! You are the first show to reach and surpass 15,000 16,000 17000 votes! Way to go!
We wanted to extend a special thank you to the leaders over at Save our Seeker – they have done an exemplary job organizing this campaign and keeping you informed. Thank you again Save our Seeker we look forward to continuing to work with you to keep seeker fans informed with any major events (that we can talk about).
Because the next stage involves money, we want to prepare you for some possible outcomes early on. Our goal is to get a cable TV network interested in purchasing a 13-episode run of Legend of the Seeker. In the past this failed because networks and studios were unable to agree on a price/terms – our goal will be to fund the difference between what the network will pay to purchase the season, and what the studio will accept for the season – we expect this value to be somewhere between $1.5M and $4M.
If a suitable network cannot be found, we have a few alternatives. First, we can attempt to crowdfund a DTV film to “finish off the story” Veronica Mars style – $2M. If fans feel a little adventurous, we can attempt a mini-series – $4M-6M. Or if fans feel very adventurous, we can attempt a full 13-episode season – $13M.
So where does that leave the campaign? Our job here at SMGO now becomes getting a “hunting license” (so to speak) from Disney to go do this – to crowdfund Legend of the Seeker and to see if we can find it a new (great) home. As noted above, we will keep you as informed as we can during the process, but do know that there will be topics we cannot answer right away.
In the mean time, don’t be idle – be as active as you can. Get more people involved and bring attention to the campaign. This was just a prelude – the real fight, the part when you have the power to bring the show back is still coming.
In short, get ready to fund if we get the go ahead – and let’s save Legend of the Seeker together."
www.smgo.tv/congratulations-legend-of-the-seeker-fans/
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Post by Extremis on Jun 18, 2013 3:27:57 GMT -5
ATTENTION: Even though we have achieved the 15,000 Vote Goal, ("Congratulations Seekers! ) PLEASE continue to encourage other Seeker fans to Vote, if they HAVEN'T already Voted. (Remember only ONE Vote per Person).
>>The more Votes that we achieve, the higher the number that SMGO.TV can relay to ABC*Disney, and the LOTS Producers, at their upcoming meetings.
>>Also, the more Votes that we get, the more number of Seeker fans that will be informed about the neXt phase, IF LotS is moved to the 'FUNDING' phase. (more Seekers to help fund would make things easier. )
**NOTE: If 'Legend of the Seeker' is moved to the neXt 'FUNDING' phase, SMGO.TV will offer REWARDS for our fund pledges. B)
So please continue to spread the word to other fans of 'Legend of the Seeker' if they haven't Voted yet.
www.smgo.tv/shows/legend-of-the-seeker/
>>Portable Ads that you can Print and share:
sosdotcom.tumblr.com/post/52926432969/attention-even-though-we-have-achieved-the-15-000
>>Promo Kit - Ways to spread the word to Bloggers/Reporters/other Seekers:
sosdotcom.tumblr.com/post/51923756151/sos-smgo-publicity-promo-kit
Thank YOU Seeker fans!
NOTE: Now that we have achieved the 15,000 Vote Goal, the SMGO.TV Team will next arrange to have meetings with the LOTS Producers, & with ABC*Disney
>>SMGO.TV will keep us up-to-date with any information that they are *allowed* to share with us.
(Since there will be a delay between the Vote goal, and the date of the meetings, the more Votes that we can get in the mean time, the higher number that SMGO.TV will be able to tell ABC*Disney when they have their meeting.
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Please VOTE for 'Legend of the Seeker' on SMGO.TV (Only ONE Vote per person Please)
***NOTE: For your Vote to Count, you will have to "Sign Up" on SMGO.TV first. (You can easily "Sign up" for a SMGO.TV account, OR go through your Facebook account.)
>"Sign-Up" Link:
www.smgo.tv/connect/account/?target_id=7885
>>After you are "Signed Up", Please Click on this link to place your Vote for 'Legend of the Seeker':
www.smgo.tv/shows/legend-of-the-seeker/
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>>Once we reach 15,000 votes, SMGO.TV will then reach out to 'Legend of the Seeker' producers. (and the more Votes we get, the better B) )
(Only ONE Vote per Person Please)
****NOTE: Shows cannot transition to the next 'FUNDING' phase without ABC*Disney Production Studio approval FIRST.*****
(If ABC*Disney approves this SMGO.TV project, only then will LOTS be moved to the 'FUND' phase.
Once LOTS is in the 'FUND' phase, SMGO.TV will then be offering Seeker fans some COOL 'Legend of the Seeker'-related Reward items for our 'FUND' pledges. )
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>Information about SMGO.TV here:
*How Does it Work:
www.smgo.tv/learn/how-does-it-work/
*The Plan:
www.smgo.tv/the-plan/
*FAQ:
www.smgo.tv/learn/faq/
*UPDATE on June 14th/2013: www.smgo.tv/congratulations-legend-of-the-seeker-fans/
---------------------------
***Listen to the "Question & Answer" event with the SMGO.TV Team recorded on June 7th/2013:
>Link: www.blogtalkradio.com/smgotv/2013/06/08/smgotv
-------------------
>Official SaveOurSeeker:
*Website: www.SaveOurSeeker.com/
*Twitter: twitter.com/SaveOurSeeker
*Tumblr: sosdotcom.tumblr.com/post/50952622733/the-smgo-initiative-really-deserves-a-tumbr-post
*Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Legend-of-the-Seeker-We-Want-Season-345/156332207714306
*eBay: www.ebay.com/sch/swordoftruthfan/m.html
*Cafepress Shop: www.cafepress.com/teamawesomesos |
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Post by Extremis on Jul 2, 2013 19:52:49 GMT -5
Posted by SaveOurSeeker.com on June 27th/2013:
**Doing the Homework: A Quick Update about what the SMGO.TV Team is up to**
"Thank you everyone for voting and for spreading the word about the SMGO-SOS initiative! The 'Legend of the Seeker' community deserves big kudos for surpassing the voting goal. The SMGO team is very busy preparing to pitch to Disney, which involves putting together a lot of viewership data and detailing potential business models. A team of media & entertainment veterans is assisting with this project, which is a great advantage. It’ll take time to do a thorough job, so don’t get discouraged if we don’t get daily updates. No news is good news.
We can expect to get an update in about a month. We’ll do our best to keep you posted.
In the meanwhile, please keep spreading the word. Below, you’ll find a SMGO-SOS synopsis and useful links:
► ► Synopsis:
*May 20: Voting phase started
*June 9: Terry Goodkind’s Facebook post:
*June 11: Craig Horner’s twitter post:
*June 13: Reached voting goal of 15,000 votes
*June 14: Passed 17,000 votes
*June 14: Official post by SMGO: www.smgo.tv/congratulations-legend-of-the-seeker-fans/
► ► Useful Links:
*SMGO-SOS promo kit with templates/samples emails, social media posts: bit.ly/SOSsmgokit
*Printable ads for bulletin boards and DVDs: bit.ly/SOS2go
*Save Up 2 SOS: What we can do while we wait: bit.ly/SaveUp2SoS
*SMGO-SOS press/blog coverage (scroll down to the bottom of the page): bit.ly/SOSsmgokit
*SMGO BlogTalkRadio show: www.blogtalkradio.com/smgotv/2013/06/08/smgotv
sosdotcom.tumblr.com/post/54049566856/smgo-sos-update-june-27-doing-the-homework---------------------------------- |
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) PLEASE continue to encourage other Seeker fans to Vote, if they HAVEN'T already Voted. (Remember only ONE Vote per Person). 
