Quarterlife is a new online television show which we have looked at here on WebTVWire before.

It’s a series of eight-minute videos, created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick which is being touted as the first network quality show produced for online viewing.

In a recent Business Week article MySpace Goes Hollywood, MySpace was tossing the term “Network Quality” around when talking about this forthcoming show without much understanding of what it means.

As someone who has shot content for “Broadcast”, the term is specific to certain technical parameters for transmission of SD or HD signals…for another post. 

Will Web Users Even Notice?

Considering that many people view on-line content using a laptop, desktop monitor or mobile device such as an iPod they are not going to see the difference between a five thousand dollar DV camera verses its sixty-thousand dollar cousin. 

In addition, most content today is not yet encoded at VC1 specs, which seems to render this point moot.

Quarterlife, the thread for the series is about a group of twentysomething writers, actors and dancers trying to break into show business. Their site in soft-launch indicates they are aiming to bring the audience along as community, read; Entourage on MySpace. 

The site went on to further that participatory angle by saying the community would “participate in the ongoing creation of the series, be discovered as a writer, director, composer, photographer - find your next step as an artist and as a person”. 

And bring peace in our time, sorry I could not resist.

Of course, I find this rather ironic seeing that writers, actors, dancers, producers and DP’s are trying to break into the on-line and IPTV television distribution space on their own without significant traction.

The Muscle Of Hollywood

That it takes the muscle of Hollywood to dangle this in front of thousands of talented content creators does not speak well for the current opportunities for Indies, but more like an on-line reality show where people might be discovered.

That Producer Herskovitz has estimated each 48-minute episode will cost more then $500,000 to produce is not surprising for Hollywood though rather shockingly excessive given the target platforms and what some Indie producers have created with far less resources.

Perhaps MySpace has not heard of Williamsburg or ventured into Brooklyn, NY where The Burg, a very well produced series (near network quality, read; sarcasm) with talented actors and solid storyline has been on-line since late 2005, long before Hollywood ventured into their hood. Even the Quarterlife trailer reminds me of The Burg.

So what’s the path for aspiring content creators serious about their craft, pepper the web’s aggregator sites in hopes of a few dollars, self-promote on their own site or hope to get discovered by the Producers of Quarterlife, its a tough call with no easy answers.

[Content in whole or part adapted from IPTVe and is licensed under Creative Commons, no addition derivative works may be copied from this article without prior permission from IPTVe and Web TV Wire]

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