Moving Beyond the Streamy Awards Train Wreck - Jim Louderback - MediaBizBloggers

I wanted to take a day to think about the disaster that was Sunday night39s Streamy Awards httpwwwstreamysorg before penning my thoughts on the dreadful eventDavid Samuels from KoldCastTV iJustine and many others on Twitter have already shared their thoughts on the misogynistic puerile protracted and poorly executed event Heck in the aftermath some predicted that it spelled doom for the nascent internet video industry that we had so hoisted ourselves on our own petard of idiotic juvenile jokes that we were unlikely to recover for years if everBut after fulminating ruminating and pondering I39m not so sure In fact this might be just the systemic shock we need as an industry to finally grow upLet39s face it we39re a young industry Born just five years ago even last year39s first Streamy event was more like the tentative steps of a toddler than the confident strides of a tween But in one year we seem to have aged from cautious kiddie to fullblown adolescence with all the attendant pain suffering and ultimately growth that that awkward age bringsAs I searched for metaphors to describe Sunday night39s carnage I ultimately realized that it seemed most like a precocious teen newly minted learners permit in hand borrowing the family caramp160for the night and promptly wrapping it around the treeThe Orpheum theater had all the hallmarks of a classic awards programs thrown by our elders including Oscar Emmy and Grammy With red carpet two humongous jibcameras five additional cameras and a fabulous looking audience The location has hosted numerous awards shows in the past so it seemed ideal for the jobUnfortunately the evening quickly went downhill from the start with technical glitches directorial miscues a torrent of dirty sex jokes that only reinforced the wrongful impression that we39re only about sex and sleaze and a monologue that went beyond poking fun at the industry and was more like a spit in the face And then there were two bucknaked streakers flashing their dangly bits for all to see that put the icing on the biscuitYes like an adolescent the Streamy39s reached too far attempted to do too much and veered horribly off course We know better the producers seemed to say as they flouted conventional wisdom by trying to load in build sets and launch without setting aside a day for rehearsals I39m not sure how the steady stream of badboy vulgarity got approved but clearly someone was asleep at the wheel here as wellSo we wrecked Dad39s car And there will be repercussions We39ve got to repair the damage we caused take responsibility for our actions and make a both amends and reparationsWe39re grounded certainly for at least six months During that time we need to reflect on our actions find new resolve to do the right thing and do what we do best develop and launch a broad array of entertaining and informative shows build new audiences and communities and strive to put this accident behind us We39ve got a lot of trust to rebuild with the sponsors who had their names and brands attached to the event to the show creators and supporters who abandoned the theater midway through the fourhour show in disgust and the viewing publicBut just as teens tend to learn the most from hard lessons and abject failures our adolescent industry will come to a new maturity from thisWe39ll take our lumps learn our lessons and not fall prey to hubris overreaching insolence and pottymouth humor Well at least less of the latterBecause next year39s Streamy Awards will be better I know Growing up is hard an uneven rocky road But often the best adults come from the most unruly and irresponsible kids The web TV industry has a lot of growing up to do but in the end we39ll be a better industry because of itJim Louderback joined Revision3 as the CEO in July 2007 He can be reached at jimrevision3comRead all Jimamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Jim Louderback MediaBizBloggersFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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Moving Beyond the Streamy Awards Train Wreck - Jim Louderback - MediaBizBloggers

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