Or, Interactive TV is now

we already have interactive tv.

In terms more significant than hits, the impact of online sites for tv shows is beginning to be recognized as a new creative force to be reckoned with. And the link via cyberspace between viewers and producers is yielding tangible results.

Playback asked the producers of two youth/young adult-skewed shows with Web presence, the live-action Gen-X drama series Liberty Street and the first 100% computer-animated series ReBoot, if the feedback from viewers via the Internet is influencing the content and direction of shows.

‘Absolutely,’ was the response.

Epitome Pictures’ Liberty Street series was launched on the old and new nets – cbc and the Internet – simultaneously. The Web reaches the show’s target demographic, twentysomething university-goers with Internet access.

Hewon Yang, director of special projects for Atlantis Releasing, which distributes Liberty Street, says: ‘They seemed quite accepting of it as a forum. We were able to get everything from people’s comments to suggestions for storylines; and a lot of those comments will be incorporated into the second season.’

Liberty Street executive producer/creator Linda Schuyler, president of Epitome, says in terms of judging audience response, it has been a more viable barometer than focus testing. Schuyler says until they had an Internet site there were three ways to get feedback on a show, focus testing, ratings and the press. ‘Now we’ve added a very significant fourth way.’

Citing the advantages to the writing department of Liberty Street’s e-mail over the fan mail of Degrassi days, Schuyler points to the immediacy of the response. ‘The show goes on the air one night and the next day you go to the office and you’ve got e-mail waiting for you.’

Secondly, Schuyler says the bulk of this direct feedback is astute and thoughtful observations on the show that breaks into two categories of response, the incredibly articulate and the emotional. She says the e-mail ranges from critical analysis, ‘Your a plot was very strong but you fell down a little on the b plot,’ and assessing believability of dialogue, to gut reaction, ‘I wish she could have a baby,’ and ‘That girl shouldn’t spend so much time in that guy’s apartment.’

Chris Brough of Vancouver’s BLT Productions, producer of ReBoot, has had the same articulate feedback with his show’s Web presence. While there is no direct e-mail (fear of hacking) or self-orchestrated website, ReBoot (directed by Zondag Entertainment, cocreated by executive creative consultant Ian Pearson, and coproduced by Alliance Communications in association with abc, ytv and Meridian) generated a few u.s. sites set up by fans, and inspired a news group.

Brough says the communication differs from the kind of fan mail he encountered previously that consisted of someone writing a letter to say they liked the show and that the star was cool, and attributes the e-mail volume/quality to its easy output of thought. ‘Obviously this is representative of an audience base that is a little more technically sophisticated.

‘I don’t know if it’s a huge sampling of the show’s audience, but it’s an attentive and intelligent sampling. And we listen. We think it’s an exciting way for a consumer to address directly the producers of a product, and thereby circumvent a broadcaster. We love this, it’s unfiltered information, it’s raw data.’

Overall, Brough says more kids are starting to use the net. Which should be a boon to the soon-to-be-launched merchandising program.

The producers use the online chat as a barometer of what the audience is thinking. And as they’re headed into heavy interactive product creation – they’re in the process of producing an interactive pilot for broadcast on the first interactive network – Brough says this is a major opportunity for them.

For instance, on the recently announced ReBoot cd-rom joint venture with Electronic Arts, they were able to amass audience likes and dislikes, enabling a meld of game technology and elements. The premise for the movie based on ReBoot was also influenced by Internet feedback from viewers clamoring for the story on the origins of the characters.

As to the impact on season one, Brough says they’ve found people are watching more carefully than they expected. ReBoot is created in multiples of layers of anticipated audience interest, and like traditional animation, there are a lot of in-jokes in the backgrounds. ‘There’s even jokes on barcodes,’ says Brough. ‘We were kind of blown away by the number of people who actually get the stuff. And from that we got encouraged to do more, and be a little more vigilant in content.’

At the weekly writers meetings, Brough says the online input is placed on the table and discussed: ‘Here’s what they liked, here’s what they seemed to be a little concerned about, what are we going to do about this?’

‘We definitely read the stuff and it certainly impacts the development.’

Brough says the producers will focus in and try to address some of the cyberspace opinions in the second season.

Modem-travelers: Web

creatures created via the Web

For example, in the new season, Brough says ReBooters will see more characters (maybe viral) and something beyond the supercomputer and the userÉ. ‘It’s going to be something called the Web, kind of a nether world, and that’s a direct correlation between some ideas we got off the Internet.’

At a time when many people are just beginning to get a handle on what the Web is, the ReBoot artists are trying to design what the Web will look like. ‘We’re going to have creatures of high fantasy emerging from this third-party portal,’ says Brough.

For a specific example of how feedback from the portal has been acted on at Liberty Street, Schuyler describes a storyline – wherein a married couple, Lucille and Ernie, are having trouble having a baby – which caused some concern over whether the infertility issue might be skewed too old for the series’ 18 to 24 target demo (actual demographic reached is 18 to 30).

When the angle was introduced, Schuyler says there was amazing feedback via the net from viewers. ‘It seemed emotionally to strike a chord, so we’re continuing with the storyline, whereas otherwise we might have dropped it.’

As to the weight of the wired connection to the audience as a new creative force, and how far Schuyler as a producer is prepared to use it as a tool – for instance testing a new project through net previews – she says she views the show as the leader and the net as the follower, adding however, that six months ago she would not even have seen the net as a follower. ‘So, I’m quite prepared to believe that in a short time I could well be in a position to view the net as leading as well.’

But since it currently takes over an hour to download Liberty Street’s 40-second opener, in terms of providing television clips, Schuyler says the technology has got to improve.

While the series is entertainment, the issues are thoroughly researched, and Schuyler hopes to take advantage of the anonymous nature of the net to allow people to get more info on topics touched on in the show, like homosexuality or infertility, via hyperlinks. ‘It’s a safe way to get information and no one needs to know about it.’

There’s also an opportunity to link up with sponsors.

‘And,’ says Schuyler, ‘you can free the show from having a lot of ponderous content.’

In an era of fickle viewers who can be lost through preemptions and slot changes, a home page can be a way to stay in touch and preserve a show’s fragile affinity with its hard-won audience.

‘I have thanked my Internet site for our survival to a certain extent,’ says Schuyler. ‘This world is so wacky and audiences don’t have the loyalty or attention span they used to.’

It has also been an ace in the Liberty Street renewal hand. Schuyler was able to take a chart to the cbc showing university use in every province, backing up her pitch that this audience is the cbc viewer of the future.

Schuyler concludes: ‘I couldn’t see planning a new tv series without planning to build a site at the same time.’

Yang says cbc is now able to take tangible numbers of hits (about 500 a day) and say confidently to the ad community, ‘We’re reaching our target demographic.’

The demographic can be pinpointed as to region, what hardware and software they’re using, what other shows they watch, disposable income, and the issues that concern them.

In addition to the expected Canadian fans, Yang says Liberty Street’s site is popular in the u.s. – ‘a lot of people at Harvard University really like our site’ – which is significant because the show is not yet broadcast in the u.s., raising queries from visitors as to why not.

On the international sales front, while Yang says the net presence hasn’t determined any sales – ‘it’s not a deal point’ – it has certainly heightened people’s interest in the show. ‘It’s an incredibly effective marketing tool, and a rather inexpensive tool for us to reach the international buying community,’ specifically territories that are techno-savvy such as Germany, she says.

To get the site up and running cost about $15,000.

Atlantis is getting its own server site and is launching its shows on the World Wide Web late July. Yang says Atlantis is looking to bring aboard the co-operation of its licensees and international broadcasters.

An online global tv guide for Atlantis programming is planned as a component of the site, and as soon as Atlantis has a kids’ show merchandising program launched, licensees’ participation would also be incorporated. (Producer alert: Atlantis Releasing is looking at a few kids’ show properties to acquire.)

Atlantis is also interested in helping smaller producers who want to establish a presence on the Web.

Liberty Street is on the World Wide Web @: //WWW.liberty_st.solect.com./

ReBoot can be chatted up through the University of Texas @:

//uts.cc.utexas