The Inside Workings of Funny or Die at SXSW
Recap of the SXSW panel – Inside FunnyorDie.com ~ http://my.sxsw.com/events/event/7887
Panelists are Richard Glover, CEO of Funny or Die – Andrew Steele, Chief Creative Officer (writer at SNL for 13 years)
“The secret to the internet is swearing – especially kids cursing – and naked women” – Andrew Steele
“I really think we are at a point where there is a creative explosion… every one of you people could go out there and make a good video. The one thing that drives all of this is hard work.” – Steele
Why it works
- Funny or Die is a risk free environment to do whatever they want – that’s why we get the caliber of talent who will do it without pay.
- It’s like Indie Films – there’s no money, but there’s freedom to express yourself.
- Why talent gets on board: promote a cause, change your image, plug something
- Also – we’re friends
- Because there are locations all over – we get the best of breed people in what they do
- It all boils to if we don’t have a great product, the rest of it’s not gonna matter
- 2 1/2 – 3 minutes is the “sweet spot” – “I thought that at SNL too, but no one listened to me” – Steele
How it works
The strategy (same as all TV shows) is – get eyes on your site/show
Three types of videos:
- Topical Material
- Celebrity
- Causes – i.e. Prop 8
The driving force is creativity
Improv is 50/50 – We never improv anything with cameras, we need at least an outline
How it Started
Primary backing is Sequoia capital – the son of one of the higher ups is an aspiring stand up comic. Once at dinner, he asked: “why isn’t there a hot or not of comedy.”
Led to meetings in LA with Will Ferrel and Adam McKay – sat in a hotel room and came up with an idea (wrote the landlord, Eva Longoria/ Perry Hilton)
Within a week, the site was getting 30,000 views a minute.
Necessity is the mother of invention – a great platform was built – we found that was not a competitive advantage. The formula “celebrity + user generated content = interest” wasn’t the competitive advantage either. It can’t be just any celebrity.
“Celebrities on the internet is nothing now – you don’t just get views by putting a celebrity up”
“it can’t be just throw anything you want in the pipeline – because then you lose the trust of the people who are reading”
On Viral Success
“No one can guarantee viral success, because a monkey walking across a piano or a cat rolling around in a bag can be more viral.” – Steele
For instance – the Lonely Island guys have done 50 videos, 4 of them have become viral hits
On Full Disclosure
I think those are all good things. We try to do everything as openly as humanly possible – Glover
On Webisodes and Web Series
I think it will change TV – I think it will be in the sci fi world because that medium is so episodic
dealing with a cause are the easiest ones to get people behind
On expanding to different Platforms
Stand alone niche destination site – usually fails. But we did it, and we built a brand. Our content is funny on a good budget. If we stay on that track, we feel it fits with the brand.
“I think the internet is the future – and I can write whatever I want”
On Why SNL isn’t funny
“I don’t think SNL is funny – I never did. Other than one or two sketches a night” – Steele
- Sketch comedy is the hardest thing because it’s so broad
- They can’t speak to a smaller group
- A lot of constraints in terms of production add more challenges
- My rating for my 13 years at SNL is a C+ or C-
It was a great panel! Check out the new show on HBO Friday nights
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- In Case You Missed It – Taylor Lautner on SNL
- Documentaries inside my XBOX
- Michael Phelps on SNL
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