Taking a Gamble on Web Content

An Interview with J. Crowley of Black20

by Brian Rothe

Can you tell us a little bit about how Black20 was started? Where does the name come from?

We started as a group of young creatives, fresh out of school, very green and hoping to get into the TV rat race. We mostly wanted to write and produce some form of comedy. The Late Night format is one of our true obsessions, so back in 2003 we produced a comedic web series on the roof of my apartment. It was a total group effort from a lot of my friends in the NBC Page Program - totally financed from a few thousand bucks I made giving tours at NBC. We ended up selling that show back to NBC and working in their Digital Studios department. There we made videos like "The Easter Bunny Hates You" and a bunch more that never saw the light of day. One day we had the incredibly foolish idea of quitting our jobs and trying our luck at a start-up company. We found an office/apartment in Brooklyn, raised some seed-money and started producing videos we thought were pretty funny. Three years later, we're somehow still here. Still making viral videos and web series we think are pretty funny. Apparently other people do too. Our videos have accumulated just under 100 million views. The name Black20 comes from our NBC days. You see, we took the last remaining money from our decimated production budgets, drove down to Atlantic City, and let it all ride on a single roulette spin. It's much better watching here.

And exactly how much money was resting on that single spin of the roulette wheel?

Enough to make us poop our pants, a little.

The Internet is just coming into its own as a medium for entertainment, but you were way ahead of the curve. How did you have the foresight to know that this is the direction the industry's focus would shift in?

We were out to dinner one night at a Chinese restaurant when my partner Neil opened up a fortune cookie. The fortune read "Your heart is pure, and your mind clear, and your soul devout." Then the waiter walked over and whispered, "The future is online video."

A lot of people might say that getting involved in the creation of a website that caters to original online content is risky business. Certainly, as gamblers, that didn't scare you. How did you overcome the odds and build such a successful site?

When we first launched Black20 in 2006, online video was all the rage. YouTube was just purchased for a hundred gajillion dollars. So it wasn't as risky as it seems now. Scary-risky, yes. But not suicide-risky. We've all seen the online video business take its lumps in the past couple years. There's at least a dozen major Digital Studios that have folded - many backed by big network capital. The economy isn't doing anyone any favors either. We've been able to build the Black20 brand by cranking out a massive amount of quality video. And we've always stuck to our guts when deciding the type of content we thought was entertaining. We have a super talented, tenacious creative team. It's the most talented group I've ever worked with. They all work so well together, and are focused on producing the best content possible.

People are constantly trying to figure out how to make money with Internet content. How does your site support itself?

Our website is not our business. We merely have the website as a calling card for our creative work. In 2007 we've transitioned over to a Digital Studio, focusing on creating web series, TV pilots and viral videos for other networks. We now look at them and say, "OK, here's your video. Now you make money from it!"

Are there any challenges that you face when creating content specifically for the Internet?

The biggest hurdle is being able to produce quality content on tight budgets. You need to spend a certain amount to produce quality videos and generate audience views. We are often approached by companies who want videos on the super cheap. But what they don't understand is cheap videos are often crappy videos. And nobody wants to watch crappy video - there's enough of it online as it is.

Tell us a bit about your creative process. How do you come up with ideas for series or shorts?

We have creative pitch meetings every week. The ideas that come up are bananas. If you think some of our videos that "make internet" are crazy, you should hear the ones that don't get produced.

What kinds of feedback do you get from your viewers?

We've never had a negative comment... except for one YouTube user who called us "total fags."

Out of all the shows offered on Black20, what are your favorites and why?

Tough to say with over 400 videos to chose from. I think both "Net_Work" and "The Middle Show" are very strong web series. The writing is so unpredictable, and the actors are some of the best we've worked with. I also really like "Wheels the Movie" - a spoof on all the terrible "romance-pants" movies coming out of Hollywood.

What is your favorite series or clip that's not featured on Black20?

Fensler's collection of GI JOE PSAs are incredibly funny. "Hey kid, I'm a computer. Stop all the downloading!" I personally will never write anything better than that.

Do you have any predictions about where online content is headed? (Examples: Is this the end of television as we know it? Will I be installing microscopic monitors on the inside of my eyelids anytime soon?) Are you planning for the future of Black20 accordingly? Can you let us in on what you've got lined up?

There's a lot of people getting paid a lot of money trying to answer that same question. No one definitively knows. The online space is constantly evolving and TV is obviously migrating over to the web. This will make it even more difficult for original web content to compete in the already crowded space. Television is in a very difficult position now. It's constantly searching for new methods to reduce costs. The traditional TV development methods will probably start to take a new approach. Online video will be not be merely considered but *relied* on as a better testing ground to discover new talent and develop new concepts. Eventually, an online show will become a hit TV show. It has to eventually. I think we're all racing to be that first one.

Having your own broadband network has got to be a chick magnet... Are you worried that, as competing networks pop up, that magnet will weaken? If so, how will you cope?

We are currently working on developing another high-powered magnet. Unfortunately, it's only attracting metal. Not girls. We'll report back once we've worked out all the kinks.

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