Sanctuary Discussion (Spoilers for the most recent episode)

[tagger]

And how long will it be after ep 1, I wonder, before the first Sanctuary fanfic appears?

I'm guessing fanfic appears before the first webisode.

[minigeek]

I'm guessing fanfic appears before the first webisode.

Yes. And it will be written by these gentlemen right here:

[ForeverSg1]

Next question: For the benefit of those among us (such as myself) who do not possess such a thing as a credit card, how - exactly - would one go about the business of "purchasing" an episode?

I'm really not sure how this works for people outside of the US, but if credit cards are accepted, you can probably purchase a Visa gift card or debit card to make the purchase. I've used both for purchases online with few problems and both can be purchased quite easily either online or at local stores like CVS. Also as Mini stated, they may use a form of Paypal which will allow you to take funds directly from a bank account.

[ForeverSg1]

The SUN also reported that

That bodes very well so far. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for the Sanctuary team on this. It's such a "new age" concept from a business point of view (which is why it's difficult to find mainstream funding). I think if the internet community does rise up and support it, it'll be a huge breakthrough for consumer driven entertainment. It's really very exciting from that point of view, even if you set aside the "sci fi fan" element.

The interesting thing is I know many people have seen posts about Sanctuary on various Stargate and Sci-Fi forums, but I have also seen it being discussed on different Gaming forums as well. I think if the show is as good and as interactive as they claim it to be, word about the show could spread quite quickly and spark an interest for more than just the Stargate community.

My husband has never been a fan of Stargate, but he's loves shows like Xena, Buffy and Dark Angel and Sanctuary has sparked an interest in him as well. Who knows, come this time next year, he may actually be interested in going to London to see Amanda at AT3 instead of dropping me off at the con and checking out the sights in London.

[SG1Poz]

Ok finally caught up
I see many have the same thoughts as I.
Mini...I wish I owned a lap-top. I'm saving my pennies for AT3 so no lappie in the near future unless I hit the lottery
This show sounds like a take off of the movie, The League of Extrordinary Gentleman, combined with The X-men. Cool!!! This being said from one coming from the Buffydom, Sanctuary is right up my alley
I am aslo wondering how they will work out the payments and how much. Not that it matters, I'll beg on corners to watch this
I'm a little bummed that the webisodes will be so short. but hopefully when this takes off,..and I have confidence it will, they'll have the needed funds to lengthen them.
So on with the show!! I'm anxiously awaiting with baited breath

[Sg Gato]

Hey all,

Is any one a participant? Has the beta testing started yet?

[SG1Poz]

seems most of us on this thread are beta testers

[scifithinker]

the music reminds me of 'xena', which was done by joseph loduca. i hope it's him doing it, because he's a great composer!

sally

I've not seen Xena, but the music seems to have shades of BSG to me.

[ForeverSg1]

Hey all,

Is any one a participant? Has the beta testing started yet?

I think it will be a bit longer before anyone is actually needed for beta testing. More than anything what they are looking for will be similiar to the Stargate SG-1 site where they needed people to log on and push buttons, test the different parts of the site to make sure everything was working properly before they went live. They may also need testers for the gaming side of the site before that goes live.

[minigeek]

I think it will be a bit longer before anyone is actually needed for beta testing. More than anything what they are looking for will be similiar to the Stargate SG-1 site where they needed people to log on and push buttons, test the different parts of the site to make sure everything was working properly before they went live. They may also need testers for the gaming side of the site before that goes live.

The beta real test will be when you log on, let your cat walk across your keyboard, and see what happens.

[minigeek]

I got a reply on the blog from Mark Aubanel about the business model, though I'd quote him here/share.

I'd been rather long winded and asked this question.

Spoiler:

On another note - I don't know if you're in a position to answer this question via a public blog or not, but what the hey, I'll ask anyway. I was in a meeting about two weeks ago with some colleagues and a few executives from Alliance Atlantis (I say that not to namedrop but because it's relevant to the question).

We discussed SANCTUARY briefly because I brought it up and I wasn't surprised to see a little bit of brow-wrinkling from the "business" end of the table. Which brings me to my point.

I think it's safe to say that SANCTUARY really intends to shake the boundaries of consumer generated media vis-a-vis the internet. However innovative new media is one thing; an innovative means of leveraging an internet audience is quite another. Often times ventures like this are difficult to "sell" (for funding) due to the fact that there's very little established out there in terms of a means to see a return on the revenue invested. The internet is such a "free information" medium that typical commercial ad spots are not always feasible, or may be viewed as simple for the average consumer to block.

Can you talk at all about the format that SANCTUARY is going to take once it begins airing? Will it be subscription based or rely on ad revenue?

As an "art-for-art-sake" experiment, it's a fantastically cool premise, but somehow I think there's more to it than that for you guys. The future of new media truly is convergence, I agree with you. What I'm wondering is ... how have you overcome the business challenge? Or have you?

Cheers,
minigeek

maubanel said... To Minigeek

I am going to be posting blog entries weekly here discussing the business development we are going through.

My overall premise is as follows. I am a TV addict and have satellite TV here in Cana-duh. I pay a lot of money every month to watch the 10 shows I enjoy. If I could actually get all content on iTunes it would be less expensive to buy season passes and watch what I want as surfing 300 channels is no longer any fun at all.

With direct distribution our costs are smaller so we don't need as large an audience as cable or network tv does to substain ourselves. In fact the more people who pay for the show the less we will need to charge.

We will deliver online content at full resolution in an easy to manipulate format so you can enjoy it in the way you would like to. Our current plan is to release the first four webisodes for free then charge for the rest of the series.

The price will be competitive with the other companies out. If we have a big enough demand from the first four, we could be priced very competitively.

With this said I am sure our business model will evolve as we approach launch. We want to do what is best for the viewers of the show.

Yours truly,
MarcA

[Strix varia]

Finally - some answers to the "business" questions that a few of us had regarding Sanctuary.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/n...23cc35&k=28633


According to the Vancouver Sun, it looks like it's privately funded (they ended up investing in it themselves, including Tapping), it costs about as much as a cable or network series given extensive post-production, it will likely "premiere" in May, 2007, they hope to shoot for about 40 webisodes per year and the series will cost money per view after about the 4th episode to view/participate. Subsequent to that, the plan (appears) to be to use a more mainstream download service such as "iTunes" or something similar to distribute the pay per view and/or subscription the content.


mg

26,000 downloads of the trailer/teaser. I wonder if they consider that a good number? It seems low to me, but seeing as they're relying on word of mouth only...

I'd be curious to know what their break-even numbers are, if they have them. I wonder if they plan to be flexible on what they charge for the webisodes... if the price will come down as more people start watching, or if the price will increase if they don't get the numbers they need.

The really fascinating thing about it is that they don't have an established model to follow. They're flying by the seat of their pants! What a ride!

[Strix varia]

Also, I got this reply from Dan Woodland in response to a question about format:

I am a big podcast fan and agree with your assessment. Flexibility is key, whether you want to watch it on a mobile device, burn it to DVD or take it with you on your laptop. We don't want to restrict use. The plan is to support RSS 2.0 feeds. Thanks for the suggestions, keep them coming.

Of course, I don't think they have anything finalized right now, so who knows what they'll eventually wind up with.

[BruTak]

Yes. And it will be written by these gentlemen right here:

Good God in Govan! Where in the name of the sweet chocolate Christ did you find that?

[RealmOfX]

I got a reply on the blog from Mark Aubanel about the business model, though I'd quote him here/share.

I'd been rather long winded and asked this question.

Spoiler:

On another note - I don't know if you're in a position to answer this question via a public blog or not, but what the hey, I'll ask anyway. I was in a meeting about two weeks ago with some colleagues and a few executives from Alliance Atlantis (I say that not to namedrop but because it's relevant to the question).

We discussed SANCTUARY briefly because I brought it up and I wasn't surprised to see a little bit of brow-wrinkling from the "business" end of the table. Which brings me to my point.

I think it's safe to say that SANCTUARY really intends to shake the boundaries of consumer generated media vis-a-vis the internet. However innovative new media is one thing; an innovative means of leveraging an internet audience is quite another. Often times ventures like this are difficult to "sell" (for funding) due to the fact that there's very little established out there in terms of a means to see a return on the revenue invested. The internet is such a "free information" medium that typical commercial ad spots are not always feasible, or may be viewed as simple for the average consumer to block.

Can you talk at all about the format that SANCTUARY is going to take once it begins airing? Will it be subscription based or rely on ad revenue?

As an "art-for-art-sake" experiment, it's a fantastically cool premise, but somehow I think there's more to it than that for you guys. The future of new media truly is convergence, I agree with you. What I'm wondering is ... how have you overcome the business challenge? Or have you?

Cheers,
minigeek

Thanks for asking questions like this because I'm interested in all aspects of the show. They are right out there on the bleeding edge and I really hope that they make a go of it.