When I started to have a midlife crisis, I gave up on the old medium, a.k.a print, and embraced the new medium, a.k.a. blogging. I gave up my cushy job at Business 2.0 and traded it in for the 24-7 grind of running a blogging/publishing start-up. Apparently, I am not the only one with this problem.
BusinessWeek has an article about old media Dons who are now embracing the new online (video) medium. Of course they are using their old media connections to boost the chances of their new ventures. Here is a rundown of who is doing what now.
- Michael Eisner, formerly, chairman of Walt Disney & Company is now promoting Vuguru, the company behind the Prom Queen, webisodes series. The series has a deal with MySpace. (NTV says)
- Steven Bochco, the man behind the now painfully long in the tooth NYPD Blue is now working with Metacafe on a new series called Cafe Confidential. (NTV says)
- Herb Scannell, formerly President of Nickelodeon Networks has a new company, Next New Networks, that is producing dozens of channels mostly produced by the new new media stars. (NTV Says)
- Jordan Levin, former chief executive of Time Warner’s WB Network, is co-founder of Generate, the company behind Home Purchasing Club. Levin has a deal to develop content for MTV.
- Albie Hecht, formerly of Nickelodeon’s film studio, founded Worldwide Biggies, which has built “American Idol for dogs,” Worldwide Fido.
Jerry Zucker, director of the movie Airplane, among others, is now working with National Banana (a spin off of PodTech.net) on various online media.
Interesting. We’ll have to learn more about that.
Thanks Robert
I would also add Stan Rogow to the list — another successful kids’ television and movie producer (“Lizzie McGuire”) — his new sci-fi series “Afterworld” was one of the original series on Bud.tv and currently has a featured episode on YouTube getting a lot of views and really positive feedback from the community.
I actually worked with Albie and Stan on their projects prior to Next New Networks, and have to say, it’s a lot of fun seeing these people get into the space and try things a different way. The more the merrier — we all have a lot to learn from each other.
That’s funny, Tim — I had just been checking Afterworld out. Cool show.