With the buzz going around the web about the latest original content on netflix “House of Cards” we’ve been doing more discussion about how great it would be to have some new original content for netflix. A quote I found from not long ago by the CEO of Netflix sums it up.
“The goal,” says Hastings, “is to become HBO faster than HBO can become us.”
This has been met with the sheer expense of creating such original content. Will our $8 a month be enough to create and deliver new and amazing content? HBO already charges more than that, with additional subsidies that they get from the cable companies. There are many that don’t believe that HBO could ever go stand alone and still offer the shows that are so expensive to produce.
Why not crowd fund new shows?
The success stories for funding raised for independent video game developers, and numerous other entrepreneurs being kickstarted by crowd funding sites like kickstarter or indiegogo make me wonder if original content couldn’t be funded the same way. What would it take to create some pilots and let the community put their money up to make the rest of the series?
Better yet, in addition to having in house writers thinking up the shows, open it to public submissions. Let’s allow the youtubers and vimeoers out there a chance to get their own series funded, filmed and streamed to the millions of netflix subscribers.
This is definitely something that should be on the table. We can build it. We have the technology.