The Secrets of Their Success
According to him, the best sci-fi stories are the ones that serve as metaphors for world issues, and he strived to achieve this with After Judgment, which follows a group of survivors living 100 years after an unknown event wiped out a significant portion of the world’s population and rendered all electronic devices unusable. Many have speculated that the show is set in the aftermath of the biblical Rapture, but Davies says the real disaster is of a much more earthly sort.
"A lot of it, as the show goes on, is environmental," he says. "It actually becomes a lot more about the planet fighting back than just a supreme being or god or whatever."
The series was conceived about 6 or 7 years ago, when Davies wrote the show as a possible miniseries for The Sci-Fi Channel. However, the project was shelved until Jeff Macpherson of the web series Tiki Bar TV encouraged him to turn After Judgment into an online series. After some rewrites, development got underway in May 2007.
Davies, along with his producing partners Taryn O’Neill and Stephanie Thorpe, financed season one by themselves, monetizing the show through revenue-sharing deals with the sites that hosted the series, including YouTube, Metacafe, and blip.tv. However, Davies says this approach does not bring in much money, and the show is still recouping its production costs.
"We’re in the process right now of going after financing and sponsorship for season two, which is going pretty well," he says. "Really the only way to get things done is brand integration and having a sponsor onboard or several sponsors, the way TV did, honestly, back in its infant stage."
According to Davies, After Judgment is available on at least a dozen internet sites, on its own official webpage, and on TiVo DVRs. He decided to allow such a large number of external sites to show the content because he doesn’t want to leave any potential viewers behind.
"You go on YouTube because it’s the biggest one and people are going to stumble across you," he says. "But being on other channels, like blip, is very specific … and people go on those sites to actually watch a lot more serious or professional content."
Davies says the show is currently seeking sponsors with an environmental bent to coincide with the themes of season two, which he hopes to launch in October. Manufacturers of hybrid cars and recyclable batteries are among the candidates for inclusion, and he hopes to integrate such products seamlessly into the narrative in a way that does not compromise his creative control or alienate fans.
"At the end of the day, that’s the most important thing," he says. "I don’t want to piss off the people watching the show. It’s not that hard to do. You just have to be creative."
Troy Hitch: Photoshop Funnyman
Troy Hitch does not suck at Photoshop. In fact, he’s been working with the product on a professional level since 1995, when he got a job as a medical illustrator despite not having any medical illustration training. Now, Hitch uses his Photoshop skills, along with his comedic chops and improv abilities, to entertain and educate future users of the program with You Suck at Photoshop, a parody of online tutorials that he co-created with his partner Matt Bledsoe. The show stars Hitch as eccentric Photoshop master Donnie Hoyle, who, in each episode, explains how to use a specific tool within the program in a way that relates to recent events in his life.
Figure 5.Troy Hitch, creator of You Suck at Photoshop, voices Donnie Hoyle, an eccentric Photoshop genius who provides hilarious yet helpful Photoshop tutorials. When Hoyle put his wedding ring up for auction on eBay in episode four, the listing received more than 50,000 views in 4 hours and prompted a lengthy Q&A session.