Rosario Dawson, AP
A new science-fiction online-only TV series is being launched today with high hopes on nbc.com, scifi.com, GeminiDivision.com and several video on demand services.
Rosario Dawson stars in “Gemini Division,” and you can see the first two webisodes at this link.
“Gemini Division” is about a New York City detective (Dawson) who unearths a conspiracy involving simulated life forms. Also, after the jump, I put last year’s Rolling Stone cover of Rosario Dawson and Rose McGowan promoting “Grindhouse.” No real reason, except to see if it spikes traffic.
– Matt Price
August 19th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Its so important for the interactive TV genre that Gemini Division puts on a good showing. This is the kind of innovative product that exploits the interactivity of the internet and changes the lean back viewing experience of traditional TV into something far more engaging. Its success would bring much needed attention to the indie interactive web scene.
Signing Rosario Dawson is a great choice, a neo sci-fi plot is a great choice, the one gripe I have though is geo-blocking the show limiting it only to a US audience, I think its a cop out and a failure to fully embrace the internet. NBC, why get only half pregnant?! In mitigation, I suppose with a huge marketing budget, Gemini Division does not have to rely on viral distribution like indies do. And it probably has found revenues in international distribution.
The $1.75M budget is HUGE for the web TV world but my hope is that a nice chunk of that is allocated to marketing (and you can count Rosario’s paycheck in that) to bring attention to the nascent interactive web series genre … indies like ours will gladly ride this coat tail.
August 20th, 2008 at 8:47 am
From a fan perspective, I agree, why not international distribution? But like you said, I assume there may be some international revenue coming in that makes it more cost-effective to be web-only.
I think web series will be where it’s at in the not-so-distant future.
- Matt
September 6th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
@nerdblog. Sony owns the international rights and plans to be bring it out on multiple platforms some time in the future. While waiting, why not check out http://www.deletedthegame.com?
You may be surprised by how competitive indies can be on the internet
Deleted: The Game