The Shorts Circuit: Channel 101(PT 1)

There seem to be two distinct questions on the minds of those who've followed this series with any level of interest. The first group always revolves around requests for additional markets and venues—to which I can only reply that I haven't been referring to this as an ongoing series for nothing. There definitely are more short film distributor profiles on the way. The second group of questions tends to concern an issue that's a bit more complicated. They usually go something like ...

Is there any room left on the venue side of this new shorts business for ambitious newcomers? The short answer is: Yes. The long answer is: Yes, and if you don't believe me, now would be the time to look at the story of an online cinema call to arms known as Channel 101.

Back in 2003, a pair of former FOX Network employees (Dan Harmon and Rob Scrab) got the idea to expand their private short film challenge parties into the "Super Midnight Movie Show." An almost festival defined by moving them out of Schrab's living room into the Improv Olympic West and setting up rules including a monthly schedule, a five minute time limit on entries and by opening them up them up to the public.

Before the end of the year, the Super Midnight had become the Channel101.com—essentially an L.A.-based underground television network (their sister network Channel 102 is based in NY) that gives participants the opportunity to create a show of their own and attract a fan base.

These days Channel 101 is an almost institution that attracts a slate of fun, creative and conspicuously well-made five-minute "shows" made mostly by unknowns, high profile guest stars (both Drew Carrey and Jack Black have shown up), has its own motto: "Every month you sit around thinking about what you're going to do is a month you could've done something," is available on iTunes and that bills itself as the unavoidable future of entertainment. And, they may just be right.

"We called 101 the Unavoidable Future of Entertainment because we saw this day coming," said co-founder Dan Harmon. "Not only does podcasting make for a bandwidth-friendly way to enjoy our network, we like to think of its syndication via iTunes and Fireant as a way of taking a jackhammer to traditional television's foundation. Never mind. Don't hurt yourself. Just imagine being able to watch our stuff at the laundromat."

Of course, the point is that you don't have to imagine, web-surfers everywhere can visit Channel101.com, iTunes or Fireant and see for themselves—more importantly, short form entertainment fans in New York or Los Angeles can stop by one of those live monthly screenings and see for themselves. "More importantly," because that particular list of cities begs the question at the center of my musings this week:

Why are you sending me questions instead of starting Channel 103?