Joss Whedon, Dr. Horrible, and the Future of Web Media
In the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, one of the areas in dispute was the question of residual payments for online material. On the picket line, Buffy creator Joss Whedon discussed new ways online media production could be financed. After the strike, Whedon self-funded a web media production,...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Routledge
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15253 |
| _version_ | 1848748843735187456 |
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| author | Leaver, Tama |
| author_facet | Leaver, Tama |
| author_sort | Leaver, Tama |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | In the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, one of the areas in dispute was the question of residual payments for online material. On the picket line, Buffy creator Joss Whedon discussed new ways online media production could be financed. After the strike, Whedon self-funded a web media production, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Whedon and his collaborators positioned Dr. Horrible as an experiment, investigating whether original online media content created outside of studio funding could be financially viable. Dr. Horrible was a bigger hit than expected, with a paid version topping the iTunes charts and a DVD release hitting the number two position on Amazon. This article explores which factors most obviously contributed to Dr. Horrible's success, whether these factors are replicable by other media creators, the incorporation of fan labor into web media projects, and how web-specific content creation relates to more traditional forms of media production. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:11:29Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-15253 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:11:29Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Routledge |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-152532017-09-13T15:56:51Z Joss Whedon, Dr. Horrible, and the Future of Web Media Leaver, Tama Online Distribution Fans Social Media Dr Horrible Paratexts Joss Whedon Labor Web Media In the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike, one of the areas in dispute was the question of residual payments for online material. On the picket line, Buffy creator Joss Whedon discussed new ways online media production could be financed. After the strike, Whedon self-funded a web media production, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Whedon and his collaborators positioned Dr. Horrible as an experiment, investigating whether original online media content created outside of studio funding could be financially viable. Dr. Horrible was a bigger hit than expected, with a paid version topping the iTunes charts and a DVD release hitting the number two position on Amazon. This article explores which factors most obviously contributed to Dr. Horrible's success, whether these factors are replicable by other media creators, the incorporation of fan labor into web media projects, and how web-specific content creation relates to more traditional forms of media production. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15253 10.1080/15405702.2013.779510 Routledge fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Online Distribution Fans Social Media Dr Horrible Paratexts Joss Whedon Labor Web Media Leaver, Tama Joss Whedon, Dr. Horrible, and the Future of Web Media |
| title | Joss Whedon, Dr. Horrible, and the Future of Web Media |
| title_full | Joss Whedon, Dr. Horrible, and the Future of Web Media |
| title_fullStr | Joss Whedon, Dr. Horrible, and the Future of Web Media |
| title_full_unstemmed | Joss Whedon, Dr. Horrible, and the Future of Web Media |
| title_short | Joss Whedon, Dr. Horrible, and the Future of Web Media |
| title_sort | joss whedon, dr. horrible, and the future of web media |
| topic | Online Distribution Fans Social Media Dr Horrible Paratexts Joss Whedon Labor Web Media |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/15253 |