[http://www.physicaltv.com.au]

Tell us briefly about The Physical TV Company and its projects.

Founded in 1997, The Physical TV Company specialises in arts-driven screen media, with a particular emphasis on dance (choreographed by Karen Pearlman and Richard James Allen) and literature (by Richard James Allen, author of nine books of poetry and prose). We have produced seven award-winning short films which have screened at over 200 festivals and theatrical venues and broadcast on three continents, and a short feature, Thursday’s Fictions, which won an ATOM award for Best Experimental Film in 2007 and is nominated for an ATOM Award for Best Multimodal Production in 2008. The many modes of Thursday’s Fictions include a stage play, a poetry book, the film and the build of a 3D online immersive story world in Second Life. All of these incarnations received funds from different boards of the Australia Council at different times! For more information visit the Physical TV website [www.physicaltv.com.au] and the Thursday’s Fictions website [www.thursdaysfictions.com].

You’ve explored a range of business models for The Physical TV Company and your projects. Could you share with us what worked well and what didn’t?

We are driven by creative ideas and fascinations with the media in which they can incarnate. If we want to create a work in which we are the initiators and owners of the property, we have to seek grants or other funding for the work. Otherwise our ‘business model’ is the commissioning model. In this model we approach or are approached by someone, often a university or an extant arts company, to create a work, and they may have a topic or a form in mind when making the approach. We enjoy responding to these challenges and stretching the possibilities of the media and our creativity within them.

Have you found any conflicts between your artistic vision and business needs, and if so, how have you resolved that?

The Physical TV Company sustains itself through a mix of grants, commissions, royalties and sales of past productions and sales of the services of the artistic directors. These services include writing, directing, choreographing, editing, dramaturgy, conceptual design and teaching. We have found that the mix of skills is not just in line with our artistic interests but an asset to sustainability. The principals of The Physical TV Company are much in demand as teachers in tertiary institutions as well as at private studios, and we teach a range of things from artistic practice and studies to spiritual practices and philosophies, all of which, for us, are intrinsically entwined. We find teaching inspiring and stimulating, though its demands do sometimes require energy, which we would like to be spending on creative projects. However, it has seemed a fair trade-off thus far, given that the demands of starting and sustaining a business are equal or much greater to those of teaching, and certainly riskier. We are open to being convinced otherwise!

How do you find out about new approaches to building audience, promotions, business models and so on?

We have been fortunate to receive sponsorship from the Australia Council, AFTRS, the NSW FTO and the NSW Ministry for the Arts at various times to attend workshops, seminars and mentoring sessions to learn about ‘new approaches to building audience, promotions, business models and so on’. We are also members of AIMIAA and have opportunities to attend their sessions, as well as Mobile Mondays in Sydney, which are gatherings of creative and business communities around the new possibilities for mobile phones. However, without sounding ungracious, it would be fair to say that most of the advisors discussing new media possibilities are novices themselves, because the media are so new, so unknown, so untried. We therefore often find ourselves wondering if we have the time or energy as a company to invest in processes which seem likely to have as good a chance of failing as otherwise. This issue refers back to the question of our own expertise as well. For some people, creativity and creative processes are mysterious and daunting, but business and business processes are not. For us, it is the reverse.

What would you suggest are the three key things you’ve learnt in this process?

You need a team. Writers and creative people need three other people:
•    a business entrepreneur – someone who really lives for this stuff
•    a tech enthusiast – as with the entrepreneur, someone who lives for this stuff a manager to hold the diverse priorities of creativity, business and technology together.

Consider other reasons for creating work in the digital space besides making money, especially when it comes to prototyping and proofs of concept. Make sure you know why you’re doing whatever you’re doing and who it’s for. The creative arts as a practice and a product have value to humans. The question of whether they make money is not necessarily the best or only measure of this value.

Further material

Allen, R.J. and Pearlman, K. 2007 ‘Thursday’s Fictions in Second Life’, Melbourne Writers’ Festival [http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=_5ZVdoF3lQQ]

Hazlitt, G. 2007 ‘Thursday’s Fictions in Second Life user journey’ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnseuxcCmA]


 

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