All about Beckinfield

Given our collective interest as a company in social TV, I was mildly interested recently when I heard about Beckinfield, a show that claims to be the first 'mass participation' TV show, a new form of science-fiction web series. 

Essentially, what happens is that anyone can create a character and join in on the plot. The Beckinfield platform takes you through character creation and video submission. Each week the actors are emailed the plot twists and encouraged to post their videos. All of the videos are then combined to create a trailer of what happened in "Beckinfield" that week.

I got the creators of the show, Theatrics LLC, to answer a few questions - here you go:

Could you tell us a bit about the people behind Beckinfield? Who are Theatrics and why did they embark on this web series?

The key people at Theatrics are:

Bob Gebert, VP Creative, Theatrics, Inc.: Bob Gebert created the Mass Participation TV concept and is in charge of the entertainment aspects of Beckinfield, such as the ongoing storyline and plot twists. In addition to his creative responsibilities, Bob leverages his acting background to develop the tools and tutorials that instruct actor participants on character creation and performance.

Bob brings 35 years experience as an actor and coach, screenwriter, producer and director to Theatrics. In addition to his continuing appearances on prime time network television series like “The Office,” he has written a screenplay for Paramount and written, produced and directed numerous plays as well as the award-winning feature film, “11 Minutes Ago.”

Tracy Evans, COO, Theatrics, Inc.:  Tracy Evans is the co-creator and product designer for patent-pending Mass Participation TV. He leads the team of artists and technologists in building the Beckinfield web site, and the back-end systems that support it.

Tracy brings 35 years experience in the performing arts and in theatrical, video, animation, multimedia, and Web production. For the last 12 years, Tracy has been the owner of Tracy Evans Productions, a production company through which Tracy introduced a number of technical innovations for interactive communications. Tracy has also won several industry awards for interactive media, animation, and video production.

Biff Van Cleve, CEO, Theatrics, Inc.: Biff Van Cleve is responsible for managing the business functions for Theatrics. Biff is responsible for funding acquisition, marketing, and other critical business functions.

Biff brings 38 years experience as a producer to Theatrics. He was VP of Production for Mars Hill, and oversaw production of “The Hope,” which is distributed worldwide in over 40 languages. Since 2004, he has worked as a principal with Tracy Evans Productions, managing a wide variety of productions across many media.

Social TV has been around for a while now, through a multitude of apps. Yet no one's really cracked it. How do you think mass participation TV will enhance the TV-viewing experience?

Mass Participation TV lets viewers become participants in the story like never before. Instead of sitting back and watching, anyone can sign up as an actor and create their own character and actually be part of the show from their own living room.

As Beckinfield is a series created entirely by the viewers, isn't there a concern with the quality of the content? How do you manage this challenge?

Though the individual videos are created by the viewers, directed story lines focus the course of the story. An ever-growing library of tutorials and instruction helps actors up their game in terms of creating their videos.

How many people currently participate in Beckinfield? Given that it is crowdsourced, where can you, as producers of the show, have a say, and control the direction of the story if it is required?

Beckinfield currently has over 1000 registered users and is growing rapidly.

Each week, anyone who signs up as an "Actor" gets a newsletter with secret scenarios about events happening in the town of Beckinfield. They then create improvised video diaries around any of the scenarios that interest them. Although the actual videos are crowd sourced, they are based on carefully plotted story lines.

How long will Beckinfield run for?

It is on-going and though the story lines have peaks and valleys it will continue indefinitely.

What trends are you seeing the show as it stands now?

The social aspects are flourishing. Many characters are mentioning other characters in their videos and bringing them into their story lines. There are a number of collaborations happening on the backstage boards, which then become video.

Does the current narrative remind you of any of your favourite TV shows from the past (or present, for that matter?!) - if so, which ones?!

Lost, Battlestar Gallactica, Lonely Girl15. One of our actresses said she explained it as "Desperate Housewives meets Dungeons and Dragons." One of our employees also referred to it as "YouTube meets 'Twin Peaks' with a dash of  'Waiting for Guffman' and Second Life."

How do you keep participants coming back for more?

Our weekly newsletters to both "fans" and "actors" keep all participants informed about new and interesting things happening in Beckinfield. In addition to the weekly scenarios that are designed to inspire actors to create videos, every week Theatrics creates a "Previously On Beckinfield" compilation with short clips from some of the best videos. This serves to both highlight favorite actors and videos and catch viewers up on the story to date.

How long was Beckinfield in the pipeline for before it actually launched?

The concept of Mass Participation TV was created in 2008 by Bob Gebert for his professional level acting class. It was initially designed for actors who were pursuing their careers as a means of having an ongoing outlet to practice their craft and showcase their work. Bob then took the concept to his longtime friend Tracy Evans who had a successful, innovative multimedia company, Tracy Evans Productions. They teamed with Biff Van Cleve to form Theatrics.com. Beckinfield is the company's first project.

In 2010, Theatrics raised $1.4 million in first-round funding. What's the revenue model for Theatrics going to be going forward, with shows like Beckinfield in mind?

The eventual revenue model will be advertising and Freeman services to be added along the way.

In 140 characters, tell us why we should watch and/or participate in Beckinfield.

Beckinfield is forging the next generation of entertainment. Mass Participation TV lets anyone play a part in an ongoing show. 

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Thanks, Team Beckinfield - and good luck with the show!