If Joss Whedon was Our Master before, he is even more so now. This week he joins the likes of RadioHead in giving the finger to traditional distribution channels. In a six-day Entertainment Event that culminates a few minutes from now, and then, at midnight Sunday, disappears into thin air, Joss shows us that it can be done: Good entertainment can be produced on the cheap and shown online, not on TV.
From Joss's "Master Plan": "Once upon a time, all the writers in the forest got very mad with the Forest Kings and declared a work-stoppage. The forest creatures were all sad; the mushrooms did not dance, the elderberries gave no juice for the festival wines, and the Teamsters were kinda pissed. (They were very polite about it, though.) During this work-stoppage, many writers tried to form partnerships for outside funding to create new work that circumvented the Forest King system.
"Frustrated with the lack of movement on that front, I finally decided to do something very ambitious, very exciting, very mid-life-crisisy. Aided only by everyone I had worked with, was related to or had ever met, I single-handedly created this unique little epic. A supervillain musical, of which, as we all know, there are far too few.
"The idea was to make it on the fly, on the cheap – but to make it. To turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the internet. To show how much could be done with very little. To show the world there is another way."
Will audiences go for it? Will Joss recoup his meagre costs? Will he get rich? Tune in this weekend, and he just might...
Anyway, we're rooting for him. (Also for Dr. Horrible.)
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