Yeah, I know. I haven't posted in a while. Been… I dunno… distracted? Busy? Waiting for something really interesting to come along to talk about?
Yes, Obama addressing the Muslim world is interesting, but it isn't really my focus here. Oil prices… no, not me either. Lovely weather we're having. But this isn't a weather blog. I talk about Jellyfish and kids ministry and such, and I haven't had much to update you all (or "y'all" for my southern friends) about lately.
JellyTelly needs to develop in a new direction. The "no revenue" model isn't very sustainable in the long term. Buck Denver is having fun with his weekly show, and kids are having fun writing him questions and hearing his answers. We probably can't charge money just for that, though, so we press on in search of a business model. We're having some very interesting conversations in a couple of directions – creating content for DVDs and books based on all our new characters, and creating content specifically for TV/cable. Either of these directions could give us a source of revenue (and additional ministry exposure) that could help us sustain the web version of JellyTelly as well.
Hopefully we'll have some interesting deals to announce in the next few weeks – something worth blogging about! In the meantime, we'll keep the site up and running, Buck will keep producing his weekly show, the Fantastic World guys will keep being really, really weird.
Hey… my son graduates from middle school today! So that's news! The ceremony is in a couple of hours. Off to high school with him!
Oh – here's some more news: Some of you have complained that the new JellyTelly site layout doesn't allow you to access past days programming. There is still a way to do that, it just isn't clear. If you click on the "video" symbol at the top of the page, you get a list of the last 6 days programming to choose from, identified by key show. This will be made more clear in the next iteration of the home page. Sorry for the confusion! (So if you're looking for Buck's show, it's debuts on Mondays, which are "Kidmo" days. It runs again on Fridays, which are now called "Buck Denver and Hermie" days.)
Hope you're all doing well!
I'll post again soon when we have some developments to share with you…
How about selling programming or season passes via iTunes? Being able to watch JellyTelly on an iPhone/iPod Touch or Apple TV would be nice.
I’m just glad you’re doing well.
After the passing of Wayne Allwine, (the current voice of Mickey Mouse) I started worrying about you. I still pray for you.
Yes, you can make money on cable (Ashton Kutcher just moved his “Blah Girls” franchise to MTV I believe).
I still think there’s great potential for pay-per-download and monthly subscription service.
You know, what we need is a Christian advertising service, so Christian websites can get advertising revenue from safe and ethical advertisers.
It seems like the big thing in streaming internet video right now is embeddable programming that people can insert into their blogs. Perhaps if you made a limited amount of your programming available for embedding, with clear JellyTelly branding built in, it would help generate some buzz.
To be honest, I have heard almost nothing about the JellyTelly site for months — even on your own blog! Maybe some free content would bring some attention in the form of “hey, check this out!” postings on kid and parent-centered blogs.
There’s also the merchandising route, a la homestarrunner.com. All of their content is free, and they support the site (and themselves!) using nothing but sales of shirts, messenger bags, keychains, and most recently a licensed series of episodic video games.
I don’t know how you feel about merchandising, particularly considering the HEAVY merchandising that came out of Big Idea in its later years, but I thought I’d throw the homestarrunner.com example out there in case you were not familiar with it.
Hi Phil,
Congratulations to Jeremy on completing middle school! How is that possible that your kids are so old already? Speaking of age, Happy Birthday to you in a few weeks, too! God bless.
Hi Phil:
Have you seen Pixar’s new release “UPâ€? It is a really great film…â€I laughed, I cried, it moved me Bob!†Anyways, one of the characters in the movie is a large bird, kind of goofy on the outside but rather special on the inside. He reminded me of another large bird whose name also happens to be Kevin and I couldn’t help but wonder if its director, Pete Docter, a Christian with kids was paying a compliment to 3-2-1 Penguins.
Kindest Regards
I think that an “UP” movie review would be quite fitting, after all, you gave a critique for “Ratatouille”.
😀
Phil you just need to find an Archduke Rudolph, or a Prince Esterhazy. Rich, bored people who like to fund insanely creative, partially deaf, syphalitic geniuses.
Shoot, I’ll have a car wash to help Jelly Telly.
Sounds great! We’ll keep praying.
I think it would be great if you could send a Jelly”Telly”Gram to someone (like American Greeting E-card etc…), with a link to the site. There has to be a way you could make some money on it too. My son has many friends and loves to send e-cards to them. I, myself, would love to send Jelly”Telly” grams to people. Ilene
I belong to a homeschool site online and mentioned JellyTelly. I got feedback about it and was told that Mcafee is tagging it “as a questionable site”. That ” they did not red tag it nor did they green tag it either”. I am not sure if this is because it is fairly new or for some reason they (Mcafee) are misreading the content. I am not sure how Mcafee works but perhaps somone knows what is causing this. It would be a shame if parents start to go to the site and are told it is “questionable” and decide not to check it out. Ilene
Phil,
I think you are one of the best writers of all time. Congrats on your success! I think JellyTelly is one of the best ideas EVER! I wish with everything in me, I could talk to you at least by e-mail. I just published 2 books and one of them WOULD BE ONE OF THE BEST IDEAS FOR A SHOW ON JELLYTELLY! I know… I am not trying to sell myself or anything, I just believe if us Christians come together to help each other; and further God’s kingdom, that will make the most impact. At least Phil, if you could e-mail me that would be AWESOME! I know you are very busy, but I would appreciate it very much!
Your Brother in Christ,
Matthew Cole