[Community] Articolo Wired: "Open Source Opens Doors to SNL"

[J.C. De Martin]

Open Source Opens Doors to SNL
By Xeni Jardin

Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,69042,00.html

02:00 AM Sep. 30, 2005 PT

Live from New York, it's -- three comic talents who first made a name
for themselves on the internet.

Andy Samberg will become a performing member of Saturday Night Live's
31st season cast debuting Oct. 1, while Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer
have joined the show as writers. But all three got their first big break
online, thanks in part to the viral popularity of video shorts they
released on the net. In a move that may have helped fuel rapid
grass-roots distribution, the comics released their work under Creative
Commons licenses, which essentially let anyone copy a given work for
free provided that person doesn't try to profit from it.

As members of the L.A.-based comedy collective The Lonely Island,
Taccone, Schaffer and Samberg produced short-form comedy videos and
songs that were distributed on its website and ifilm.

Fan remixes soon followed from admirers around the world: In 2002, a
song called "Ka-Blammo!" was mashed up and republished by Dutch DJ Baby
Grandpa (MP3 link to remix here).

Video and music was produced with borrowed video gear and edited on a
single PowerMac, and further proliferated by way of blogs and
peer-to-peer file-sharing networks.

Later video offerings, including the episodic series The 'Bu, featured
cameo appearances by stars including Brooke Shields and Jack Black.

When the Lonely Island pilot Awesometown was rejected by Fox, Lonely
Island released two versions -- one edited by Fox, the other a
"director's cut" -- on its own website. The group offered both under a
new kind of noncommercial copyright license, known as Creative Commons,
or CC. Modeled on open-source software licenses, the CC licenses freely
granted reproduction rights to anyone who promised to offer derivative
works created under the same terms. CC licenses for more online work
followed.

Samberg, Taccone and Schaffer performed temp jobs in and out of the
entertainment industry and shared a modest, low-rent Los Angeles
apartment that doubled as a studio and editing bay.

Their first brush with SNL resulted from a gig the trio took as writers
for the MTV Movie Awards in 2004 and 2005. SNL cast member Jimmy Fallon
hosted this year's edition in June, and word of the Lonely Islanders'
online shorts had spread to others on the SNL team, including Tina Fey
and show creator Lorne Michaels. Samberg, Taccone and Schaffer
auditioned in mid-2005, and were hired in late August.

Additional new hires on the SNL cast include Bill Hader, a member of
Second City's Los Angeles troupe.

Two familiar faces on the show will be missing, however: SNL Weekend
Update anchors Tina Fey and Maya Rudolph will be on maternity leave when
the SNL season debuts this Saturday night. Who will replace them has not
yet been determined.

End of story

-- 
I migliori saluti, 


Juan Carlos De Martin
______________________________________
IEIIT-CNR 
Politecnico di Torino
Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24
10129 Torino, Italy
Tel: +39-011-564-5421
Fax: +39-011-564-5429
http://media.polito.it

"There are only two kinds of music: good music and bad music"
Duke Ellington