Mini-specials? Ten-Minute Stand?

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on February 28th, 2006

An item in the Rocky Mountain News (“Starz Inches Into Original Program Fare”) says that Starz will start using comedians:

But don’t expect Starz to mount a $100 million epic miniseries like HBO’s Rome anytime soon. Instead, Douglas County-based Starz is focusing on unconventional time lengths– like 10-minute acting auditions and stand-up comic routines– that bolster the network’s focus on films while comporting with video-on-demand viewing habits.

The revolution will be televised.

This is worth keeping an eye on. Who really needs more than ten minutes of exposure? Just a nice, tight ten minute set, repeated over and over at various times of day, over a period of weeks. If it gets a good response, agitate for another one. Sounds good.