Broken Frontier

Last week, on April 2, the airwaves were no longer the only place where you could find Oliver Tull and Scott Hinze. That day, the  Fanboy Radio hosts launched  Fanboy.tv , their new two-times weekly comic book TV show, with new episodes online each Monday and Thursday.

Broken Frontier turned to Scott Hinze to find out what life is like now that he’s got a camera in front of his face on a regular basis…

BROKEN FRONTIER: How did Fanboy.TV come about?

SCOTT HINZE: We had actually been working on a version of the show for the past 3 years - with various production houses, producers, networks & studio. When MN1/LMG approached us and laid out what all they had to offer that the TV venues of yesteryear couldn't touch, we acted fast

BF: Was MN1/LMG among those companies you were in discussions with, or did they pretty much come to you out of the blue?

SH: We started talking to each other late last year.  We were speaking with a few other organizations at the time, but our audience is used to being able to listen to the radio show both live & on demand as well as interact with us.  MN1 provided cutting edge technology which will let us do those things, but the kicker is the creative control they offered us—that's the biggy.

And, of course, they were 100% about offering the content for free.

BF: That's indeed a must, because, as you say, that's something your audience is used to... now, are you guys still owners of the Fanboy franchise, so to speak?

SH:Yes…

BF: Now, where does the show leave Fanboy Radio?

SH: Exactly where it was before - two new shows scheduled every week.  No changes. I'll just be much more tired

BF: How much work goes into producing one TV show? What does one week in the new life of 'Scott & Oliver' look like?

SH: Hundreds and hundreds of man-hours - I work on the show schedule a bit in advance, help coordinate image gathering, do some guest relations/bookings, assist MEI with all the business, write, write, write…

SUNDAY - make sure everything is ready for that night's radio show and tomorrow's tv show, broadcast radio show in the evening

MONDAY - meet early and frequently at MN1, broadcast TV show in the evening

TUESDAY - work on other projects, writing, pr, guest solicits, stay up all night editing if tomorrow's show is a pre-recorded one, catch up on any comics before...

WEDNESDAY - new comic day, finalize or go live with radio broadcast, finalize any late additions for tomorrow's show.

THURSDAY - early meeting at MN1, broadcast TV show

FRIDAY - LOTS of general prep for all shows, new comic reading, 'date night'
SATURDAY - schedule to be my 'day-off' but there are always images to gather or skits to write or holes in the schedule to worry about... there's little down time. 

BOO HOO!  Listen to me... I'm living my dream with the radio show and now TV series.  This is a real blast and this busyness has been a real blessing - I just wish I had time to do more work with my passions like Heroes4Heroes  and CAPE like I did last year

BF: There goes the public's general assumption that celebs have it easy! [Laughs]

SH: Ok, let's clear something up now… I'm not a celeb—much more of a pundit or critic than celeb. I don't write real scripts, I can't draw... those are the folks that inspire and motivate me. 

If Kirkman, Deodato, Brubaker, Bendis, the 52 guys, Bagley, etc. can all handle as massive of a workload they're under with all of their strict parameters, I know I got at least a few more weeks of doing this in me.  Ha! 

BF: That's true! Did you find the transition to TV to be a difficult one? I mean, as a radio show for 5 years and counting, talking fluently is no longer a problem... but still, there's a camera in front of your face now.

SH: There are a couple of things I don't need to worry about - dead air isn't an issue anymore, I should probably speak slower on TV than radio even though the segments are many, many times shorter, it's also a new set of timing and rules I'm working on and being mentored by Oliver and my producers on. 

I don't get nervous in regards to live TV though; live radio has prepped me pretty well.  A sore spot was seeing the first show and seeing how much weight I need to loose. 

BF: Well, at least you've got a good incentive now!

SH:BINGO!

BF: How does bringing creators into the studio work? I mean, Donaldson and Denham are both from Texas area, so they're locals, but that list doesn't go on and on forever...

SH: Yeah, we've certainly got some greats here locally. We are going to use our cool webcam tech as much as possible and then it's very possible many of our artists will be on rotation.

BF: What was the process like deciding which regular features would be included in the TV show?

SH: Well, over time our segments on the radio show boiled down to our introduction, interview and/or open lines and finally sub or flub—all of those segments are in each live TV show.  The radio show's history did the trimming for us.

BF: Is that your way of keeping the TV show closely tied into the radio show? Will you seek to differentiate things a little bit once the TV show has found some firm ground under its feet?

SH: Yes, because just about everyone who works on the radio show is involved in the TV show we will of course keep the same tone and direction that has brought FbR it's success.  FbTV is a seperate business venture, but we're sharing trademarks.  There will be more segments and programming on the TV show because that's the nature of the medium and we're learning.  Radio, I think we've got down. 

BF: For sure! On the show, we've heard fans call in to talk about the books they're reading and so on, but what has their reaction been to the venture itself?

SH: I think there is a healthy mix of excitement, enjoyment and trepidation—they love some segments, give advice on developing ones and throw down production notes that keep my ego in check.

BF: Is that necessary? [Laughs]

SH: Not at all... at the moment. [Laughs] The live show is a ton of work and the perfect show is close -we can taste it- but it isn't there.  So I'm not 100% happy yet.

BF: So, rounding things out, what do you guys have coming up over the next couple of weeks?

SH: Rick Remender, David Hopkins, and Samax Randolph this Thursday and we'll announce the winner of Kristian Donaldson's art. Beyond that, more as things develop…

Visit www.fanboy.tv at 7:30 pm CST today to watch the fourth episode of Fanboy TV.