MTV Public Works™ is a current F/F project being developed with MTV Networks in Toronto and New York City.
The Rub: Real life cannot be bought or sold. It can only be lived.
Over the past few months, we have developed both a show idea and a wider platform we’ve been calling MTV Public Works. Although we’re jazzed on the show concept on it’s own, it sprung from the creative ground we established in thinking about the platform, which is essentially about directly engaging the consumer/viewer/MTV fan in creating content with a social aim. We both sincerely believe that a generational shift is going on in young people, and that entertainment that empowers them to do good and have fun will forge the strongest connections. Just because someone watches Jersey Shore doesn’t mean that they don’t also volunteer at a food bank, spend hours working in underprivileged neighborhoods, or dream of bringing vibrant changes to their community…and to miss that breadth of interests would be to miss what’s happening with young people.
The flagship show for this platform is called MTV Mash-Ups. (Why Mash-Ups? Check out this article to get some insight.) Inspired by the drama and emotion of flash mob culture, each episode involves people in large scale creative happenings with a social purpose.
Artists + Ideas/Issues + Community = Creative Impact
Think transforming an abandoned neighborhood factory into a public graffiti wall overnight with Banksy, or musicians and community members flash mobbing city hall to hold a concert to raise support for public school music programs. In each episode a group of big-city whiz kids in their twenties attempt to organize an amazing event that will bring attention to a particular cause or idea by creatively engaging the communities and individuals in the area. Whether it’s public school arts funding, health issues, or homelessness, Mash-Ups uses our viral video, camera phone culture to maximize the impact of big ideas and important issues.
The engaged audience, whether participating during the projects or watching the show on MTV after the fact is brought along to join the story through a crew of likable characters, a team of friends similar to what we see in The Buried Life except with less focus on celebrity worship because the faces are always changing and refreshing the team with new exciting personalities…a joyful broken social scene. The vibe here could be likened to Ocean’s Eleven, real people using their unique abilities to come together and pull off an amazing positive action. Its a docu-drama show with a narrative storytelling structure, following personal and collective character arcs.
The beauty and originality of this show is that it uniquely engages and empowers communities through direct involvement in pulling the show’s feat off, and then, in sourcing future projects - its constantly generating new ideas for projects, the type of artist collaborations, and the communities involved. This show entertains but also invites people to positive action and positive action is always more exhilarating than passive entertainment. Its building on a lineage of recent powerful pro-social MTV programming like The Buried Life, World of Jenks, and 4Real, then taking it to the next level by its direct audience engagement, shifting the power of culture creation back to the very hands and hearts of the people it affects.
The engaged audience, whether participating during the projects or watching the show on MTV after the fact is brought along to join the story through a crew of likable characters, a team of friends similar to what we see in The Buried Life except with less focus on celebrity worship because the faces are always changing and refreshing the team with new exciting personalities…a joyful broken social scene. The vibe here could be likened to Ocean’s Eleven, real people using their unique abilities to come together and pull off an amazing positive action. Its a docu-drama show with a narrative storytelling structure, following personal and collective character arcs.
The beauty and originality of this show is that it uniquely engages and empowers communities through direct involvement in pulling the show’s feat off, and then, in sourcing future projects - its constantly generating new ideas for projects, the type of artist collaborations, and the communities involved. This show entertains but also invites people to positive action and positive action is always more exhilarating than passive entertainment. Its building on a lineage of recent powerful pro-social MTV programming like The Buried Life, World of Jenks, and 4Real, then taking it to the next level by its direct audience engagement, shifting the power of culture creation back to the very hands and hearts of the people it affects.
This is a revolutionary and important idea for our young generation. Don’t believe us? Take a look at this article by Toronto’s own EYE WEEKLY which addresses some of these issues and discusses MTV’s significant influence on youth culture.
The symbol above distills the spirit of our idea and helps us visualize the real impact of the platform. Think along the lines and in between and you’ll get the idea.
We’ve been working with MTV in both Toronto and NYC. That being said, we’re undeniably proud of our city and its people, and we believe that it is the perfect setting for a show like this. Check out our vision for Toronto here.
In June 2011 we plan on developing some projects and shooting a pilot episode. Something you should know is that both of us - Andrew and Matthew - represent and recognize our collective networks of support in this project. We can honestly say, we could not be moving forward with this idea without them.
We look forward to further partnering and brainstorming with our friends: MTV, Tom Chenoweth Productions, The Remix Project, Manifesto Community Projects, The Winking Circle, TEDxToronto, THE NEW BEAT, Bruce Mau Design, CORUS, MASS LBP, CSI, ArchiTEXT, KONEKT Magazine, Dave Meslin, E•Y•E - The Social Projects Studio, Toronto Community Housing, DARKCAR, and Wood & Wires.
We’ve been working with MTV in both Toronto and NYC. That being said, we’re undeniably proud of our city and its people, and we believe that it is the perfect setting for a show like this. Check out our vision for Toronto here.
In June 2011 we plan on developing some projects and shooting a pilot episode. Something you should know is that both of us - Andrew and Matthew - represent and recognize our collective networks of support in this project. We can honestly say, we could not be moving forward with this idea without them.
We look forward to further partnering and brainstorming with our friends: MTV, Tom Chenoweth Productions, The Remix Project, Manifesto Community Projects, The Winking Circle, TEDxToronto, THE NEW BEAT, Bruce Mau Design, CORUS, MASS LBP, CSI, ArchiTEXT, KONEKT Magazine, Dave Meslin, E•Y•E - The Social Projects Studio, Toronto Community Housing, DARKCAR, and Wood & Wires.
