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Update: What’s Happened in Five Months as VP of Thunder TV

By 4 Mins Read

Note: I no longer work at Thunder Studios having exited the company. This article is an archive of my thoughts while serving as Vice President of Thunder TV.

It dawned on me that it’s been five months since I took on the duties of Vice President of Thunder TV, the television division at Thunder Studios. As my new set of responsibilities have occupied a lot of my time, I’ve forgotten to keep this blog updated with what has transpired.

I decided to write this post as a kind of highlights summary update on what has occurred during my short time here.

January

  • Moved from Austin, TX to Long Beach, CA to assume duties as VP of Thunder TV.
  • Familiarized myself with the current business model of Thunder Studios and gained a deeper appreciation of how a traditional movie studio operates.
  • Drafted the initial business model for the Thunder TV division using strategies and principles I learned as a bootstrapping entrepreneur.
  • Developed original programming ideas for production in the summer for the gaming niche.
  • Opened dialogue between potential brand sponsors and Thunder Studios for funding original programming ideas.
  • Power Up TV left the Freedom network, becoming a wholly independent YouTube MCN.
  • Kicked off the development of the Power Up TV Partner Dashboard based on wire-frames I personally designed.
  • Hired the first employee for the Thunder TV division.

February

  • Attended Playlist Live in Orlando, FL and met with various creators and brand representatives to discuss partnerships.
  • Conducted a survey of over 200 LA based YouTubers to validate the business plan and generate a lead sheet for future recruitment efforts.
  • Invited LA based YouTubers to tour our studio as part of recruitment efforts, and solicited feedback on the constantly developing business model for the Thunder TV division (validation).
  • Further refined the business plan for Thunder TV using newly acquired data.
  • Designed and kicked off the development of a social media statistics website, Video Robo , to be used for making data driven business decisions on programming, casting and brand partnership deals.
  • Worked with other divisions such as Thunder Records to refine how Thunder TV would integrate with their business model.

March

  • Attended SXSW in Austin, TX. and furthered discussions between brand partners and Thunder Studios.
  • Hired the 2nd employee of the Thunder TV division.
  • Power Up TV Partner Dashboard Ver.1 launched; PUTV reached new milestone of over 4,000 channel partners.
  • Interviewed more candidates for future Thunder TV employee positions.
  • Developed pitch materials that were used to successfully acquire the rights to a well known brand of IP (can’t give you any details yet!).

April

  • Attended NAB in Las Vegas and developed new discussions between brand partners and Thunder Studios.
  • Designed Phase II of the Partner Dashboard and Video Robo website.
  • Further refined the business model for Thunder TV and solidified the organizational hierarchy chart for the division.
  • MysteryGuitarMan filmed a music video in one of our stages.
  • The first Thunder TV original programming project started and completed production in Stage 14.
Super secret project! Expect to see it in September!
Super secret project! Expect to see it in September!

May

  • Developed pitch materials for use in acquiring additional IP to produce into web series (sorry can’t give you any details yet!).
  • Kicked off development of Phase II of Video Robo (announcement of new features coming soon!).

Again these are only the highlights. There are many things which happen every day that I can’t yet talk about in detail because they are part of plans we’re not yet ready to publicly announce, but I hope this monthly summary gives the readers of my blog some idea of the things my division at Thunder Studios is up to.

The month of May isn’t complete yet so I will instead leave you with this new photo of myself that will be included in the upcoming Thunder Studios press kit.

Carey-Martell-Thunder-Studios-Wall2

I have a strong belief that this period of my life will be some of the most fulfilling. All of the diverse skill-sets I developed in the past have finally came together to be used for creating a new division. I’m grateful and excited to have been given this opportunity.

That said, I expect the next five months to be even better than the last. We’re doing some amazing things here.

Related posts:

  1. The Rise of Power Up TV : Behind the Curtain
  2. ‘The Lean Channel’ Reaches Top of a Bestseller List
  3. What Movie Theatres Should Do to Survive a Digital First World
  4. The Advice I Gave YouTube in 2010 and How I Used It to Design Zenither
Author

Carey Martell is the President of Martell Broadcasting Systems, Inc. He is also the founder of the Power Up TV multi-channel network (acquired by Thunder Digital Media in January 2015). Carey formerly served as the Vice President of Thunder TV, the internet television division of Thunder Digital Media. In the past he has also been the Director of Alumni Membership for Tech Ranch Austin as well as the event organizer for the Austin YouTube Partner monthly meetups. Prior to his role at MBS, Inc. and his career as a video game developer and journalist, Carey served in the US Army for 5 years, including one tour of duty during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Carey is a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Carey also moonlights as the host of The RPG Fanatic Show, an internet television show on YouTube which has accumulated over 3.7 million views.

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