It’s Saturday afternoon, and the core unit of MPLS.TV’s 100-plus volunteers is standing in a hot studio sipping cans of Coke and preparing for nudity — lots of it.
Ryan Warner , their executive creative producer, is hiding in a curtain, naked, with only a green piece of construction paper taped on like a palm leaf. The leaf will be turned into flesh-colored pixels upon editing.
No, MPLS.TV has not sold out and started shooting porn to earn extra cash. They’re shooting a 45-second comedy segment for their upcoming fundraising week/launch of daily supported content.
Part of the purpose of the fundraiser is to raise awareness of just what MPLS.TV is. You may have seen their stickers plastered all over Dinkytown business establishments, or you may have caught a few of their segments on which they collaborated with City Pages, like “Hip Hop High” or their
“Best of The Twin Cities ” series.
The group is approaching their one-year anniversary but has only recently gained mass attention due to the switch from monthly episodes to daily segments. Their coverage has grown so expansive that any event you may have missed, chances are MPLS.TV was on the scene, from a Gayngs show rehearsal to the painting over of the Deuce Seven mural at Cult Status Gallery.
The core members include creative types like Chris Cloud from advertising firm Carmichael Lynch , Warner, who does sales for Thrifty Hipster and First Avenue poster designer Josh Carlon . Some of the volunteers maintain “day jobs” and find an outlet in MPLS.TV, while others are bearing the spare time burden of recession-era unemployment, for which MPLS.TV provides a perfect opportunity for résumé-building and networking.
While they sit somewhere on the media spectrum between the new public television art show “mn original” and Minneapolis Television Network’s hodgepodge of user-driven content, MPLS.TV has hollowed out their own niche in edgy, timely content, producing segments about events as they happen.
The group believes their expanding influence has to do with Minneapolis’ uniquely small and specialized culture.
“Collectives can exist here because there’s no big established groups. There’s always room for people to support something new,” explained University senior Hannah Silk Champagne, who is majoring in youth studies and African American studies (If you are starting to wonder if the MPLS.TV crew receives comic book monikers upon entry, know that names like Silk Champagne and Cloud are merely coincidental. A&E made sure to check out their drivers’ licenses for confirmation).
MPLS.TV’s crew has high ambitions for the growth of their project, but they promise that they’ll never fill up their website with advertising in order to put money in their own pockets. Instead, the group seeks to gain sponsorship from local press outlets and businesses — not to make money, but to draw viewers their way.
“Everything we do is free and that’s the new marketing model,” explained Warner, “If you charge for something, your audience is diminished. The only thing we charge for is sponsorship of the show.”
Their pro-bono ethic draws musicians and artists from all genres into working with them. As Carlon explained, “People are more willing to volunteer their time if they know that you are volunteering.”
So what’s their motivation?
“I do it because I love the city,” Cloud said, “We want to document the city like no one else has.”
Cloud said he believes that MPLS.TV’s project has only reached 20 percent of its potential, and that it’s currently growing “like an avalanche rolling down a hill.”
In order to sustain their increased exposure (literally!), the group is always looking for volunteers.
Thinking of volunteering and wondering if you fit the bill? As Warner put it, “We take your tired, your weary, anyone creative.”