Scaled-Down Icebox Looking for One Big Hit
By CHRISTOPHER KEOUGH
Staff Reporter
Icebox.com, the site featuring naughty animated shorts, launched last year with a simple premise: acquire quality content for next to nothing, build a strong online following, and develop lucrative mainstream media deals.
The company folded in February.
A revived incarnation of Icebox, Icebox 2.0 (using the icebox.com URL), has been operating for a month with what its principals part of the creative team that formed the first version believe is a sure-fire way to make it work.
Their premise: acquire quality content for next to nothing, develop a strong online following for it and leverage the two into lucrative mainstream media deals.
If there is a difference this time around, it’s that the operation won’t be spending any money before it’s in hand.
“We think there’s enough ways to generate revenue through the various aspects of our business so we can stay afloat,” said Tal Vigderson, co-founder and managing director of Icebox 2.0 LLC. “Ultimately, if one aspect takes off, we’ll be a success.”
Icebox was formed by television writers Steve Stanford, John Collier, Howard Gordon and Rob LaZebnik and spun out of the eCompanies incubator in Santa Monica. It shut down after burning through $15 million at a rate of $1.4 million a month.
Three of the founding members and two other Icebox.com employees, including Vigderson, ponied up a reported $500,000 for the company assets and relaunched as Icebox 2.0.
One new revenue source not part of the original model is a nominal pay-per-view charge to watch animated shorts like “Mr. Wong” (the adventures of a foul-mouthed houseboy) and “Hard Drinkin’ Lincoln.”
Since launching its pay-per-view service, Icebox has netted more than 3,000 transactions, according to Vigderson. Those viewers spent 25 cents per transaction, resulting in revenues of $750. Of that, Icebox’s billing partner, New York-based AllCharge Inc., takes a cut.
Its overhead slashed the company is based in Vigderson’s Los Feliz home Icebox 2.0 remains dependent on the big break, spinning off content into a major deal with traditional media of television and motion pictures. Meantime, Vigderson hopes that small licensing deals and pay-per-view will keep them rolling.
“Do I think the next big hit in traditional media is going to come off the Internet?” asked Lance Klein, vice president of new media at International Creative Management Inc. “Maybe, but I don’t think so.”
Vigderson does. In fact, he said, a few deals already demonstrate that Icebox is attracting interest. Flextech, a subsidiary of British broadcaster BravoTV, has bought the British and Irish rights to the Icebox catalog. German film distributors Helkon Media AG bought the rights to “Mr. Wong” and is producing a DVD of the show. Vigderson would not disclose the values of the deals, but said it’s enough to keep the company running in the short term.
So what would happen if that breakthrough hit materializes? Vigderson said Icebox profits by selling or licensing its content rights in the content to the network or studio.
Allen DeBevoise, chief executive of Creative Planet Inc., was unaware of Icebox’s return, but suggested that the time could be right.
“Given the softness of the advertising market and the cost of producing shows people might say this is a more cost-effective way to see what works for a certain audience,” DeBevoise said.
