The first Media and Data Equity Project asked: how can intersectionality change TV?

OTV | Open Television (http://weareo.tv) is a video platform supporting artists and communities who identify with multiple communities historically disempowered because of their race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, nationality, disability, religion, citizenship status.

Using research to experiment with new ways to develop artists and release their stories, OTV asks how communities can collectively create knowledge to support their liberation from the harms of media and tech systems.

For more on how the first five years of the OTV experiment, check out the Reparative Media book by Aymar Jean Christian.

In OTV’s first five years, MADE Lab Director AJ Christian and co-founder Elijah McKinnon developed over 70 original video projects, hosted over 50 screenings in Chicago, and inspired over 1 million impressions on these original diverse art works. OTV programs eventually received recognition from the Television Academy (Emmy Awards), Webby Awards, Streamy Awards, Gotham Awards, among others. Its programming partners included the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Sundance Institute, and the city of Chicago, along with numerous galleries, community organizations, and universities across the United States and globally. Artists supported by OTV received offers to adapt their indie series to longer form series from leading studios and distributors, including HBO, CBS, Lionsgate and Hulu.

In 2020, Elijah McKinnon formally took over leadership over OTV as its first Executive Director. From 2015-2020 while leading OTV’s transition from experiment to independent non-profit, Dr. Christian and Executive Director McKinnon raised over $1 million in multi-year support to sustain its operations. The OTV project secured commitments from the MacArthur Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Field Foundation, Pop Culture Collaborative and Cinereach, allowing it to begin capacity building.

Ongoing engagement & collaborations

Diversity Databases - In partnership with the Sundance Institute & OTV, Made Lab explores the rise of databases for women and people in film/TV.

Organizational Development – As the organization builds capacity for its own fundraising staff, MADE Lab director contributes grant writing support for the organization as a board member.

HISTORY

RESEARCH

Reparative Media: Cultivating Stories and Platforms to Heal Our Systems (forthcoming).

Platforming Intersectionality: Networked Solidarity and the Limits of Corporate Social Media.” Social Media & Society. 2020.

Organic Representation as Cultural Reparation. 2020. Journal of Cinema and Media Studies.

Beyond Branding: The Value of Intersectionality on Streaming TV Channels. Television & New Media. 2019.

Expanding Production Value: The culture and scale of television and new media. 2019. Critical Studies in Television.

Open TV: Innovation Beyond Hollywood and the Rise of Web Television. 2018. New York University Press (book-length manuscript providing theoretical foundation and case study in epilogue) 

OTV: The Development Process. 2018 & 2022. From Networks to Netflix: A Guide to Changing Channels. Derek Johnson, ed. New York, NY: Routledge.

The Value of Representation: Toward a Critique of Networked Television Performance. 2017. International Journal of Communication. 11, 1552-1574

‘Nupita Obama’: The Value and Method of Queer Pilot Development. 2016. No More Potlucks, 44.

DEVELOPMENT

CYCLE 1 / 2015-2016

Complete 2015 & 2016 Annual Reports
Artists on OTV 2015-2016 Research Report

OTV launched slowly, episode by episode, in 2015. In the beginning we organized projects under three verticals: Open TV Presents (pilots and short films), Open TV Originals (new series), and Open TV Re-Presents (syndicated series). The Open TV Community vertical included profiles of artists, coverage of projects and viewpoints from the staff.

CYCLE 2 / 2017

Complete 2017 Annual Report
Artists on OTV 2017 Research Report

2017 was an important year that saw exponential growth with the premiere of Fatimah Asghar and Sam Bailey’s Brown Girls and Ricardo Gamboa’s Brujos. The series were featured in a wide of press outlets — including Elle, The New York Times, TIME, Out, Remezcla, Chicago Tribune and nearly 100 more — and by a wide array of festivals, awards and museums — including the Emmys, Streamys, Frameline, Outfest, Brooklyn Museum, National Museum of Mexican Art, and many more. After Brown Girls sold to HBO, OTV started to attract a wide array of artists and industry stakeholders, eventually kickstarting the second MADE Project. Northwestern University increased its support to OTV to advance its sustainability. We hosted our first artist development program, a writers workshop at the Chicago Cultural Center.

CYCLE 3 / 2018

Complete 2018 Annual Report
Artists on OTV 2018 Research Report
Community on OTV 2017-2018 Research Report

OTV evolved in 2018 as the platform worked toward sustainability. We rebranded from Open TV (beta) to OTV | Open Television. As the number of artists and projects in development increased, OTV onboarded more team members, including our first Head of Community, to create structures for caring for and being accountable to our people. OTV projects continued to win awards — earning the Streamy for Best Indie Series the second year in a row — screen at major film festivals and institutions. Our works screened for the first time at the Art Institute of Chicago and we produced our second series of packed screenings at the Chicago Cultural Center. Head of Production Stephanie Jeter became the co-founder of a for-profit company designed to advance the non-profit’s mission and harness interest from Hollywood.

CYCLE 4 / 2019

Complete 2019 Annual Report
Artists on OTV 2019 Research Report
Community on OTV 2019 Research Report
Community on Video Art vs. Narrative Series Research Report

In 2019 OTV reached a critical milestone, securing its first funds for programs and general operating outside of Northwestern: the Field Foundation, Surdna Foundation and MacArthur Foundation. With that funding we launched our first official artist development program: the OTV Fellowship, offering writers $10,000 to develop a new project. The round of funding started the process of transitioning OTV away from an experiment incubated into its own independent organization.

CYCLE 5 / 2020

Complete 2020 Annual Report

2020 was OTV’s first full year under new leadership, Executive Director & Co-founder Elijah McKinnon, who formally started the role in late 2019. Co-founder Aymar Jean Christian transitioned out of leadership to advise and support OTV as Head of Research & Organizational Development for the year. We released projects from the OTV Fellows, including Vincent Martell’s Streamy-nominated Damaged Goods and Karan Sunil’s Code-Switched, which leveraged OTV’s non-exclusive distribution contracts to find a sizable audience on YouTube.

CYCLE 6 / 2021 and beyond

With McKinnon leading the organization, OTV hired its first full time staff supported with benefits: Sarah Minnie, Head of Production and Artist Development, and Chris Walker, Head of Marketing and Exhibition. Sarah is responsible for producing our artist-facing programs, including our Fellowship program, Study Hall (online film school) and Brave Futures (global short film race). Chris is responsible for our audience-facing initiatives, including our mobile/TV App, social media and live event production.

AWARDS / 2015-2020

2019 Queerties, Best Digital Series (nominees, the T & Brown Girls)
2020 Queerties, Best Digital Series (nominees, Kissing Walls, Damaged Goods)
5th International Academy of Web Television Awards, Best Dramatic Series, Best Directing, Best Writing (nominee, Brown Girls)
7th Streamy Awards, Best Indie Series (winner, Brown Girls), Best Drama Series (nominee, Brown Girls)
8th Streamy Awards, Best Indie Series (winner, the T &, nominee, Brujos), Best Writing (nominee, Deja Harrell, Seeds)
9th Streamy Awards, Best Indie Series (nominee, Damaged Goods)
10th Streamy Awards, Best Indie Series (nominee, Choose Me)
13th New York Television Festival, Best Short-Form Digital Project (winner, Starving Artists)
14th New York Television Festival, Best Actress in a Drama (winner, Seeds, Deja Harrell)
25th Gotham Awards, Breakthrough Short Form Series (nominee, You’re So Talented)
69th Emmy Awards, Outstanding Short Form or Drama Series, (nominee, Brown Girls
Chicago Artists Month, Featured Artist and Event, City of Chicago
City of Chicago (DCASE) Artists and Organization Residency Program
City of Chicago, Independent Film Initiative Filmmaker-in-Residence (winner, Bea Cordelia and Daniel Kyri, The T)
Filmmaker magazine, 25 New Faces of Indie Film (Aymar Jean Christian)
Independent Shorts Awards, Platinum Award (winner, FOBia)
Los Angeles Film Awards (nominee, FOBia)
New City, Film Leader of the Moment (Aymar Jean Christian)
New City, Best of Chicago (Open TV, Brujos, Brown Girls)
New City, Hall of Fame (Aymar Jean Christian)
SeriesFest (Season 4), Best Emerging Female Creator (winner, Deja Harrell & C.J. Thomas, Seeds)
Webby Awards, OTV | Open Television (Best Video Channel, Public Service & Activism), Damaged Goods (Best Video Series)

PRESS

http://weareo.tv/press

EXHIBITION / 2015-2020

abridged

Art Institute of Chicago (Hair Story/BSAYF, The Roach Is Coming, Sur La Nuit)
Brooklyn Museum (Brown Girls)
Chicago Cultural Center (OTV series premieres)
Chicago International Television Festival (Kissing Walls, the T, Velvet)
Frameline Film Festival (Brown Girls, the T, Southern For Pussy, Kissing Walls)
fullscreen (You're So Talented syndication)
Indie Short Fest (Just Call Me Ripley, FOBia)
Los Angeles Film Festival, Indie Shorts Fest (FOBia)
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (Seeds, Code-Switched, Yogma, Brown Girls, Brujos, Afternoon Snatch)
National Museum of Mexican Art (Brujos)
Newfest (the T, Quare Life, F*CK YES)
New York Television Festival (Seeds, Starving Artists)
Outfest (Brujos, Quare Life)
Pan-African Film Festival (Sex Is A God Thing)
Reeling Film Fest (Brown Girls, Kings & Queens)
SLAY TV (Two Queens in a Kitchen)
Soho House Chicago (Lipstick City, Two Queens in a Kitchen)
Stareable Fest (The Right Swipe, Border’d)
Tribeca Film Festival (You’re So Talented)
Woman Made Gallery (Let Go and Let God, Bronx Cunt Tour)