Apparently, Syfy original movies weren’t ridiculous enough already: The network will be teaming up with gaming and entertainment site IGN starting Friday to host a new website called B Movie Mogul, on which Syfy’s viewers will vote on polls and suggest ideas for a 2011 Syfy original movie. Yes, it will probably be terrible, but there could be a lot of explosions. Also, the bar hasn’t been set too high, with past originals including Bone Eater and Sand Serpents, both of which are so terrible they’re hilarious, until you realize you’ve been watching them for over an hour.
The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Syfy on what inspired the move closer to fan-fiction:
“We constantly have fans e-mailing with compliments, complaints and questions about our movies, and this is a way of involving the fans in a new way,” said Thomas Vitale, executive vp programming and original movies. “This is where entertainment is going and just the start of many more things of this nature for Syfy.”
Yes, entertainment is going in a more interactive direction but that doesn’t necessarily mean we should be letting Syfy original movie fanboys make decisions that could cost hundreds of thousands of dolla- Oh wait, it’s a TV movie: Thousands of- Oh wait, it’s a Syfy original: Hundreds of dollars!
When the site first launches, viewers will have the choice between creating a modern apocalypse film, a monster flick in the Bermuda Triangle, or a Roswell alien movie. This is a bit worrisome. If the movie is to be truly fan-created, this seems like the most vital step to leave more open to suggestions in the beginning. The project only makes sense if you let the viewers work from a blank slate, but now it looks like they’ll just be filling in a coloring book already set out by Syfy.
If Syfy does this again, which they very well could, they should leave this vital step up to suggestion, then put it to a poll. And if there are any other mistakes made along the way, they can learn from those too.
As much as the final product is unlikely to be a masterpiece, it’s a cool idea to let something that will get real screen time be this fan-influenced. Do yourself and the world a favor and participate when the site goes live, and do your best to make this movie as good as a nerd-hive-mind-created film can be.
