Word of the Week: Minisode

Minisode: An abbreviated adaptation of a television show for the Internet that retains the original show's characters and narrative arc. The word is a portmanteau of miniature and episode.

The pioneer in the fledgling minisode format is Sony Pictures Television, which launched its Minisode Network in June 2007. In October 2007, the New York Times reported that Sony had condensed 18 "vintage" TV series, including "Bewitched" and "Charlie's Angels," from their original 30- or 60-minute episode length to 4 or 6 minutes. "The minisodes are not excerpts or clip jobs," wrote Times reporter Stuart Elliott; "they are edited in a way that compresses the story lines and enables the viewers to follow the plots from beginning to end."

According to an earlier Times story, the minisode idea first occurred to Sony Television's president, Steve Mosko, and the company's head of distribution, John Weiser, when they saw "Seven-Minute Sopranos," a condensed version of the entire 77-hour "Sopranos" series that played on YouTube.

In February 2009 Sony launched minisodes of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Television Specials.

The minisodes can be viewed on several websites, including Hulu, Crackle, and Joost. Sony also maintains a Minisode Network profile, sponsored by Honda, on MySpace.

The Crackle shows have been sponsored by Pepsi. However, there's no word about whether the soft-drink maker plans to introduce mini-sodas to accompany the minisodes.

Hat tip: Ad Broad.

Comments

[mike]

I believe that Tom Stoppard pioneered something like this with Hamlet. :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15-Minute_Hamlet

[Nancy Friedman]

@Mike: Or www.reducedshakespeare.com ("Shtick Happens").

[Mark Gunnion]

Our friend Nan Budinger had a pal who used to edit re-run TV series as they fell to her station's level of syndication. At her level, more commercials were added, so it was her responsibility to find three minutes to cut out to make room for local ads in shows such as "That Girl". She soon discovered that each episode of "That Girl" had about three minutes' worth of Marlo's fiancee, Donald. She found that if she just cut every scene that Donald was in, that would come to three minutes and the episode was ready for the local ads.