Pierce Entertainment LTD: Alphaville’s Media/Entertainment Conglomerate
by Alphaville Herald on 20/04/04 at 11:02 pm
In this interview we talk to Eliza Collins, Executive Director of Operations for Pierce Entertainment LTD. Eliza tells us about plans for the Diamond Memorial Theater and the Pierce Entertainment Network, which are both under the umbrella of Pierce Entertainment LTD. She talks about the obstacles they face in producing plays and televisions programs on TSO and gives us an insight into what it takes to be a sim actor.
Urizenus: So, tell me about the Diamond Memorial Theater.
Eliza Collins: Well it started last year..
Eliza Collins: I haven’t been there that long
Eliza Collins: The first show was “The Importance of Being Earnest” I believe
Urizenus: are you an employee then?
Eliza Collins: Yes, just recently I was named Pierce Entertainment, LTD Executive Director of Operations
Urizenus: lol, what does your job entail?
Eliza Collins: I am basically in charge of the other employees and their tasks
Urizenus: other employees meaning actors? What other positions are there?
Eliza Collins: Stage Manager which we are currently seeking…
Eliza Collins: There’s a new thing we are introducing called “Pierce Entertainment Network” which is a television studio
Eliza Collins: Marilyn Monroe- is in charge of that
Eliza Collins: And I am in charge of her lol
Eliza Collins: Also there is Sean Kendrick who does the Press Releases and stuff
Urizenus: So explain the structure of the organization. What is the parent organization for the theater and tv studio
Eliza Collins: Pierce Entertainment, LTD. is the MAIN company that supports all of the things we do
Urizenus: and the two subgroups are the theater and tv studio?
Eliza Collins: I guess you can say that.. I haven’t been here long enough to understand all of this
Urizenus: lol
Urizenus: ok, what does it mean to have a tv studio in tso?
Eliza Collins: There are many programs you can download to capture movement
Eliza Collins: And basically what we do is we currently have a News program
Eliza Collins: and we make tv shows and stuff like that
Urizenus: are the shows recorded then?
Eliza Collins: Yes
Urizenus: and do you broadcast them on the net?
Eliza Collins: Yep, we have one up there for the week of April 4th on http://www.simarts.org/pe
Urizenus: Do they change often? and do you archive them?
Eliza Collins: David is the one in charge with the website so I really do not know.
Eliza Collins: But that was the first one
Urizenus: Marilyn is the producer?
Eliza Collins: She films it and does the effects
Urizenus: Who is David Pierce?
Eliza Collins: He is the man that started it all
Eliza Collins: He is owner of Diamond Memorial Theatre
Urizenus: Now which branch is producing The Bachelor? Is that the TV Network?
Eliza Collins: That is The Alphaville Awards owned by Derek Smith
Eliza Collins: totally different
Urizenus: but you are broadcasting it?
Eliza Collins: Yes, we film it
Urizenus: nice. But why that event?
Eliza Collins: We have been connected with Derek Smith for a while now
Eliza Collins: Mostly every event we would probably tell you about and capture
Urizenus: IC, and he produces a number of award events in game?
Eliza Collins: Yes
Eliza Collins: One everyone month
Urizenus: And this bachelor show is just one of them?
Eliza Collins: They are actually starting things other then The Bachelor
Eliza Collins: there is more info on their website: http://www.freewebs.com/alphavilleawards
Urizenus: Are you thinking about broadcasting other shows? I’m thinking about Oprah’s interview show, and Coco’s Game Show Channel
Eliza Collins: We are actually going to be on the Oprah Show tomorrow (4/20/04), but I dont know if anyone is taking screenshots or Marilyn will be doing anything for it
Urizenus: But you would be open to something like that
Eliza Collins: Yeah we would
Eliza Collins: I’m not sure about Coco’s place though
Urizenus: for example, you could do Oprahs show with voice
Eliza Collins: Right now we are only focusing on the news program because it is still in its testing stage
Urizenus: ok, fair enough
Urizenus: Tell me about the Theater now
Eliza Collins: Okay
Eliza Collins: What would you like to know?
Urizenus: Well, your next play will be the Monkey’s Paw, no?
Eliza Collins: Yes, for Diamond Memorial Theatre Playhouse
Urizenus: How does this work. A lot of readers (and this writer) have trouble imagining what a play is like in tso
Eliza Collins: Like you can imagine, there are a lot of limitations in Sim Theatre
Eliza Collins: Like, there are no cool lights etc.
Urizenus: right, but there are also limitations on actions
Eliza Collins: Right, and that’s why we try to choose sims who have enough skills
Eliza Collins: But if we have to, we can just work around that
Eliza Collins: For example, I only have 2 charisma skills
Eliza Collins: Because I mainly play on my BF sim..
Urizenus: “sims who have enough skills” what does that mean?
Eliza Collins: The more skills the more actions right?
Urizenus: ok, but you are still limited to the inventory of skills that a sim can have, which, frankly, isn’t that much
Eliza Collins: Right, but we can always work around it
Eliza Collins: We always do
Urizenus: Are there people who are particularly skilled at sim-acting?
Eliza Collins: Anyone can be a sim actor, it doesnt matter if you are in real life or not
Eliza Collins: I’m not and I love it
Urizenus: not an actor in r/l but you are here?
Eliza Collins: yes
Urizenus: Well, how does this work? You type the words from a play… say “Waiting for Godot”.. and then you move your sim?
Eliza Collins: Actually for mainstage shows we use voice parts
Eliza Collins: We have people say the lines
Eliza Collins: and have other people act them
Eliza Collins: We have our audience go to a link so they can hear it
Urizenus: say the lines how? Through YIM?
Eliza Collins: Through you microphone
Urizenus: right, but what chat system
Eliza Collins: Im not sure what they use.. but what David does is he gets people to say the lines ahead of time, and he puts them altogether and give everyone the link before the show
Urizenus: why do the voice actors have to be different from the sims?
Eliza Collins: I’m not really sure.. lol
Eliza Collins: I mean, Im sure they could be the same person
Urizenus: Do you do the entire play or do you edit it?
Eliza Collins: Im not really in charge of this part but I’m sure David cuts down the lines a bit for timing
Urizenus: How long does a typical play take?
Eliza Collins: Maybe a little more then an hour
Urizenus: Do you pick plays that are shorter?
Eliza Collins: I don’t pick them, so I don’t know
Urizenus: lol
Eliza Collins: But I did pick The Monkey’s Paw
Urizenus: If the play lasts an hour, how do you deal with the problem of people having to green every 10 minutes or so
Eliza Collins: Intermission can solve it, there is also a greening room backstage so you can use that in between
Urizenus: Oh, I was thinking of the audience, lol
Eliza Collins: Oooooh that
Eliza Collins: You just have to hold it I guess
Urizenus: lol
Urizenus: Why did you pick the Monkey’s Paw
Eliza Collins: I fell in love with the plot when I read it in high school
Eliza Collins: And I really dont know how I thought of it for this, but I thought it would be perfect
Urizenus: Do you get a sense of what will play well in tso?
Eliza Collins: You never know until you try it out
Urizenus: Do you charge admission to your performances?
Eliza Collins: Yes
Urizenus: How much?
Eliza Collins: For the mainstage shows its 1,800
Eliza Collins: The last DMT Playhouse was free, but the audience was out of control
Eliza Collins: Now its $500
Urizenus: simoleans I assume
Eliza Collins: lol yes
Urizenus: OK, now tell me this. A lot of people think that TSO will not last, and frankly it is really limited for people that want to do creative things. Have you considered other MMORPGs like There or Second Life?
Eliza Collins: lol but no we haven’t
Urizenus: why haven’t you considered other game spaces?
Eliza Collins: We might I’m sure but we haven’t talked about it
Urizenus: Would custom content and custom skins have helped you in this project?
Eliza Collins: OMG this death music is making me nutty
Eliza Collins: It wont stop!
Eliza Collins: Yes, it would have been a huge help because with the set and stuff we are very limited
Urizenus: you only have about 6 backdrop options, no?
Eliza Collins: I haven’t counted but I think there’s more
Urizenus: Lemme ask you an abstract question. According to the EA Terms of Service agreement, they own the shows that you produce. Does that bother you at all?
Eliza Collins: argh sorry HP software update interrupted me
Urizenus: lol
Eliza Collins: I honestly never read the TOS, but I don’t think it will effect anything
Urizenus: If you could ask maxis Developers to give you one thing to help you with this, what would it be?
Eliza Collins: Custom Content.. because we really need some say in what the objects and costumes look like
Urizenus: Finally, let me ask some more about the upcoming production of the Monkey’s Paw. ..
Urizenus: Are you still holding auditions or have you found the actors
Eliza Collins: We are looking for 2 more male actors
Urizenus: for which parts?
Eliza Collins: Herbert and Mr. White
Urizenus: And do you know when the show will be performed?
Eliza Collins: May 16, 2004 at 9:00 EST
Urizenus: Only once?
Eliza Collins: Yes
Urizenus: Why only once?
Eliza Collins: DMT Playhouse produces small scale performers for beginners.. so I guess we dont want to overwork them
Urizenus: How can people reserve tickets?
Eliza Collins: They have to IM David Pierce
Eliza Collins: and if you don’t in advance, you wont be added to the admit list
Urizenus: Should they also contact him if they want to get involved in this project in other ways?
Eliza Collins: Like what?
Urizenus: no idea, lol
Eliza Collins: haha
Urizenus: maybe they should contact you first?
Eliza Collins: Maybe…
Urizenus: Any last thoughts before we go?
Eliza Collins: lol.. not trying to toot my own horn but the screenplay for The Monkey’s Paw is written by me and directed by me
Urizenus: Wooot! toot away!
Urizenus: Thanks Eliza
Dyerbrook
Apr 20th, 2004
It’s funny that Eliza isn’t thinking of the audience’s greening…but then Maxis didn’t think much of it either. There was some talk about how entertainment lots would have much less deterioration of the motives, but it is hardly noticeable. If the game had really noticeable variety in greening, so that entertainment or love lots were completely greening, that is you would STAY GREEN on them, then people would circulate more to them. They could at least slow down the redding. That way you could sit through an hour long show.
I think David has probably pushed this medium/genre to its absolute limits, but here’s what I’ve found are real obstacles (for awhile we had the Flamingo Court Players putting on something called Living Soap Operas).
Using the Internet radio or links or voice capacity is OK for people with good connections, but not for everybody and I find it distracting, it ruins the sealed world of the imagination that I think should be kept intact better in TSO.
The Sims, even when green, keep jigging their legs and moving around all the time when at rest in their chairs. Maybe this is supposed to be a real simulation of human jittering, but it is incredibly distracting, especially with a whole audience of Sims all doing this repetitive motions.
The balloons blink and distract everyone — you can’t have 4 much less 10 people speaking lines in a balloon because the glare of the blinking hurts peoples’ eyes. That’s probably why David went to voice links.
People in the audience don’t stay riveted. They can’t hear the voice, perhaps, or it can’t transfix them for all kinds of reasons, mainly that they have IMs coming in all the time, or they itch to IM others or check whether people are online or other distracting TSO actions. They also sometimes can’t resist talking out loud to each other and then that “ruins” the play.
We developed “Living Soap Opera” as a kind of rolling, non-structured moving gag that went from lot to lot with people staying in their role-play characters to overcome some of these greening/leg jiggling/balloon blinking problems. We actually wanted people to interact. But sometimes it was hard for them to jump in the story. I think one of the reasons the talk shows and game shows work better than static plays in TSO is because they allow for more interactivity which the game can’t keep out.
I find the lack of real music a problem too. If the audience could hear the mp3s I have on my hard drive put into TSo, what a difference! Trying to play the set TSO pieces on the piano of course have only limited application.
Maxis bragged that people could do talk shows and plays and featured them in all the ads in the beta period, but they never did anything to make it easier. Making entertainment lots truly high-level green lots with very slow decay of motives would have been a fairly easy thing to tweak no?
Mr-President
Apr 20th, 2004
The Entertainment category lots definitely need that slower decay of green.
The PEN (Pierce Entertainment Network) show has started off very nice! Make sure you watch it.. it’s not a very big download.
Derek Smith’s Alphaville Awards is also something everyone should go see at least once. (AVG donated simoleans to Derek so AVA could have it’s first show)
Other news:
Oprah’s show with Eliza and David was cancelled. (David didn’t show up)
Also, Jecht, the ‘Bachelor’ dumped the winner of the contest the very next night (Relina), saying “I only did it for the publicity.”