Now that it’s been almost two weeks since The Walking Dead‘s mid-season two finale on AMC, we figured that many more have caught up and are now in need of another fix. The graphic novel-based show swept the social web when it launched last year with just six episodes, solidifying that uniquely passionate Lost type of fan. Now seven episodes into season two, the show has over 4.5 million Facebook fans, over half a million check-ins on GetGlue and it “shattered basic cable ratings” for its season two premier.
So how does a brand that’s unleashed so successfully across the social web manage to innovate even more significantly than racking up all those fans in just a few episodes? They did have some great online initiatives for season two, which included an avatar generator, webisodes, trivia, trailer mashups and a “which character are you,” app. Under the leadership of Joel Stillerman, AMC TV’s is SVP of Original Programming, Production and Digital Content, the network has developed an entire after-show, The Talking Dead, built for these super fans on TV and the web.
Stillerman gave us an in-depth interview about the development and passion that goes into The Talking Dead, the live after-show hosted by Chris Hardwick (whose personality is a mashup of an uber-nerd meets Ryan Seacrest), a Walking Dead super fan himself who has 1,558,353 followers on Twitter.
Stillerman’s perspective on social TV is extremely unique since he deals with some of the most (positively) crazy fans of television. Delays with Mad Men’s premier date, anger over The Killing’s finale and shuffles for The Walking Dead, kept the network in the spotlight in the summer weeks where there’s usually no news. He even had a Twitter impersonator, which he was able to joke about.
Lost Remote: How was The Talking Dead developed and what were the goals?
Joel Stillerman: We had incredibly engaged audience. We built up a very significant Facebook following for the show very quickly. Particularly after the premier episode. We wanted to produce ashow that captured and directed those core fans to somewhere they could go to interact with the show. A, we have the right platform, B, if we were able to bring Chris [Hardwick], who was a secret ingredient and has a significant following through his podcast.
LR: When was the concept for the show conceived and how quickly did it happen?
JS: It happened very quickly. Our first serious conversations were probably in the early summer. Somewhere around mid-September we actually shot a very down and dirty pilot, we tested the concept, we were very happy with the results and had it on the air in time for premier.
LR: What are the goals?
JS: The goals were very simply to super serve the core fan base. Any show that has an audience this size, familiar with the source material. The success of this show lies in entertaining our really core fans. They understand what the book is about. They’re reading and consuming other comic books, other material, the “Zombie” genre. If the casual fan likes it beacuse it gives another layer, that’s great, but we didnt think we had a show unless it was for a hard core viewer.
Lost Remote: Why has this subculture emerged around Walking Dead fans?
JS: I think it’s a very engaging piece of material. Not only as a TV show but the comics have that following. We see this insatiable appetite for back story and elaboration on mythology. There seems to be a very strong interest in how we make the show. The menusha of how you make a zombie and make it convincing. The black mouth wash. What the walkers are actually eating when they eat someone. The answer is it’s barbeque.
LR: What’s your perspective on social TV and how does this brand fit into that picture?
JS: We’re fortunate to have found something that’s compaitable with social media. In many ways that’s the holy grail of any entertainment proposition these days. Being able to capture that energy and that audience that’s massively engaged, it’s a powerful potent formula for success. I would feel pretty safe in saying that everyone out there in the television space is looking for things that might do that and I’m sure that there are other examples. Glee, American Horror Story. From AMCs perspecive, the mistake is anything that’s genre based will automatically translate.
The things that really pop and why Walking Dead has head the success in social media and with the spinoff is that it is just a great story. [Robert] Kirkman had this simply brilliant idea. Why does the Zombie apocalypse have to end in every movie. As a fan in that kind of story it would go on forever and thats why he wrote it. It’s an incredibly powerful story telling proposition. Everything else is frosting on the cake.