Gary Markowitz

Brand: Sci-Fi Channel
Project: Website
Date: 1994-2000
Roles: Consultant (1994-96), Senior Producer (1996-1999), Director of Interactive Production (1999-2000) 

• 1995: Launched "The Dominion" (later SCIFI.COM), the first web site from a major cable television network.
• Grew the world's largest science fiction community, with more visitors every day than the largest sci-fi conventions attract each year.
• Developed a daily science fiction newsfeed.
• Developed original web-based programming, including live events and seasonal series with weekly episodes.
• Managed e-commerce operations.
• Managed people and budgets.
• Awards won: 
  • Webby Awards (1998 People’s Voice award, Best TV site)
  • Netguide Awards (1997 People’s Choice Award, Best Live Event)
  • Yahoo! Internet Life (August 1997, 5 Star Site Award)

Link: SCIFI.COM

Brand: Sci-Fi Channel
Project: Handheld & Wireless
Date: 1999-2000
Roles: Lead Producer, Developer 

• Created a version of SCIFI.COM for handheld devices, including Avantgo-equipped PDAs and mobile phones.
• Provided content which was appropriate to the medium and to our users' needs: daily schedules, news stories and TV/web promotions.
• Efficiently used existing web site infrastructure to eliminate extra production resources and costs. Engineered a process in which content was produced simultaneously for multiple media.

Brand: Sci-Fi Channel
Project: Interactive TV
Date: Summer 1995
Roles: Content/Technical Producer 

A 17-week late-night program on the Sci-Fi Channel, combining the 1960s cult TV series The Prisoner with live online chat. This was the first attempt at iTV programming on the network, and the first use of TV-based Internet chat on a nation-wide broadcast.

Brand: Sci-Fi Channel
Project: Interactive TV
Date: January 1997
Roles: Content/Technical Producer 

Taking the Prisoner Online experiment to the next level, fans of the series Mystery Science Theater 3000 were allowed to take the place of the wisecracking provocateurs of the show, submitting their jokes to an online moderator. The best of the lot were featured in the on-air "theater" setting, designed to match the look of the series.

Brand: Sci-Fi Channel
Project: Interactive TV
Date: 1998-2000
Roles: Director of Production 

This internal prototype for an interactive TV series featured a live trivia game with a virtual, 3D host (actually a real person wearing a head-tracking device whose movements were simulated on screen in real-time). Although the series never made it to air, the online component became a popular weekly game on SCIFI.COM.

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