To start off with some pretty good news the web-series I created and wrote won two merit awards from the Accolade Competition. It won for the series and for the writing. I was told by the competition president that they have several web-series entering the competition but I only saw DTA as a winner in that category. Considering how people usually view web-series (not very seriously), I’m happy with the results. That it won an award for the writing definitely makes me feel pretty happy.
Another positive is that the project should now be eligible to go up on IMDb. That concern might sound lame to some, hey, we’ve all got our priorities. People like IMDb credits here; they use it to measure success/value/ are-you-worth-their-time/etc. I did projects for free in order to get IMDb credits… sadly they never panned out so all I pulled from them was experience. EXPERIENCE, bleh. ;) As I’ve applied for other jobs in entertainment I have gotten the question 95% of the time, “how many IMDb credits do you have?” Is it sad that things seem to operate that way? It’s life.
Web-series are notoriously hard to get up on IMDb because IMDb is pretty wary of them. I’m mixed on this. I’m well aware that the web is over-saturated with series that easily show why these people haven’t yet found jobs in tv or film. There are, however, great series on the web where people put even more effort into them than short films/tv pilots that seem to go up so easily. With so few competitions that judge web-series there’s sadly not an easy way for series to gain credibility.
Some of the latest series that were picked up by web-series stations seemed to have been picked up solely for the number of hits. I won’t use names and I’m well aware people can just say I’m jealous/bitter but a lot of them simply seem limited to crass humor/recycled gags. There are great series out there! Many, many great series where the cast and crew work their asses off but if they don’t get over 10,000 hits then forget about it, no station will be open to negotiating with you. That’s unfortunate but I suppose that’s every other medium as well. The web does feel a little bit more like a high school popularity contest than film or tv though.
I’m glad DTA has received two awards and I’m glad to have learned from it as I begin work on my next few projects which won’t be web-related. Do I sound prickly? My apologies. I did just sort of bitch for a paragraph because I failed to properly market a series. ;)
For those wondering Fernando and I are hoping to begin pre-production on a feature length script of mine in spring by the latest. I’m also very set on a pilot for a television series I’ve plotted out. This one we are sort of thinking of shooting in a way that would allow it to be converted to a web-series if it fails to get picked up. I don't mean to diminish the web to fall-back status, I do think there is a future in web entertainment, I just haven’t figured out how to make it work for me yet. For those who have, congrats!
Congrats to all the friends and acquaintances who’ve had luck with festivals and competitions lately. I don’t think people in independent film/web-tv/tv ever get the pat on the back that they deserve. Too many people look at the arts and think “free-spirited slacker” instead of thinking about the 12+ hour days people pull out here.
P.S. A correction for the Accolade Awards on the awards page. We were unfortunately labeled some unknown production company name of "T.G.L. Films". It should be Claire Wasmund/Moctod Entertainment (Director Karen Bullis' prod comp). It should be fixed soon.
Best of luck to all!
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