TV SERIES

for

Create Your Own

THE INTERNET

ROSS BROWN
SECOND EDITION

M I C H A E L

W I E S E

P RO D U C T I O N S

Copyright 2014 by Ross Brown All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. Published by Michael Wiese Productions 12400 Ventura Blvd. #1111 Studio City, CA 91604 (818) 379-8799, (818) 986-3408 (FAX) mw@mwp.com www.mwp.com Cover design by MWP Interior design by Concord Editorial Printed by McNaughton & Gunn Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data TO COME Printed on recycled paper

CONTENTS
AcKnowLeDGMents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix How to Use ThIs BooK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi WhY a SeconD EDItIon?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv PreFace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii 1 What Is a WebIsoDe?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

A Brief History of Short Episodic Video on the Web. . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Whats Out There Now, Amateur and Professional. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Why Create for the Net? .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2 The SerIes Concept. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Fatally Flawed Series Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Be Bold, Fresh, and Original.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So Wheres the Drama?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You Need a Killer Title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

19 22 28 28

3 CreatInG CoMpeLLInG Characters.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Character Essentials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Characterization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Your Overall Character Landscape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leading Characters vs. Supporting Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drawing on Real Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Growing Your Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

34 39 41 42 43 45

4 CreatInG the WorLD oF Your SerIes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Laying Out the Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Reality vs. Believability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Building on the Reality You Create. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

What if I Want to Make an Animated Web Series?.. . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Animated Web Series: Whats Out There Now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

5 The PILot StorY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

Creating a Story That Tells and Sells .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Premise Pilot vs. Episode 10 Pilot.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Youve Only Got a Few Minutes, so Be Economical. . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating Memorable Character Introductions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Story Structure: BeginningMiddleEnd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Putting It on Paper: Writing an Outline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pitch It Out Loud to a Friend or Three. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

57 58 60 61 62 67 69

6 The PILot ScrIpt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Building Your Script Scene by Scene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deviating from the Outline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What Makes Good Dialogue: The 4 Cs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Making Your Script Read Visually. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Youve Got a First Draft. Time to Get to Work Again .. . . . . . . . . . . When Is It Ready to Be Shot?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

74 77 80 84 87 89

7 ChoosInG a VIsuaL StYLe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

The Marriage of Style and Content.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Beginnings, Endings, and Transitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

8 PractIcaL Concerns: EQuIpMent anD BuDGet.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Equipment: From the Bargain Basement to the Penthouse. . . . . . Cameras and Camera Accessories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sound Equipment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lights .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editing Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Learning More about All This Equipment and How to Use It. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

100 101 103 106 106 107

 9 The PILot: PreproDuctIon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Casting: Finding Talented Actors When You Have No Budget. . . Locations: Imagination Meets Reality.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Permits.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Developing a Shooting Schedule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Revising the Script to Fit the Logistics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Making a Shot List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Props and Wardrobe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Situations That Require Special Preproduction .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

110 112 113 114 116 117 121 122

10 The PILot: ProDuctIon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Dealing with the Unexpected. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Be Quick but Dont Hurry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Getting Enough Takes and Coverage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You Arent the Only Genius on the Set. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Actors Arent Puppets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crew Members Arent Slaves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The World Is Not a Set. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

125 127 128 130 131 132 133

11 The PILot: PostproDuctIon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

The Rough Cut: Putting It Together. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Rough Cut: Assessing What You Have. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Refining the Cut. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Postproduction Sound. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adding Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating a Main Title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

137 138 140 141 143 144

12 BuILDInG on the PILot: CoMInG Up wIth EpIsoDe IDeas. . . . . . . 149

Growing Your Series.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Growing Your Characters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Learning from Each Episode You Shoot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How Many Complete Episodes Do I Need before I Can Post My Series?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

151 154 156 157

13 MarKetInG Your SerIes anD YourseLF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

YouTube .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beyond YouTube. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Publicizing and Marketing Your Series.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Festivals and Contests. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Should You Create Your Own Website?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selling and Marketing Yourself .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

162 163 164 167 168 169

14 BusIness Uses oF Web SerIes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Can You Sell and Entertain at the Same Time?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Humor Sells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Characters That Connect with Customers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tell a Real Story. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Give the Customer Value for His Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Even if Youre Not a Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

176 176 177 178 178 180

15 IntervIews wIth Creators In the Web SerIes WorLD. . . . . . . 184

Bill Rosenthal: TV Pro Finds a New Market for His Skills.. . . . . . Cary Okmin: Branded Content: Part Ad, Part Web Series, All Creative. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Courtney Zito: Hollywood Girl Moves Behind the Camera. . . . . . Jen Dawson: Party Girl Has Some Serious Game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Ajakwe: Writer, Producer, Director, and Web Series Festival Promoter .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christine Lakin: In It for the Long Haul. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

185 191 197 204 212 219

EpILoGue: Youre ReadyHonestSo Go Do It! .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 AppenDIX One: Screenplay Format Tutorial.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 AppenDIX Two: Recommended Reading for More Detailed Discussion of the Crafts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 AppenDIX Three: Syllabi and Course Outlines for Teachers. . . . . . . . . . . 241 About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

This book is intended for a wide range of users, including Aspiring filmmakers University film, video, or other media instructors and students Middle or high school video instructors and students Experienced filmmakers new to the web series genre Experienced film craftsmen (e.g., cinematographers, editors, grips, electricians) who want to expand their creative horizons and showcase their skills and talents beyond their current craft area Actors hoping to promote their careers and expand their creative opportunities by creating their own showcase web series Businesses interested in creating branded content or advertainmentoriented web series

Each group will find a wealth of valuable guidance in the book, but they may approach it slightly differently based on their needs and background. Here are some suggestions for each group on how to use this book: Aspiring lmmakers: If you are brand new to video production and have never written a script, used a video camera, or edited video footage, you should use this book in conjunction with one or more books on video production and postproduction. This book will help you conceive your series, develop your characters, write a pilot script, and plan the key elements necessary for production, such as casting, finding locations, and making a shot list and shooting schedule, and will guide you through the creative choices and
xi

xii CREATE YOUR OWN TV SERIES FOR THE INTERNET / BROWN

process of editing. This book will also help you market your show and yourself. What you will need to consult other books about are the nuts and bolts of using the camera, sound, and editing equipment. Appendix 2 of this book contains lists of suggested books to help you with technical instruction in these areas. University lm, video, and media instructors: If you teach at the college level, this book is organized not just as a textbook but as a kit for teaching your course. At the end of each chapter there is a For Teachers page with suggested assignments and techniques for reinforcing that chapters concepts. Appendix 3 contains the syllabi and a week-by-week breakdown of the two Byte-Sized Television courses that I teach at Chapman Universitys Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. During the first semester each student pitches a concept and characters, then writes a script for a 3- to 5-minute web series pilot. I select two of the scripts to be shot and edited (assigning crew positions such as director, producer, director of photography, and editor to the students whose scripts were not selected for production). Then in Semester 2, the students write, shoot, and edit three additional episodes of each series based on the pilot. Middle and high school teachers: Just like university instructors, you can also use the assignments and tips contained in the For Teachers page at the end of each chapter and the schedule and weekby-week breakdown in my syllabi. In addition, for your students completely new to writing for the screen, Appendix 1 contains a simple and effective tutorial on screenplay format. Experienced lmmakers: If youre an experienced writer, you can use the chapters on writing less as instruction and more as a stimulant to your creative process. What may be new and more useful to you are the sections on preproduction, production, postproduction, and marketing. Similarly, if you are a pro at production, you can skim that section and focus more on learning about writingcharacter, structure, dialogue, and so on. Actors: This book can open your eyes to the writing, production, and

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK xiii

postproduction processes in a big way. Learning the other parts of the filmmaking process will make you a better actor and can reveal to you other talents you have and lead to work opportunities in the film business you hadnt previously considered. Businesses looking to create branded content: Though it may be tempting to skip ahead to Chapter Fourteen (which is devoted specifically to business uses of web series), I urge you to read the other material as well. The principles of effective storytelling and the creation of memorable characters apply not only to fictional comedies and dramas but to the stories businesses want to tell about themselves and their brands. Finally, I hope everyone has FUN. Use the book to expand your imagination. Use it to increase your creativity. Use it to motivate the part of you that is dying to express yourself but doesnt quite know how to get started.

WHY A SECOND EDITION?

The first edition of this book came out in February 2011, and it has been a great success. I measure success not only by the number of copies sold but also by the ways in which the book is helping those whove read it. It has been adopted as a text in web series classes at major film schools across the country (Chapman University, Loyola Marymount University, and Emerson College, to name a few) and around the world, including film schools in South Africa, Singapore, and China. The instructors have been uniformly enthusiastic about the book and how it has helped their students make better web series. Independent filmmakers have been equally generous with their praise. At book signings and panels where Ive appeared in Los Angeles, Chicago, Marseille, and elsewhere, Ive been overwhelmed and gratified by the number of people whove come up to me to say, Thank you for writing this book. Its just what I needed to help me make my web series. And one of my proudest moments came when my writing and teaching colleague Bill Rosenthal, a writer and producer with over 20 years of top-line credits on shows for ABC, NBC, and HBO who recently wrote and produced the web series Greetings from Home for a major new media company, read the book and said, I wish Id read this before I made my show. Thats some high praise, having a seasoned pro say he learned a lot from your book. So if the first edition was so great, why bother with a second edition? The simple answer is that in the world of the Internet and Internet TV, a few years is a very long time. Things move at light speed, are constantly changing and evolving. And so I felt it was vital for me to update the book
xv

xvi CREATE YOUR OWN TV SERIES FOR THE INTERNET / BROWN

to keep it as current as possible and as useful as possible for readers. So the new material in this book includes Updated examples from new web series to illustrate key concepts Fresh information on the proliferation of new festivals devoted to web series A new section on marketing not only your series but yourself A new section on animated web series A brand-new chapter on business uses of web series, a rapidly growing area of opportunity for businesses and creators alike A brand-new set of interviews with creators who have advanced their careers by making web series, professionals who are finding new creative and financial opportunities in the web series world, and the founder of the LAWEBFEST, the worlds first festival devoted entirely to web series All this new material is in addition to the tips, guidance, and instruction already present in the first edition. So if you are new to this book, welcome. Enjoy the book, and I hope it helps you make great web series. And if youre a fan of the first edition, welcome back, and thank you for your continued interest. I hope this new edition helps you make even better web series than the ones youve already made.

PREFACE

Every writer, producer, network, studio, and cable channel in Hollywood is spending thousands of hours and millions of dollars trying to figure out how to connect with the YouTube audience and make a hit web series. But its a solid bet that the next breakout short-form hit will come not from Hollywood but from the mind of someone outside the established media power structuresomeone like you. Thats not to say this trailblazer will necessarily be a rank amateur. Maybe hell be a writer whos been trying to break into network television but hasnt succeeded yet. Or maybe shell be writing for another medium that Hollywood or the Internet suddenly discovers (can you say Diablo Cody?). Or maybe it will be a veteran writer who has been churning out bland sitcoms for decades, someone seen as over the hill, someone who throws caution to the wind and creates something totally new and original because the traditional doors to employment are now slammed in his face (can you say Marc Cherry, creator of Desperate Housewives?). Or maybe it will be someone now in film school, or even in high school, who came of age during the digital era, thinks visually, and intuitively knows what her peers crave in the way of short video entertainment, in part because watching short videos is a normal part of her daily experience. The point is that everybody knows there is a huge, game-changing, hit web series lurking on the horizon, but nobody knows where it will come from. They know only that sooner or later, there will be a breakthrough smash hit in the Internet TV realm, so it might as well come from YOU. Webisodes are the Wild West of Hollywood, a vast expanse of territory with unlimited potential just begging to be explored and mined. The territory is open to anyone with a dream and the moxie to follow that dream.
xvii

xviii CREATE YOUR OWN TV SERIES FOR THE INTERNET / BROWN

You may strike oil or find gold, or you may end up with a handful of dust. Either way, the journey will be exciting and rewarding for its own sake. It will challenge you, expand your creative horizons, and open your eyes and mind to all kinds of new skills you never knew you had lurking inside. But before you head out on this quest to create your own Internet TV series, you need a few vital supplies: some basic equipment and knowhow, a workable series premise, a pilot script, a shooting budget, and shot listin short, you need a plan. This book is designed to help you draw up that plan, step by step. You are HERE. Somewhere on the Internet is a place for a television series created by YOU. This book is the map that can lead you from where you are nowa person with a lot of creative ideas in his head but no clear idea how to turn those buzzing ideas into realityto THERE, the creator of your own unique and exciting TV series designed for the Web. I know it can be done because my students at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University have been creating innovative, entertaining web series since 2007. You know it can be done because youve surfed the Net, seen the good, the bad, and the ugly out there, and said, I can do better than that. Youre absolutely right. You can do better than most of whats out there. And you dont need a million-dollar budget or a Hollywood studio full of equipment to do it. Anyone with a digital camera and an ordinary computer has all the equipment he needs right now to make a web series. What you probably dont have is exposure to the thought process involved in taking a raw idea for a short-form TV show and shaping that vague notion into a clear premise, defined characters, a story to introduce those characters in an engaging way, and the professional know-how to take that story through production and postproduction and end up with a polished and marketable pilot episode. Make no mistake: It wont be easy. You cant just slap together some half-baked notion, grab a camera, and point it randomly at things that strike you as interesting or funny. Thats just video masturbation. All you end up with, as Mike Judge suggests in his film Idiocracy, is a show called Ow! My Balls!

PREFACE xix

You may also need some help understanding the best way to market your web TV seriesthat is, the best way to let the audience know what youve created and get them interested in watching your new TV show. Simply posting something on YouTube is not enough. The Internet is a cacophony of voices screaming, Watch me! Watch me! You have to find ways to make your voice, and your web series, stand out from the crowd. A great series concept and superior execution are only good first steps. But to get the eyeballs to your show, youll need to apply a little Web 2.0 marketing savvy, which is what Chapter Thirteen is all about: promoting your series AND yourself. But if you have a sincere desire to create high-quality humor or drama in an episodic form for the Internet and to commit the time and energy necessary for marketing your work, then read on. As my students have taught me over and over again, there is an unlimited and untapped supply of fresh, compelling ideas out there begging to find their way to the screen. This book will help you to tap into that vast reservoir of creativity and give your ideas form and professional quality. Its the ultimate winwin situation: You get a shot at creating a hit TV show for the Internet, and we, the millions of daily consumers of short-form Internet videos, get a shot at watching something more compelling than Ow! My Balls! For the sake of all our days and nights, read on and create something fantastic for all of us to watch.

1 WHAT IS A WEBISODE?

Simply put, a webisode is an episode of a television series designed for distribution over the Internet. It can be comedy like Boys Will Be Girls or its companion series, Girls Will Be Boys, or compelling drama like The Bannen Way. It can be live action or animated (see John Woos Seven Brothers), fiction or reality-based (see Start Something, a social media documentary series presented by the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization). It can be a high-budget, intricately filmed sci-fi extravaganza with dazzling special effects like Sanctuary, which cost $4.3 million or approximately $32,000 per minute, one of the most ambitious projects to date designed for direct release over the Internet (which later became a cable TV series on the Syfy channel). Or it can be as low-tech as a static webcam shot in front of a convenient and free background like your own bedroom. It can be made purely for entertainment purposes, or it can be branded entertainment or advertainment, like dozens of web series now produced by Fortune 500 companies including Kraft, Toyota, and Anheuser-Busch who hope that a little entertainment will go a long way toward getting you to buy their cream cheese, Camrys, and Bud. And the length can be whatever you choose, from a quick joke (check out the incredibly clever 5-second films on YouTube) to however long you can hold the audiences attention. The key word is series. A webisode (or web episode) is an individual installment of an ongoing premise with recurring characters. A single, stand-alone short videosay of the hilarious things your cat did after she lapped up your Jack Daniels on the rocksis NOT a webisode. Neither is that brilliant spoof of Sex and the City you shot at your grandmothers retirement homeunless you shot a series of short Sex and the City spoofs
1

2 CREATE YOUR OWN TV SERIES FOR THE INTERNET / BROWN

with grandma and her horny pals, in which case we should take the Jack Daniels away from you and your grandma and give it back to your cat.
A BrIeF HIstorY oF Short EpIsoDIc VIDeo on the Web

In the Mel Brooks movie History of the World Part I, Moses (played by Brooks) descends from a mountaintop lugging three stone tablets chiseled with 15 commandments from Goduntil Moses trips and drops one of the holy tablets, shattering it beyond recognition. Having promised 15 commandments, he covers by swiftly declaring, I bring you ten, ten commandments. Five sacred commandments smashed into a pile of rubble just like that. Who knows what wisdom was lost? Maybe the missing commandments said things like Thou shalt not wear spandex after age 40 or Covet not thy neighbors iPad2, for he is a tech dunce and uses it only to play Spider Solitaire. Your guess is as good as mine. But whatever moral pearls turned to dust in that moment, Im pretty sure one of the lost commandments was not Thou shalt make TV shows only in increments of 30 or 60 minutes. Since the dawn of the television age in the 1940s, broadcasters have been prisoners of the clock, confined to airing shows on the hour and half hour so viewers would know when and where to find them. But the digital revolution and the Internet have changed all that. More and more, television and visual entertainment in general are part of an on-demand world rather than an on-the-hour one. Audiences can now watch what they want when they want, which, in turn, means that shows no longer have to be packaged in 30- or 60-minute installments. Its a revolution that has fed on itself. Free from the tyranny of the 30/60 paradigm, short-form video content in all shapes and sizes has exploded on the Web. Maybe a show is 2 minutes and 37 seconds long one time, maybe it runs 6 minutes and 41 seconds the next. Each episode can be however long it deserves to be. Audiences, in turn, have responded by changing their viewing habits. Where you used to need at least half an hour to watch your favorite comedy, now you might be able to catch two or three episodes of it in less

WHAT IS A WEBISODE? 3

than 10 minutes. Office workers now schedule video breaks rather than coffee breaks, boosting their energy and outlook by guzzling down a few short comedy videos for free instead of a double espresso caramel latte for 5 bucks. Or maybe you choose to watch a few webisodes on the bus or the train on your smartphone or tablet. Never before have viewers had so many choices. And never before have creators had so much latitude on the length and type of content they can make. In truth, short-form episodic film series have been around since well before the days of television, some even coming during the silent movie era. Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Buster Keaton all created onereelers, popular early predecessors to todays web series shot on film and exhibited in theaters across the country right alongside the newsreel and the feature presentation. In the animated realm, the Looney Tunes shorts come to mind. But the equipment and processing necessary to make even a 2-minute film back then were so expensive that only professionals could afford to make these shorts. And even if an amateur had the funds and imagination to produce a clever short film, distribution was controlled by the major Hollywood studios, which also owned the theaters and had no intention of allowing the competition to cut into their lucrative monopoly. The advent of lightweight and affordable video cameras by the early 1980s made it possible for millions to shoot their own videos. But most of these home videos were unedited, handheld footage of family vacations or childrens birthday parties, usually narrated by your dad or Uncle Johnny: Here we are at little Billys second birthday party. Heres Billy eating cake. Here he is opening his presents. And heres little Billy pulling down his pants and relieving himself in the garden. As much as you (and, years later, big Billy) wish Dad had done a little judicious editing, that equipment was still bulky and prohibitively expensive during the first home video era. And distribution venues remained unavailable to those outside the media power elite. The digital and Internet revolution of the 1990s changed all this. Suddenly, you didnt need a $100,000 flatbed machine to edit your video.

4 CREATE YOUR OWN TV SERIES FOR THE INTERNET / BROWN

Your average home computer could handle the task. Video cameras were cheaper than ever, required no more technical expertise than a flashlight, and were increasingly capable of producing a high-quality video image. Best of all, high-speed broad-band connections meant that inexpensive and easy distribution on the Web was just a mouse-click away for millions of amateur video enthusiasts. However, there was still one small problem for amateur video makers dying to show the world their wares: How would the audience know where to find your video on the Internet? Enter YouTube. Founded by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim, three former employees of the Silicon Valley firm PayPal, the website had a simple but powerful concept: Users could post and view any type of video, professional or amateur, on this one-stop shopping site. It was like one giant short-video multiplex, and anyone in the world could hop from theater to theater for free, without ever leaving the comfort of their own laptop. The first YouTube video was posted on April 23, 2005. It was called Me at the Zoono explanation of content necessaryand ran all of nineteen seconds. You can view it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC9IVRw. By November, the site had 200,000 viewers watching 2 million short videos per day, even though the site was still in its experimental beta phase. December 15, 2005 marked YouTubes official debut. Within a month users were watching an astonishing 25 million videos per day. By July 2006, that number topped 100 million, with 65,000 new videos being uploaded daily. As of early 2013, YouTube had a mind-boggling 800 million unique users per month watching more than 4 billion hours of video during each month. Though much of the early content was either clips from ordinary broadcast and cable television or amateur silliness like teenagers lip-syncing to pop songs, the popularity of the site and promise of a ready audience opened the Internet floodgates for well-crafted content in episodic form. Among the early webisode hits launched on YouTube was lonelygirl15, a serialized webcam confessional of a lonely teenage girl. Though the series was presented as if the title character made the videos herself, it was soon revealed that lonelygirl15 was not an authentic teenage video diary but a

WHAT IS A WEBISODE? 5

carefully scripted show starring an actress named Jessica Rose created by aspiring filmmakers who saw this new Internet venue as a way to make a name for themselves in the film business. Despite the deception and the fact that the public soon knew it was all professionally scripted, the series remained popular on YouTube and led to the creation of another series in a similar webcam diary format called KateModern. Another early web series success was Sam Has 7 Friends, created by a group that called themselves Big Fantastic. These aspiring video makers saw the world of short-form Internet TV not as a stepping stone to other film opportunities but an art form to be mastered in and of itself. Sam Has 7 Friends premiered on YouTube, Revver, iTunes, and its own website on August 28, 2006. It hooked viewers with the simple slogan, Samantha Breslow has 7 friends. On December 15, 2006, one of them will kill her. Each of the 80 episodes brought Samantha one day closer to death. It was compelling Internet television, a serialized thriller with new material and clues made available a bit at a time day by day, and its audience grew steadily as word spread. Suddenly, amateur and professional content exploded across the Web. The webisode revolution was on, and it was televised over the Internet. YouTube had become the fourth most popular Internet site in the world and an integral part of the publics daily vocabulary, like Google or texting. Those under 30, especially, were so comfortable with capturing, editing, and posting video online that millions now thought they could create videos as easily as they could send e-mail. The public hunger to consume short video was not lost on the professional world. If millions of eyeballs were leaving broadcast television in favor of short video on the Internet, then Hollywood, the networks, and the rest of the global media establishment wanted to find a way to recapture those valuable eyeballs. Global media giant Sony Pictures Entertainment jumped in, creating a site called Grouper (later known as Crackle) that billed itself as a multiplatform video entertainment network and studio that distributes the hottest emerging talent on the Web and beyond. By 2013 the site featured original web series right alongside much of Sonys library of traditional sitcoms, dramas, and feature films, a testament to the growing reality that

6 CREATE YOUR OWN TV SERIES FOR THE INTERNET / BROWN

todays audience, especially the younger part of it, makes fewer distinctions between movies, TV, and the Internet. If something is entertaining and compelling, theyll watch it. If not, they wont. Disney launched Stage 9 Digital Media, a division dedicated to generating original online-only content. It debuted with a series called Squeegees, about window washers, created by a Los Angeles group known as Handsome Donkey. Traditional broadcast networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC, which at first cursed Internet video as the enemy (just as the major movie studios had cursed broadcast television as the enemy in the early days of TV), quickly realized Internet video was here to stay, and they needed to be part of it. They made full episodes of their shows available online and soon discovered that rather than decreasing their overall audience, Internet availability of series expanded their reach. They also created original short-form webisodes for shows like The Office and 24. Established filmmakers loved the creative spirit of Internet video and dove into the webisode pool as well (though they stuck to using their real names instead of cool monikers like Big Fantastic and Handsome Donkey). Oscar-winning directors Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men, Fargo, The Big Lebowski) committed to produce short features for 60Frames, a company run by former UTA Online head Brent Weinstein with an ambitious production slate. Charlies Angels director McG was hired by Warner Bros. to create a series called Sorority Forever for The WB. Will Ferrell and other established stars contribute Internet videos to a site called Funny or Die. Successful writer, producer, and director Jerry Zucker (Airplane!, The Naked Gun movie series, Ghost) went so far as to form a new company, National Banana, with a soundstage and postproduction facilities and staff dedicated to creating online content. Though A-list players were storming the Internet video world in droves, Hollywood also recognized that this new form demanded a new reservoir of creative inspiration and energy. Major Hollywood talent agencies like Creative Artists Agency and UTA formed divisions dedicated to finding new Internet talent, both in front of and behind the camera. These new agency divisions also sought to develop online opportunities for established mainstream clients who wanted to work in this exciting new realm.