Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
TELEVISION
C R E AT E YO U R OW N T V S ER I E S F O R T H E I N T ER N E T
ROSS BROWN
M I C H A E L W I E S E P R O D U C T I O N S
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
What’s This Book About And Who Is It For?
CHAPTER ONE
What Is A Webisode?
A brief history of short episodic video on the Web
What’s out there already — amateur and professional
Why create for the Internet?
For teachers…
CHAPTER TWO
The Series Concept
What is a series as opposed to a stand-alone short film?
Fatally flawed series concepts
Be bold, fresh and original
So where’s the drama?
You need a killer title
For teachers...
CHAPTER THREE
Creating Compelling Characters
Character essentials
Characterization
Your overall character landscape
Leading characters vs. supporting characters
Drawing on real life
Growing your characters
For teachers...
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CHAPTER FOUR
Creating The World Of Your Series
Laying out the rules
Reality vs. believability
Building on the reality you create
For teachers...
CHAPTER FIVE
The Pilot — Story
Creating a story that tells and sells
Premise pilot vs. “Episode 10” pilot
You’ve only got a few minutes, so be economical
Creating memorable character introductions
Story structure: Beginning-Middle-End
Putting it on paper — creating an outline
Pitch it out loud to a friend or three
For teachers...
CHAPTER SIX
The Pilot — Script
Building your script, scene by scene
Deviating from the outline
What makes good dialogue — the “4 Cs”
Making your script read visually
You’ve got a first draft — time to get to work again
When is it ready to be shot?
For teachers...
CHAPTER SEVEN
Choosing A Visual Style
The marriage of style and content
Beginnings, endings and transitions
For teachers...
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
CHAPTER EIGHT
Practical Concerns — Equipment And Budget
Equipment: from the bargain basement to the penthouse
Cameras and camera accessories
Sound — mikes, booms, recorders, etc.
Lights
Editing software — fancier stuff
Learning more about all this equipment and how to use it
For teachers...
CHAPTER NINE
The Pilot — Preproduction
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
For teachers...
CHAPTER TEN
The Pilot — Production
Dealing with the unexpected
Be quick, but don’t hurry
Getting enough takes and coverage
You aren’t the only genius on the set
Actors aren’t puppets
Crewmembers aren’t slaves
The world is not a set
For teachers...
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CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Pilot — Postproduction
The rough cut — putting it together
The rough cut — assessing what you have
Refining the cut
Postproduction sound
Adding music
Creating a main title
For teachers...
CHAPTER TWELVE
Building On The Pilot — Coming Up With Episode Ideas
Growing your series
Growing your characters
Learning from each episode you shoot
How many episodes do I need before I can post my series?
For teachers...
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Posting Your Show On The Internet
YouTube
Beyond YouTube
Publicizing and marketing your series
Festivals and contests
Should you create your own website?
For teachers...
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Interviews With Creators
Jerry Zucker — Comedy pro returns to his roots
Christine Lakin — Child actor all grown up and producing now,
too
Marshall Herskovitz — From network TV to the Internet
Valerie Shepherd & Michael Ashley — A way to break in
Charles Rosin — Internet 90210
Frank Chindamo — Mobile media master
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix
EPILOGUE
You’re Ready! Honest! So Go Do It!
APPENDIX 1
Screenplay format tutorial.
APPENDIX 2
Recommended reading for more detailed discussions of the
crafts.
APPENDIX 3
Syllabi and course outlines for teachers.
S
imply put, a “webi-
sode” is an episode
of a television series
CHAPTER ONE designed for distribution
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spoof of Sex And The City you shot at your grandmother’s retire-
ment home — unless you shot a series of short SATC spoofs with
grandma and her horny pals, in which case we should take the Jack
Daniels away from you and grandma and give it back to your cat.
hoping against the odds that the audience would stick around for
the commercial message instead of muting the set, raiding the
fridge, or taking a bathroom break. But in this new, short-form
Internet video world, advertisers could design the entertainment
to appeal to their consumers and embed their advertising mes-
sage seamlessly into the entertainment itself.
It was a brave new world for everyone, Hollywood hotshots
and newcomers alike. Nobody knew exactly what the Internet
video future would look like, but everyone wanted to be a part
of it.
Girl Number 9
Odd Jobs
Old Friends
The Bannen Way
●● FOR TEACHERS
If you taught creative writing, you’d surely insist that your stu-
dents study the techniques of the masters as a foundation for
their own creative work. Music, art and film instructors also
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