Create Your Own
T V SERIES for fo r THE INTERNET
ROSS BROWN SECOND EDITION
M I C H A E L
W I E S E
P R O D U C T I O N S
Copyright ���� by Ross Brown All rights reserved. No part of this thi s 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. review. Published by Michael Wiese Productions ����� Ventur enturaa Blvd. #� #�� ��� Studio City, CA ����� (���) (�� �) ���-����, ���-�� ��, (���) ���-���� �� �-���� (FAX)
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CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix HOW TO USE THIS BOOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi WHY A SECOND EDITION? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
xvii PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv 1 WHAT IS A WEBISODE? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . �
A Brief Histor ory y of Sh Shor ortt Episodic Video on the Web . . . . . . . . . . . � What’s Out There Now, Amateur and Professional . . . . . . . . . . . . . � Why Create for the Net?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . �� 2 THE SERIES CONCEPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ��
Fatally Flawed Series Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Be Bold, Fresh, and Original . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . So Where’s the Drama? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You Need a Killer Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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3 CREATING COMPELLING CHARACTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ��
Character Essentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Characterization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Your Overall Character Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leading Characters vs. Supporting Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Drawing on Real Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Growing Your Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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4 CREATING THE WORLD OF YOUR SERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ��
Laying Out the Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . �� Reality vs. Believability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . �� Building on the Reality You Create . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ��
What if I Want to Make an Animated Web Series? . . . . . . . . . . . . �� Animated Web Series: What’s Out There Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . �� 5 THE PILOT STORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ��
Creating a Story That Tells and Sells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Premise Pilot vs. Episode �� Pilot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You’ve Only Got a Few Minutes, so Be Econ onom omiica call . . . . . . . . . . . . Creating Memorable Character Introductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Story Structure: Beginning–Middle–End . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Putting It on Paper: Writing an Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pitch It Out Loud to a Friend or Three . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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6 THE PILOT SCRIPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ��
Building Your Script Scene by Scene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deviating from the Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What Makes Good Dialogue: The � Cs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Making Your Script Read Visually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . You ou’’ve Go Gott a Fi Firrst Dr Draf aft. t. Tim imee to Ge Gett to Wor ork k Ag Agai ain n. . . . . . . . . . . When Is It Ready to Be Shot? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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7 CHOOSING A VISUAL STYLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ��
The Marriage of Style and Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . �� Beginnings, Endings, and Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . �� 8 PRACTICAL CONCERNS: EQUIPMENT AND BUDGET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . � �
Equipm Equi pmen ent: t: Fr From om th thee Ba Barrga gain in Ba Base seme ment nt to th thee Pen enth thou ouse se . . . . . Cameras and Camera Accessories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sound Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Editing Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Learning More about All This Equipment and How to Use It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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9 THE PILOT PILOT:: PREPRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ���
Casting: Findi Casting: Finding ng Talent alented ed Actor Actorss When You Ha Hav ve No Bud Budget get.. . . 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 Preproduction.. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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10 THE PILOT 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crew Members Aren’t Slaves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The World Is Not a Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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11 THE PILOT 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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12 BUILDING ON THE PILOT PILOT:: COMING UP WITH EPISODE IDEAS . . . . . . ���
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? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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13 MARKETING YOUR SERIES AND YOURSELF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . �� �
YouTube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beyond YouTube . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Publicizing and Marketing Your Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Festivals and Contests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Should You Create Your Own Website? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selling and Marketing Yourself. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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14 BUSINESS USES OF WEB SERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ���
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 You’re Not a Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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15 INTERVIEWS WITH CREATORS IN THE WEB SERIES WORLD . . . . . . ���
Bill Ro Bill Rose sent ntha hal: l: TV Pr Pro o Fi Find ndss a Ne New w Ma Mark rket et fo forr Hi Hiss Sk Skil ills ls . . . . . . Cary Okmin: Branded Content: Part Ad, Part Web Series, All Creative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cour Co urtn tney ey Zi Zito: to: Ho Holl llyw ywood ood Gi Girl rl Mo Mov ves Be Behi hind nd th thee Ca Came mera ra . . . . . Jen Dawson: Party Girl Has Some Serious Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Ajakwe: Writer, Producer, Director, and Web Se Series Fe Festival Pr Promoter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Christine Lakin: In It for the Long Haul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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EPIL EP ILOG OGUE UE:: You’re Ready — Honest — So Go Do It!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ��� APPEND APP ENDIX IX ONE ONE:: Screenplay Screenplay Format Format Tutorial Tutorial. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ��� APPEND APP ENDIX IX TWO TWO:: Recommended Recommended Reading Reading for More More Detailed Detailed Discussion of the Crafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ��� APPEND APP ENDIX IX THR THREE: EE: Syllabi and Course Course Outlines for for Teachers Teachers . . . . . . . . . . ��� ABOUT THE AUTHOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ���
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
This book is intended for a wide range of users, including
Aspiring filmmaker filmmakerss University Univer sity 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 electricians creative horizons and showcase their skills and talents bey beyond ond their current craft area Actors hoping to promote their careers and expand their creativ creativee opportunities by creating their own showcase web series Businesses interested in creating branded content or advertainmentadvertainmentoriented web series
Each group will find a wealth of valuable guidance in the book, but they may approach approach it slightly differently differently based on their needs and background. Here are some suggestions for each group on how to use this book:
Aspiring filmmakers: If you are brand new to video production and
have never written a script, used a video camera, or edited video footage, footag e, you should use this book in conjunction with one or more books on video production and postproduction. postproduct ion. 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
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process of editing. This book will also help you market your show and yourself. What you will need to consult other books ab about out are the nuts and bolts of using the camera, sound, and editing equipment. Appendix � of this book contains lists of suggested books to help you with technical instruction in these areas. University film, 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” Teachers” page with suggested assignments assig nments and techniques technique s for reinforcing that chapter’ chapter ’s concepts. concept s. Appendix Appendix � contains cont ains the syllabi syll abi and a week-by-w week-by-week eek breakdown of the two Byte-Sized Television Television courses that tha t I teach at Chapman University’s University’s Dodge Colle College ge of Film and Media Arts. During the first semester each student pitches a concept and characters, then writes a script for a �- to �-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 �, the students write, shoot, and edit three additional episodes of each series based on the pilot. instructo rs, you you Middle and high school teachers: Just like university instructors, can also use the assignments and tips contained in the “For TeachTeachers” 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 � contains a simple and effectiv effectivee tutorial on screenplay format. Experienced filmmakers: If you’re you’re an experienced experie nced writer, wri ter, 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, production, postproduction, and marketing. Similarly, if you are a pro at production, you can skim that section and a nd focus more on learning about writing — character, character, structure, dialogue, and so on. Actors: This book can open your eyes to the writing, production, and
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
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postproduction processes in a big way. Learning the other parts of the filmmaking filmmaki ng process will make you a better actor and can ca n reveal reveal to you other talents talent s you have have and lead to work opportunities opportunit ies in the film business you hadn’t 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. Finally, FU N. Use the book to expand your imagination. Use Us e it to increase your creativity. creativity. Use it to motivate mot ivate the part of o f you that is dying to express yourself yoursel f but doesn’t quite know how to get started.
WHY A SECOND EDITION? EDITION?
The first edition of this book came out in February ����, ����, 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 who’ve 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, Singapor Singapore, e, and China. The instructors have have been uniformly enthusiastic about the book and how it has helped their students make better web series. Independent filmmakers filmm akers have have been equally generous with their praise. pra ise. At book signings s ignings and a nd panels where I’ve I’ve appeared in Los Angeles, Chicago, C hicago, Marseille, Marseill e, and elsewhere, el sewhere, I’ve I’ve been overwhelmed and gratified by the number of people who’ve come up to me to say, “Thank you for writing this book. It’ It ’s just what I needed ne eded to help he lp me make my web series.” series.” And one of of my proudest proudest moments came when my writing and teaching colleague Bill Rosenthal, a writer and producer with over �� 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 med ia company compa ny,, read the book and said, “I wish I’d read this before I made my show.” That’s some high praise, having a seasoned pro say he learned a lot from your book. So if the first edition was so great, why 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 bo ok xv
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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 your series but yourself A new section on animated web series A brand-new chapter on business uses of web series, a rapidly growing gro wing 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 LAWE LAWEBF BFES EST T, the world’s world’s 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 Enjoy the book, and I hope it helps you make great web series. And if you’re 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 you’ve already made.
PREFACE
Every writer, producer, network, studio, and cable channel in i n Hollywood is spending thousands of hours and millions of dollars trying to figure out how to connect conne ct with the YouTube YouTube audience and make a hit web series. serie s. But it’s 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 structure — someone like you. That’s not to say this trailblazer will necessarily be a rank amateur. Maybe he’ll he’ll be a writer who’s who’s been trying t rying to break into network television televi sion but hasn’t succeeded yet. Or maybe she’ll be writing for another medium that Hollywood or the Internet suddenly discovers (can you say Diablo Cody?). Or maybe 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 tota lly new and original because the traditional doors to employment 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 crave in the wa way y 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 They know only that sooner or later 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 West of Hollywood, a vast expanse of territory with unlimited potential just begging to be explored and mined. The territory is open to anyone anyone with a dream and the moxie to follow that dream. xvii
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You may strike oil or o r find gold, or you may end up with a handful handfu l of dust. dust . Either way, way, the journey jo urney will be exciting and rewarding for its own sake. It will challenge chall enge you, expand your your creative horizons, horiz ons, and open your eyes eyes and mind to all kinds of new skills you never knew you had lurking inside. But before you 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 how workable series premise, premi se, a pilot script, scri pt, a shooting budget, and shot list — in short, you need a plan. This book is designed desig ned to help he lp you draw up up that plan, pla n, step by step. You You are HERE. HER E. Somewh Somewhere ere 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 now — a person with a lot of creative ideas in his head but no clear idea how to turn those buzzing ideas into reality — to THERE THE RE,, 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 ���� ����.. You You know it can be done because you’’ve surfed the Net, seen you se en the good, the bad, ba d, and the ugly u gly out there, and said, “I can do better than that. that.” ” You’re absolutely right. You can do better than most of what’s out there. And you don’t need a million-dollar budget or a Hollywood studio full of equipment to do it. Any Anyone one with a digital camera and an ordinary computer has all the equipment he needs right now to make a web series. What you probably don’t have is exposure to the thought process involved in taking a raw idea for a short-form TV show and shaping that vague va gue 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 marketable pilot episode. Make no mistake: It won’t be easy. You can’t just slap together some half-baked notion, grab a camera, and point it randomly at things that strike you as interesting or funny. That’s just video masturbation. All you end up with, as Mike Judge suggests in his film Idiocracy, is a show called Ow! My Balls!
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You may also need some help understanding the best way to market your web TV series — that is, the best wa way y to let the audience know what you’ve created and get them interested in watching your new TV show. Simply posting something on YouTube is not enough. The Internet is a cacophony cacop hony of voices screaming, “W “Watch atch me! me ! Watch Watch me!” You 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, you’ll need to apply a little Web �.� marketing savvy, which is what Chapter Thirteen is all about: promoting your series AND yourself. But if you have 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 unli mited 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. It’s the ultimate win–win 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, nights, read on and create something fantastic for all of us to watch.
1
WHAT WHA T IS A WEBISOD WEBISODE? E?
Simply put, a webisode is an episode of a television series designed for distribution over over the Internet. It can c an be comed co medy y like Boys Will Be Girls or its companion series, Girls Will Be Boys, or compelling drama like The Bannen Way. It can ca n be live action actio n or animated anim ated (see John Woo’ Woo’ss 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, high-budg et, intricately filmed sci-fi extra extravag vaganza anza with dazzling special effects like Sanctuary, which cost ��.� million or approximately ���,��� per minute, one of the most ambitious projects to date designed for direct release over the Internet (which later became bec ame a cable TV series on the Syfy Syf y 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 ��� 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 �-second films on YouTube) YouTube) to however long you can hold the audienc audience’ e’ss attention. atten tion. 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 video — say of the hilarious things your cat did after she lapped up your your Jack Daniels on o n the rocks — is NOT N OT a webisode. Neither is that brilliant spoof of Sex and the City you shot at your grandmother’s retirement home — unless you shot a series s eries of short s hort Sex and the City spoofs 1
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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 �� commandments from God — until Moses trips and drops one of the holy tablets, shattering it beyond recognition. Having promised �� 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 ��” or “Covet not thy neighbor’s iPad�, for he is a tech dunce and uses it only to play Spider Solitaire.” So litaire.” Your guess gue ss is as good as mine. m ine. But whatever what ever moral pearls turned to dust in that moment, I’m pretty sure one of the lost commandments was not “Thou shalt make TV shows only only in increments of �� or �� minutes.” Since the dawn of the television age in the ����s, broadcasters have been prisoners of the clock, confined to airing shows on the hour and half hour so viewer viewerss would know when and where to find them. But the digital revolution and the Internet ha have ve 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 ��- or ��-minute installments. It’s a revolution that has fed on itself. Free from the tyranny of the ��/�� paradigm, short-form video content in all shapes and sizes has exploded on the Web. Web. Maybe Maybe a show s how is � minutes and �� seconds long one time, maybe it runs � minutes and �� seconds the next. Each episode can c an 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 comedy o r three episodes episo des of it in less le ss
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than �� 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 � 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 today’s 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 Tunes shorts come to mind. But the equipment and processing necessary to make even a �-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 lucrat ive monopoly mono poly.. The advent of lightweight and affordable video cameras by the early ����s made it possible for millions to shoot their own videos. But most of these home videos were unedited, unedited , handheld footage of family vacations vacations or or children’ child ren’ss birthday birthd ay parties, usually usual ly narrated by your dad or Uncle Uncl e Johnny: “Here we are at little li ttle Billy’ Bil ly’ss second seco nd birthday birthd ay party. party. Here’s Here’s Billy eating eatin g cake. Here he is opening his presents. And here’s 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 ven venues ues remained unavailable unavailable to those outside the media power elite. The digital and Internet revolution of the ����s changed all this. Suddenly, you didn’t need a ����,��� flatbed machine to edit your video.
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CREATE YOUR OWN TV SERIES FOR THE INTERNET / BROWN
Your average home computer could handle the task. Video cameras were cheaper than ever, 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 dist ribution on the t he Web Web was just a mouse-click mouse -click away away for millions of amateur video enthusiasts. However, there was still one small problem for amateur video makers dying to show the world their war wares: es: How would the audience know wheree to find your video on the Internet? wher 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, 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 YouTube video was posted on April ��, ����. �� ��. It was called call ed “Me at the Zoo” — no explanation of content necessary n ecessary — and ran all of nineteen seconds. You can view it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNQXAC�IVRw . By November November,, the site had ���,�� ���, ��� � viewers watching watching � million short videos per day, even though the site was still in its experimental beta phase. December ��, ���� marked YouTube’s official debut. Within a month users were watching an astonishing �� million videos per day. By July ����, that number topped ��� million, with ��,��� new videos being uploaded daily. As of early ����, YouTube had a mind-boggling ��� million unique users per month watching more than � 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 flood floodgates gates for well-crafted content in episodic form. Among the early webisode hits launched on YouTube was lonelygirl��, a serialized webcam confessional of a lonely teenage teenage girl. Though the series was presented as if the title character made the videos herself, it was soon revealed that lonelygirl�� was not an authentic teenag teenagee video diary but a
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carefully scripted show starring an actress named Jessica Rose created by carefully 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 professionally scripted, the series remained popular on YouT YouTube ube and led to the creation of another series in a similar webcam diary format called KateModern. Another early web series success was Sam Has � Friends, created by a group that called themselves Big Fantastic. These aspiring video makers saw sa w 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 YouTube, Revver, iTunes, and its own website on � Friends premiered on YouTube, August ��, ����. It hooked viewers with the simple slogan, “Samantha Breslow has � friends. On December ��, ����, �� ��, one of o f them will kill her.” her.” Each of the �� � � episodes brought Samantha one day closer to death. It was compelling Internet television, a serialized thriller with new material and clues clue s made available a bit at a time t ime day by day, day, and its it s audience audien ce grew steadily as word spread. Suddenly,, amateur Suddenly amate ur and professional profess ional content co ntent exploded explo ded across the Web. 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 int egral part par t of the public’ public’ss daily vocabulary, vocabulary, like Google or texting. Those under ��, 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 fa vor of short video on the Internet, then Hollywood, the networks, and the rest of the global media estab establishment lishment wanted to find a wa way y to recapture those valuable eyeballs. Global media giant Sony Pictures Entertainment jumped in, creating c reating a site called Grouper (later known as Crackle) that billed itself as “a multiplatform video entertainment network and studio that distributes the hottest emerging e merging talent on the Web Web and beyond.” beyond.” By ���� the site featured original web series right alongside much of Sony’s library of traditional sitcoms, dramas, and feature films, a testament to the gro growing wing reality that
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today’s audience, especially the younger part of it, makes fewer distinctions between movies, TV, and the Internet. If something is entertaining and compelling, they’ll watch it. If not, they won’t. Disney launched Stage � Digital Media, a division dedicated to gener gener-ating original online-only content. It debuted with a series called Squee gees, about window washers, created by a Los Angeles group known as Handsome Donkey Donkey.. Traditional broadcast broa dcast networks net works like ABC, 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 quickly realized Internet video was here to stay, and they needed to be part of it. They made full episodes epi sodes of their shows sh ows available available online and soon discov disc overed ered that rather than decreasing their ov overall erall audience, Internet availa availability bility of series expanded their reach. They also created original short-form webisodes for shows like The Office and ��. Established Esta blished filmmakers loved loved the creativ creativee spirit of Internet video and dovee into the webisode pool as well (though they stuck to using their real dov 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) Fargo Lebowski) committed to produce short features for ��Frames, a company run by former UTA Online head Brent Weinstein Weinstein with wi th an ambiambi tious production slate. Charlie’s Angels director McG was hired by Warner Warner Bros. to create a series called Sorority Forever for for The WB. Will Ferrell and other established stars contribute Internet videos to a site called Funny or Die. Successful S uccessful writer, producer, producer, and director Jerry Zucker (Airplane!, The Naked Gun movie series, Ghost) went so far as to form a new company company,, National Banana, with a soundstage and postproduction facilities facilitie s and staff dedicated to creating online content. Though A-list play pl ayers ers were storming the Internet video v ideo world in droves, Hollywood Hollyw ood 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 mains tream clients who wanted to work in this exciting new realm.
