I recently got the chance to speak with the creator of a Web series called Blue Fiddles. Let me read the description of the series from its press kit:

Blue Fiddles, is a new web series written by actress Nena Botto. It’s the story of three women searching for meaning amongst the day to day grind living in Portland, Oregon. The theme is a mix of comedy and drama that aims to be glamorous through honesty- women who have scars from life experiences not numerous Botox sessions. The characters are complex in their demeanor and wonderfully flawed in their intentions.

Within this interview, Nena tells of how she came up with the idea for the series and just how much filming it turned into a huge collaborative effort between the cast, crew and the city of Portland.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Here is the first episode of the series:

Blue Fiddles “Episode 1″ from Nena Botto on Vimeo.

Link to BlueFiddles.net

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Will you be in LA March 26-28th? If so, you might want to check this out…

First-Ever Web Series Festival Puts the Spotlight on The Best of the Internet — The “Los Angeles Web Series Festival”

The Los Angeles Web Series Festival premieres March 26 – 28, 2010. It is sponsored by Ajakwetv.com, CreatingtheWeb.com and Stage 52 Theater.

Finding the best web shows on the internet just got a whole lot easier. The first-ever Los Angeles Web Series Festival debuts Friday, Saturday and Sunday, March 26th – 28th, 2010 at Stage 52 Theater, 5299 W. Washington Boulevard in Los Angeles, California 90016. Webisode submissions will be accepted through March 3, 2010 at www.lawebfest.com. Michael Ajakwe Jr. is the LAWebFest Executive Director/Founder. Thomas Duckett and David Austin of Stage 52 Theater are the event co-chairs. The festival is sponsored by Ajakwetv.com, CreatingtheWeb.com and Stage 52 Theater.

Web TV is the future and the future is happening right now. It’s like rap music was 25 years ago when they wouldn’t play it on the radio, yet it still found a way to be heard.” — Michael Ajakwe Jr., LAWebFest Executive Director/Founder
LAWebFest is the brainchild of Ajakwe. The Los Angeles-based award-winning playwright, Emmy-winning producer, owner of the web channel Ajakwetv.com and veteran writer-producer of such hit shows as “Martin”, “Sister Sister”, “The Brothers Garcia” and “Eve” explains, “I want to expose the masses to this underground movement of creative expression taking place on the internet that is not available at the movies, on network TV or on cable. It’s like rap music was 25 years ago when they wouldn’t play it on the radio, yet it still found a way out of the closet, a way to be heard. Web TV is the future and the future is happening right now.”

“Diary of a Single Mom”, a powerful web-based drama created by comedian-actor-filmmaker Robert Townsend starring Monica Calhoun, Billy Dee Williams, Richard Roundtree, Valery Ortiz and Leon will officially open the festival. Selected as “Web Series of The Year”, all eight-minute episodes of the first season will be shown and followed by a Q & A with the creative team. Rob Kirbyson’s “CTRL” selected “Web Comedy of 2009” will close out the festival. This inventive laugher starring Arrested Development’s Tom Hale, Reba’s Steve Howey and Malcom in the Middle’s Emily Coligado is based on the Canadian filmmaker’s Sundance winning short film of the same name and has the distinction of being the first web series ever produced by NBC Digital Studios.

Submission categories for the LAWebFest include: “Best Web Comedy”, “Best Web Drama”, “Best Lifestyle Web Series” and “Best Web VLog”. Additional distinctions to be recognized include Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Web Host. A special feature, “The Saturday Night Web Mystery” will highlight the work of a mystery guest whose work has been influential and made a big impact in developing and/or creating content for the web. Ajakwe promises, “You won’t want to miss this trailblazer.” The festival will screen over 60 web-based series and provide a dozen workshops covering every aspect of web production and distribution.

I’m going to try and get an interview with organizers to get their take on the emergence of Web series. Stay tuned for that.

Official site: LA Web Series Festival 2010

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Take180, the Web site which has create solid, interactive Web series for teens (In2ition, My Date, My Alibi) bring back one of their most popular series for a second season:

Take180, the online network for teens that features broadcast quality shows with audience participation, is sinking its teeth into a new season of the popular Web series, “I <3 Vampires.” As in the first season, viewers’ input will dictate the plot of the series and the fate of its stars. From blogging about Vampires to engaging in physical combat with the bloodsuckers, the new season will definitely put viewers in a fangish state-of-mind. Three episodes of the new season can be viewed today at http://www.take180.com/vampires.

Season two picks up a year after the first season ended, bringing the popular characters back into the fangosphere. A year ago, Corbin and Luci found out that their favorite book, “Confessions of a High School Vampire,” was more real than they ever could have imagined. Now the two are no longer friends and have broken up with their supernatural boyfriends, Nick and Wyatt. When Corbin finds out her vampire ex Nick is in trouble, it’s up to her college roommate Sam to get the former best friends back together before it’s too late.

“I <3 Vampires is such a unique take on the genre because it makes the fans into the stars and really puts them in charge. The reaction to the first season was way beyond our expectations and the fans have been clamoring for more. Season two offers amazing fun and excitement for new and current fans alike,” said Chris M. Williams, General Manager of T180 Studios, the studio behind Take180. “Take180’s signature offering of broadcast quality shows with audience participation continues to gain momentum with teen audiences.”

The “I <3 Vampires” web series includes up-and-coming new stars Cherilyn Wilson, Adam Chambers, Alli Kinzel, Erin Way and Josh Nuncio. Wilson’s television credits include a recurring role on the CW network’s “90210,” a guest character role on CBS’ ‘Cold Case’ series and many appearances on the HBO-produced “12 Miles of Bad Road.” Today’s premiere episode also features YouTube’s #1 star, actor Ryan Higa.

Since the “I <3 Vampires” series launched last year, Take180 has accumulated more than 40 million video views to date, over 4,000 user-generated submissions to season one challenges, and its official YouTube channel recently passed the 100,000 subscriber mark, making it among the most popular teen programmers on the Web.

Brief review:

Normally, I don’t seek out teen content (I have the ingrained assumption it wouldn’t appeal to me), but holy hamburger! I have been missing out by not watching I <3 Vampires. I just watched the first episode of season two (featuring YouTube celebs Kassem G and Ryan Higa). It's really good! It's shot well. The script is tight. Within minutes, I was interested in what happens next to these characters. Of course, you have keep in mind Total180 is part of Disney. There's money being put into these series to ensure they're high quality.

From what I can gather, the main character Corbin went through a lot that season thanks to her involvement with a best-selling author who wrote a series of novels about vampires. Corbin has chosen to move on from her recent past, but, by the looks of things, is going to get pulled back into the world of vampires once again

Here's the episode:

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Alternative Fuel, Loud Pictures Prep New Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Continuum’

Original Web Series Created and Produced by ‘Pink’s’ Blake Calhoun and Mike Maden Starts Shooting February 22nd

Director Blake Calhoun and longtime producing partner Mike Maden, the award-winning production team behind some of the Web’s most cinematic original series including Pink, 88 Hits and TheWB.com’s forthcoming Exposed, today announced principal photography on their next digital project, the sci-fi thriller series Continuum, will begin February 22nd in Dallas, Texas and Los Angeles and will release the first ten episodes this summer.

Created by Calhoun and Maden and produced & directed by Calhoun, Continuum is a futuristic thriller in the noir-ish tradition of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien starring Melanie Merkosky (CBS/EQAL’s Harper’s Globe) as Raegen, a woman who mysteriously finds herself aboard a space ship with no memory of how she got there and at the mercy of the ship’s computer, voiced by actress/producer Taryn O’Neill, best-known for breakout performances in Compulsions (for which she recently won the inaugural Indie Soap Award for Best Supporting Actress) and the post-apocalyptic After Judgment franchise. Brad Hawkins, veteran TV/film actor and costar of Pink, rounds out Continuum’s minimal cast as Tipton.

“I’m really excited about Continuum because I’ve always loved the darker side of science fiction and this series will allow us to put our own spin on the genre,” said Calhoun. “We’ve decided to produce the series as an independent, like we did with the first season of Pink. We’re going to give owning our content a try again and see how it works out.”

If anything this will be another polished series to add to the sci-fi genre. As mentioned above, Blake Calhoun was behind the extremely popular series Pink.  He’s also got feature films and a TV show in the works. Also, this series is being produced by CJP Digital Media–the company who produced Ikea’s hugely successful Web series Easy To Assemble. In other words, everyone knows what they’re doing and knows how to put a good Web series together.

Have you seen Pink? If not, here’s the first episode:

Source: Press release

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Last week, the 1st annual Indie Soap Awards were held in New York City.

I am familiar with some of the winners (Buppies, Venice, Then We Got Help), but not others. Inspired by this list, I’ve decided to watch and review some of the winners.

Here’s the details from the event:

Winners Announced at 1st Annual Indie Soap Awards
DIARY OF A SINGLE MOM wins as Best Indie Soap at 1st Annual Indie Soap Awards. ANYONE BUT ME and COMPULSIONS tie with four wins each.

The 1st Annual Indie Soap Awards were held on Monday, February 1 in New York City. The show, developed by We Love Soaps, honored the best in continuing drama and web series. The telecast was broadcast around the web on various websites simultaneously.

Robert Townsend’s DIARY OF A SINGLE MOM was the big winner of the night taking home the prize as Best Indie Soap. Townsend, producer and director of the series, accepted alongside stars Janice Lynde and Valery Ortiz.

ANYONE BUT ME and COMPULSIONS tied for the most wins with four apiece. ANYONE BUT ME won for Best Writing, Best Storyline, Best Performance by a Lead Actress (Rachael Hip-Flores) and Best Performance by a Supporting Actor (Joshua Holland). COMPULSIONS won for Best Editing, Best Sound Design, Best Performance by a Lead Actor (Craig Frank) and Best Performance by a Supporting Actress (Taryn O’Neill).

VENICE won the Fan’s Choice Award voted on throughout the month of January by fans.

Comedian/musician Joanna Parson sang an original song, “It Just Takes Love,” which featured the titles of all the eligible independently produced soap operas.

Roger Newcomb and Damon L. Jacobs from WE LOVE SOAPS TV co-hosted the event.

Here is a full list of winners:
Best Indie Soap
DIARY OF A SINGLE MOM

Best Writing
Susan Miller & Tina Cesa Ward, ANYONE BUT ME

Best Directing
Kai Soremekun, CHICK

Best Editing
Michael Darrow, COMPULSIONS

Best Use of Music
Kimmy Turrisi, VENICE

Best Sound Design
Tom Boykin, COMPULSIONS

Best Ensemble
ANACOSTIA

Best Performance by a Lead Actress
Rachael Hip-Flores (Vivian, ANYONE BUT ME)

Best Performance by a Lead Actor
Craig Frank (Mark, COMPULSIONS)

Best Performance by a Supporting Actress
Taryn O’Neill (Sara, COMPULSIONS)

Best Performance by a Supporting Actor
Joshua Holland (Archibald, ANYONE BUT ME)

Best Performance by a Guest Actor
Billy Dee Williams (Bo, DIARY OF A SINGLE MOM)

Breakthrough Performance (tie)
Preston Davis (Eliot, BUPPIES)
Renée Olbert (Simone, SEEKING SIMONE)

Best Storyline
Vivian adjusts to her new life, ANYONE BUT ME

Best Performance in a Comedic Role
Chante Frierson (Kourtney, BUPPIES)

Best Indie Web Series (Comedy)
THEN WE GOT HELP!

Fan’s Choice Award
VENICE

Special Editor’s Awards:
Marketing/Publicity: VENICE
Business Model: HIGH RISE
Main Title Design/Opening Sequence: LUMINA
Scene Transition: EMPIRE
Future Hit: GOTHAM

Congratulations to Buppies for their win. Here’s the review I did of the series.

Check back throughout the week for my reviews of: Then We Got Help, Anyone But Me, Compulsions, Venice, Diary of a Single Mom and Chick.

Check out IndieSoapAwards.com for more info.

Source: Press release

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A new post-apocalyptic drama Web series is set to debut on the Web (no release date seems to be given) with the promise of bringing a quality to the medium we have yet to see.

People behind The Coat, a French creation, promise it will be a feast for the eyes.

Moving Pictures Film & Television is making its foray into the area of new media by teaming with three French filmmakers to create and produce an original web series, The Coat, a post-apocalyptic drama.

…Seven six-minute webisodes have already been shot in France, with a further five either in production or preproduction. The 12-part series is targeted at young males. The Coat revolves around the survivor of a wave on inexplicable global catastrophes. The series was created by France-based artists Mathieu Cailliere, director of a number of short movies; Benoit Lamouche, film director and former ad agency artistic director; and Sebastien Petitjean, comics author, illustrator, graphic artist and short-movie director.

Moving Pictures has teamed up with Will Marks, former VP of business development at Comcast Entertainment Group, who remarked, “The Coat completely raises the bar for a web video series. It has layers of mystery worthy of Lost, the style and terror of Cloverfield, and a mythology as rich as The X-Files.”

Here is the trailer:

Personally, I don’t speak French, but, I have to admit, that trailer looked so visually stunning that I will be checking this series out.

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This is an interview with Emmy-award nominated writer, now horror film director Drew Daywalt. Drew created a horror Web series called Camera Obscura. I got the chance to talk to him about how the series came to be and what it the filming experience was like:

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Here is the trailer for Camera Obscura:

And here is Drew’s YouTube page.

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