Big Turnout for the Hollywood Web Television Meetup at SAG

Felicia Day addressing the crowd at the Hollywood Web Television Meetup (Photo by Brady Brim-DeForest)

Wow, wow, wow! Thanks to everyone for making it out to the hugely successful December Hollywood Web Television Meetup last night which packed the James Cagney Boardroom at the Screen Actors Guild with nearly 300 members of Hollywood’s burgeoning web television community. Studio executives, agents, managers, actors, writers, producers, show creators and fans lined the walls to hear presentations from Cristian Cussen, Director of Content and Marketing at MySpaceTV and web superstar Felicia Day, creator of the hit indie web series The Guild and star of Joss Whedon’s summer sitebuster Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

Cristian Cussen led off the night, talking about a number of MySpaceTV’s successful web series partnerships like Prom Queen, Sorority Forever and Roommates, before getting into what was on the minds of a good chunk of the crowd—how does he find new web series and what are they looking for? He said his team is always looking through the millions of videos throughout MySpace to find unique and entertaining content, some of which ends up getting signed to a formal deal with the company. He also noted that they look at content verticals, like sports or gaming, and try to fill out what they think is missing. One area in particular they are looking for are original animated web series. (Who has one?)

Web superstar Felicia Day screened an episode of Season 2 of The Guild, which recently landed a healthy sponsorship and distribution deal from Microsoft and Sprint. She talked about the origins of her web video career, offering inspiration to many creators in the crowd looking to grow their own series like hers. Felicia shared some poignant advice to creators on making something that is authentic and niche for the web rather than trying to appeal to everyone.

Faces in the crowd included folks from Buppies, StrikeTV, Private High Musical, Speedie Date, FOX TV Studios, The LA Report, Crackle, 60 Frames, FLUX, Ask A Ninja, Gold The Series, We Need Girlfriends, Screen Actors Guild, Writers Guild of America, Acting School Academy, Evil Genius Entertainment, NAS Productions, Leaving Bliss, Rooster Films, Casanovas, Big Fantastic, Jenn 2.0, Jesus People, Attention Span Media, Fine Bros, Barrio Speedwagon, Valley Peaks, Roommating, Captain Films, Hulu, There Will Be Brawl, MySpace, Iron Sink Media, E! Entertainment, MTV Networks, Voxx, Looking for Grace, Baum Squad Prods, Angelic Productions, With The Angels, ACME Brand Comedy, Synergy Talent, Neighborhood Watch, ITV Fest, Prom Queen, Webutantes, My Life Is A Diet, Thruline Entertainment, Abrams Artists, Dirty Bomb Diaries, Dave and Tom, Barry Holiday, Sony Pictures Television, After Judgement, Digital Content Partners, Tomboys in Fishnets, The Guild, Sorority Forever, MGM, Geekscape, Psychic Style, TechZulu, SAG Foundation, lonelygirl15, Pink Hamsta, Power Hour, Psychic Bunny, Girls Entertainment Network, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Below the Line, Warner Bros, Einstein Tech Partners, Studio 8, VH1, Get A Clue, MWG Media Entertainment, Marx&Trotsky, UTA Online, Digital Family Reunion, Runaway Stars, Web on The Rocks, Mingling Media, Markyr Media, Disney Studios, Animation World Network, Bunnygraph Entertainment, Blue Fountain Productions, and the Open Viewing Foundation, off the top of my head.

And congratulations to Charles Horn, Emmy-nominated and award-winning comedy writer for StrikeTV’s Sketch Toons, on winning an autographed copy of The Guild Season One DVD in the business card drawing with Felicia Day.

Special thanks to Jonathan Dingman who has some terrific photos from the event on his Flickr page. And thanks to Web on the Rocks host Andrea Ball captured the night on Qik video. You can also see the entire set of photos from the event on the Tubefilter Flickr stream.