It’s kind of surprising that it took this long actually. Hosted web series are everywhere these days, reviewing everything from comicbooks, movies, video games and even street food vendors. So it’s only fitting that the this month has seen the launch of two new smart phone application review web series—Revision3’s new series, AppJudgment, and indie entry iPhun.

AppJudgment is an in-house creation that will rotate hosts through known Rev3 personalities like co-founder David Prager, iFanBoy host Ron Richards, and TekZilla and HD Nation host Patrick Norton. The new series joins the network’s growing slate of tech and internet friendly hosted web series which includes standout hit Diggnation.

“Whether you have an iPhone, BlackBerry or Palm Pre, the quick 3-5 minute episodes of AppJudgment will help you find the best apps to get the most out of your mobile device,” said Norton.

Cranking out about 6 million views per month, Revision3 as a network has the edge here in terms of reach. But don’t rule out the iPhun.tv series which has its own heavyweight team behind it—internet ‘troublemaker’ Sean Bonner hosting, web series vet Rudy Jahchan (Galacticast, A Comicbook Orange) directing, and even Ask A Ninja creator Kent Nichols editing. I asked producer Tara Brown about the plans for the newly-launched site and the series.

“The plan for iPhun is to make it bite-size and communal,” said Brown over email. “We’re already doing that with our guest reviewers and rotating hosts, and the site will continue to introduce more tools for people to voice their opinions.  iPhone apps are easily consumable pieces of entertainment, and so is our show. Lighthearted, fun, to the point, with something new each week.”

Brown added that iPhun will stick mostly to game reviews for now, staying mostly on those for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch platform. So far the series is in a “soft launch” while they tweak the site and format for the show, aiming to eventually release several episodes per week.

Bottom photo by Joi Ito.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Hosted, News, Revision3, Web Series by Marc Hustvedt
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Remember John Norris, formerly of MTV News? When I was a wee lad, MTV played (oftentimes good) music and had their own half-hour news program co-anchored by Tabitha Soren and Kurt Loder (who now also has his own web thing going on). Norris was one of the later alternate faces of MTV News – along with Chris Connelly and Serena Altschul – and had done some work with other pop-culture television programs. If you were a teen in the mid-90s this is probably old hat, otherwise consider these tidbits your valuable pop-culture history lesson of the day.

I’ve occasionally wondered what these folks have been up to now that it’s not the 90s, as it turns out, John Norris is still plugging away interviewing bands, only now it’s for a site called NOISEVOX.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Alex Crowley
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Celebrity impressions are always good for a chuckle. Rarely though are they good for much more. This one, Cooking with Werner, however, is an exception to the rule. Maybe its because the subject, German filmmaker Werner Herzog, is a such a greenfield of comedic grain ripe for harvest.

You may not recognize him, but you’ve heard this guy— his signature droll narratives dominating his docu-films like Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World. He’s also helmed studio pics like Invincible and Rescue Dawn. And while the actor (Will Maier) playing Herzog is probably about thirty years his junior, his voice is spot-on. Really its a mid-1970’s Herzog.

It beauty is its clever parity, satirizing not only the eccentric filmmaker-poet but this whole celebrity cooking show trend that has a body count over 200 by now. The writing is well-researched, complete with references to a real life bet with doc-maker Errol Morris that ended with Herzog literally eating his shoe. Werner’s guest host, fellow filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, serves as his whipping boy assistant.

Werner: When the script calls for a Butterfinger you do not use a Baby Ruth. Do you Jim?

Jim: No, I don’t, but that’s the only honey that they had.

Werner: Well maybe you should have thought, instead of smoking blunts with the RZA, which I know you enjoy very much.

What started at just a two-part series, along with an auto maintenance episode, is now being taken further, with a recent video promising more Werner soon. Creator Tim Webb and his crew at Sandwich Films recently launched a site for the series, www.wernerherzogeatstheworld.com. And for some fun comparison, take a look at this actual footage of the famed director from Burden of Dreams:

(hat tip to mental_floss)

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, Funny Or Die, Production Companies, Reviews, Web Series by Marc Hustvedt
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Fans of last year’s election drama web series/alternate-reality game, DELETED: The Game will be excited to hear that GEN247 Media have brought the mind-bending series back for another round.

The official DELETED website now has a counter running which (presumably) indicates when the new show, entitled DELETED: Redux, will begin – and, of course, the new game will start. As of this writing, the counter looks like it will end on Saturday, August 15th at 1PM Pacific, though anyone familiar with ARGs knows that things never quite turn out like you’d expect.

In typical ARG fashion, the DELETED: Redux promotional efforts have been minimal; besides the mysterious counter on the website, there’s a recap video of the thirteen-episode DELETED: The Game series that was posted on YouTube.

To catch you up, DELETED: The Game was about a conspiracy about rigging elections (the show coincided with the 2008 Presidential Elections) and identity theft, all surrounding an amnesiac woman named Tyler Mills (Charlie Miller) and her missing boyfriend Ethan (Shawn Parsons). Critical to the show’s success (and its reported 3,000,000 views) were the challenges that showed up at the end of each episode. Players were encouraged to participate in the series by solving the challenges, which earned them points that would get them more and more of Tyler’s contact information – social networking invites, email addresses, eventually even a phone number – and influence the events of the next episode.

Filed under: Alternate Reality Game (ARG), Articles, Production Companies, Thriller, Web Series, YouTube by Pat Miller
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Alloy’s new teen drama web series Private premiered today on Teen.com, kicking off its twenty-episode foray into the web TV waters. With the prequel casting call series completed (Sanna Haynes won the role of Kiran), the scripted private school mystery begins. We’ve been following this series since its announcement back in May, and it stands out as one of the only stable business models for web entertainment.

Making the step into web series is a natural move for Alloy Entertainment. This is the studio behind TV’s Gossip Girl and the forthcoming The Vampire Diaries and films like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. For parent company Alloy Media + Marketing, its entertainment arm is just a piece of its play to conquer the young adult market, a market it could be credited with redefining.

It’s a well-orchestrated horizontal expansion into touching virtually every part of teen girls’ lives, from books to fashion to TV and movies and surfing the web. Quietly, the company has built out quite the teen media empire. Its digital network of web sites alone, which includes Teen.com, does about 52 million unique vistors a month. So with a solid content footing and a sizable distribution network all that was left was bringing in major sponsors which they have in Neutrogena and Johnson & Johnson’s Carefree.

At Alloy, they prefer to think of themselves as developing properties rather than shows. Most of their shows after all begin as teen novels (some would call them “chick lit”), often as a series of novels, before being further developed for other media. The book titles like Pretty Little Liars, The Clique, The A-List, The Vampire Diaries and Private seem custom made for their audience.

I spoke to Alloy Entertainment’s EVP, Josh Bank, who oversees the property internally and led the development of the Private web series. Starting as novel series, Bank pointed out, gives the web series a loyal built-in fan base even before it launches. “These fans are passionate,” said Bank, “even Photoshopping themselves into the book covers.” “We love having a passionate fan base because it serves as a great way to stir up interest in the web series,” he added.

The length of web series episodes continues to be tinkered with across the industry, but for Private, they are staying in the popular 4-6 minute range for now. It’s not a lot of time to develop strong dramatic characters on screen.

“Our lead character Reed Brennan (Kelsey Sanders) falls in love with a boy named Thomas (Brant Daugherty) and we have a short window to sell that relationship,” Bank noted. “It’s something we worked on with the writers to make the viewer has an emotional resinant experience in that time frame.” He did add that the length isn’t something they are locked on, potentially being adjusted as viewing patterns emerge.  “This will be a growing experience for us to see where drop off occurs, if it occurs,” said Bank.

Bank also added that the company isn’t just focused on developing out novels. “Our team in New York is really coming up with ideas for all manner of media—books, TV shows, and now the Web for the first time,” he said. “We are content shop, if you will, creating IP (intellectual property).”

What About Marketing?

This question comes up quite a bit when asking producers about their plans to get those ever-fragmented viewing audiences to tune-in. Often the answer is something of a couched reference to limited budgets and hope for some sort of viral fan movement. But for Alloy, they seem to know what they’re doing. Promos for the series are set to run on an in-classroom cable channel called Channel One that puts 15 and 30-second spots directly in front of a captivated set of teens. Not surprisingly, Alloy also owns Channel One.

There’s also the book retailers, where the repackaged novels featuring cast members from the web series get prominent displays. Alloy Media + Marketing is said to be putting a sizable media spend behind the series. And perhaps it’s the books themselves that justify the spend, driving interest in what is a tangible product with broadly understood metrics—book sales.

The series will still face web TV’s more ‘fluid’ metrics, like online view counts and engagement charts, to make the decision of whether or not to do another season of Private. It still after all, has sponsors (Neutrogena and Johnson & Johnson) to keep happy. Either way, the series by design could end up a financial win right from the onset, whether or not new fans jump on board. For that, time will tell. The series will run exclusively on Teen.com with three new episodes per week through September 25th when it may see a broader online and mobile release.

Filed under: Alloy Entertainment, Articles, Drama, Featured, News, Teen.com, Web Series by Marc Hustvedt
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“I don’t think anyone has ever done this and now we know why,” chuckled director Sinohui Hinojosa after the cameras stopped rolling on the live season finale of his web series sitcom, Exit Stage Left.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Reed Kavner
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If you’ve ever described your dream date as having “parsnip toes” or “butternut thighs”, you’re going to like Vegan 101.

Produced, written, and starring Joanne Rose, Vegan 101 is a comedic take on daily life without animal products. So far, there are three episodes up at online network KoldCast TV: “Dating a Vegan” covers the Vegan dating scene, “Veg Book” takes a Vegan twist on social networking and scene gossip, and “Happy Vegan Birthday” portrays a touching couple moment – and the fallout from forgetting some key facts about your partner. The next episode, “The Raw Experience” shows a vegan couple on a blind date to a raw food restaurant. While the characters aren’t consistent from episode to episode, Rose stars in each of them, and invariably brings her visible love for the vegan lifestyle in with her.

Vegan 101 is expected to go for 50 episodes total, each aiming for a short two to three minutes. Shooting started in April 2009, but from the looks of things Joanne Rose is plenty busy being a “spokesmodel” for Nutiva and a children’s book author (see Tommy Tofu Saves the Day). Also, word has it that Jose is planning on adapting the web series for a reading in New York and a full theatre production in Los Angeles. Is it just me or is she basically the P. Diddy of vegan media (check out her interview with VegNews)?

Filed under: Channels, Comedy, Web Series by Pat Miller
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Ed. note: The following is a guest editorial from Gennefer Snowfield, who returns for another article on web series marketing and business strategy. The following represents the opinions of the author. For a complete bio, see the bottom of this article.

One of my core specialties is web series strategy, promotion and branded entertainment experiences that augment show content. As such, I work with a number of web series, many of whom overlap in genre. In a recent DM conversation with a web series producer on Twitter, he mentioned that one of the shows I’m working with is a competitor of his because they are both sci-fi series. That point immediately struck me because it never occurred to me that any online programs are in direct competition with one another as they are in a traditional TV environment. And if anything, TV programming is more about competing with coveted time slots to feed an antiquated ratings system of measurement, which has largely been eliminated due to DVR and Video On Demand options anyway. In fact, as the space continues to evolve, I see the biggest competitive challenge to be mindshare as viewers don’t have the time to consume programming every second of the day. Yet with the saturation of content available between tube and web TV, they certainly could!

The fact is that most consumers don’t even realize the wealth of web TV that is currently out there, so the underlying issue isn’t competition… it’s discovery. Even as someone immersed in the web series space, I’m not familiar with every single show, or all of the channels for viewing them, which seem to pop up daily.

But online content producers can actually surmount this hurdle collectively by banding together to build the web TV category overall, attract new viewers, and dare I say, share fan bases. Although we’re seeing more longer form content being produced — and consumed — online (according to the recent Pew report), overall webisodes are much shorter than traditional TV, making it even more feasible for viewers to adopt several series within the same genre. And with the added benefit of being able to watch them on their own time.

So, where do you go from here?

Form Your Own League of Extraordinary Super Series

It’s not rocket science that a collective of super heroes is infinitely more powerful than one. Each have their own strengths (and weaknesses), so joining forces allows them to advance on a much greater scale. While web series creators may not be battling evil villains, they can follow this principle by joining forces to penetrate the market and generate increased visibility for their respective shows. In that collaborative spirit, you could take reciprocal linking one step further by offering clips of other series within your genre in a very Amazon-esque way… i.e.“If you liked this show, you may also like…” At the point of interaction recommendations offer a higher likelihood of clickthrough because you are tapping into an audience that is pre-disposed to a particular type of content. Think of it as COMPlementary, not COMPetition.

You could also create an online forum where viewers can discuss shows and interact around a central topic. Fans want the ability to share content with others and talk about storylines and characters, so facilitating a social vehicle where they can do that builds affinity for each participating series. Plus, having several web series involved allows you to pool your resources and expand your development efforts (and fan base) beyond what you could do individually. A venue like this also gives fans a voice to make recommendation of other shows that they’d like to see included, delivering on viewer wants while adding more juice to your network.

And a genre-specific directory like the one Steve Lettieri, creator of Zerks Log, is building for the sci-fi category called SciFinal is the perfect example of harnessing the collective power of the web TV community to foster discovery, raise awareness and visibility for associated series and generate increased traffic and fans. Through a multi-series-supported gateway, you can maximize promotion for all involved. Bottom line, there’s strength in numbers. Oh, and more viewers, too.

‘Exclusive’ Starts with ‘Ex.’ ‘Extinct’ Starts with ‘Ex.’ Coincidence? I Think Not.

One of the key advantages of the web – and web programming – is that it is not bound by channel exclusivity like broadcast TV networks. The ubiquitous nature of the online space allows you to get your series out literally anywhere across the worldwide web. While there are channels popping up that are seeking to force antiquated models onto web TV through exclusive distribution (and even commercials!), it is not always beneficial to series whose primary goal should be to first get the word out that they exist. And you can’t do that through a single venue that most consumers don’t even know about. Even with all of the mainstream press and celebrity adoption that Twitter has gotten, a recent study showed that 70% of the population has still never heard of Twitter. Consider that before diving into an exclusive arrangement with an even less well known site.

Exclusive distribution agreements work for the channel in differentiating themselves from the myriad of sites hopping onto the web TV bandwagon, but unless they are reaching a lion share of the market (which most aren’t yet), it limits a series ability to reach and cultivate fans across the nooks and crannies of the web. Unfortunately, when it comes to web TV, Kevin Costner was dead wrong. Just because you build it doesn’t mean they’ll come. It’s up to you to seek out your audience wherever they might be online, and go to them. Channels are fine for reaching the low hanging fruit of early adopters and web series seekers, and offer halo benefits through the site’s own promotional efforts, but you need the ability to make your content available elsewhere as well.

This is a perfect opportunity for like genres to work together to make their shows available on established sites that serve their particular segment of the population. By approaching them together, you are able to offer the web property more substantial content of interest to their users that will help expand their own site traffic and visibility in the process. I’ve been a fan of After Judgment for a while but happened across a post on the popular sci-fi blog, Sci-Fi Scoop, last week where they had only just come across the series and made the entire first season available on their site. Their glowing review plus Sc-Fi Scoop’s loyal sci-fi lovin’ users plus full episodes on the site served to instantly increase After Judgment’s exposure among a targeted audience (and it didn’t cost them a dime). Sites are craving good content, and if you ask me, there should be a web series section on every niche site where users can discover relevant shows. So, identify the sites, assemble your fellow web series cohorts and go forth and multiply.

May the Brand Force Be With You.

Though the bailouts might suggest otherwise, there is only so much money to go around. And as labors of love morph into labors of debt, more web series are looking for brand sponsorship dollars to fund their shows. The problem is, in many cases, they’re all vying for the same piece of the pie. But, fortunately, so are the brands.

As more traditional marketing efforts – and especially TV advertising – continue to wane in reach and effectiveness, brands are increasingly turning to web entertainment as an interactive way to forge emotional connections with consumers. In other words, they need you as much as you need them. But many are just dipping their toes in the water and not allotting a significant portion of their ad spend to branded content (why can’t they all be like Southern Comfort and shift their entire media budget into digital?). So, you can create a more palatable value proposition for web entertainment naive brands by pitching an ensemble of web series as a package deal.

If you think about it, it’s no different than a brand advertising to the same demographic across multiple TV/cable networks and competitor shows. Bringing together a group of series that each represent a slice of the market the brand is trying to reach will not only give the brand greater exposure among its desired audience (and a more meaningful, one-to-one way of doing it), it will also allow each series to tap into the brand equity of the sponsor to advance their individual shows, and the web TV category as a whole. Plus, it represents the difference between five series getting funded vs. just one, and if the branded experiences are customized to the lifestyle and emotional triggers of the audience you’re trying to reach, both brand and series will be successful. And you can build on that momentum to feed ongoing production and promotion through your brand sponsor.

These tactics will likely evolve in the future once discovery is no longer a core issue and web channels become as recognizable as NBC or HBO. Or, as David Nett, creator of GOLD the series, so eloquently put it, “… once people accept that TV is just ‘television,’ and not the broadcast method.”

My hope is, at that time, more nimble models will emerge that allow for revenue-sharing opportunities with content creators over an archaic ratings system or ambiguous affiliate programs. Ideally, the content will have the monetary value – not the the distribution channel — and any remnants of a competition-based paradigm will be overshadowed by experiences that are simply an extension of users’ lives and viewing preferences — not their remote control.

Top photo by Paolo Camera. Second photo by ittybittiesforyou. Third photo by manyhighways.

Gennefer is a writer, producer and CEO of Space Truffles Entertainment, a boutique digital strategy shop specializing in branded entertainment, web series promotion and immersive transmedia narratives that extend the brand experience through custom multi-platform content. A new media strategist and advisor, Gennefer is considered a thought leader in branded entertainment and speaks on topics ranging from digital storytelling to augmented reality. With over a decade in traditional and web marketing, Gennefer develops compelling brand encounters and multimedia experiences that are changing the face of interactive entertainment.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Guest Editorial, Industry by Gennefer Snowfield
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It’s no coincidence that TheWB.com’s new web series is helmed by former teen heart throb Jason Priestley, this time in the director’s chair. The show is chock full of juicy rich kid/poor kid drama reminiscent of a certain Beverly Hills show, but this time it all goes down by a lake (one excellent excuse to shoot attractive people constantly dressed in bathing suits).

While The Lake is undoubtedly a sudsy Summer soap, it is unapologetic about what it’s all about, making it all the more enjoyable to escape into just like a vacation on a lake. With the first four episodes up today, each handily setting up dating and relationship drama for the next, it’s hard to click away despite the interruption of J&J’s Clean and Clear ads right in the middle (the show’s nicely captured sponsor for a show aiming to capture an O.C. and Gossip Girl type audience).

The show also seems a nice get for writer-creators Meredith Lavender and Marcie Ulin who both served as writers on the short-lived series Eight Days a Week. These gals really know how to tease and pay off juicy teen drama and gossip ala dealing with divorced parents, teen pregnancy, and summer jobs all while looking good in a bathing suit. Heather Ann Davis stars as Olivia, a newcomer to the lake scene which is complete with beach-body teens including queen bee Alexis (Samantha Cope).

It also makes sense the show production of the show was handled by Generate (the studio behind Republicrats and Pink the Series). The company has now been creating web series and other new media solidly for three years with founder Jordan Levin (former TheWB chief) remaining hands on.

While they were shooting, I had a chance to stop by the set of The Lake on an early warm summer day as the show only wrapped about a month ago. (Yes, these guys did operate on a short web television production schedule, with Priestley sounding a bit tired admitting to having struggled to make all those long days).

Nonetheless, Priestley is as charming as ever, and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying his foray into the land of web TV. Here’s what he had to say:

Tubefilter: How would you say working in web television has been different for you versus more traditional mediums?

Jason Priestley: Web TV is a challenge because it’s a new format. You’re always learning about the limitations and ways in which the new format is better, or lacking. So it’s been a challenge and it’s also been a wonderful education for me as to the best ways and most economical ways to shoot… it’s also been a lot of fun.

Tubefilter: Working with a group of upcoming young actors, did you have any words of advice or wisdom to pass on based on your past experiences?

Priestley: I give them a lot of direction and I help them any way I can. That’s my job. That’s why I’m here. There was a time when we were stuck in a hail storm in Big Bear, and I was regaling them with lots of stories about the old days because there wasn’t much else to do while we were waiting for it to stop hailing.

But really, the cast is a wonderful, talented group of young actors that are all going to do just fine and the last thing they need is advice from an old worn-out horse like me.

Tubefilter: What would you say to get people to tune into this web series?

Priestley: Well, we haven’t shot it like a web series. We’ve shot it much more like a TV show, and then chopped it up into 8 to 12 minute episodes so it looks like a TV show. But ultimately it’s just a really great story about these three families that come back to the lake year after year after year… and if people want to be entertained they should tune into this show… moms, dads, kids, everyone.

Filed under: Articles, Drama, News, Studios, TheWB.com, Warner Bros., Web Series by Lindsay Stidham
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“How much acid do you guys do?” asks a commenter on the YouTube page for the first episode of Sunset Television. It’s an appropriate question.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Michael Joshua Rowin
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The New York Television Festival (NYTVF) announced today its official selections for the pilots competition at the fifth annual festival scheduled for September. Making the selections cut were a host of original web series including MERRIme.com, GOLD, Leaving Bliss, Man-Man, Blue Movies, Johnny B. Homeless, Hell Froze Over, Odd Jobs and Streak to Win. Trailers for all of the 37 pilots in competition are now up on the NYTVF YouTube channel.

Similar to the just-wrapped ITVFest in Los Angeles, NYTVF is taking a step further in bridging the gap between traditional independent television and the emerging web television medium. The festival is bringing back what it calls Digital Day, which is an entire day of programming based around the online space. The festival runs from September 21-26 in Midtown Manhattan.

Full list of selections (courtesy NYTVF):

	Around the Block (Reality) Created by: Daniel Lir and Bryan Sarkinen—New York, NY
	Astoria, Queens (Seriocomedy) Created by: Kyle Thomas Coker—New York, NY
	Ben Again (Drama) Created by: John J. Ricci—New York, NY
	Blog of a Pool Boy (Comedy) Created by: Greg Burke, AJ Morales, and Lou Perez—New York, NY
	Blue Movies (Comedy) Created by: Scott Brown—Los Angeles, CA
	The Call Center (Comedy/Mockumentary) Created by: Rumana Huq—New York, NY
	Calvin and Freddie’s Cosmic Encounters (Live Action Family Sitcom) Created by: Rugg Williams, Sabina Cabe, and Troy Rowland—Los Angeles, CA
	Cost of Living (Recession Comedy) Created by: Akshay Ahuja, Thom Blaylock, and Samuel Frank–New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA
	Dog (Drama) Created by: Barry Gribble—Washington, DC
	Genetisphere (Animated Sci-Fi Action) Created by: Earthstar Jai Smith—Vancouver, BC, Canada
	God & Co. (Animated Comedy) Created by: Stephen Levinson and Joel Levinson—Brooklyn, NY
	Gold (Comedy) Created by: David Nett—Los Angeles, CA
	Green Room (Drama) Created by: Vince Parenti—New York, NY
	Halfway There (Scenario-Based Improvised Comedy) Created by: Michelle Best–New York, NY
	Hell Froze Over (Romantic Comedy) Created by: J. Wilder Konschak, Michael Benni Pierce, Shaun Boyle, and Alli Hartley—Brooklyn, NY
	HomeSchooled (Comedy) Created by: Matt Fisher, Alden Ford, and Justin Tyler—New York City, NY
	Idiots, Dating (Comedy) Created by: Dan Gregor and Doug Mand—New York, NY
	Johnny B. Homeless (Comedy) Created by: Al Thompson—New York City, NY
	Kate So Far (Drama) Created by: Heather Schlossnagle—Orange County, CA
	Leaving Bliss (Comedy) Created by: Shanna Micko—Los Angeles, CA
	Lost Cities (Mock Travel Show) Created by: Dan McNamara and Chad Von Nau—Jersey City, NJ
	Man-Man (Animated Comedy) Created by: Chris Prine and Tom Silvestro—Brooklyn, NY
	MERRIme.com (Comedy) Created by: Kaily Smith and David Weidoff—Los Angeles, CA
	Monster Brothers (Reality) Created by: Ryan Golambeske and Josh Golambeske—Santa Monica, CA
	My Pal Satan (Comedy) Created by: Dennis Heaton—Toronto, Ontario, Canada
	The New 20s (Drama) Created by: Tracy Taylor—Los Angeles, CA
	NYCMusicShow (Music Documentary) Created by: David Schumacher—New York, NY
	Odd Jobs (Comedy) Created by: Jeremy Redleaf—New York, NY
	Pet Tripperz (Lifestyle/Travel/Pets) Created by: Bartley Argo and Stacy Studstill—Savannah, GA
	The Pocket Mayors (Nonscripted Travel) Created by: Created by: Elias Zajchenco and Trent Ermes—New York, NY
	Streak to Win (Documentary/Comedy) Created by: Sean Tice and Adam Bedient—Brooklyn, NY
	The Stressful Adventures of Boxhead and Roundhead (Surreal Animated Comedy) Created by: Created by: Elliot Cowan—Bayside, NY
	Team A.P.O.C.A.L.Y.P.S.E (Comedy) Created by: Nick Armstrong—Los Angeles, CA
	The Tenderloins (Comedy) Created by: James Murray, Joe Gatto, Sal Vulcano, and Brian Quinn—Staten Island, NY
	Titsburg (Comedy) Created by: Tavon Bolourchi and Chioke Nassor—Brooklyn, NY
	Who’s the Baddest (Nonscripted Reality) Created by: Elis Pacheco—New York, NY
	Why Can’t I Sell My House? (Workplace Comedy) Created by: Sandy Abernathy and Russ Johnson—Dallas, TX

Top photo by Phil Thomas Di Giulio.

Filed under: Animated, Articles, Comedy, Drama, Featured, Gold, Industry, News, Thriller, Web Series, YouTube by Marc Hustvedt
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Web TV offers up a lot of content specifically geared toward adults. But what if one wants to just sit down with their four-year-old and click on something that doesn’t require parental censorship? If there is one area where web TV falters (or succeeds, some might say), it is that it lacks clean material for language-conscious parents who don’t want their children watching web shows loaded with expletives or sexual innuendo.

Workshop, a mockumentary-slash-situational comedy about six actors and their efforts to make it big time, wants that audience and more. Nate Golon, co-creator and producer of Workshop, said much of the show’s first season will poke fun at casting workshops.

“The first five episodes focus more on the characters getting to know each other… through these workshops and then six through 13 are about the day-to-day lives of these actors.”

Golon said he wants the show to be accessible to everyone, at least for the first season.
“No one even kisses in the first season,” said Golon. “The reason I wanted it so clean, is I want to see what the audience is and who watches it. I don’t want to turn off an audience because of profanity or anything like that.”

Ironically, the show stars a couple of actors with experience in soap operas, a genre known for its outrageously adult themes. One of those actors, Phillip Jeanmarie, played a hermaphrodite as a series regular on Passions. The show also stars Leanne Wilson, one of FHM’s sexiest women who had a role on Casualty, an ER-like drama that airs in the U.K.

Golon, who stars in Workshop, came up with the idea for the series with Kimberly Legg who also helped produce the show. “I basically cast myself, as myself, as an actor,” said Golon.

Workshop premieres today, August 10th, and should be available on all the major web video channels, said Golon. The first season will run for 13 episodes, one per week, and each episode will hover around 10 minutes.

Filed under: Articles, blip.tv, Comedy, News, Web Series, YouTube by Jacob Nahin
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