Big Fantastic Signs on as 33rd WGAW New Media Signatory

Big Fantastic has one of the more impressive track records in the web series circuit, tent-poled by their international breakout franchise Prom Queen

. For years they have been the goto production house for studios like Michael Eisner’s Vuguru (Prom Queen, Foreign Body), 60Frames (Cockpit) and Warner Bros. (Sorority Forever). But now as the company prepares its first non-studio original series since their debut Sam Has 7 Friends, the company announced they have signed on as a new media signatories to the Writers Guild of America, West, under the WGA’s Minimum Basic Agreement (“MBA”).

“The Guild has done a great job of recognizing and legitimizing the efforts of online creators like us,” said Big Fantastic’s Doug Cheney. “We chose to become a signatory now because it affords us tremendous opportunities as writers while allowing our company access to the vast WGA talent pool.”

There’s been a fair amount of coverage around the Writer’s Guild East’s (WGAe) efforts to organize new media creators, with as many as 22 web series shops on board as of last month. But out west, its sister guild, the WGAW, has been quieter, though no less successful in bringing in signatories in online content. Big Fantastic in fact is the 33rd web production company to become signatory under the WGAW’s recently won jurisdiction in digital and mobile.

So far 73 web series have been released from these WGAW signatories including Streamy Award-winning Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Web Therapy and Back on Topps. Other series like Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy and television show companion web series like those from Battlestar Galactica, Chuck, Heroes, Monk and The Office are also on that list.

Now the 4-man Big Fantastic team has a new undisclosed web project heading into production. We’ll have updates on this as soon as they are available. Their latest edition of the Prom Queen franchise—Prom Queen: The Homecoming—is still slated for a 2010 release from Vuguru, though no official launch date has been set.