‘Anyone But Me’ Fan-Supported Season 3 Coming April 26

Rachael Hip-Flores has perhaps the coolest name in web series. Try it, it’s fun to say. The star of indie drama Anyone But Me has won over critics and those of us that write about these things. She even won a Streamy Award as Vivian last year for Best Female Actor in a Drama.

That wasn’t the only award for the New York-based web series which even scored a Writer’s Guild award last month that left co-creator and Exec Producer Susan Miller virtually speechless with joy when our own Josh Cohen caught up with her after the ABM win. “Oh boy oh boy oh girl oh girl oh girl!!! We made something happen without waiting for anyone else to say yes or no to it – and it has turned out to be one of the most important and fulfilling things in my life,” said Miller. “Anyone But Me has a lot of friends, a lot of love. That’s what I’m feeling.”

After a Web-a-Thon fundraiser which notched $33,088 and even included a $0.99 music video to raise production funds for the third season, Miller and co-creator and director Tina Cesa Ward decided to greenlight the 5-episode season which is now set to premiere online April 26.

“I’d call Season Three the Fan’s Season. It really belongs to our supporters,” Miller told us. “They made it possible. We raised enough money to produce three episodes and got a bridge loan to bring that total to five. And, by the way, we plan to release some of the highlights from the thon as special videos at a future time.”

To launch the new season they are throwing a bone to those very fans with a live streamed “Sneak Peak & Live Chat” event on April 25 hosted by Hip-Flores at 8:00pm on the East Coast and Nicole Pacent (Aster) at 8:00pm on the West Coast. The season premiere will be streamed live for fans to watch together followed with some juicy Q & A with the two stars.

“I think I’m definitely more comfortable playing Vivian now, I don’t second guess myself quite so much as used to,” Hip-Flores told us about her third season as Vivian. “It’s also nice to see her in new and different situations – as an actor it’s really fun to expand and color a life that way. And, yes, of course she’s growing up; but I think growing up for Viv involves much more letting go, and acknowledging her emotions than impulse control, you know?”

The show will still base its core distribution out of blip.tv, though they haven’t ruled out possible new distribution or funding options. “We’re working with some awesome people to make things happen,” added Miller. “This is the cool thing – people have come to us offering their services gratis up front because they believe in the show and believe they can help us find sponsorship—and any company or sponsor who helps us move forward will be heroes to our legions of passionate fans, who are going to show their loyalty where it counts.”

Exact view counts of the first two seasons aren’t available, though the ABM team is reporting 7 million views so far, which seems in line with the overall response we’ve seen from media and fans. Speaking of which, fans of Anyone But Me are a passionate lot, and they seem to have not fallen off while waiting for the new season. Some comments from the Season 3 announcement:

You guys have done it again. I can tell it’s going to be another awesome season. I can’t wait for the show to hit the road. Let the countdown commence!!!!!!!! (thtrnerd)
Posted at: 2011-03-29 10:02:17

OMFG — I can not wait… this is the best show out there period! Best writing, best acting – Best storyline! And even loved the frickin commercials. April can not get here fast enough. (DirtyDeals)
Posted at: 2011-03-29 10:38:03

holyy sh…. wtf is going on?? O_O’ this is so cool i can’t wait until 26th april please don’t u have another promo??? xD well see have a nice day you make my day so happy 🙂 (melissa)
Posted at: 2011-03-29 10:39:05