Weekend Web Watch: Streamys Edition

We are into our fourth week of Weekend Web Watch and we dust off the vault to bring out one of my favorite episodes of 2009 and a three category nominee for the Streamy Awards: Oz Girl. They are nominated for Best Drama Web Series, Best Foreign Web Series, and Best Female Actor in a Drama Web Series for Sophie Tilson. It seems like a million years ago that we shot this episode, but it was in the middle of iTVFest that we sat down with the young and talented cast. They had an absolutely magical week at the festival and everyone wanted to find out what all the buzz was about. So step back to August 2009 with The Web Files and Oz Girl: Oz Girl

Be sure to go back to our Behind the Scenes archives for photos and scoop on The Web Files shoot with Oz Girl: Behind the Scenes.

Good luck at The Streamys, Oz Girl! See you on the red carpet.

Behind the Scenes of MERRIme.com

We made it to Episode 20! Thank you for watching and keeping up the momentum of The Web Files. We strive to bring you the best in web series, web celebs, and new media creators. I know we haven't covered it all and our list of shows to interview continues to grow. I think it is a good sign of growth in this industry.

I have to say that I love this show, MERRIme.com. It fits into my Sex and the City sensibility. While Carrie and Samantha have moved on to the big screen, Merri comes along and fills in that chick TV mold. Kaily Smith and David Weidoff have done an incredible job with this web series. It was filmed under their production company umbrella,Red Ladders Entertainment, "dedicated to developing and producing new works for Film, TV, Theatre, and the Web." As a viewer and a fan of Web TV, what stands out to me is their high production value. Kaily and David have openly discussed acquiring financing for MERRIme.com and they worked with a budget of under $50,000. It may sound like a huge budget, but Kaily reminded me that each episode cost around $2500. When you phrase it like that, it really demonstrates the quality of work that can be done on a smaller budget.

Overall, it is a well-produced series too. The writing is tight, they hired a publicist to get the word out to higher profile publications, they entered both iTVFest and NY Television Festival, and they called in some favors to a few name actors. I am not saying these are the right steps for every web series, but I am seeing benefits to the festival circuit after talking with Nick Carlton of Oz Girl, Jeremy Redleaf of Odd Jobs, and Kaily and David. I think the festivals are really putting web series producers on the map.

My favorite photo from the shoot: Makeup Artist, Melissa Anchondo, applying makeup to David Weidoff as a bus passes by on Ventura. Hollywood is so glamorous!

Some of the fun footage that wound up on the editing room floor includes Kaily and I singing a bit of musical theatre. Maybe it is better it wound up there? No way! We both attended the famed musical theatre summer camp, Stagedoor Manor. If you listen to the two of us talk, it truly was some of the best summers of our lives. It is hard to explain if you didn't attend, but talk to any of Stagedoor alumni....Jon Cryer, Zach Braff, Mandy Moore, Natalie Portman, Josh Charles, and they will tell you the same thing. We are all musical theatre geeks at heart.

This episode was shot at Vivian's Millenium Cafe in Studio City in their backyard patio. We had to battle the noise from a furniture construction shop on the other side. They did not want to stop working while we shot the episode, but I think we won in the end. It was also our first episode with e.l.f. Cosmetics as our official sponsors, so we appreciate them joining The Web Files fold. Finally, check out our 20th episode with MERRIme.com. Thanks for watching!

The Web Files in the News: October

There has been some fantastic news in the web series world and we are so excited by the leaps and bounds content producers are making in the industry. It thrills me when I hear that shows we have interviewed are gaining the recognition they deserve. So, we are happy to throw our continued support to:

1. The cast and creators of The Crew for not only launching Season 2 yesterday, but for securing an exclusive deal with Babelgum.. I truly appreciate this cast and the show's creator, Brett Register, because they were one of our first interviews when we were launching The Web Files. Be sure to check out our interview with them and our behind the scenes look: Interview and Behind the Scenes.

2. More good news abounds with the cast of Oz Girl. Nick Carlton just inked a distribution deal with Virgin's V Australia as a part of their on-demand in-flight entertainment for Oz Girl. Nick also launched his own digital media/entertainment studio in Melbourne called
Carlton Digital. This 19-year-old truly is a forced to be reckoned with. You can find our Web Files interview here and the behind the scenes of the shoot here. Many thanks to Marc Hustvedt at Tubefilter for linking to our interview in his feature piece on Nick's breaking news:
Tubefilter.

3. One of my favorite people, Mathieas McNaughton, continues to be one of our greatest champions. He featured our episode with the amazing Tim Street on his blog:
LG15 Today.

4. Finally, a new friend to The Web Files is Larry Kless who kindly picked our Tim Street interview as his "Web Video Pick of the Week". I think Tim's interview has resonated with many web series producers and new media creators, so I am thrilled that this episode of The Web Files is gaining attention. Thanks, Larry. Check out the article here: Kless Blog.

Thank you for all of your support. We will continue to bring you the latest in-depth interviews with established and up-and-coming talent in the web series world. Get ready for Wednesday, we have Hayden Black with his upcoming series, The Cabonauts!

The Buzz

Here we are 8 weeks into The Web Files and the show has grown quicker than we ever imagined. We appreciate all of the support from the web series community. We hope to serve you well in our upcoming shows. Here's some of the buzz on The Web Files:

1. Named a "Web Series to Watch" by Jeff Elwell: Web Series 2 Watch.

2. One of my favorite Web Files supporters, Mathieas McNaughton, who kindly posts our show on his blog each week. Find out about short couches and a Christina Applegate reference: LG15 Today.

3. There's nothing like a happy talent, so thank you to Shanrah Wakefield for our shout out in her blog this week: Shanrah Wakefield.

4. Finally, we wouldn't have an Episode 8 without the show, Oz Girl. I'm telling you now, this cast and crew are going places. Make sure you are following the careers of Sophie Tilson, Shaun Crawford, Shanrah Wakefield, and Nicholas Carlton. You can find all of their Oz Girl work here: Oz Girl.

So, if you have had fun with us the past 8 weeks, I think you will truly enjoy our Fall offerings. We have some big names and series coming your way.

Episode 8: Oz Girl

The whole gang with purple bookends........Another interview wrapped!................
My favorite photo of tall Shaun Crawford and our petite makeup artist, Marybeth Bagonghasa....
Guess I wasn't ready for this shot..........
Ah, much better............

I cannot believe I let a week slip by without a post! I was off doing a corporate host gig and I completely fell off of the grid. With that said, I am thrilled we are at the two-month mark with "The Web Files" and that our 8th episode features the talented cast of "Oz Girl". What can I say? This interview fell into our laps on the red carpet at iTVFest in July. We were interviewing them on the red carpet and before you know it, we had to scramble to find a location to shoot our episode with them in 3 days.

The cast and crew, comprised of Sophie Tilson, Shanrah Wakefield, Nick Carlton, and Shaun Crawford, were the hit of iTVFest where the show won Best Web Series and Best Acting. Everywhere they went, people stopped to congratulate them about "Oz Girl". They came in all the from Melbourne, Australia and they were rock stars that week. The show is fresh and funny. The cast is young and so cute! The crew is just genius. When Nick told me he began posting short films on the web in 2000 when he was 10-years-old, I started thinking this episode of "The Web Files" will be pulled out of the archives for E! after his wins his first Oscar.

I noticed an online comment that we needed a bigger couch for the episode. I laughed and I totally agree. We normally plan interviews about a month in advance, but with only 3 days to scramble to assemble our crew and equipment, we took advantage of whatever we could. So, we had a small couch, but a fabulous suite donated by the Ramada Plaza Hotel in West Hollywood. So, many thanks to them for making our show with "Oz Girl" a reality.

I recommend everyone reading this to bookmark, "Oz Girl", and watch one of the most addicting shows on the internet. The story is compelling and Shanrah Wakefield's (AKA Megan) one-liners are hilarious. Beyond being a group of young actors, writers, directors, and producers to watch, they are a fun gang of people to hang out with. Now, hurry with Season 2!!

(And come back to LA soon!)

Check out Episode 8 here: Oz Girl.

The Web Files Weekly Update

The Web Files Executive Producer, Sandra Payne, with Gary Valentine of "Dusty Peacock".

We are plugging away here at The Web Files and already planning our fall episodes. I am pretty excited by the shows that have said "yes" to us so far, you will see some familiar faces from past web series who are about to launch big shows within the next few months. So, be sure to check out The Web Files in September and October.

In other news, thanks to Demi Delia for her shout out in her recent blog post. I was happy to hear that she enjoyed our interview. She is taking her career to a more mainstream level, so look for Demi to make a splash in 2010 with product launches and Season 2 of Mommy XXX on Crackle.com. Check out here blog (and The Web Files mention) here: Demi Delia


For those of you following the web world carefully, make sure you are watching Nick Carlton's work. He is one of the young creators from "Oz Girl" and we look forward to showing you the "Oz Girl" interview for "The Web Files" launching on August 26th. I had the opportunity to read the pilot script from his new web series called, Stitch. If you want to check out the pilot, click here to contact Nick and find out more about his next project, "Stitch". You will see a few familiar "Oz Girl" faces on the "Stitch" website as Shanrah Wakefield, Sophie Tilson, and Shaun Crawford are all involved both in front and behind the cameras. Shanrah wrote a great blog on her week at iTVFest and a few encounters with The Web Files: Shanrah's Blog. Thanks, Shanrah!


Our next episode of The Web Files features Gary Valentine from Crackle.com's, "Dusty Peacock" I can't wait to hear everyone's reaction to this interview. He is a former series regular on his brother's sitcom, "King of Queens". Yes, his brother is Kevin James, who is producing "Dusty Peacock". So, what do expect out of your web series when it is fully funded, on a high profile portal, and you have name recognition? Find out on Wednesday, August 19th, when we launch our next episode of "The Web Files".

iTVFest Opening Night Gala

My new Twitter buddy, Mike Rotman

Who wouldn't be excited to interview Felicia Day and Kim Evey of "The Guild"?
And our Monday interview for The Web Files: Cast of Oz Girl!!
In deep conversation with Kat Steel of "Show Me Your Clips".

Last night on the red carpet for iTVFest was fantastic, exciting, and energizing. The day started out with Variety noting that web series and TV pilots are carrying equal weight in this year's festival. I have to say, "Web Series, you have officially arrived!" It was nice to see familiar faces like Felicia Day, Kim Evey, Ariel Lazarus (who is destined to be the new "IT" girl of web series), Stephen Leonard, Stephanie Thorpe, and Mike Davies, but it was also a great day to be introduced to newer faces in the web world.

We got more footage than we originally anticipated and I think you will see a compilation version for The Web Files and maybe some longer interviews released throughout the week. We hear you loud and clear! We know that as creators of web content you have a lot say, a lot of stories to tell, and an audience willing to listen. I hope that The Web Files becomes a place to help you tell those stories.

I am thrilled that the cast of Oz Girl agreed to sit down with us on Monday for an interview. It's not often that you get the cast and creator together, especially when they fly in from Melbourne, Australia. I am fascinated by 19-year-old creator, Nick Carlton, with one series under his belt and one on the way, I expect great things from him.

I will release photos each day from iTVFest's red carpet gala, so come on back and join me for the fun!

PS See Part 2 here: iTVFest, Part Deux
Part 3: iTVFest, Part 3