Behind the Scenes of The Web Files Buzz, Episode 4

                                       

We are buzzing along through the episodes this month and this one is chockfull of familiar faces, web series content, and a really important issue to anyone creating work over the web.  Our first stop was the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank to interview Travis Wester and AJ Buckley about their show, Ghostfacers.  I originally caught this show at the launch party at La Vida a few short days after the Streamys and the audience was filled with non-web series faces.  It was refreshing to see a different group of people react to hilarity and the terror that ensues when the Ghostfacers are on the loose.  With that in mind, I think I was expecting over the top antics with the interview.  Surprisingly, AJ and Travis were pretty subdued and serious about the work they have created.  Remember, these roles started out as a one episode guest star on Supernatural that turned into an entire series for the web when they pitched the idea about continuing their character on YouTube to the producers.  Oh, does anyone know who the producers are?  McG and his production company.  Impressive.  The one other comment I have.....AJ, board shorts to a board meeting?  I guess it doesn't matter, does it? You got the job!

Then it's off to Digital Hollywood in Santa Monica where we nabbed Kevin Pollak and Amber J. Lawson, Comedy Publisher at Babelgum, to talk about their partnership with Vamped Out.  Kevin failed miserably at describing his show in ten words or less, but it is definitely one of the funnier moments in the interview.  One thing to watch in his interview is how important it is for content creators to own their work.  It wouldn't be possible on a network show and he points to Conan O'Brien as an example.  The characters Conan created on his late night shows are now property of NBC.  Hard to imagine that, but that's the way it works with the big corporate deals.  In an outtake from the episode below, check out what happens when I turn the tables on Mr. Pollak.  If you watch his chat show, you know he makes everyone do an impersonation of Larry King.  Well, I made him get into his Vamped Out character, Elliot Finke, and do his Larry King bit:


Rounding out the rest of the episode were Chris McCaleb of Big Fantastic and Roland Hamilton of Dailymotion. Chris pointed out the importance of net neutrality as some of you may have seen the whiteribbons adorned on everyone's chest at the Streamys. It is an issue for any content creator, so I urge you to go to Save the Internet and inform yourself on how it will affect all of us. You can also contact FCC Chairman Julius Chenachowski from the site and plead with him protect the Internet. I am pleased that several of you have already taken action after watching this episode, thank you! The one thing I couldn't get out of Chris? The launch date for Prom Queen 2. The answer was a vague "sometime in 2010." Well, we are almost halfway through the year, so I am impatiently waiting, Chris. Hey, I'm looking for a Web Files exclusive!

Be sure to check out our latest episode of The Web Files Buzz. It is all the buzz about the biz, the web
series biz:

Join us this Wednesday for another episode of The Web Files Buzz featuring on set visits with Bumps in the Night and Night of the Zombie King from the Gold the Series creators all on Blip.tv.

Weekend Web Watch: Streamys Edition

Here we are again with another Weekend Web Watch, Streamys Edition and we have a little over a week to go until the big event and about 5 days until the Craft Awards.  I decided to go way back into the archives to Episode 2 of The Web Files with the cast of The Crew.  Some of my favorite people star in this Babelgum web series and I have mentioned over and over how grateful I am to Brett Register because he said "yes" to an interview way before The Web Files even existed.  It was also Blip.tv's support of The Crew that got The Web Files featured on the home page of Blip.  A truly fortuitous partnership that we have treasured ever since. For those following the Craig Frank episodes, this was his first appearance ever on The Web Files.  Little did we know, there were many, many more appearances in his future.

                                  
So, take a look at one of our earliest episodes which we shot at the Hollywood Wax Museum and be sure to visit our behind the scenes on the making of this episode.  Congratulations to Streamy Nominees  Jeff Bell, Zack Finfrock, and Brett Register for The Crew for Best Visual Effects in a Web Series. Good luck on Wednesday!

Episode: The Crew
Blog:  Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes of Hurtling Through Space At An Alarming Rate

Okay, this is a really late behind the scenes look at Hurtling Through Space At An Alarming Rate, but it's here, it's finally here! I think I have been talking with Stephanie Thorpe and Mike Davies about doing an interview since I saw them on the red carpet for iTVFest in July. Well, here we are in the late fall and we finally got it done, but there was one tricky part to the interview: Mike Davies was in Canada. Duh-Duh!

Well, thank goodness we have Sandra's creative brain to help with all of the logistics to make it seem like Mike himself was hurtling through space. We shot all of the questions for Mike first, then sent the questions to him via email, and he shot the video on his end to answer all of the questions. Sandra also came up with the genius idea of a crowded space highway with a nice little shout out to other web series we have featured like The Crew, The Cabonauts, Safety Geeks:SVI, and Space Hospital. A big thanks to all of the creators for contributing their footage to the show. Since HTSAAAR was shot in Canada, we obviously did not have access to their set, so Sandra's living room doubled as the apartment floating out in the universe. Now, none of this would be possible without the incredible efforts of Gordon Lee who created all of the VFX for us. The truly amazing part of it all is that he turned it all around for us in little over a week. So, Gordon, thank you, this episode would not have been possible without you.

As for Taryn O'Neill, Stuart Paap, and Stephanie Thorpe, it was great to finally sit down with them and get behind the scenes on their show and their collaboration. I love that they have their own little Canadian posse working together on creating stories for the web. Taryn has found her niche here with a huge slate of web series this year....After Judgment, The Crew, Compulsions, and of course, HTSAAAR. Stephanie showed up in one of my favorite shirts from Bebe. How do I know it is from Bebe? I own the same shirt. In fact, you can see it in my host reelon the QVC clip. So, naturally, I am going to like anyone with the same fashion sense. Finally, I was familiar with Stuart's work on Live from the Future because he interviewed a friend of mine, Zen Gray, about her participation in the Bravo TV show, Workout. It truly was fun to have three web celebs all joining us on The Web Files. Wait a minute, I mean four.....you have to count Mike's cameo too! Come back to LA soon, Mike. I hope you find your way home with all of that space traffic. In the words of Mike Davies, it was "DEE-lightful" to have you"awesomness" on our show. Be sure to check out their show on Babelgum, a site that is starting to become a heavy hitter in the Web TV industry.

As always, a big thank you to e.l.f. Cosmetics for helping with each episode and my favorite wardrobe gal, Roni B. (I cannot stop wearing this shirt!)

If you missed this episode, watch it here: