The "limited engagement" webseries

[Chamber005]

So lots of moving and shaking on the interweb concerning webseries. People are beginning to get budgets from studios for creator-owned projects, etc.

I originally had been doing a webseries, got funding and so had to remove it for corporate structuring, and now while we're filming we've been discussing the best possible way to release the series.

My partners (the guys with most of the money involved) have felt really fixed on doing what they believe to be the first ever direct-to-DVD series (I'm not even sure if it would be the first ever, but that's kind of besides the point for me). Since the original piece was episodic in nature (and intended for the web) and since they asked me to take the feature follow-up script and integrate that into the original whole (which I think works really well, so that was awesome), they felt it would hold up as a series, not just as a web series. Additionally it's their position that something sitting on the web indefinitely has no real value. Thus we'd be, in essence, devaluing it.

My argument is that we're nobody. No one knows us and we don't have a very large audience yet and the audience we do have came from internent television and not necessarily from people who watch tv and then go out and buy the series they just watched. My position is that when you're first starting out audience matters above all else. But the money isn't all mine. I have to think in real, marketing terms and overall saleability of THIS product, not just future projects and fandom.

From a marketing standpoint, all of the large studios (including Whedon and the way he handled Dr. Horrible) released their webseries episodically, week after week on a LIMITED ENGAGEMENT. Near the end of the run they start taking pre-orders on the DVD/Bluray, working with Hulu, etc. And a week after the series ends, all of the episodes are taken down and only a trailer with reviews remain.

I, personally, think this might be the best of both worlds. Obviously the first people there are going to get it for free, but maybe by the time they tell their friends and those friends tell more friends, all that's left online is the trailer (and a recommendation from a friend). I think this would potentially get us the all-important fanbase while helping to maintain the intrinsic "value" of the piece overall.

It's kind of like how the people over at Ink "accidentally" leaked their film on torrent sites. That brought about a fanbase (or, recommendations), and all the people like yours truly who aren't apt to download from illegal downloading sites purchased the movie or downloaded it via Netflix (I did both actually).

I always get such awesome feedback here. I'm wondering what you guys think, from a marketing standpoint, is the best idea for us moving forward.

 

[Samueldoran]

Not knowing anything about marketing, it seems to me that the best idea for people who are just starting out is to do everything you can to get your name out there. Build a fanbase, spread the word about your series. Post it everywhere you can. Once you get enough people watching it, you can try to get it on Netflix and Hulu, and start selling DVDs/BDs. It is doubtful that anyone will straight up pay for a webseries from a complete unknown. Even an established name like Joss Whedon had to release his web content for free in order to establish enough of a fan base for that particular series.
I'm about to go in to pre-production on a webseries myself and the idea of fundraising is pretty daunting, although I do have the makings of a kick ass crew on board already, and a couple of names that I think can bring something to the bargaining table.


Good luck with everthything, and keep posting your progress. I love to hear about it.

 

[Chamber005]

Not knowing anything about marketing, it seems to me that the best idea for people who are just starting out is to do everything you can to get your name out there. Build a fanbase, spread the word about your series. Post it everywhere you can. Once you get enough people watching it, you can try to get it on Netflix and Hulu, and start selling DVDs/BDs. It is doubtful that anyone will straight up pay for a webseries from a complete unknown. Even an established name like Joss Whedon had to release his web content for free in order to establish enough of a fan base for that particular series.
I'm about to go in to pre-production on a webseries myself and the idea of fundraising is pretty daunting, although I do have the makings of a kick ass crew on board already, and a couple of names that I think can bring something to the bargaining table.


Good luck with everthything, and keep posting your progress. I love to hear about it.

Yeah, raising money can always be a tricky thing. And, as always, keeping things as cheap as is humanly possible is always best on your first time out in the marketplace. My position has always been, "If you can't afford to produce the script that you wrote, write a different script." There are so many ways to tell a story inexpensively. A few of them are:

1) Ensemble cast. It's a lot easier to get actors to work for free if you aren't asking for weeks and weeks of their time.

2) Rent good audio equipment, buy cheap video and lighting equipment. Any of the newer 24p HD camcorders or DSLRs will suffice these days. If you can get your hands on a DVX or HVX, all the better. For audio, while it would probably make sense to purchase a decent recorder, a great mixer and mics might be out of your price range. Lots of rental places are closed part of the weekend, so if you rent on a friday you can sometimes swing a lower overall rate. Of course if you have a friend who owns sound equipment, you're blessed!

3) Production value at no cost. If you live in a big city, use it. Get footage out and about in the city. It just entrenches your production with dollars. More importantly, though, is learning visual effects, 3D and make-up. If you can create great make-up effects and great visual effects, although it takes a huge amount of time for you to produce it yourself, the production value literally explodes. While most of us here have a pretty good handle on make-up and special effects, the average audience memeber is still awed when some dude's hand lights up. (Andrew Kramer from videocopilot.net has tons of stuff for AE. He never took a class or went to college for it, he just rocks it from practicing). Other people doing their own effects are the director's of Ink and My Stepdad's a Freakin Vampire.

4) Musicians. Don't fall into the trap of using crappy computerized music. Better to ask some local musicians to play either established pieces or pieces you (or they) have composed (just watch out for copyrights).

5) Marketing and Impressions. With a good ad and some good strategizing, 50 bucks will get you a half million impressions (on about 300 thousand unique impressions) on facebook. Youtube is about the same. Myspace is dead and buried. You should still have a page there, but it won't matter much. Also, I find that local marketing is a sweet strategy, especially if you're in a large city. So, for me, it's about making sure that anyone and everyone in Chicago is hearing about or has heard about my project. Even if they don't know what it is, if you have a presence in your city, long term, that will give you an edge when it comes to sales, local merchant assistance as well as location cooperation.

These are the things I've been learning so far. We actually had a kind of "beta test run" on the series which was so great because we were able to use audience feedback as well as critical feedback to improve on some sections we weren't sure about. Sometimes doing something as simple as a two episode shot that takes place in the universe you're developing is enough to get the feedback you need and to start your fanbase. We got about 300 fans on facebook and about 400 on MySpace after just airing two episodes.

Keep me posted on your project as well! I think web based media really is going to be the most important force for the independent over the next couple of decades. So the earlier you can show up and impress there and compete with the big studios who are venturing in on the shallow ends of the pool with their overblown budgets and B-list actors, all the better. As really there isn't a media format out there right now besides on the web where the indie can really compete effectively alongside the multi-billion dollar guys. Unlike everywhere else (even including comic books), on the web, content really is king.

 

[Samueldoran]

Luckily I've got equipment pretty much secured for free from interning at the local public access TV station. I might need to rent some additional lights to supplement the 3 point kit that they have but I've also lit a night for day scene using 3-point and some work lights and it came out pretty damn good considering the limitations. Music should be simple too since I'm friends with tons of musicians who write and record original stuff. I've already got somebody working on the score for the credits.

My main concerns for budget are costuming (it isn't a period piece but it's important for at least the primary characters to look pretty good), props (some guns), and fight choreography. I've been talking to a guy who owns a production studio and does the stunt coordination for fantasy and scifi movies and has himself a prop room that might have everything we need. Going to have to finalize the script before I can get an esitmate from him but he seemed pretty interested in the project. There's also locations which I'm going to push really hard to get for free but there will probably be 3-4 shooting days inside of a warehouse. If we can't get that for free then we probably could at a reasonable rate. And then of course there's catering and transporation, and finally, I really want to be able to pay all of the cast and crew, even if it's chump change.

We'll be shooting it in Denver, which will provide for some very nice looking exteriors. I want to get in touch with the people that made Ink (which was shot in Denver) and ask them about how they went about fundraising, and hopefully get them interested in being involved somehow.

I love the script and I think it will be great when everything comes together but I'm nervous because I haven't produced anything of this scope before and it will be my first time trying to do fundraising. Luckily I have years of experience doing things on a shoestring budget (just shot a feature for about 10k, did another one years ago for just under 3).