Category Archives: News

Pitch Your Comedy Web Series to Senior Execs at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival

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The Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal is one of the most prestigious comedy festivals in the world.

For the second year in a row they are doing a Web Series Pitch Fest competition where you have a chance to pitch your comedy web series idea to top online channels and some of the best comedy producers in the business.  The deadline this year has just been extended but it’s soon: THIS FRIDAY: MAY 17th!

This is a typical pitch program where you compete for a chance to pitch your idea and your team to senior executives from top online channels. Last year’s winners, Mark Little and Dan Beirne, got a development deal from Cracked.com in addition to the YouTube promo.

Last year’s panel included Spencer Griffin (CollegeHumor), JC Cangilla (Yahoo!) and Michael Swaim (Cracked.com).

Finalists get to attend the ComedyPro conference, one of the top worldwide gatherings of people working in the comedy business.

First round of speakers and participants will be announced on May 23rd.

Here’s some details from the site and the LINK to submit.

Web Series Pitch:
A maximum of three (3) projects will be selected. Accepted applicants will be given five (5) minutes to present their work in an open-forum pitch session to a panel of industry experts. The winner will receive the opportunity to become an official YouTube Partner and to have their content highlighted across the YouTube site. Open to writers, producers, comics and web series creators. Click on the link for complete submission and regulation details. A non-refundable fee of $40.00 CAD must be included with each web series pitch submission (sorry, credit card payment only). If your project is not selected, you can apply the fee to a discounted JFL Comedy Conference pass.

Follow Tangled Web on Twitter!

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As I recently announced on our Facebook page, Tangled Web is expanding and will now be publishing Web Series reviews and recommendations in the print edition of the LA Weekly!   I love receiving emails from readers about the web series they are working on and am hoping to find more ways to help share and promote the ones I love.  That will include revamping the Awesome Shows section in the near future, and for now, giving Tangled Web it’s own twitter feed: @TangledWebBlog.

I’ll be able to share shows you send me that I think are great, web series industry new, and connect more quickly with readers. So follow me there if you’re a writer, working on a web series, or just want to stay on top of #webseries industry developments as more eyes move to the web.  Click the button below and remember to @TangledWebBlog about your #WebSeries!

FOLLOW @TANGLEDWEBBLOG on Twitter!

Streamy Awards are Today.

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“Content creators who are making web stuff are legitimate quality creators” (no shit Chris Hardwick!) “And we’re gonna celebrate ‘em. We’re gonna give ‘em awards!” (Thank you Chris Hardwick!)

You can watch the Streamy’s live streaming HERE. I will also be AT the Streamy awards, covering the event for the LA Weekly.  So stay tuned for my article on show recommendations, digital biz info & creator tips coming out next week.

For the past few years (this is only the 3rd annual) these awards have been patting the same group of creators on the back and congratulating each other, and based on the nominee list, it doesn’t look like this year is much different. But as more quality content (yours) arrives on the scene, these awards will get more competitive and hopefully help driving views towards good content as opposed to just honoring those who are able to gain a following.

Competition to win $15,000/ Episode to Produce Your Web Series

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Zoomtilt is a really interesting company combining branded entertainment with web series. Sure, it might make your stomach turn a little to think of bending your artistic vision to incorporate a brand’s desires, but maybe there’s a brand out there with a similar mission statement, interested in the same stories as you.

Vistaprint, the company partnering in this competition, is looking for web series to partner with.  I’m not willing to turn my nose up at this, especially since… network TV is a slave to it’s sponsors too and we don’t judge writers who want to work there. Hell, I want to work there. So check out this company and see if this competition might be right for you. Share your thoughts below and if you submit, keep me updated on your story.

Announcing the Launch of the Vistaprint Micro-Business Web Series Competition

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To Season Two, or Not To Season Two? That was the Question for Shilpi Roy and Hipsterhood. Read Why (& How) She Went For It

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Screen shot 2013-02-06 at 12.14.30 AM
What made you personally want to do a season 2?

I will be totally honest. After season 1 I was totally burned out. If I never heard the word hipster again, it would be too soon. All I wanted to do was move onto my next project, which I envisioned would be – an artsy, dramatic feature film that would only be appreciated by art lovers; the opposite of Hipsterhood. But then all these little twitter and youtube comments kept popping up for me, and it was Hipsterhood fans who really wanted to know what happens to Cereal Guy and Faux Fur Girl. Like, they REALLY wanted to know, and they were upset the story was over. It wasn’t an overwhelming amount of comments, but I started to feel a responsiblity to my fans.

And so, I got over myself, and I wrote season 2. Believe me when I say season 2 is not about money, or fame, or even career-building. Season 2 is happening because the fans made me realize that the story of Hipsterhood is not over.

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New Tangled Web Section: Josie & Dale

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Josie & Dale
is my comedic, episodic web series about an introverted, stick-in-the mud who decides to change her life by renting her living room to the most uninhibited guy she can find.

Still from Episode 4 of Josie & Dale: The Solo

Still from Episode 4 of Josie & Dale: The Solo

I wrote, co-produced, and co-star in the series alongside the very talented (and uninhibited!) Leland Karn.

This section of Tangled Web (located in the menu bar next to Types of Web Series) is where I’ll share what I learn during each step of the process.  Check out the Origin Story Page to see how comedy director/writer Mark Rutman & writer Jason Kaleko helped me  turn my script from a four page, passive bore-fest into a dynamic, emotional, three act structured story. Check out the Episode & Season Structure Page to see our detailed Structure Bible for each episode and the season.  Mark & Jason gave me great advice that I think would be useful to anyone setting out to write a web series.

 Josie & Dale is now in post and will premiere in Spring 2013!

In the meantime, check out this section of the blog for info and advice on each step of the web series making process & like our Facebook Page to check out behind the scenes pics from all four episodes!

Still from Episode 1 of Josie & Dale: Bikram Shakra Transcendency Yoga

Still from Episode 1 of Josie & Dale: Bikram Shakra Transcendency Yoga

1pm Today Unofficial Google+ Film Festival Hosts Online Panel of Top Web Series Creators

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Looks likea  great lineup of smart, accomplished web series makers at the Unoffical Google+ Film Festival’s free online web series creator panel today.

Check out the lineup of panelists HERE:

Watch the panel discussion HERE at 1pm PST

Here’s the blurb from the site:

photo (6)Web Series Panel
Join us on Friday Nov 30th 2012 at 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm PST (GMT -8) for a insightful and fascinating discussion about what makes a web series a web series and why should you make one?   Joining us is an amazing group of experts and professionals who have been successful at the web series game.

YouTube Could Fund Your Web Series – Check Out Their New 41,000-sq ft Studio For Their Creators

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Photo by: Christina House, Los Angeles Times – Puppeteers and actors film the new Web Series “Learning Town” at the new YouTube facilities. -Christina House, Los Angeles Times

YouTube has now invested $300 million dollars in it’s original content channels and has just opened a 41,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art studio for its creators in Playa Del Rey.

The LA Times published a great article on Friday about YouTube’s new production facility where their creators will have access to state of the art equipment, facilities, classes and more.  From the article: “Everything about this facility is about putting creators in settings that they may not have been in before,” said Liam Collins, head of the YouTube Space. “The facility is all about being more ambitious with your content, and this is a place where you can see the possibilities.”  - Check out the rest of the article HERE.

This past May, YouTube presented three of it’s channels and itself at the advertising upfronts for the first time.  The NY Times wrote a great who/what/why article called Small Screens, Big Dollars about what’s being called the NewFronts or new upfronts, which encourage marketers and agencies to spend more money on digital ads.

This signifies a huge shift in viewers, and therefore hopefully ad revenue and ultimately production money, to the web.  Advertisers like the idea of investing in SERIES TYPE CONTENT on the web, so you may not need to make your web series just to sell your TV show anymore.  Your web series IS the show.

See the list of YouTube’s funded original channels HERE.  Could your concept fit at one of these channels? If so, you might have some funding and a state of the art studio at your fingertips faster than you think.

Photo By Christina House, Los Angeles Times -The new You Tube studio for its creators in Playa Del Rey

 

 

The Reluctant Celebrity Ad Campaign! Get More Views the Unconventional Way

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Robin Williams Does Not Want To Be Here.

Chloe Taylor (Private Practice, Ave 43) and Jennifer Erholm write and star in the quirky serialized drama web series The Mop and Lucky Files about two girls who start a PI firm in an abandoned storage unit.  They had a lot going for them: compelling script, high production value, great actors, and yet… few views came their way.  Granted, they had a lot working against them too: They aren’t endorsed by a YouTube channel or brand, and they have long episodes and dramatic plot driven content, still a tough sell on the web.

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