Seven more reasons to create a web series
by Matt · Leave a Comment
If you thought the last four advantages to creating a web series were good enough to get you started, here are seven more reasons to turn your film idea into a web series:
- No Rules - The only rule is to please your audience, and don’t break the law. Make a violent comedy, or a PG horror movie. No industry exec is going to tell you “That won’t work”. Which brings us to our next point…
- No Gatekeepers - There is absolutely no one between you and your audience. No one decides whether or not your series is released except you.
- Time of Return - If you make a movie, it might take you two years to get distribution, and then another 6 months before you see a cent…if you see any money at all. What if instead, you had actual cash in your hands only a month after you’ve released your first episode?
- Synergy - Lets say you really like this idea of making a web series. What if you make a new series with a different concept? You could advertise it at the end of the episodes of your current series. If your first series has run for 6 months, then you can capitalize on six months of promotion, and give your new series a huge jump start. Taken to the extreme, you could create a multitude of different series, and start your own internet tv channel.
- The low cost of “failure” - You are definitely going to get some views. If you keep your production expenses as low as possible, then there is a much much greater chance of breaking even….even with a total flop. Not to mention there is no intrinsic loss of face. If you got a movie green lit by a studio, filmed it, and it was a flop…you’ll have a tough time working in the industry again. On the net you’ll just be some person who made a crappy video, and if you make something better everyone will completely forget about it.
- Feedback - The key to success in any business is knowing your audience. The beauty of the web is the ease of organizing data. With a little web savvy, you can keep tabs on your fans and their interests. Not to mention, all of these video sites offer the ability for people write comments. You can interact with your audience, and find what they really like. If they like a certain character, your subsequent episodes could include more of them.
- Getting bought - As I mentioned in my article on the
Writers Strike , even though the WGA strike is now over, the studios will still be looking to the net for new content. They’ve already been doing so, and its only going to increase. What if you could have the studios coming to you? Imagine having the studios begging you for your product, where its you and not the studios who have the bargaining power. - Comedy - The Internet video world is built on comedy. It doesn’t matter if you are a single guy standing in front of a poorly lit white table cloth, if your writing is funny you will probably do just fine.
- Nerds - I’d call it a sub genre of comedy since most nerd shows are comedies, but shows based around people being nerdy tend to do quite well on the internet. Case in point the series, Pure Pwnage, which is about hardcore video game players. The fact is, the majority of 16 to 34 year olds on the internet (you’re target audience) consider themselves to be nerdy. Either they are gamers, played dungeons and dragons as a kid, or are expert programmers…they all consider themselves nerds. And as such, they can identify with a protagonist who is a bit geeky, who doesn’t quite fit in.
- Teen Drama - Most people would assume drama doesn’t do well on the net, but it does when targeted specifically for young teen girls ages 15 to 23. This is the sort of show where Shelly cheats on Ben with Kellie, then Kelli finds out, and so on. The greatest benefit of this type of show is the social nature of your target audience. Girls in that age group are much more likely to forward your clips, discuss it on forums, or link you all over myspace than your average male audience. Make a good show and your audience will be very loyal. The only downside is its probably much harder to make good merchandise for this sort of show.
- Action - Action is probably the genre that requires the most skill, and thus hasn’t been utilized very well on the web just yet. Action is a cinematography heavy genre, so I’d recommend brushing up on your skills, and buying a good HD camera before jumping into an action series. However, if you can really get an intense action series going (think 24 type of intense), then there is a good chance you’ll enjoy pretty rapid and viral success.
Four genres that make for profitable internet series
by Matt · Leave a Comment
The internet is an unusual place, so its best not to automatically assume that what works in the movie world will work well on the internet, or vice versa. However, there are several time tested genres that work great for fictional web series: