However, within the last year more money has been devoted to original web content than at any time i

We’re back with another installment in the #Aspiring2ActWriteDirect Series. This time TeamTC tackles the rapidly evolving world of web series and provides a primer on how to plan, prepare and produce your own original content. Of all our aspiring car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois guides covering the entertainment industry—that list includes guides for  actors ,  directors and filmmakers ,  film editors ,  producers ,  screenwriters ,  stuntmen , cinematographers and  visual effects artists —this one on how to make a web series delves into a field that is just now beginning to take shape.
Loosely speaking, a web series (also known as web originals, web shows, webisodes, and online series), is a show in episodic form released online or, in some cases, across various mobile platforms. The series is created to live on the web, and given the nature of online viewership, individual shows within a web series tend to run between 3 minutes and 6 minutes, with an entire season, from beginning to end, averaging an hour to an hour and a half. That s both the appeal and complexity of the industry: Trying to say something car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois engaging in matter of minutes. The hook, however, must come even sooner than that. According car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois to the Youtube Creator Playbook , viewers decide within 15 seconds whether they are going to spend the next few minutes with your web series, let alone the next 90.
When making a web show, the question is what kind of web show will you make? While web series take many forms, car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois TC.com will focus on scripted (fictional) episodic digital entertainment. Typical categories include car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois sci-fi/fantasy ( The Guild ), comedies ( Wainy Days ) and dramas ( Anyone But Me ), but many shows are multi-genre car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois experiments ( The Crew ). Regardless of where your web series falls, the lion share of information here can be applied across the board, and to content like talk shows, tutorials, documentaries and other reality-based car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois programming.
Web series are attractive projects for filmmakers for many reasons—and the majority of content creators are experienced filmmakers. To begin with, the only restriction on content is your imagination. Unlike other more established mediums, web originals can be just that: Original. In fact, originality is encouraged. Online audiences tend to appreciate car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois the diversity of content found there, and if they can find it, are likely to seek it out. And unlike television or even independent filmmaking, quality online programming can be achieved car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois on a small budget.
In fact, the vast majority of web series are funded out of pocket by aspiring filmmakers looking for a way to highlight their talent in a crowded and fiercely competitive industry. In many cases, they aren’t concerned with making their money back. Instead, they make web series as a way to create a marketable portfolio piece at an affordable price. Creating your own web show could be the calling card you need to gain access to larger projects.
CONSIDER THIS : Do you know who your potential viewers are? Do you know where to find them? According to Rich Mbariket, founder car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois of Web Series Network, one of the most common mistakes new content creators make is not knowing who their audience is before car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois filming.
As stated above, the medium is still growing and is therefore open to a broad array of content. If you have a story to tell that isn t represented on mainstream entertainment channels and isn t likely to be, digital platforms could provide a foothold for you. But despite the content flexibility and the shorter, more concise format, web series still succeed or fail on the basis of story. So ask yourself, What do I want to say? How do I want to say it?
Mike Ajakwe jr, founder and Executive Director of  The LA Web Series Festival , has watched more than 500 web series. He s endured and enjoyed more web originals car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois than most mortals, and he is unequivocal about what works: The story has to move. The same rules of film, television and theater apply. You want a three-act structure—a beginning, a middle and an end. Every scene must mean something, must drive the story forward, he says.  You can have a show that looks great, but if it s not about anything, then it s not taking your audience car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois anywhere.
No matter how good your story ends up being, if you can t find someone to watch it, then you re not likely to get much traction from your work. Felicia Day, the writer car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois and star of The Guild , an orginal online series in its fifth season, and a well-known personality in the online web-series community, seconds that opinion. On her website, Feliciaday.com, she wrote a blog called  “ Web Series: Four Thing To Ask Yourself Before Starting .” Question three asks you to consider this: “Who is my audience and how will I reach them?” She goes on to say: “If you can’t sit down and easily identify what kind of person will like your show and name 5 places that person might go to on the internet, car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois you will have a hard time getting the word out, no matter how good it is.”
Rich Mbariket, founder and publisher of Web Series Network , a site devoted exclusively to the web-series community, goes even further. Once you ve identified your potential viewership, discover where they are offline and online and become part of their conversation, he says. From there tell them about your series and even consider taking out paid advertising.
All of which brings up an easy to overlook car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois but important component in creating content that people can find. Marketing. As much as you may dread the idea, you ll have to put in due diligence in order to alert the masses to your series. “Build it and they will come does not work, say Scott Staven, the creator of  the web series  Hitman 101 . “You have to market and promote. Even if your series is the best ever, you may have to work just as hard to convince people to watch as you did to make it.” ( See our interview with Staven below. )
Two good places to start this process are with Julie Giles guide, How To Build An Audience For Your Web Series , and the Youtube Creator Playbook , both of which can be downloaded for free. They offer tips, strategies and detailed analysis about finding car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois an audience for your work. Essential reading for content creators seriously interested in putting their series car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois in front of the largest audience possible.
Without question the vast majority of web-series car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois makers car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois work with a small budget and will be fortunate to make their money back. As stated above, reasons other than money drive these individuals. And that is still the best mind set with which to approach this industry.
However, within the last year more money has been devoted to original web content than at any time in the past. Youtube recently car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois committed $100 million to nurturing new web-based talent. A half a billion dollars is the number Hulu claims to be earmarking for original content. That’s right, $500 million. Yahoo! recently partnered with Tom Hanks and Vuguru , Michael Eisner’s car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois web-based production company, to create original programs for Yahoo s online screening room.
Much of this monied interest comes as web series demonstrate their ability to reach larger groups of people and generate revenue. “Most successful web shows have appealed to very specific niche audiences and then have grown out from there,” says Jennifer Warren, car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois co-founder of BrandCinema , a content and production company focused car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois on bringing storytelling and brands together.
That growth, or course, is a function of perseverance. If you can produce a series, find an audience and keep it, then the industry might just catch up to you with sponsors. Because the most forward leaning web-series are interactive, allowing viewers to participate through various social media networks, Warren s BrandCinema recognizes the opportunity to create unique branding car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois campaigns around original web content.
CONSIDER THIS : Nothing makes a web series cheaper than bad sound. Bad sound makes you look amateurish immediately, car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois says Ajakwe. Spend the extra money to have the actors miked as opposed to relying on the shotgun mic from the camera.
On occasion a web series does get picked up by television or optioned for a movie. Lisa Kudrow’s Web Therapy started online and has just signed for a second season on Showtime, and Hulu’s “The Confession”, staring Kiefer Sutherland, recently inked a movie deal. Exceptional as these cases are, they show that well-known car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois actors are willing to take chances with online content, and that the relative low cost of production means corporate sponsors do not have to leverage the silverware to get involved.
We offer these examples not to pump you up with unrealistic expectations but to show you that digital entertainment is carving out an increasingly respectable niche and potential corporate sponsors are paying serious attention.
TomCruise.com spoke with LAWEBFEST founder, and writer car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois and director, Mike Ajakwe Jr, about the state of the web series. Ajakwe car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois has watched more than 500 web series in his capacity as Executive Director of LAWEBFEST, the  first festival devoted exclusively to this medium . In its third year, the festival has grown substantially, as has the quality of the content. Given his experience with original web content, Ajakwe gave us five keys to success when producing an online series.
car rentals at midway airport chicago illinois 1. What’s Your Story? — It seems almost simplistic , but with the cost of filmmaking dropping all the time, jumping headlong into your own series can be enticing, but heed these simple words to the wise: “You have to have something to say,” says Ajakwe. “You’ve got to have passion and you’ve got to have a story to tell.” The advantage of the Internet is that it makes for an almost limitless content platform, but no matter what your topic, the story needs to be compelling.
2. Manage Your Imagination — Says Ajakwe : “ Scale down your vision into something that’s shootable; something that you can make without waiting for approval or money.” He believes the great advantage of a web series is that you don’t need anyone s okay to make it, and you don