6 Reasons To Start A Web Series

With the launch today of their web series Overly Attached Andy, best described by its tagline: “a web series about love, dating and being a little too attached,” we asked writer/director (and TAA alum) , best described by its tagline: “a web series about love, dating and being a little too attached,” we asked writer/director (and TAA alum) Leena Pendharkar and producer and producer Jane Kelly Kosek to give us some reasons why it’s good to start a web series. and producer Jane Kelly Kosek to give us some reasons why it’s good to start a web series.  

Some of you might be wondering, web series? Why would anyone want to do that? We see the web as a unique space for storytelling, as well as building audiences. Here are six things we love about making a web series: 1. Bite-Sized Stories. For years I’d been writing a collection of flash fiction stories and sketches just for fun. I love writing very short stories, bite-sized moments in time about specific characters. Andy was a character I’d been thinking about for a long time—this too honest, too earnest kind of guy. I had considered writing a TV pilot, but instead decided that he might just make for the perfect web series character. —Leena Pendharkar

2. Breaking the Fourth Wall. I’d also been wanting to experiment with characters who talk directly to the audience. The web is the perfect place for this since so many successful series already do it, borrowing from Vlogger styles. It allows for greater audience interactivity and engagement. But I also wanted interesting visuals and unique blocking, so I was able to bring all of these elements together on the web in a unique way. —L.P.

3. Staying Prolific. My first feature, Raspberry Magic, was a five-year undertaking. It was an amazing, exhilarating and, of course, challenging process and I'm certainly up for doing it again. I won a Tribeca All Access® grant for my script, A Day with Dandekar, and I’m working toward making that and a couple of other movies, but I like working in the web space because it’s more immediate. —L.P.

4. Keeping Costs Low. Cost is a huge obstacle to filmmaking. It can take years to raise the financing for one short or feature film. For a film I produced, Not Since You, I took six months to raise the financing from private investors and that’s probably considered fast in the world of independent film. With a web series, it’s very easy to keep costs low and affordable. We purposefully created a series that didn’t require elaborate locations and set dressing. The Canon D5 and D7 and other prosumer cameras with lower price tags can provide great-looking footage and we try to keep lighting set ups super simple so we don’t need a big grip or lighting package to achieve good results. Often bounce cards and a few simple lights are all we need. And sound can be captured with a boom and external recorders like the H4N zooms. We’re lean and mean yet we’re still able to maintain high standards for quality. —Jane Kelly Kosek 
 5. Releasing Faster. A typical low budget feature film takes about three to six months to write and develop (can take much longer—even years), a month to prep, two to four weeks to shoot, and about three to six months to even a year to complete. On top of the time it takes to complete the film, it can take months for the film to be released to an audience. My film The Diary of Preston Plummer took over a decade from inception to completion. On the other hand, a web series can be developed, prepped, filmed and edited and even released in the time it takes you to prep a feature. It’s incredibly enticing to know you can take an idea from inception to completion in about one month and have it available to an audience in weeks instead of years. —J.K.K.

6. Building an Audience. It takes constant engagement to build an audience for our work. We’ve found that a web series is a great way to be able to feed a constant stream of storytelling to a huge online audience. Because episodes are short, we can quickly create and launch new material that keeps our audience coming back and wanting more. By building an audience through a web series, we are establishing a group of fans who will hopefully keep coming back to watch and promote all of our work, including our future feature films. Anyone creating media needs an audience and a web series is probably one of the simplest means of growing your signature brand of storytelling to a wide audience. We highly recommend it.  

[Photo: Overly Attached Andy]