Seeking Simone

Things We Learned About Making a Web Series

We're huge (HUGE) fans of The Guild and of Felicia Day (we love you, Felicia! But not in a creepy way!) and we really enjoyed her recent post about the 4 things to ask yourself before starting a web series. Educational! Insightful! Delightful!

We don't have much to add to the "before you start" discussion - but we do have a few practical no-budget-film-related tips to pass on for those of you who perhaps, like us, are not Steven Spielberg.

Here are a few of the things we learned about making a web series while we were making it:

1. Ask for what you want. Because you might get it. When you have no budget, sometimes you might be shy to ask for things. Time at locations, equipment, original music from awesome but busy friends. But something we learned (and are still learning) is that it's better not to waste time pussyfooting around. Just go for it!

Ask for what you want and then, if they can't make ALL your dreams happen, try and negotiate for what you need. You may be startled by what you can accomplish with a sweet yet straightforward request.

2. Offering to pay people in beer, snacks, good karma and internet fame is surprisingly effective! But make sure you follow up on your promise!! Particularly the part about the beer. And the snacks.

3. Consider bribes. When we ran into some trouble with the caretaker at one of our locations, it looked like we might get shut down. But then we bribed him! With a sandwich and some TimBits. Sometimes angry people are just hungry, gang.

4. If you don't know what you're doing, don't touch the equipment. It's expensive and it hates you. Get a tutorial before laying your hands on anything, theatre nerds.

5. If you're on the set, you're on the crew! It's true! Working on a no-budget web series is like showing up to help in a flood. Everyone helps move the sandbags. EVERYONE.

6. Beware the stairs. When you have a small crew, a large truck full of heavy equipment and three flights up to the location, it's good to prepare for the Herculean task ahead of time. Mentally, so that no one cries. Physically, so that no one tears a hammy.

7. You will not have time to knit. You just won't. So give it up. 

I know! Helpful, right? YOU'RE WELCOME. Stay tuned for our next "web series tips" posts -  we're thinking either: Sandbags - They're Heavy or It's Been 12 Hours and I Smell Myself.

We're at nextMEDIA in Banff!

What happens when you mix the awe-inspiring mountain vistas of Banff, digital media geeks, thin mountain air and copious cocktails? That's right - the nextMEDIA conference!

We thought it would be a terrific idea to come out to the conference as we're getting ready to launch Seeking Simone, so we could learn from the cool kids and tell a few folks about our fledging web series.

Through many miracles of time and space, our team managed to pull together the first couple of episodes just in time! Just in time to discover why Banff is such a great place for artists to avoid distractions - the internet here is slow and fussy, like a glacier who's mad at you for something and you don't know what but if you ask it, it says "if you don't know what you did, I CAN'T HELP YOU." Slow like that. Which makes it very trying to upload videos to places like, say, our website.

The upshot of this is that hey! There's a trailer for our show! It's right here on the site! On your right! Enjoy!

The first two episodes will be up next week, when we're back home with our zippy internet connections. But if you're here at the nextMEDIA conference and CAN'T WAIT to see some hot Seeking Simone action, come find us! We'll be the nerds waving these around: