Must reading for those of us who are pursued by the “Make Your Own Web Series” demons. Which, in this day and age, probably could well mean us all:
Above: Kim Spurlock shows us how it’s done
For indie filmmakers, the challenges of creating a web series may be the same as for a short or feature – slim funding, a crowded market, difficulties in building an audience and limited path for pricing models. But digital content has its own set of demands and requirements.
Yes! It’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here!!! That’s exactly what my feelings were when Aaron told me he launched the first novella of Cargo on Amazon. Because, as you know, this was an extremely long and arduous road in getting to this moment.
So, the last time I wrote one of these. I was talking about another setback and was trying to find the bright side of the situation in order to learn, grow, and keep going. However, since then, I have gone through a flurry of emotions and life changes both professional and personal that had me wanting to quit.
As a matter of fact, I remember texting Aaron one day with the intentions of telling him. I was going to focus on “something more productive” is how I rationalized it in my mind. But, before I could even get to tell him that, he inspired me to keep going, showing me on a deeper level what being in a team is all about (Because really, I was out, hahahaha!)
Confession #1: Sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) I wake up in the morning and feel like a failure. Why? Duh. Cause my career isn’t where I feel it should be. And, partly, cause I had a Quick! Easy! Fast! kinda-sorta success when I started out. And since then? Well, let’s just say I’m trying to catch up. This is not about depression, btw. I’m not depressed. In fact, I’m a happy person and actually pretty optimistic about how things will turn out .
The Background: I made a big rookie mistake when I started: I actually believed my agent/manager would get me work. So I didn’t spend every waking hour networking and writing writing writing. Yeah, I had more ideas. Yeah, I worked on some. And wrote a few spec scripts. But since right out the box, I sold a spec script to a network (with virtually no experience under my belt), I thought it would just magically keep happening like that.
Spoiler alert: It didn’t.
(*Yes, that is his real name. No, it’s not a euphemism.)
We decided to hatch a plan to cast the thing, rehearse a bit too long, hold a few public readings, and then produce the series ourselves for the web (along with a third producer, the effervescent Eddie Follis).
With the pilot episode ‘in the can’ and almost ready to go live online, I sat down with Jason to pick his brain about his brain, his brainchild, and his brainchild’s brainchildren. The following is our interview.
It’s 1983, and your local PBS station is doing its best to teach you all about the wonders of the computer age. Not that the computer age has arrived yet…but according to this very funny satire, it will:
See all the episodes HERE