(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Story So Far starts HERE)
Well, this week has been busy, to say the least. I’ve been hard at work, not only with Cargo 3120, but in other areas of my life: real estate, acting, short films, and family. But, as I write this, I’m seeing that busy is not entirely accurate; productive is more like it. And all I’ve done is stick to my 2015 schedule: health, family, work, and passion.
I’m deep into the promo prep phase of the new series. And what that involves is brainstorming, writing promo bits, writing the trailer and figuring out a social media strategy.
I want to approach this show differently than I did Chilltown, which I essentially just launched without much forethought. Put out a trailer. Put out a few sneak peaks of the show. But I was learning while I was in the middle now.
Now, hypothetically at least, I’ve learned a few things so I’m trying to do this with some structure. It’s hard to tell when things literally change constantly and unpredictably all the time. The main thing is: how to stick out in a wildly glutted market? When you don’t really have a budget to pay a real publicist. It’s tough. And it takes time.
Speaking with a few writers and directors on the topic of “writing short,” I learned that writing TV commercials and promos is a great way to hone one’s writing skills. Face it: 10 seconds to a minute – not a whole lot of time to get a point across, is it?
Okay, so I don’t write commercials. But WEB series episodes (not counting the hour-long House of Cards) are necessarily short. Maybe not half a minute, but definitely not full TV episode running times.
“Lilac” has ten characters in its ensemble cast. Each has his own life, story, problems, etc. One season is thirteen episodes of roughly ten minutes each (the Pilot Episode plays for 15 minutes). So each season is essentially a feature film. But it’s broken up into ten-minute segments. Something has to “happen” in each episode.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Story So Far starts HERE)
Okay, so it’s 6AM Monday morning. The day after I wrote the awe-inspiring blog post in which I break down my new schedule for 2015. Only, all those inspirational emotions are no longer with me. As a matter of fact, all I’m feeling at the moment is a strong desire to close my eyes. Y’all know what I’m talking about; when you make plans and you’re ready to go because everything is sounding so great in your head. But, once that moment comes to take action, you’re feeling little to none of that motivation at all.
Things are moving so quickly, not just on the personal front but in the world of web series/digital media.
First, tons of interesting and cool things going down on the web, including Discoverlaunching on Snapchat with partners Comedy Central, ESPN, CNN and more. This is the one I’m really keeping my eye on. Mainly because I’m thinking of doing some promo on Snapchat for my new series.
Also, Hulu just picked up a few more shows from YouTubers Freedie Wong and Flama. More instances where being online, staying consistent, not just with delivery of content, but also with your niche. For anyone out there thinking of launching a web series or show online, those are two biggies to keep in mind.