Leesa Dean on a Death in the Web Series “Family”

Adventures in Digital Series Land #107
by Leesa Dean

BLIP was one of the early platforms that showed and monetized web series.Chilltown, my series, was on there and I received nearly 50,000 views on just one episode when they featured it on their front page for just one day. And that amounted to cash. Which was great. It wasn’t a huge amount, but way more than YouTube’s payout.

The people there also were actively very supportive of the series on their platform. They promoted my show on Google + and Twitter. Which was really helpful and cool.

When Maker Studios purchased it in 2013, right in the middle of Chilltown’s run it didn’t affect things for me but I knew something was going to shift. At the time, they publicly stated (and sent letters to creators on BLIP) that they’d be dropping a lot of web series. I wasn’t dropped but a about seven months later, Disney bought Maker for $500 million and I was certain I’d be dropped. Mostly cause I thought the cursing in my series just didn’t fit the Disney brand. Surprisingly, I wasn’t. And even though I stopped adding content, I continued to receive some views.

So while my presence there wasn’t making me any money as of late, I still had really good feelings about BLIP. So when I got a letter from Maker this week saying they’d be shutting it down, I went ahead and deleted all of my content there.

RIP BLIP. Onward and upward. I’m glad to be a part of Frederator for the new series I’m doing. This week, I completed the last of 60 mini-animations for the new show and while I still have a ways to go production-wise, I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and it’s getting exciting!

Before I go, wanted to share this article by Sarah Ullman who has a cool blog/newsletter called The Jungle dedicated to YouTube news and analysis. She breaks down VidCon, a VERY cool event that I wish I was attending this year. Maybe next. If you’re going, let me know in the comments!

Leesa Dean is the creator of CHILLTOWN TV, a digital series to reckon with. Learn more about Leesa and the series HERE

Author: ChilltownTV

I'm primarily a writer. Sold a few series to tv networks and production companies but never had anything get on the air. So I taught myself how to animate and completed 3 digital series, launching two. The first, Chilltown has been named one of "Five Web Series That Should Be on Your Radar" by ABCNews/Univision and a "Show to Watch" by Tubefilter. The second, Lele's Ratchet Advice Show, garnered a fanatic cult following. As a result, I now do Lele's 60 Second Wrap Up, a weekly comedic entertainment report (which I write & perform) that airs on urban radio stations Rhythm 105.9fm and the Just Wake Up Morning Show on WWRNfm. View all posts by ChilltownTV