Tag: Chilltown TV

Leesa Dean: Adventures of a Web Series Newbie

spinal-tapChapter 42 – That Stonehenge Moment
by Leesa Dean

Intense week! In a good way. Been on a roll writing Season Two of the Lele Show. Tweaking, making changes and I hope people like it. Not putting deadlines in the mix–I have too much on my plate. But, hopefully, will be done writing all the episodes in about a month or month and a half (there are 36 new eps and an ADDITIONAL 36 pieces of supplemental stuff that have to be written/shaped.)

Also working on a two brand new shows I’m really excited about. And one is live action. They’re still in the development stages so it’s quite a juggling act: finding the time each day to work on The Lele Show, each of the two new shows, production on the TOP SECRET PROJECT and the few freelance gigs I have (just got a call for a very very cool one but it’s too soon to talk fully about it.)

Speaking of production on the TOP SECRET PROJECT: gearing up for two shoots. And one is this Sunday. So busy tweaking the script, speaking with my producing partner and finalizing tech stuff and speaking with the guy who’s doing Camera 2. read article

Leesa Dean: Adventures of a Web Series Newbie

yearofyesChapter 41 – The Year of Yes?
by Leesa Dean

Hope everybody had a great New Years! I did, went to two great parties. Great food, great mix of people, just what I needed to start the year off right.

And in the middle of it all, guess what? We got a celeb to work on the show! Wow.

After about a month of trying, it worked so easily. Contacted his manager, he had seenChilltown, loved it and wanted to be involved. No, he’s not a huge household name, but he has enough of one to add some more credibility to the project (the BIG TOP SECRET PROJECT I’ve been mentioning here). read article

The Best “Peer Produced” Web Series of 2013 are:

A whole bunch of great shows that prove that nobody really needs a big budget to create great TV/video…unless they want to eat as well as knock out winners all day.

Here are our Top 5 Faves
…alphabetically cuz we couldn’t decide between ’em:

2 HOT GIRLS IN THE SHOWER read article

Leesa Dean: Adventures of a Web Series Newbie

scoop boxes 001Chapter 39 – Movie Premiere and YouTube Issues
by Leesa Dean

So,last night, I was invited to the premiere of August: Osage County, the new Julia Roberts/Meryl Streep movie. I’m a member of NY Women In Film & Television and sometimes they have perks like that. I was lucky enough to get on the list. Going to a premiere that NYWIFT members (and SAG members) are invited to is always fun cause so many people know each other in the audience. It’s like being in middle school. Everyone getting out of their seats to yak and schmooze. And we had plenty of time to do it cause there was a huge insulated red carpet set up outside (temperature was in the teens last night) which took FOREVER so the movie started nearly an hour past the official show time.

The screening was at the Ziegfeld theater, which is a really cool, old-school movie house on 54th Street. Highlights: Harvey Weinstein announced the film and Sam Shepard (!!!) was there in person (so was Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin and a few of the other stars.) But…I didn’t like it. In fact, I almost walked out (but kept thinking, ok, lemme give this another chance. Maybe it’ll get better.)

It seemed more like a stage play than a film. I felt the characters were incredibly cliched and the direction was awful (especially after just seeing Inside Llewyn Davis which was just brilliant and layered.) It reminded me of Mommy Dearest. This morning I spoke with a writer friend whose taste I respect. He saw the play on Broadway and felt the same way. Tracy Letts, who wrote the Broadway play also wrote the script so that makes sense. These days, where there’s so much really really good writing on tv (and on the web), it’s shocking to see a Miramax movie that’s actually over-the-top bad. On the positive side, there was free buttered popcorn. read article

Leesa Dean: Adventures of a Web Series Newbie

itisaliveChapter 38 – And…We’re Back!
by Leesa Dean

Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving. I did! Both of my parents passed away a number of years ago and I don’t have any brothers/sisters so over the time, friends have become family. I normally cook and have a bunch of folks over for dinner or get invited someplace. This year, I spent it with one of my oldest friends at her parent’s house. Our folks were best friends with mine and growing up we always spent the holidays together, so it was a really warm and nice full circle kinda thing.

And right after, I threw myself back into work. Aside from writing/prepping Season Two of the Lele Show and the TOP SECRET project I’ve been working on, I have a few more scripts I’m nursing, including a movie, two tv specs and a new web series. And that’s just for next year. I have no idea when I’ll be done with them all, but it’s fun and I’m having a good time ideating. One thing that’s been really inspiring: The official selections at this year’s Sundance Film Fest. Included is Dear White People by Justin Simiem which looks dope!, plus a film by the wildly prolific Joe Swanberg starring one of my favorite writer/directors, Lena Dunham. Also this year, Low Down which is a bio pic about bebop pianist Joe Albany told from the perspective of his daughter AJ (she actually wrote a pretty juicy/interesting/heartbreaking memoir about growing up with him.) Can’t wait to check all of them out when they’re released.

It’s gonna be interesting when I launch Season Two of the Lele Show. I’ll still be working on all the other projects and it takes SO MUCH work to promote a web series, I really don’t know how I’ll be able to juggle it all. read article