What do you think are the "best" Web series awards shows or festivals?
On the occasion of the Geekie Awards submissions recently opening, what does the community consider to be the "best" awards shows or festivals? The Geekies and the IAWTV awards appear to be the most prestigious events, based upon our cursory scan of numbers of followers and mentions in other media outlets, but here's our confession: we have no compass for judging this.
"Best" can be, in your opinion, along the lines of most visible, most legitimate (as in taken seriously by peers in the business), most "street cred" (as in esteemed by fans) ... whatever criteria, so long as you explain your thinking, so we can learn from it.
I think this discussion would be worthwhile for n00bs (that includes us), because every awards show or festival claims it's the "premiere blah blah blah." It would be nice to have some collective opinions in order to gauge the relative import of each of these events before one spends one's hard-earned ducats on submission fees for an event that only 14 people will attend or that no one in the real world takes seriously (might as well self-publish a novel on Amazon, am I right?).
Argentina
Australia
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Hong Kong
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Jamaica
Kuwait
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
Maldives
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Pakistan
Panama
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Republic of Korea
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sudan
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Venezuela
Vietnam
Virgin Islands, U.S.
Posts
It would be nice to see more emphasis placed on online community building and less on "awards". You can spend a lot of time running after awards and it might do little to actually build a successful franchise. On the other hand, when you build an online community that has the potential to grow if given the proper nourishment.
ReplyDeleteWe're only starting to look into this for Caledonia but some of the film festivals that are allowing web series entries are also of note, since they are already established and well known.
ReplyDeleteLong Distance submitted to @TheGeekieAwards @atxwebfest @TOWebFest today. Wish us luck!
ReplyDelete@modelmotion - agree that building an online community is just as important. it seems as though festivals are helpful in getting good exposure, which can help to build upon that community that we build online. thoughts?
ReplyDeleteThe IAWTV awards are anything but "prestigious", they are a small cluster of creators based in LA that want to create artificial prestige so they can get to where they would rather be, the TV industry. They are a joke everywhere else.
ReplyDeleteAnd there are WAY too many red flags on their panel of judges so I'll most definitely NOT be submitting any of my work to what will be another bubble schmoozefest.
ReplyDelete@Venus Spa... What do you consider "red flags"? It looks like a list of creators, festivals directors and media (http://www.iawtv.org/judges-for-the-2014-iawtv-awards/). Seems like a valid panel of peers, unless you know something about them that I don't. Not challenging you; I just would like a sense of your perspective.
ReplyDeleteLet's just say there are a LOT of people on that panel who's end game is TV and will only pick either A. people based in LA regardless of the quality of their work and B. shows that look like TV shows. Outsiders and people who create with the web in mind, (which is it's own viewing experience, not just TV on the internet,) need not apply.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is important to focus on the Web as a medium. That is what gives individuals the power to emerge from the "clutter" and do something great on the Web.........but they are unlikely (but not impossible) to do that if they simply "ape TV".
ReplyDeleteIn fact recently even TV production teams (both cast and crew) have been getting very savy at using the Web.....either deliberately or inadvertently. Just look at the activity on Twitter during any of the new CW shows and you will find their cast and crew live tweeting during both east and west coast showings. It is this willingness of the entire team to engage with an audience that makes the Web so powerful as a medium.
Of course, twitter is just one of the tools available to Web series creators and given their freedom to explore they SHOULD be able to leave TV-teams in the dust. So instead of investing in festivals I would suggest most would do better by truly investing in the Web and asking their entire team to join them in that effort 24hrs per day, 365 days per year.
Agree with your comments. TV and web will eventually become the same medium. These are just technology/delivery platforms, and TV is slowly dying, which is why TV creators are slowly coming over to the web.
DeleteAnd they are ruining the medium by trying to screw with it rather than adapting.
DeleteToo bad NOBODY in the IWCC, the "Geekie Awards" people or IAWTV respect the web as it's own medium and it's own viewing experience. Any of their executives, or members will tell you they think the web is just TV on the internet, nothing more. Those people are ALL red flags and a very toxic influence on the medium and our industry.
ReplyDeleteTrying to understand your position, what do you want "web tv" to be? Are we talking about vlogs, episodics, sketch, something else? The web is a delivery mechanism, not a genre or video format. To me, I believe there is a place for all content on the web, it just has to be categorized properly. Thoughts?
Delete"The web is a delivery mechanism"
Delete- this is only a very small part of what the Web actually is. As a pure delivery mechanism it does give you global distribution and while that may be important it is a small part of the equation.
The Web is also a "platform" in its own right. As such it empowers types of creative expression that were not possible in the mass consumption World of TV. It is up to Web series creators to explore the Web as a medium, not just a distribution platform. In fact, that is probably when Web series are most likely to find their audience, because a Web "native" audience is sensitive to media that is created for the Web as opposed to TV style content that is simply repurposed to exploit the Web for distribution.
@modelmotion - I agree with most of what you said. The one thing I would add is that the "web" is no longer just on our computers. It's on phones, tablets, TVs, and will soon be pretty much everywhere. When you mention the web as a platform that "empowers types of creative expressions that were not possible in the mass consumption World of TV", I assume you are talking about vlogs, music videos, sketches, and other short form content? I agree that these artistic forms of expression will always have a place on the web. They are much better suited for someone spending time in front of their computer. I also think that the mass consumption world of TV is merging with the web, internet, or whatever we want to call it because cable will be gone soon and it will all be web based (this is what NetFlix, Hulu, Amazon, and others are doing to the industry).
Delete@Ted you seem to not appreciate that the core of all these new platforms: phones, tablets, wearables etc is the Web. They are all driven by data on the Web that is largely just translated to the needs of a different screen. But they are all extensions of the Web, they all rely on the Web and they are all affected by the same social dynamics as the Web.
DeleteMany people today mix and match these screen experiences to create a unique composite that is centered on the Web. Like I said earlier, even TV shows on the CW are getting very competent at understanding some of the changes the Web has brought as a medium. What is surprising is that in many cases these people are becoming better at using the Web than many Web series creators who at times limit themselves by thinking in terms of a distribution model only. That, I would contend, is a HUGE mistake.
Thank you @modelmotion - I'll admit that we are first time web series creators. I think this conversation has been very insightful for us and hopefully will make us better producers in the long run. This is our first, but it won't be our last. Thanks again for the thoughts and feedback.
DeleteThe Web is always a learning process. As soon as you think you understand it, it changes. That is just the nature of the medium. So, yea we need to experiment and stretch our wings to see what works and what does not. These are exciting times and the potential for those who rise to the challenge is limitless. At the very least, its a fun ride:):):)
DeleteTV on the internet is a passive viewing experience, web series, in it's various forms, by nature is not. It is a much more intimate experience that TV people just don't get. If you can't tell the difference, you need to go on Youtube and watch more stuff that isn't just TV shows or stuff from major studios.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the sense of intimacy enabled by the Web is one of the keys. Intimacy might seem like a strange word to use but if you go back to lonelygirl15 it became a large social network.
DeleteOne key component of LG15 was the friendships and exchanges that took place between cast, crew and community (anyone remember the Bree chats?, anyone remember the IRC Prom party? etc etc). This of course was back in the MySpace days. Today we have a much richer tool set, that offer richer and deeper experiences, in many dimensions. These are not just "marketing gimmicks". People seek out this sense of intimacy and want to feel "part of" an experience where they are "friends" with all those involved. It is real and it is authentic and that is why it is powerful.