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What happens if your web series doesn’t hit it big?
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    The stories that tend to get the most coverage in the web series world are success stories — shows signing deals, partnering with big companies or finding new outlets for distribution. Independent creators working in this space are classic underdogs, attempting to overcome obscurity and low budgets with sheer talent and determination, and it’s exciting to see them break through. What we don’t talk about, however, are the folks who don’t succeed at breaking through to the next level.

    Last month, Jonathan Nail, the writer, creator and star of the independently produced Solo, announced that he and his team would not be producing anymore episodes of the sci-fi comedy series. The blog post announcing the decision is a heartfelt thank-you letter to everyone who was involved in the show’s production, but it doesn’t go into detail about the reasons behind Nail’s decision. However, those reasons, as Nail explained during a phone interview, aren’t hard to guess: Like many who bet their time and money on creating an original series, Nail was dissatisfied with producing his own content and receiving minimal reward, and as a result he has decided to move on.

    Read the rest at: http://gigaom.com/video/what-happens-when-youre-not-the-guild-one-creator-speaks/
  • 5 Replies sorted by
  • alcomposeralcomposer
    I really thank VK for posting this information. In a perfect world everything that we set out to do would simply work perfectly and ultimately we would not need to worry about anything - as everything 'Simply Works'.

    This is the message that is constantly rammed down our eyes, and its just not true. There is and always will be a greater % of failure than success (define success -- but for now go with what you thought of first-- Cash, fast car, paid bills, cosmetic surgery etc).

    What is more interesting, (and interesting in most success stories) is what happens now. Now that its all over- what is the next move. This is what is exciting. Maybe not to be over optimistic- (learn from your mistakes) but at least to 'grow' from them. (Scientifically- try something different).

    Being a composer/ new media artist I know this issue well. The real story behind the story is that even when success is attained- does anything change that much? Do the bills get paid then? And don't you just get bigger ones anyway?

    Unfortunately the internet is a Darwinian System, only the most adaptable will survive, and sometimes even they don't...

    Cheers,
    Al
  • CRFilmsCRFilms
    The thing I take away from this is....SPEND NO MONEY on your series. This guy spent $20k for 450 subscribers and an average of 2-3k views per episode. If you're not an overnight success online it takes YEARS to build a 10k plus subscriber base.

    Build up your subscriber base FIRST with no money, then spend money on something big once you have the viewers.
  • RamboRambo
    I guess it depends on what you call "big" and the size of your potential market. I'm neither a good videographer nor editor, but I have very large audience in a very small target group. I barely survive on the proceeds, but that's not important to me, the lifestyle and travel is. I shoot Surski Race Events around the world and produce an online edit within a week. Most of the popular videos receive 2k -5k plays within a week of posting. I'm happy with that, i'm living my dream, enjoy what I do and it grows the sport that I love. The day it's no longer fun, I"ll stop doing it.

    Not giving up and following your passion is a pretty good pathway to success, but it's up to you to define what is success.

    Rambo
  • MimirsanMimirsan
    If you dont enjoy the creative purpose in the first place money or no money then theres not much point in doing it.
    Doing it solely on wanting lots of cash as a result is bad way to approach any artform.
  • alcomposeralcomposer
    I think that there is more going on than 'making' money. Its also about sustainability. Name one artist in history that didn't care about financial gain no-matter how small. The thing is that artists are the first ones to give more than they get in return. I suppose that it just depends on if people want what they are giving...

    I am not convinced about the lifetime of internet content- meaning that I am not sure if UGC will be around forever- as people generate smaller groups (facebook friends etc) possibly these content pools will be open only for certain friends etc... not the whole world.

    As for trying to make money on the Internet- the only ways I am aware of is Ebay and Ebay. Everything thing else is a bit of a con really. Adds aren't really going to pay the bills and - well - I don't know any 'adult' internet makers to ask them how much they make from content - but I suppose that once in that world its a bit of a one way trip...

    Anyone have any good ideas regarding sustainable internet video? (as opposed to TV- Blu-ray and Theatre Sales)
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