The Beginning - Producing a Web Series

Independent filmmaking continues an ongoing metamorphosis into a balancing act of how much should be spent to produce a movie versus what is the market willing to pay. It was a short time ago that all you needed was an excellent story and a black book with deep pocket connections and you could get your film made. Not anymore as the economy downturned and people looked to safe investments (and let’s be honest, media investment is a high stakes model). Now investors want some assurance of gains or at least a return. And then what to do after you’ve made your film – distributors want named talent, people are more segmented in their watching habits (now I’m seeing a new genre – “the conservative film”) and big screen televisions mean more people are opting out of the theatre experience for a stay-at-home experience (I have to admit that the annoyance of cell phones in a theatre make this option attractive to me at times).

How does an independent producer make a production successful, whatever the media type – feature, short and web series. That’s a question I ask myself everyday and one that a lot of people like myself are trying to figure out. Everything you do in production costs money and making the budget stretch farther and farther is such a balancing act. Everyone says to do whatever it takes to make your project happen – bargain, barter, deferred pay. All sounds good and does happen, but I am a firm believer that people have to eat. So for me, productions require a minimum of costs even if you pay your cast and crew $100 per day (and that usually works out to be less than minimum wage for the crew since most days are 12 – 14 hours long). So for a low budget, no matter the type, you’rw looking at an average (in my estimation) costs of $7,500 per day (and this is for video). Now add in some pre-production costs (although this can be minimized as the key creatives will be working for free during this time), then post and finally distribution/marketing.

And this will be my focus for upcoming blogs – distribution and marketing. Specifically for the web series THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF CUPID AND EROS (www.cupidanderos.com). This web series has been a labor of love since it’s inception. My involvement started in December of 2009 when the writer/director/producer engaged me to assist in the production of three episodes as a producer. Scripts were written, reviewed, rewritten and after a couple of turns, readied for production. In February, 2010, production occurred over a four day period (there was a day that was long) and post took three weeks. The three episodes hit the web and with little experience on the marketing side, started working to get eyes on the episodes.

The next blog (and maybe one or two after that) will talk about the marketing over the next nine months. Stay turned and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to drop me an email because interaction is what the web is all about. Have a great day and week. Good producing! A

Eros from THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF CUPID AND EROS has a call for entries!

Eros is looking to spread her godly love and advice to mortals! See what
all the buzz is about as Eros takes your relationship questions on a
humanly scale.

An Evening With Eros: A Call for Submissions from Avi Glijansky on Vimeo.

FYI - this is one of the lead characters from the web series I produce. Submission may have you featured on Eros' website. So have fun with it and send in your video!

Get TAGGED and feel the "LOVE" from Cupid and Eros

Our webseries won second place in the Skyfest shorts category

As the producer, very proud that the hard work of the crew paid off for THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF CUPID AND EROS. Check it out at:

The Further Adventures of Cupid and Eros: Episode 1, "I'm Fine" from Avi Glijansky on Vimeo.