Derek Housman

Well, the hard part is over, you’ve finished your series, campaigned to get recognized, and now all you have to do is sit back and wait for your name to be called. But how did we get here? How did over a thousand submission come down to just five. Here’s what i’m going to do, i’m going to outline the process it took to get to the short list so you can understand why, or why not, your show did not make it into the final list. Why am I doing this? Because it was very clear this year that many many people will be disappointed. I am one of the lucky few that doesn’t have a show in contention this year. I have worked on several web series, one of which won the first Streamy ever, several of which are nominated for awards this year, but they’re not mine.

Up until a month ago, the Academy consisted of about 100 individuals from various parts of the Web TV community, some are major players (production company executives, agents, stars, previous winners), others are not. These 100 people decided last years Streamy’s. This year, as membership opened up, the Academy grew and now we’re a much bigger group of assholes who will not vote for your show.

Members were asked to volunteer to help cull the thousands of submissions down to a manageable sum. This process weeded out anything that was in the wrong category, ineligible, or submissions that did not merit being considered (i.e. terrible). These were then tallied up and the Academy as a whole was presented a “long list” of potential nominees. We were given a week to watch 20 series, across multiple categories. Some members, as part of a peer group system, were responsible for the technical and creative awards short lists. I can’t speak for everyone, but I believe most of us made the effort to watch every series that was nominated. This could mean as little as one episode, or the whole series.

This morning, we will all find out what shows are on the short list. Most likely, if your show was not filmed well; was billed as a comedy and was not funny; or just plain sucked; then you will not be a nominee.

As i’ve said before, and will doubtlessly have to say again, writing will always be the key. A lot of web series are started by actors who feel they’re not getting the roles that they think they deserve. These are not writers, but then again, everyone has one great story to tell. That’s why some shows that are done this way are very successful. But most of the time, they’re not.

Most writer’s who are really good already have jobs doing what they love, for actual money. That leaves newer writers, bad writers, and my favorite, people who think they’re writers to create web series. Then again, you could have written a great script, had no money, and therefore you’re masterpiece looks like shit. Or, you could have had money, a great script, but decided to make it with your friends, leaving us to watch your friends break character or look at the camera. But maybe you have all the necessary parts, it’s a great script, good solid cast, you’ve got all the equipment you need, but you forgot one thing. You’re show has to be online for us to watch it, not behind some curtain, or on iTunes.

So, when you don’t see your name on that list, figure out which one of these is the reason you didn’t get nominated, then fix it, and try again next year. We’re not going anywhere.

P.S. If you did get nominated, congratulations, keep making great content and i’ll see you on the other side.