Social Media Week Q&A with the IWCC
On September 25, 2013 the IWCC hosted Web Series Wednesday for Social Media Week Toronto. The evening consisted of an hour of Family Friendly screenings, an hour of Not So Family Friendly screenings, and a Q&A session with the creators of those screenings.
For the article on the first two hours of the evening’s events click here. The Q&A is as follows:
Ash Catherwood and Carrie Cutforth-Young continue to emcee for the Q&A session. The two hosted for the Not So Family Friendly Hour of screenings. The fabulously inappropriate emcees got all of the creators up on stage, and ask for the lights to come on. Here the audience has the chance to ask questions directly to these creators.
Ash Catherwood and Carrie Cutforth-Young continue to emcee for the Q&A session. The two hosted for the Not So Family Friendly Hour of screenings. The fabulously inappropriate emcees got all of the creators up on stage, and ask for the lights to come on. Here the audience has the chance to ask questions directly to these creators.
Cutforth-Young and Catherwood go from the right end of the stage and introduces Mike Donis (creator and star of Pete Winning), Jason Leaver (creator of Out With Dad), Dan Sperrin (Dan Speerin’s Truth Mashup), Matthew Cavery (actor/writer in Clutch, and star and creator of Asset), Jeff Sinasac (actor/visual effects in Clutch), Stephanie Gorin (co-creator/writer/producer The Casting Room), Gail Harvey (co-creator/director/producer of Long Story Short), and Katie Boland (co-creator/writer/actor in Long Story Short). Other creators joined the stage as the Q&A went on.
Q: Go with union or non-union actors?
Carrie Cutforth-Young: That’s a drinking conversation.
Katie Boland: Well I am a union actor. ACTRA was supportive, but I mean it was difficult. We had to go in for a meeting, and pitch the show to them. Half of our budget went to paying people. I’m happy that we did, being an ACTRA member.
Gail Harvey: I would only work with ACTRA actors, because I normally work in mainstream television and film. But I actually think that ACTRA has been very supportive. I think they’re trying to make it so that it’s one flat deal so that everybody knows what the deal is. The problem is they make a deal dependent on your budget. But they’ve just had a big workshop that I was invited to. We told them the problems, and that 55% or 60% of our budget went to the actors. I couldn’t have done it any other way, and on a normal show it’s about 5%. So those are the issues, but I really believe that we’re successful because of the quality of the acting.
Stephanie Gorin: I agree with Gail. I think to really sell the piece. I’ve been to a lot of web series festivals in L.A. You can find great non-union actors, but if you really want a special series then you need to use a little more experienced actors. That does suck up half your budget. I had no budget, so I just had to pay it! [Laughs.] But it does make a difference.
Cutforth-Young: Are there any other questions? And I just want to keep in mind that we also have the creators from the family friendly hour still around. So they can answer from where they’re comfortable, or they can join us on the stage.
Q: Producing your stuff online through the web as a medium, how do you feel about interacting with your audience? Do you feel that you get a better response now because they’re tweeting you and they’re really engaged? I see heads nodding.
Jason Leaver: It’s so much fun, and I think when I came in I didn’t realize how big a part of making web series engaging with the audience is. That is why, one of the one’s I showed tonight the vlog-style one [Rose’s Video Dairy], at the end of every one of those episodes I actually have Kate [Conway] address the audience and ask a question. Just to encourage more engagement. I tell you, those vlog-style episodes are the least watched, they’re actually the most commented on. It’s really exciting. We’ve sort of gotten to know a lot of the audience members. In fact a lot of our subtitles of Out With Dad, I think we have eight, nine, ten languages now – they were translated by the audience. They really become part of the team, and I try and foster that.
Cutforth-Young: Do you have anything to add Torin [Stefanson]? About social media engagement with web series. Do you have a lot more interaction with your audience as apposed to if you were on a TV show?
Torin Stefanson: Ah. Yes. [Laughter from the audience.] My Lupine Life is actually a spin-off of our earlier show. So Seth on Survival [hyperlink] was the first one that we did. From that we had a mobile app and a website, and on the website we got close to 60,000 comments from people all around the world. Mostly from the U.S. and Canada, because it’s in English. But we’ve had some significant interaction from fans who have been on the site for like four years.
Dan Speerin: I was gonna say that because we’re on YouTube, we got into this multi-channel network that’s talked about a lot on the YouTube universe if you will. But because of that The Young Turks’ audience gave a lot of stuff to us, so that system was already built in. They said, "hey do you want to do this in Canada?" And I thought, "ok we’re gonna have to build a Canadian audience." But we’ll have people on our livestream that will come from Ireland and it’s kind of shocking, "what you care about Stephen Harper?" "Well! Same difference."
Matthew Carvery: I also find it’s interesting, because you’ll get crossovers from places you didn’t expect to find fans. Like about a third of our traffic on the Clutch site comes from Out With Dad. You wouldn’t expect that, but we share an audience.
The Press Pass Q: Why did you choose to go to the web with your projects?
Matthew Carvery: Creative control.
Ash Catherwood: Because we couldn’t get that show on TV if we tried.
Mike Donis: I think that the immediacy of the fact that we can put it out, and we can immediately see what people think. You know, you can make a show and within a week of completing it have everyone there see it. The feedback that you get from that is something that’s really, really cool and yes.
Jason Leaver: Well my favourite thing is that I’ve never made a TV show. I’ve actually never made a feature. I didn’t know how to do that. Like who do I ask permission to do that? What doors do I knock on? How do I find the money to do it? I didn’t know these things, so I foolishly said, ‘screw it! I’ll just do it anyway.’ I put it online. That’s kind of how I did it. But what Matt [Matthew Carvery] said too, it’s creative control.
Katie Boland: I was interested in writing. I think through it being on the web, I was given an opportunity to hold a position I never would have been allowed to on network TV. Because I don’t have the experience. Also, my mom and I wanted an opportunity to work together on something that we were proud of. We got creative control! We shot it at our house, and we hired all my friends. Yeah!
Dan Speerin: To add onto that. We had a weird little path, because we were on YouTube, Television, and then back to YouTube. And it was because 1) people my age watch things on YouTube or on the Internet. So when you’re young, you don’t necessarily get brought into CTV and they say, “Here’s a show kids!” And you go, “awesome!” And you don’t get that kind of response, you get frustrated where you go, “We have a show! Kind of, because you’ll never see it.” So nobody watches at 8pm anymore, so it’s sort of a necessity. Besides getting your creative control, it’s easier to get an audience to watch your show.
Jeff Sinasac: I was just going to say, beyond creative control, once you are putting together the project – it gets you past the gatekeepers right off the bat. Artists shouldn’t need permission to create art. [Nods of agreement from other creators on stage.]
Q: I thought the writing seemed to be really great. I’m just wondering if you could talk about the writing process, how much improv there is. Just a little bit about how you’re creating these things with writing.
Matthew Carvery: How much improv there is, really depends on whether or not Jeff Sinasac is on set. [Laughter from those in the audience who know both Carvery and Sinasac.] On Clutch, there was a fair amount of improv. All the actors sort of ad-libbed within the framework of the script. We had fully-written scripts, but actors were allowed to play within that, with their characters. We thought it made for a better shoot.
Stephanie Gorin: I mean, that’s the great thing about not having a network to answer to. You can do anything you want. You can write your script exactly how you want it, and then you can say to the actors, “this is sort of how we see it, and you can add whatever you want to it.” Then nobody up above is saying, “oh no you can’t do that.” You can change it in the editing room, if you made a bad choice, but you can still have fun on the day.
Gail Harvey: Our scripts were written by Katie [Boland]. They were pretty much what you see, but we let the actors, they were all friends, so they played around a lot.
Katie Boland: Yeah they could say whatever they wanted. [Laughs from the audience.] They were working for cheaper.
Torin Stefanson: The concept for our show, and some of the plot were actually developed by the comments and feedback from kids who had visited our Seth On Survival site. They were sort of being werewolves on our site, and having werewolf lives, and so we thought, “that’s what we’ll make our next show about is werewolves.” Luckily one of our kids is actually a werewolf.
Robert Mills: It’s an interesting question, because we’re also dealing with extremely limited budgets. Which also affect the amount of shooting time we’ve got. There’s a long process in terms of logistics and production that we have to take into account when scripting this stuff. What we can achieve with the money that we’ve got, but then once we’re there, how much time do we have to play? The fortunate thing with this kind of work is that you don’t have the studio exec or a broadcaster breathing down your neck saying, “It has to be done like the sausage machine!” Instead you get to play and you get to spend some time, whether it’s weekends or whenever you get to find the time. There’s a lot more creative room, not just sitting in front of a page, but also playing in front of a camera.
Jason Leaver: We love not having to answer to bosses, but we do still have to answer to the audience. So I do pay close attention to what the audience says, and they do tend to influence what happens in the screenwriting process. In some cases I even ask the audience to contribute, and so in Season 2 and in my upcoming season there are stuff that’s actually written by the audience that I’ve included. Like monologues kind of thing. Certainly, their reactions to how characters are developing, that influences me to. So it’s like, “oh they realize that she’s not just a bitch, she’s really nice! Oh I get to prove that!” So that’s a really fun thing too, that ease with the audience that allows the script to evolve and be better.
Along with President Robert Mills, Carrie Cutforth-Young, Jason Leaver, and Ash Catherwood are all members of the IWCC Board.
Carrie Cutforth-Young: That’s a drinking conversation.
Katie Boland: Well I am a union actor. ACTRA was supportive, but I mean it was difficult. We had to go in for a meeting, and pitch the show to them. Half of our budget went to paying people. I’m happy that we did, being an ACTRA member.
Gail Harvey: I would only work with ACTRA actors, because I normally work in mainstream television and film. But I actually think that ACTRA has been very supportive. I think they’re trying to make it so that it’s one flat deal so that everybody knows what the deal is. The problem is they make a deal dependent on your budget. But they’ve just had a big workshop that I was invited to. We told them the problems, and that 55% or 60% of our budget went to the actors. I couldn’t have done it any other way, and on a normal show it’s about 5%. So those are the issues, but I really believe that we’re successful because of the quality of the acting.
Stephanie Gorin: I agree with Gail. I think to really sell the piece. I’ve been to a lot of web series festivals in L.A. You can find great non-union actors, but if you really want a special series then you need to use a little more experienced actors. That does suck up half your budget. I had no budget, so I just had to pay it! [Laughs.] But it does make a difference.
Cutforth-Young: Are there any other questions? And I just want to keep in mind that we also have the creators from the family friendly hour still around. So they can answer from where they’re comfortable, or they can join us on the stage.
Q: Producing your stuff online through the web as a medium, how do you feel about interacting with your audience? Do you feel that you get a better response now because they’re tweeting you and they’re really engaged? I see heads nodding.
Jason Leaver: It’s so much fun, and I think when I came in I didn’t realize how big a part of making web series engaging with the audience is. That is why, one of the one’s I showed tonight the vlog-style one [Rose’s Video Dairy], at the end of every one of those episodes I actually have Kate [Conway] address the audience and ask a question. Just to encourage more engagement. I tell you, those vlog-style episodes are the least watched, they’re actually the most commented on. It’s really exciting. We’ve sort of gotten to know a lot of the audience members. In fact a lot of our subtitles of Out With Dad, I think we have eight, nine, ten languages now – they were translated by the audience. They really become part of the team, and I try and foster that.
Cutforth-Young: Do you have anything to add Torin [Stefanson]? About social media engagement with web series. Do you have a lot more interaction with your audience as apposed to if you were on a TV show?
Torin Stefanson: Ah. Yes. [Laughter from the audience.] My Lupine Life is actually a spin-off of our earlier show. So Seth on Survival [hyperlink] was the first one that we did. From that we had a mobile app and a website, and on the website we got close to 60,000 comments from people all around the world. Mostly from the U.S. and Canada, because it’s in English. But we’ve had some significant interaction from fans who have been on the site for like four years.
Dan Speerin: I was gonna say that because we’re on YouTube, we got into this multi-channel network that’s talked about a lot on the YouTube universe if you will. But because of that The Young Turks’ audience gave a lot of stuff to us, so that system was already built in. They said, "hey do you want to do this in Canada?" And I thought, "ok we’re gonna have to build a Canadian audience." But we’ll have people on our livestream that will come from Ireland and it’s kind of shocking, "what you care about Stephen Harper?" "Well! Same difference."
Matthew Carvery: I also find it’s interesting, because you’ll get crossovers from places you didn’t expect to find fans. Like about a third of our traffic on the Clutch site comes from Out With Dad. You wouldn’t expect that, but we share an audience.
The Press Pass Q: Why did you choose to go to the web with your projects?
Matthew Carvery: Creative control.
Ash Catherwood: Because we couldn’t get that show on TV if we tried.
Mike Donis: I think that the immediacy of the fact that we can put it out, and we can immediately see what people think. You know, you can make a show and within a week of completing it have everyone there see it. The feedback that you get from that is something that’s really, really cool and yes.
Jason Leaver: Well my favourite thing is that I’ve never made a TV show. I’ve actually never made a feature. I didn’t know how to do that. Like who do I ask permission to do that? What doors do I knock on? How do I find the money to do it? I didn’t know these things, so I foolishly said, ‘screw it! I’ll just do it anyway.’ I put it online. That’s kind of how I did it. But what Matt [Matthew Carvery] said too, it’s creative control.
Katie Boland: I was interested in writing. I think through it being on the web, I was given an opportunity to hold a position I never would have been allowed to on network TV. Because I don’t have the experience. Also, my mom and I wanted an opportunity to work together on something that we were proud of. We got creative control! We shot it at our house, and we hired all my friends. Yeah!
Dan Speerin: To add onto that. We had a weird little path, because we were on YouTube, Television, and then back to YouTube. And it was because 1) people my age watch things on YouTube or on the Internet. So when you’re young, you don’t necessarily get brought into CTV and they say, “Here’s a show kids!” And you go, “awesome!” And you don’t get that kind of response, you get frustrated where you go, “We have a show! Kind of, because you’ll never see it.” So nobody watches at 8pm anymore, so it’s sort of a necessity. Besides getting your creative control, it’s easier to get an audience to watch your show.
Jeff Sinasac: I was just going to say, beyond creative control, once you are putting together the project – it gets you past the gatekeepers right off the bat. Artists shouldn’t need permission to create art. [Nods of agreement from other creators on stage.]
Q: I thought the writing seemed to be really great. I’m just wondering if you could talk about the writing process, how much improv there is. Just a little bit about how you’re creating these things with writing.
Matthew Carvery: How much improv there is, really depends on whether or not Jeff Sinasac is on set. [Laughter from those in the audience who know both Carvery and Sinasac.] On Clutch, there was a fair amount of improv. All the actors sort of ad-libbed within the framework of the script. We had fully-written scripts, but actors were allowed to play within that, with their characters. We thought it made for a better shoot.
Stephanie Gorin: I mean, that’s the great thing about not having a network to answer to. You can do anything you want. You can write your script exactly how you want it, and then you can say to the actors, “this is sort of how we see it, and you can add whatever you want to it.” Then nobody up above is saying, “oh no you can’t do that.” You can change it in the editing room, if you made a bad choice, but you can still have fun on the day.
Gail Harvey: Our scripts were written by Katie [Boland]. They were pretty much what you see, but we let the actors, they were all friends, so they played around a lot.
Katie Boland: Yeah they could say whatever they wanted. [Laughs from the audience.] They were working for cheaper.
Torin Stefanson: The concept for our show, and some of the plot were actually developed by the comments and feedback from kids who had visited our Seth On Survival site. They were sort of being werewolves on our site, and having werewolf lives, and so we thought, “that’s what we’ll make our next show about is werewolves.” Luckily one of our kids is actually a werewolf.
Robert Mills: It’s an interesting question, because we’re also dealing with extremely limited budgets. Which also affect the amount of shooting time we’ve got. There’s a long process in terms of logistics and production that we have to take into account when scripting this stuff. What we can achieve with the money that we’ve got, but then once we’re there, how much time do we have to play? The fortunate thing with this kind of work is that you don’t have the studio exec or a broadcaster breathing down your neck saying, “It has to be done like the sausage machine!” Instead you get to play and you get to spend some time, whether it’s weekends or whenever you get to find the time. There’s a lot more creative room, not just sitting in front of a page, but also playing in front of a camera.
Jason Leaver: We love not having to answer to bosses, but we do still have to answer to the audience. So I do pay close attention to what the audience says, and they do tend to influence what happens in the screenwriting process. In some cases I even ask the audience to contribute, and so in Season 2 and in my upcoming season there are stuff that’s actually written by the audience that I’ve included. Like monologues kind of thing. Certainly, their reactions to how characters are developing, that influences me to. So it’s like, “oh they realize that she’s not just a bitch, she’s really nice! Oh I get to prove that!” So that’s a really fun thing too, that ease with the audience that allows the script to evolve and be better.
Along with President Robert Mills, Carrie Cutforth-Young, Jason Leaver, and Ash Catherwood are all members of the IWCC Board.
