October 13, 2010
FNB Innovator: Susan Miller and Tina Cesa Ward
This week FilmNewsBriefs spoke with Susan Miller and Tina Cesa Ward the creators of web series “Anyone But Me.” We discuss how they built their audience, and how they are moving forward with Season 3.
FilmNewsBriefs: Please tell us briefly about “Anyone But Me.”
Tina Cesa Ward: It launched in December of 2008. We have two seasons of 20 episodes and a bunch of other videos that we’ve released in between episodes and seasons, from promotional videos to videos from celebrities who love the show to fun videos that highlight the characters and storylines of ABM in shorter forms.
Susan Miller: “Anyone But Me” is a scripted drama about gay, straight and multi-ethnic youth struggling with identity and modern relationships. There’s something so tangibly raw and universally felt in the dynamics of people growing into themselves that everyone can relate to these stories. But, it is also a show of the moment. We’re all aware, or becoming aware with the terrible loss of our young people to suicide, of how fragile a teenager is. Our characters give voice to that. But they also give visibility and hope to people who don’t get to see themselves or their stories represented in the mainstream media.
FNB: What’s your current viewership?
TCW: We have well over five million views and counting since the launch of the series.
FNB: You’ve found some great success, what have been some of the challenges with fundraising?
TCW: Figuring out the best way to do it, and then going out and trying everything. Fundraising is never easy in any field, but being in a new medium not everyone understands or has full confidence in yet has been a great challenge.
FNB: What were the challenges with crowd source funding?
TCW: For me, asking the viewers to give. I wish it didn’t have to be that way, but because of the infancy of the medium, it’s inevitable. Web viewers are in control of whether the web series thrives or stands still.
FNB: Do you have any brand sponsors?
SM: Not yet. But, I’m honing my sales pitch. I sent emails to about 25 prospective sponsors. Heard back from two. I’m told that’s a pretty good percentage! Our demographic is uber-desirable. Women, 18-35. And we have a passionate, loyal fan base who would make a hero out of any brand that gave us the means to continue. When you think about how little it would cost a company to back a show like ours, compared to mainstream entertainment and how accessible a web series is — all day, every day — it seems like a crazy missed opportunity not to test the waters. I should add that we do have some “Brand Friends” like Hanky Panky, who donated embroidered “We Heart ABM” thongs to our auction and have provided sexy things for Aster and Vivian to wear in a few episodes.
People always ask us why a sponsor hasn’t just snapped us up. First, I don’t think it happens that way. And we’ve been so completely involved in every aspect of creating the show, that there’s been no time to make it happen. Nor did we have the budget to hire a professional marketer to do it for us. What we did do was throw ourselves into building a following and proving our show’s consistency by producing two full seasons, which you have to do before you can ask a company to invest in you. But now we have. And now’s the time. Hence, my new pitch skills.
FNB: Where did Seasons one and two appear?
SM: Strike.tv, Blip.tv, YouTube, Hulu, Koldcast, iTunes
FNB: What was your initial reason for premiering on Blip.tv rather than other video sites?
SM: Tina and I went to a panel on new media at The New School and were really impressed with Dina Kaplan and the Blip model. Afterwards, we chatted them up. We didn’t even have business cards yet. So, we took theirs and set up a meeting with Eric Mortensen, Director of Content. Blip is a New York company, which means a lot to us since we live and shoot our show here. And they’ve kept their promises about featuring us and showing ABM the love. They also offer us a revenue share and work diligently to put great ads on our show. I think the company is brainy, heartfelt, and has earned a lot of respect. It’s good to be part of the family.
FNB: What were some of your tactics to finding your audience?
SM: I reached out to everyone I knew who had influence with certain populations or could give me advice on how to navigate this crazy new world. Marshall Herskovitz, who I’d worked with when I was on the writing staff of “Thirtysomething,” had a hit web series at that time — I still have the notes I took from that conversation – and he was immensely helpful. Our launch got a mention in comedian Kate Clinton’s newsletter. Then sites like AfterEllen and SheWired picked us up. We did interviews, blog talk radio shows, I enlisted my friends Zachary Quinto (“Heroes” and “Star Trek”), Liza Weil (“Gilmore Girls”), Paul Adelstein (“Private Practice”), Eric Stoltz (“Caprica”) all of whom had worked on a play of mine, to do video promos. They also happened to love the show, which helped!
TCW: We’ve never done any media buys. Our numbers come solely from our grassroots efforts to find fans. We got a big push from coverage on large websites whose visitors were our core audience, such as AfterEllen.com. We got some great reviews and just kept pushing to get more press. We’re really active on Twitter, Facebook and any other way to interact with the fans.
SM: Being nominated for and winning a few awards (Streamy, Silver Telly, Webby Honoree) put us in the public eye and brought us good press in The New York Observer, Fast Company, and a photo in The Wall Street Journal.
FNB: You’ve recently announced that you’ll now be charging for your episodes using VOD Dynamo Player. What were some of the factors in making this decision?
SM: Actually I said we were considering VOD as an option. In some ways, our current music video is an experiment to see how and if it works for us. Which is why we chose VOD to launch this video. Offering a new scripted episode that way would be very different, so it’s hard to measure at this point. We like the Dynamo option. Tina tells me it’s easy to set up and navigate. I’m completely not a tech nerd (I am nerdy in other ways). So I take her word for it.
FNB: Why do you feel this is a better option now, then crowd sourcing funds?
SM: Our web-a-thon was also an experiment. No other web series to my knowledge had ever tried it. We wanted to give something to our fans, so we put out 90 minutes of new video. Only afterwards did I realize that would have been almost an entire season’s worth! It was a huge effort. And we raised a significant amount of money. But it’s not fair to ask for more in that same way.
FNB: Any thing else you’d like to tell share with us about your series and the upcoming third season?
SM: Tina and I (and the cast) are so ready to start. And, to continue.
LINKS:
Twitter:
AnyoneButMe: @AnyoneButME
Susan Miller: @SusanMillerNYC
Tina Cesa Ward: @TCWNYC
Facebook:
AnyoneButME
Posted in: After Ellen, AfterEllen.com, Anyone But Me, Blip.tv, Blog Talk Radio, Caprica, dina kaplan, Dynamo Player, Eric Mortensen, Eric Stoltz, Facebook, Fast Company, Gilmore Girls, Hanky Panky, Heroes, Hulu.com, iTunes, Kate Clinton, Koldcast, Liza Weil, Marshal Herskovitz, New York Observer, Paul Adelstein, Private Practice, She Wired, Silver Telly Awards, Star Trek, Streamy Awards, Strike.tv, Susan Miller, The New School, Thirtysomething, Tina Cesa Ward, Twitter, Wall Street Journal, Webby Awards, YouTube.com, Zachary Quinto