The first of the web series producer's five tasks is production.
Concept
You start with a concept; a little idea that you think would make a great web series. Like a tv series premise, you're probably looking for something with legs; an idea that can generate enough story to take you through several seasons. In television and film, we often talk about high concepts -- ideas you can pitch in a sentence. Mr Deity - the life of God. Web Therapy: a therapist counsels her clients using video chat. Dr Horrible: a mad scientist plans to take over the world. Not all ideas are high concept, some take a little more time to explain. But as you're developing your premise, you'll be developingg the pitch, writing about the show over and over -- in a single page, three pages, a single sentence -- trying to get a coherent idea that you can present to others.
You'll want to think aobut what genre your series will fall into. Comedy and sci fi are enormously popular on the web. The musical genre is less common but it worked enormously well in Dr Horrible. Lonely Girl 15 was sort of a thriller and Prom Queen a mystery.
Script
When you hit the scripting stage, you will decide how many episodes you plan to start out with, how long they'll be, how many characters and locations you'll use per episode. You'll be developing pacing and tone as well.
Is the series episodic? Like an episode of a sitcom, each episode stands alone, a complete piece of entertainment that doesn't need any of the other episodes in the series to be understood. You can watch pretty much any of Mr Deity and understand it. Is it serialized? Like a soap opera or a series like Lost, you have to watch the episodes in sequence to understand them. LG15 got pretty incomprehensible as it wore on for new viewers but it was fabulous for loyal fans who were inside the story telling. American Bodies is the same. A new viewer has to watch quite a few before figuring out what's going on. Or is it both at the same time? Episodes with a beginning, middle and ends that are a satisfying viewing experience but together build a satisfying longer story. Friends did this well on TV and The Guild did it quite well on the web.
In my opinion the script is the most important of any element at the entire production. Write and rewrite and fine tune some more. Use a professional writer. Build great stories and great characters.
Check out also my four rules for scripted web drama.
Cast
Once you have some scripts, you can start to cast the series. Professional performers bring you the advantage of being quicker and more comfortable on set than amateurs and they know how to use the camera without showing it. But budget and performers union contracts may make a real pro out of your reach.
One of the most essential attributes in any performer for a web series is the ability to speak clearly. Many times, a web series will be seen on a tiny screen. The action may not be clearly visible, so the dialogue and other sound elements may have to carry the story. Make sure your performers enunciate, don't speak too fast or too slow and are easy to understand.
Rewrite
Once you have a cast in place, you can rewrite the script with the performers who are playing each role in mind. Make the characters more like the actors who will play them.
Prep
Prepare to shoot. That means scouting locations and gathering costumes and props. You'll need to plan out each day of shooting: where you'll shoot, which scenes, which characters you need and so on. Most professional screenwriting software will help you break down the script.
As part of prep, you'll crew up. You can shoot a web series on a skeleton crew: director, camera operator, sound operator and a couple of extra hands to help with whatever arises. This is a small enough crew to be economical and big enough to keep you moving fast enough to shoot a reasonable amount in a day. With this size crew, I've shot 9 to 12 finished minutes for the web in an easy day, including a location move.
Shoot
Web series don't have to be shot like television and film. You don't need a master, mediums and close ups. I think a medium and some close ups will get you where you need to be.
What you do need is great sound recording. You'll need a boom and if you're outdoors you might want to use lav microphones as well.
Edit
You can on a computer using Final Cut Pro. You probably want someone who is familiar with the software and the process of editing to do the job. In terms of the production phase, editing is the second most important element (next to the script). Editing can save a dog and make a mediocre piece good. This is a good place to spend a little extra money.
Although consider a separate phase of post production in television and film, for a web series effects, titles and music can all be handled by a competent editor. It is my belief that titles and credits should use as little video as possible. Put them on the web site.
Output
Once the show is cut and you're happy, you'll need to output it and upload it. We'll discuss that when we get to Distribution.
