Ever wanted to find out what it takes to write, cast, shoot, edit, and distribute a web series?
Well so did we, so we've decided to do it. Follow along with us as we create the pilot episode
for Jenn2.0, a show about a young social media consultant attempting to build her brand and
define herself in the ultimate connectivity of the Web 2.0 world.
Second casting call was well worth it. (Video to follow.) We had a great showing, even a girl who saw the Craig’s List post on her phone today and came by for a cold read. Ironically, I think the auditions really confirmed our favor for the call backs. We still have some tough decisions, but we feel strongly that we can pull our cast from the people that we have seen.
The great thing is that we had some more guys. I was surprised at the lack of guys going out for roles, but I guess I shouldn’t be. Anyway, this all leads to our biggest challenge so far… Who is Ian?
Auditions went very well. We had callbacks and really confirmed some of our initial thoughts. It’s always good to hear your words read by others and I was pleasantly surprised by the actors that read. During lunch for the 1st auditions on Oct 4, we had a great, collaborative effort on the script, the characters, etc. Surprisingly, there was a long (really, really long) conversation about the stage of relationship between Ian and Jenn. Are they at 3 months? 6 months? Have they slept together? What does this all mean to the pilot and, thus, the series?
I’m starting to get a little concerned about our decision to include the elevator scene. I just checked with my office building downtown and to use the elevator for a scene requires some legal forms, a boat-load of insurance coverage, and $1500. Uhhhhh, yeah. Apparently they need to ensure security is present, maintenance is on site, and I guess that a small buffet is available for the spectators. I tried to plug that number into the budget spreadsheet and a lot of numbers suddenly had parenthesis around them. That won’t work. So we’ll keep looking.
If you have an elevator, or if your condo downtown is so small that it resembles an elevator, I’d like to talk to you.
Well, we had to pay for space. So, I’m not as connected to the San Diego business scene as I thought I was. They’re mostly boring anyway. Moving on. We actually got a great rate for a large conference space at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown San Diego. And there is no food minimum, so we don’t have to buy the $43 gallon of coffee. Yay!
We’ve got another open call listing out so look for it and be there or be square! Well, actually don’t come unless you can act, …and you’re under 30, …and you’ve never been told you have a uniquely shaped head.
The first video of our casting process is finally up. Note to you videophobes: unfortunately, not being a part of the NAS crew I am more likely to make dumb mistakes. Like posting the interleaved MPEG2 version of this video instead of the progressive version. I’ll do my best to get this swapped out as soon as I can. - Rob
We are currently working on some video from the audition. Hopefully you’ll see that here soon instead of a picture. But the important thing about the auditions is that we aren’t done. We actually got a pretty good turn out and some talented actors. However, we just didn’t find the whole cast. The tough thing about casting isn’t just finding a talented actor, but finding talented actors with the right look and personality to create good chemistry on the set. I find myself sometimes wanting to stand up and congratulate an actor on their performance, especially when I know they just killed it but they aren’t a fit for the part. I’ve actually gotten ideas about new shows on occasion just by seeing uniquely talented people act a scene. But one must focus in order to succeed you know.
Well, casting went great. It was a long day, but everyone executed well. I really must say that I am in this business because of the ability to collaborate with creative people such as the team we have. It made the auditions much more enjoyable. During lunch we did a read-through of the script to find the tough spots in dialog and make sure our characters were written true to their persona.
After the initial idea was fleshed out and I had a chance to learn more about the real-life Jenn, Rob and I collaborated on a treatment. Within that, we discussed the main characters and the core of the show, in addition to an outline of the pilot. I wrote the first draft rather quickly and completed it on Sep 2. It came in at 6 pages and served as the basis for our first group meeting on Sep 4 with the NAS team. Ian was in this draft, but Larissa was not. In short time, Josh came back with some comments. For the next draft, some were included, others weren’t, but Rob and I could tell they got it and had a connection to the project (which was also exhibited in our first meeting). The draft that was completed on Sep 20 ran 7.5 pages and served as the 1st audition draft. Larissa was now included. We wanted to introduce that conflict since we had discussed it further and thought it not only had potential for humor as a character who wants the spotlight, but also continuous conflict for Jenn who is trying to build her brand. And, that’s the idea for any pilot: introduce your characters, your conflicts… and get out.
Comments 
I’m starting to get a little concerned about our decision to include the elevator scene. I just checked with my office building downtown and to use the elevator for a scene requires some legal forms, a boat-load of insurance coverage, and $1500. Uhhhhh, yeah. Apparently they need to ensure security is present, maintenance is on site, and I guess that a small buffet is available for the spectators. I tried to plug that number into the budget spreadsheet and a lot of numbers suddenly had parenthesis around them. That won’t work. So we’ll keep looking.
