I recently had the pleasure of interviewing a couple of the key team members behind the web series Space Janitors. The talented production team has come a long way, and their 1st episode is being released this Friday, February 24th! Read more about their story, and enjoy the interview below!
1. What’s the story behind you and your team wanting to develop your Space Janitors story into a web series?
DAVIN: Because Geoff and I have so much experience making content for web series, that type of distribution is always “on the table” when tossing ideas around. We had some experience producing for television, and that was an amazing experience, but there are instances where producing for the web has a leg up. First, there’s a tremendous amount of freedom. Episodes can be as long as you want. There is no structure to adhere to in terms of length of an episode or commercial breaks. If you think about it, you can probably do it (after a bunch of problem solving and elbow grease). Also, for me, it’s EXTREMELY important to produce for a particular audience. When you’re talking about a Star Wars parody for example, it’s a perfect fit with the gamer/geek community, and they’re online.
GEOFF: As Davin says there is a lot of creative freedom when making a web series when compared to traditional television, which is nice. Distributing on the web is also the best way to instantly reach an international audience and showcase your work.
2. What have been your biggest production challenges and struggles to date? How did you overcome them?
DAVIN: I saw two major obstacles from day one: 1) Money, and 2) special effects. We’re definitely in new territory when it comes to our budget. An indie producer making a video blog on his webcam would look at our budget and wonder how we could spend all that money. A television producer would look at our budget and wonder how the hell we could make anything with so little money. We’re right in the middle of the two extremes – but luckily we come from the indie side, and so we find ways to save a lot of dollars that a larger production wouldn’t think of. We use our own cameras. I made all the props myself, and most of them were made from stuff found on the sidewalk. Geoff is composing the music himself. That’s how we do a big budget show on a tiny budget.
Special effects. There’s a lot of green screen, a lot of holograms, a lot of laser battles. You name it. There were nervous butterflies in my stomach on days when we would show up to film and there was no set at all – just a big green screen, with the camera moving all over the place! This is one of those “do or do not, there is no try” obstacles. We’ve done enough green screen and FX on a small scale on older shows that we were confident we could ramp it up. I’m happy to report that so far so good. We’re learning as we go, but the shots where we are relying on FX are working very well.
GEOFF: The scope of the project is pretty huge for the budget we have to work with. Basically the solution is for a few key team members to wear a lot of hats.
3. Who and how many people are behind the series?
DAVIN: Geoff and I are wearing a lot of hats, but we’ve had some wonderful cast and crew on this project. For a few months before we shot, we had Andy Hull as part of the writing team and Mike Fly as a production supervisor. During the shoot, which lasted two weeks, the crew grows to 30 or so, but then shrinks right back to 3-4 after filming. At the moment, it is Geoff and I doing the editing, FX, sound and trying to promote the show, along with our social media guy Glenn Macaulay. I can honestly say that we tried to recruit the best cast and crew, and it turns out that a lot of those people were friends we had worked with before, so there was a nice family feel to the shoot.
4. Are there future seasons in development?
DAVIN: You bet! But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. We have a pile of work (and it’s fun) to make the first season as good as possible for our audience.
GEOFF: The future of the project in a large part depends on the audience. There has to be one for starters, and they have to be active in talking about and promoting the show. Word of mouth is essential in sustaining an online show.
5. Where do you see the web series industry in 5 years from now?
DAVIN: First of all, it’s amazing that we’re even talking about a “web series industry.” It’s startling to think that I have, on my computer at home, the tricks and tools to put together something so incredibly complex as a show like this, and that digital distribution allows us to get it out to the masses without anything on tape! I’m not that old, but still old enough to be somewhat in awe of the industry that we work in.
In the next 5 years, I think we’re going to start to see a number of niches develop in web series. I think that money flowing out of large partners like YouTube and Hulu is going to result in some slick looking productions that attract TV/film stars, writers, producers, etc. It will be fascinating to see whether TV/film sensibilities will survive online beside videos of people wiping out on skateboards. On TV, your competition is the program on another channel. Online, your competition is email Facebook, Netflix, work… just about everything else. You have to put your heart and soul into this stuff. If you don’t – if it’s just a paycheck – that will show through and your audience will walk away.
GEOFF: We’re going to see the art form develop a lot in format with all of the different types of content people are producing. I think we have yet to see the ’sitcom’ of web TV and someone is going to stumble on some hit formula or structure for online story telling. Maybe that will lead to the golden age of web series and advertisers will finally move the bulk of their money online. The medium is young enough that we are in an experimental phase, so enjoy it while it lasts!
6. Do you have any tips for creating and producing a web series?
GEOFF: My stock answer to this question is: Make something that A) No one has ever seen anything quite like it before. B) Someone is going to see it and want to tell their friends about it.
Also, learn every aspect of production you can, lighting, photography, editing, writing, sound – You’re going to need a broad skill set since you will be doing a lot of this work yourself.
If you want to make a web series, there is nothing holding you back as long as you have a computer and some free time. Grab a camera (or a friends camera) and start shooting!
7. Where can we watch your series?
DAVIN: Starting February 24th, you’ll be able to see the series airing on The Escapist. There will also be a lot of behind the scenes material coming out through YouTube, Facebook, etc., but you can get to all of this material by visiting the homepage at SpaceJanitors.com
Enjoy this insightful interview? Great! Then subscribe to our blog via email as we will be doing more of these fun interviews in the future with other amazingly talented video creators and producers.
And if you are a web series creator or producer and want your story featured here, then reach out to us and lets discuss.
Jeremy Campbell Lists, interview answers, Davin, film shoot, filmmakers, filmmaking, Geoff, insights, new media, Q and A, questions, Space Janitors, television, TV, video creators, video producers, video production, video shoot, web series, web show
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