"This Is Art" News | Production Updates & Digital Spotlights

Conventions and Community: Can’t have one without the other!

July 29, 2011 by Emily

As anyone with internet access and a penchant for geekery knows, last weekend was San Diego Comic Con: the veritable Mecca for all fanboys, fangirls, comic-lovers, gamers, cosplayers, and anyone even remotely interested in nerd culture.

I only recently became a con-goer myself, but even at my very first convention three years ago I recognized right away what I love about conventions: the sense of community and the uniting love of art.

After all, the video games we play for hours, the comic books with which we fill our shelves, the television shows we memorize, and the movies we line up for at midnight are all art forms. Conventions give a chance for artists and art lovers to gather as a community and celebrate the art that brings us together.

Conventions like San Diego Comic Con have such an important impact on the art community. First of all, they provide a rare opportunity for the fans to make direct contact with the creators – through panels, industry booths, and even sometimes on the show floor! Also, big production companies make huge announcements at conventions about their work. Most up-and-coming video games, comic book creators, and even film companies save their biggest news (like release dates!) for specific conventions, and organize their marketing around these conventions. This, more than anything else, is an indication of just how much importance these production companies place in the convention community and in the respect of their fans.

In addition, conventions open up a unique market for an untapped batch of artists – digital artists, costume makers, webcomic creators, and more. Every convention I’ve attended for 3 years has had a fantastic Artist Alley showcasing hundreds of new media artists and fresh talent that are, in my opinion, as important to the industry as the big production companies sponsoring the convention.

And, of course, there’s cosplay. The best cosplay requires patience, talent, skill, passion, and lots of love. How can you see THIS and not call it art?

Ok, maybe it’s not the most impressive cosplay ever. It’s just me and Christopher Gravenstine (one of the producers of This Is Art) in our lovingly constructed Gitaroo Man cosplay. And it was enough to get the attention of G4‘s Adam Sessler and get us featured on a segment on X-Play about the importance of cosplay in the con-going community!

When you see really well-made, mind-blowing cosplay, it really makes you appreciate how much talent that cosplayer has in terms of construction (which often includes not only sewing, but also sculpture, detailed painting, and a heck of a lot of engineering). It also makes you realize what an effect that particular character (or series, or video game, or comic book) has had on this person. After all, the genesis of cosplay is the instinctual desire we have to bring fantasy universes from the art we love to life.

So what does all of this mean for This Is Art? Well, for one thing, conventions gather together a plethora of artists (both well-known and up-and-coming, across all forms of new media), and we want to know about them! After all, This Is Art (the web series) is a story about the way art is made, and This Is Art (the project) is a community for these artists to share their processes with one another. You’re going to see a lot more of that soon with our upcoming Digital Spotlight Series.

And it means a great deal for This Is Art (the web series) as well. The web series is still a fairly new and innovative form, and conventions have a huge impact on the development of the web series community.

Take this year’s San Diego Comic Con. One of the biggest panels of the con was the panel for the hit webseries created by Felicia Day, The Guild. To quote Marc Hustvedt of Tubefilter, “The Guild panel at Comic-Con is about as close as the web series world has to a Steve Jobs keynote” (you can view his full article here). This year, the cast of The Guild made huge announcements regarding the expansion of the web series into physical world marketing, including a new line of Guild character-themed Jones Soda. This is a HUGE advancement for the world of web series! Folks, this is the kind of stuff normally reserved for major market entertainment! In other words, The Guild is really putting the world of web series on the map as a form of marketable, viable entertainment. At a time when the state of online entertainment is so up in the air (Hulu, Netflix, and Youtube, oh my!), this is ridiculously awesome news for those of us who are excited about the expansion of the web series community.

At SDCC, The Guild panel also unveiled the first episode of their latest season. As it turns out, Season 5 follows the beloved Guild characters as they attend – are you following me here? – a fan convention!

Needless to say, conventions are very important to me and Anne as we continue to develop This Is Art, both as a web series and as a community of artists. We’ve attended them for years as fans, but recently we’ve really begun to understand the impact of conventions, both on the artists and on the fans, and their importance to our new media community. As most of you know, we’re well into our fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo! We’re awfully close to $6000, and if we accomplish our goal, or (even better!) if we go OVER our goal, one of the ways Anne and I will be using any additional funds (in other words, what doesn’t go directly toward production) will be to take This Is Art to conventions here in New York City and across the country. After all, as I’ve hopefully made clear, conventions are an extremely important part of our community, and quite possibly one of the best ways for us to promote our series and to allow for This Is Art to grow beyond the web! So… ahem… DONATE and you can help us achieve that goal!

This year, Anne and I are excited to attend New York Comic Con, where we will not only be spreading the word about This Is Art, but we’ll also be scouring the convention for innovative new media artists to share with you! And of course, there’s always room for inspiration for This Is Art, Season 2! Who knows? Maybe this time next year you’ll see the This Is Art panel on your NYCC schedule. Ooo, I can’t WAIT for Cami cosplayers…

- Emily Floyd
@emilythespoon
@followthisisart
Facebook
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Category Uncategorized | Tags: , adam sessler, anne richmond, campaign, Christopher Gravenstine, conventions, cosplay, digital spotlight, emily floyd, felicia day, g4, gitaroo man, indiegogo, new media, New York Comic Con, NYCC, online video, San Diego Comic Con, SDCC, the guild, this is art, tubefilter, watchthisisart.com, web series, webisode, webseries | 1 Comment
More Indiegogo Tips

July 27, 2011 by Anne

I’m very pleased to report that we are 77% funded on Indiegogo after two weeks! We are just $1430 from our goal with nineteen days of fundraising left. Not only that, but we are the fifth most popular campaign on Indiegogo and we’ve been featured on the front page of their website for a few days. That’s pretty incredible and it’s all due to to our supporters out there in cyberspace. All your liking the campaign on Indiegogo, Liking us on Facebook, retweeting us on Twitter, and emailing your friends is very visibly paying off judging by our campaign diagnostics. Whatever you’re doing to help us get the word out, please keep doing it!

Here are a few tips that we can pass on to all of you who might be currently conducting or planning to conduct your own crowdfunding campaigns.

Avoid the lull: After raising over half our funding in one week, we expected a bit of a lull in donations and we planned accordingly. In order to keep the momentum going forward, we strategically pulse out ask letters to new groups of people every few days so that we can keep the money coming in regulary, even if it is in smaller amounts as we approach the tail end of the campaign. People like to see progress and it gives us something to report and therefore gives us an excuse to send out our campaign link on all of our social media outlets whenever we hit a new milestone.

Use every tool available to you: If you are a member of an online forum, post your info. Contact friends with blogs or podcasts and see if they’ll interview you about your project or help you retweet your information to their followers. Go to the facebook pages for your high school and your college and post your information there to drive more attention and more traffic to your page. Find relevant fan pages on facebook and like them as your show. If there are industry events that you can go to, attend them and meet people. They might contribute to your show, but more than that, they may have very useful tips on how to improve your strategies. Your peers are one of your greatest resources so support them in their work and they will support you in yours.

How to handle friends that say they can’t donate: Continually encourage these folks to help you spread the word about your campaign. It’s not all about making money here. It’s about making sure your project falls on the right ears. Treat your friends like gold and make them feel like they are valuable assets to the team, even if they can’t help you monetarily. They can still help reach untapped audiences.

Continue to set attainable goals for your contributors: When we got close to the $4000 mark, I decided to launch another incentive. I talked about this a little bit in our other post and I’ve found it to be one of the most useful ways to inspire people to donate. I announced that if we reached it within two days, we’d release another exclusive character sketch. True to fashion, our supporters rallied to our battle cry and helped us reach our goal. Monday morning, I released the following character sketch for Cami: The Musical Theater Fanatic, played by Emily Floyd. Nothing says “razzle dazzle” like fringe!

Facebook Tagging is your friend: One other tip that was given to us early on by one of our cast members was to tag as many relevant people as possible when posting on Facebook. Inspired by this advice and by a campaign used by our friends at the Beautiful Soup Theater Collective to promote their show, I decided to launch a campaign introducing all of our actors and crew. Each day, we release a bio (written by the actor/crew member) and a headshot in order to introduce a member of our team. This way, it shows up on our stream and also on their page so that others may discover our show and hopefully our Indiegogo campaign. Today we began this series with Clint Okayama!

Meet Clint Okayama (KUKAOO)! He grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii. He thought he was going to be a novelist or a chemist until 8th grade until he acted in the modern masterpiece There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom as an 8th grader. As testament to the power of arts education, he has pursued acting ever since. He also soloed with the Honolulu Symphony on the 1st Rachmaninoff and 2nd Prokofiev concerti, and won the Hawaii high school division of NATS in classical singing. At NYU, he performed in numerous productions including the role of Song Liling in M Butterfly. He is currently auditioning like a madman, writing a screenplay entitled “Green Dreams” and is very, very pumped about This is Art.

Lastly, I’d like to honor our week two donors. These are the incredible people who are allowing us to bring our story to life:

Joseph Amiel
Anonymous
Michele Jarrett
Justin Nichols
Annie Stoll
Sheila Floyd
Anonymous
Agatha Bochenek
Yelena Sabel
Eileen Murphy
Hanna Floyd
Tim Ferrara

You guys are the best and we wouldn’t be here without you. We cannot wait to share this project with the world!

-Anne Richmond
@annerichmond
@followthisisart
Facebook
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P.S. If you live in the NYC Area, Emily and I are both performing in Alice, a new Off Broadway adaptation of Alice in Wonderland written and directed by Steven McCasland and playing at The Soho Playhouse. We open this Saturday and have an open ended run, performing every Saturday at 1PM. Tickets are $25. Come enjoy the show and romp through Wonderland with us!

P.P.S. Bloggers get in free in return for writing about the show! Contact me at thisisartwebseries (at) gmail (dot) com for more info!

Category Production Update | Tags: , advice, Alice, anne richmond, Beautiful soup, beautiful soup theater collective, campaign, chad miller, chadley miller, chris ruth, clint okayama, crowdfunding, emily floyd, entertainment, episodes, face book tagging, facebook tagging, funding, fundraising, goal, goals, indiegogo, James Herron, series, social media, spread the word, Steven MacCasland, the soho playhouse, this is art, tips, watch this is art, watchthisisart.com, web series, web show, webisode, webseries | No Comments
50% Funded Surprise Video

July 20, 2011 by Anne

As promised, here’s a surprise video update to celebrate how far we’ve come and the journey still ahead!

http://www.indiegogo.com/This-is-Art-The-Webseries

Featuring:
Emily Floyd (Creator/Writer/Actress)
Anne Richmond (Creator/Writer/Actress)

Editing:
Anne Richmond

Music/Sound effect Credits:
Starlight Lounge (iMovie)
Kingdom Celebration (Tangled 2010)
Breakbeat Long (iMovie)
Bossa Lounger (iMovie)
Drone Dark Suspense 1 (iMovie)
Bell Transition (iMovie)
Songify This- Can’t Hug Every Cat (The Gregory Brothers. Watch their video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP4NMoJcFd4)

Category Production Update | Tags: , anne richmond, autotune the news, behind the scenes, bts, emily floyd, hair dye, hot, hotties, how to, i love cats, imovie, indiegogo entertainment performing, o-cast, production update, short, shower scene, surprise video, tangled, this is art, two girls, watch, watchthisisart, web series, webseries | No Comments
Lessons I’ve Learned From IndieGoGo

July 19, 2011 by Anne
In exactly one month we will begin principle photography on This Is Art. A week ago, this terrified me not because I didn’t think we were prepared, but because there was a very important factor I couldn’t control. We needed $6000 to make our show and we didn’t have any of it.

So seven days ago, we finally launched our IndieGoGo campaign, I felt as if I were a tiny ant standing at the bottom of a towering mountain.

“Insurpassible,” I thought aloud as I starred at the glowing computer screen. I allowed myself one fleeting moment of doubt before plunging into action and clinging to the strength of my conviction that this project is something worth pursuing to the bitter end.

I immediately contacted everyone in my address book with a blind copied email about our project. I tried to approach it as call to arms rather than a plea for handouts. Then again, an “ask letter” is what it is. You can’t really dress it up as anything else. Honestly, I find this to be the most uncomfortable and unsavory part of producing my own work.

However, I knew that I would have to get over the discomfort in order to achieve my goal. I harnessed my passion for all the work we’d already done so far and wrote about the power that new media entertainment puts right into the hands of the artists themselves. For those unfamiliar with webseries, I knew that would be a huge selling point and it’s definitely one of the main reasons I’m so committed to this art form.

So, I sent out my emails. Check. For fun, I pressed refresh on the Indiegogo campaign. Nothing. My heart fluttered. Even though we’d barely started I was beginning to feel the tremendous pressure of our campaign’s time limit bearing down on me.

In order to stay proactive, I started thinking about campaigns I had contributed to and ones I had not. Some had budgets that were so astronomical I didn’t contribute because I didn’t see an ascertainable goal on the horizon. Conversely, I almost always contribute to projects that look very close to reaching their goal. I can’t help but try to help them achieve it. Being on this side of the table, I now think about all of this very differently.

One thing became crystal clear within the first day of our campaign; we needed some brave souls who would take the initiative and make the first donations in order to help us gain the momentum to garner other supporters.

It was at that moment I received an email from IndieGoGo. “A new contribution came in for This Is Art: The Webseries on IndieGoGo.” My heart lept! The little ant version of me puffed out her chest and took a wee step up the mountain. Another email came in. Another step.

I began posting about our progress on Facebook and Twitter, diligently expressing gratitude and linking to everyone I could so our status updates would show up in their feeds and other people might see them as well. I also contributed to a few of my peers’ campaigns. One by one, donations started to come in, some small some large, but little by little that ant kept moving further up that mountain.

One of the most illuminating aspects regarding the outset of our campaign was seeing who came forward first in order to help us gain momentum. One thing surprised me. Within the first few days, a third of our contributions were from people with whom I had played World of Warcraft with over the years. I certainly expected family and friends to help us out but I was very touched at the outpouring of support from my “guildmates.”

Now before you tell me I have strayed from the subject at hand, I must tell you that I am including this brief caviat in order to express how worthwhile it can be to cultivate relationships with people you meet online, especially when it comes to developing content for the web. Heck, our web designer is a friend I met in an online fan community for the hit webseries, The Guild.

Now I know there are still some folks out there who find this whole newfangled internet thing to be a bit daunting and perhaps full of predators and possible rapists. I’m here to tell you that my guildies are some of my closest friends. We have travelled the world together, they have taken me to dinner, and they have always found ways to support my artistic aspirations whether it was a kind word in a moment of self doubt or a contribution to a project I’m working on. They have touched my life in so many ways, especially outside our “adventures in Azeroth.” In closing, don’t be afraid of putting in the time it takes to develop pixelated relationships.

Alright, alright! I’ll get back on topic!

When it came to looking for people to approach for larger sums of money, I turned to my mother. No, not for money, silly humans! For ADVICE.

My mother is a very practiced fundraiser and was at one time the president of Girl Scouts Chicago. When I told her about the premise behind the IndieGoGo fundraising model, she said one thing that I have found to be very true. “Getting these donations is about affirming your relationships with people. You have to make it personal.” She encouraged me to set aside a certain group of people that I thought I could approach for more sizable donations and spend some time tailoring my letters to each individual. She advised me to make the stakes very clear for people- not just the stakes of what happens if our campaign fails, but also the positive aspects of what the show could do for my career as an actor and a writer if it gets produced successfully.

So I set these contacts and letters aside, deciding that I would send one out every few days in an effort to both keep a steady flow of income to the project and also to keep from going down the entire list if it didn’t become necessary. One thing is for sure. You need to respect the people who come forward with larger sums of money by not continually harassing them in the future. My goal with this strategy was to keep from throwing all my golden eggs into one basket.

By the time I finished organizing that aspect of the campaign, we had managed to get fairly close to our first $1000. At this point I decided to try a little trick I learned from being addicted to World of Warcraft. In the game, they sometimes have “world events” or achievements that all players must participate in so that they can work together to unlock new tiers of content and abilities. Why not, I thought, create a mini ascertainable funding goal for the donors that has to be reached in a certain amount of time? AKA, if they got us to the $1000 mark by the end of the day, we would release bonus content from the project.

Sidebar: Apparently, everything I know about fundraising I learned from playing MMORPGs.

I digress.

I wasn’t sure this strategy would be successful, but I thought it would be a fun to atleast try. Oddly enough, before I could BLINK, someone had donated enough to put us over that goal and suddenely it was me who had to catch up to the donors by quickly finishing the sketch and posting it online as promised. Nothing loses support for a project faster than making promises and not keeping them.

Once we had a over $1000 pledged, I decided it was time to create a Facebook event for the campaign and get the cast and crew to invite all of their friends. I am of the strong belief that it is not the job of the cast to help produce the show in any way, but with such a small cast and crew of relatively unknown people, we made it clear from the beginning that we would at least expect them to link the show around every once in a while and certainly to link our campaign when we were close to fundraising milestones. I made it easy on them and sent them the following javascript code that allows you to invite all of your Facebook friends at once.
```
javascript:elms=document.getElementsByName("checkableitems[]");for (i=0;i<elms.length;i++){if (elms[i].type="checkbox" )elms[i].click()};
```
```
The way this works is as follows:
```
```
1. Go to the event page.
```
```
2. Click invite friends.
```
```
3. copy and paste the javascript code into the browser address bar.
```
```
4. Press enter and give it some time to select the names.
```
I also added a personal message with a link to the campaign invitations so when they arrived in the recipients’ email, they would have all the information they needed without needing to log into Facebook.

There is certainly an awareness factor that needs to be accounted for by using this system. Many people don’t sit online and obsessively read status feeds like some other people do (read: me), so for them our status updates wouldn’t effect their awareness of the project and our progress. I realized that I had made the right choice in creating an event once another slew of donations began to roll in.

It took a few days, but larger donations started to come in, partly due to the personal letters we had sent out to friends and family. As we got closer and closer to 50%, it started a tidal wave effect. We went from hoping to get one or two donations a day, to getting three or four anywhere between $10 and $1000 in a matter of hours. Not only were people donating, but our cast/crew were becoming more proactive and involved in linking the campaign on their feeds and inviting their friends to our event. I’m positive this began to happen because our goal became more attainable. That mountain didn’t look quite so steep from almost halfway up the peek.

When we got to 46%, I released an update saying that if we hit 50% funded in the next two days, Emily and I would release a surprise video as a reward. At this point, that was $235 away and it seemed a reasonable goal given the time frame and our track record so far. What I didn’t want was to set a goal so high that there was a big chance our donors wouldn’t be able to meet it.

No sooner had I put this message out via all of our social media outlets then one of our donors stepped forward with the entire sum required to get us EXACTLY to 50%. He left a comment expressing that the reason he gave that specific amount was to reach the goal. Enough said. This system works, and it’s also a blast for us to figure out what we’re going to release!

In just one week, This Is Art is 50% funded on IndieGoGo. These are the amazing people who are enabling us to do what we love:

Mark Gershon
Chris Gravenstine
Abby Garnett
Christopher Grant
Joseph Tesauro
Michael Lister
Shannon Haddock-Gerba
Eric McKenna
Erin Ramos
Danielle Earle
Alan Richmond
Portia Morrison
Anne Garber
Anonymous
Anonymous
Anonymous

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for becoming a part of our This Is Art family! Like Bon Jovi, we’re halfway there! We are so incredibly grateful to all of you and we cannot wait to start filming!

PLUS, on Thursday, Emily and I will release a special video because we reached our 50% goal in the allotted time!

BUT, my comrades! The battle is not yet won. We have 27 days to raise $3000. I firmly believe that goal is attainable, but it won’t be possible without your help.

To those of you who are still considering donating, feel free to check out our campaign page. We’ll continue to add more content to it as the campaign progresses and we edge ever closer to our shoot! Even if you are unable to contribute monetarily, we need all the help we can get when it comes to posting links and exposing new people to the project. This is not only a time for getting our campaign funded, but it’s also a great time for us to get our names out there and get people excited about the series from the ground up. Please help us by sharing our campaign on Facebook, Twitter and by Email.

Whether you are doing research for your own campaign or you are simply interested in our progress, I hope this update gave you some insight into what this crowd funding process has been like for us so far. I’m sure there are many lessons still to be learned as we move forward and I’ll certainly share them as we go! If you have any advice for us, we’d love for you to share it in the comments section below.

Now let’s climb the rest of the way up this frakin’ mountain!

-Anne Richmond
@annerichmond
@followthisisart
Facebook
Tumblr
Category Production Update | Tags: , abby garnett, achievements, alan richmond, anne garber, anne richmond, anonymous, artform, azeroth, bon jovi, campaign, chad miller, chris gravenstine, chris ruth, christopher grant, clint okayama, creating new work, creating original work, crowdfund, crowdfunding, danielle earle, emily floyd, entertainment, eric mckenna, erin ramos, family, felicia day, fundraise, fundraising, girl scouts chicago, guild, guildies, half way there, how to, indiegogo, invite all facebook friends, joseph tesauro, kickstarter, lessons I've learned, Mark Gershon, melanie portsche, michael lister, MMORPG, new media, new york, new york city, predators, principle photography, producer, producing, rapists, self produce, shannon haddock-gerba, silly humans, social media outlets, strategy, the guild, this is art, twitter, web series, webisode, webisodes, webseries, world events, world of warcraft | 2 Comments
Launching our Indiegogo Campaign

July 12, 2011 by Anne

Things have been very busy for the whole This Is Art Team. We had our first table read of the script with our cast and we have been tweaking it and making some changes that were illuminated by this process. After a year of hard work, writing, and planning, I’m very proud to announce that our fundraising campaign on Indiegogo is now LIVE!

We have 34 days to raise $6000 in order to fund our project. Our production team is currently ready to shoot the entire first seasons if This Is Art at the end of August. We have a big idea, the passion, and the drive to make this happen, but we’re reaching out to everyone we know to ask for your help.

So please, take a moment to view our introductory video featuring test footage and behind the scenes interviews with some of our cast. You’ll find more information about the show and our goals listed below it on our campaign’s page. Spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, and by email. Each donation comes with it’s own thank gift or “perk” so take a look on the right side of the campaign page to see what we have to offer! Please consider donating to our project because you’ll not only be helping us realize our dream, but you’ll also be supporting new media entertainment, an industry that redefines what art is every single day.

-Anne Richmond
@annerichmond
@followthisisart
Facebook
Tumblr

Category Production Update | Tags: , anne richmond, ask letter, campaign, chad miller, chris ruth, clint okayama, donations, donor, donors, e mail, email, emily floyd, facebook, fundrais, fundraise, fundraising, indiegogo, James Herron, melanie portsche, new media entermaintment, plea, social media, this is art, twitter, watchthisisart, web series, webseries | No Comments
5 Tips to Help You Commit to Your Art

May 24, 2011 by Anne

Photo by Tara Lee www.Tarahleephotography.com

When we’re young, it’s easy to commit to being an artist with wide eyed enthusiasm and charming naiveté. When it comes to actually being an artist, the whole endeavor becomes clouded with distractions.

There are constraints and requirements outside of your artistic career that take up a lot of your time and attention. You must pay rent. You must eat. You must socialize and be able to afford some form of entertainment to keep yourself sane. Sometimes it feel likes you have to maintain a whole second life on top of the first one and that there simply aren’t enough hours in the day. It’s too easy get caught up in the “everything else” of our lives.

This even applies within artistic projects. With a webseries, you are forced to take on multiple areas of responsibility. Very few people have just one position, mostly due to small budgets. It is easy as a producer/writer/designer, to forget entirely that one of the prime reasons you started the project in the first place was to provide yourself with an opportunity to tell a story onscreen as an actor. This is what I call, “Too Many Hats Syndrome.”

In addition to this problem, most people can’t take time off from their lives to spend on creating a new project. You have to do it in the so-called “down time” from your other career. Sometimes when I look at my work schedule, I have to stop and ask, “When, exactly, am I supposed to be pursuing this second career?”

This brings me to the biggest distraction of all. There is a point at which your “day job” becomes your job. Your art is your career, your day job is your fall back. Day jobs are supposed to net you enough gains that you can pursue your dreams when they don’t pay off as well as they should. More often than not, you find yourself spending increasing amounts of time trying to build a resume for a skill set you don’t even like just to pay your bills.

Recently, Bryan Vu, our “webmaster-at-arms” for This Is Art, offered to redesign my personal website. Currently, my website is a wordpress hodge podge of projects, tabs, resumes for performance, resumes for professional positions- overall a giant mess. He wanted to give me something clean that would really represent what I do in a striking and eye catching way. I asked Bryan if he thought I should include a resume for professional office administration positions somewhere on the site.

“What for?” He replied incredulously.

“I should have all my resumes up there, shouldn’t I? In case a perspective employer googles me? I don’t want them to think I’m not serious about office administration or whatever I’m interviewing for.”

“You’re a professional performer and a writer. That’s how you should represent yourself.”

I started to disagree with him before it hit me. “I am a professional performer and a writer!” I realized with renewed fervor. Somewhere along the way I had forgotten to look at myself in the mirror and recognize my success. I don’t intend to be a receptionist for the rest of my life so why insist on telling the world I was one?

Maybe, I told myself, the very thing that is holding me back is the fact that I haven’t let go of the extraneous things in my life that make me feel secure. On Bravo’s Inside the Actor’s Studio, I’ve heard many successful actors claim that they never would have been successful if they had clung to a back up plan. I suppose, if you never commit yourself fully to your artistic aspirations, then you don’t have to fall as far if you fail.

It’s a brave thing to declare yourself an artist, but truly being an artist bears the responsibility of that burden. You will starve, you will pay rent checks late, you won’t always be able to go out with your friends when they ask you, or take luxurious vacations when you desperately need them. Now this is not to say that you have to live with spartan dedication to your craft, but there are things you can do in order to stay focused on your career in its early stages.

#1: Time Management. You will be exhausted all the time. Plan ahead and figure out when you have to get everything done outside of your day job schedule. More importantly, commit to it. If you say you’re going to spend time on your new monologue, or go to a networking event, do it. Additionally, if your day job becomes your job, its time to start looking for a new one.

#2: See Art. Every time I see something I love, it inspires me to continue working on my craft. If you let your artistic mind flatline, then you’ll leave a huge space open for all those distractions to tumble through your front door and bury you. Study the people you love and learn from them.

#3: Journal. Even if you’re not a writer, it’s important to stay self aware. Day jobs eat creative brain cells for breakfast. Journaling or free writing allows you to check in and remember what’s important to you emotionally and artistically. Keep yourself and your heart open. It’s a vulnerable experience, but in that scrutiny and weakness is the beauty and truth you should probably be exploring with your art, whether it manifests in a new idea for a character, or a self depricating stand up routine. You have to be in touch with who you are at your best and at your worst. For an easy start, try Oh Life. It’s an online private journal bank that emails you every night to remind you to write SOMETHING- anything. You simply reply to the email and it stores what you wrote in your private journal. It’s unassuming and you don’t have to risk having your private thoughts discovered or read by anyone else. Take five minutes and get started. That’s all it requires. When? On the subway, drinking coffee, on the toilet if you have to. Get your mind working! Writing a journal will be a constant reminder that you are an amazing, breathing organism with the gift of creation beating soundly in your heart.

#4: “If God calls, pick up the phone.” Lady Gaga said this in an interview and it’s absolutely true. No one is constantly inspired to make art twenty four hours a day. If inspiration strikes, let the adrenaline pump through your veins and get cracking! Don’t put off your ideas. These will be your most productive and most magical moments as an artist, even if it means waking up from a dream and writing down your ideas right then and there.

#5: Declare yourself. Whether it’s on your website or at cocktail party, be who you want to be. Your website is your creative calling card. You can be everything you dream of, even that wild artistic mastermind who only has a chance to emerge after quitting time. When people ask you what you do, tell them, “I’m an artist.” If people judge you, so what? People may never accept your choices in life or who you are, but if you can’t come out of the closet to yourself, then you’ll never succeed.

So, I’ll start. I’m Anne, and I’m an actor. Who are you?

-Anne Richmond
@annerichmond
@followthisisart
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Category Production Update | Tags: , @annerichmond, annerichmond.com, artist, bank, blog, bpvuonline.com, bravo, Bryan Vu, coming out of the closet, commit, commitment, craft, day job, declare yourself, distraction, emily floyd, fall back, five tips, flatline, graphic designer, how to, if god calls, Inside the Actor's Studio, Journal, lady gaga, naivete, oh life, ohlife.com, online journal, pick up the phone, post graduate, postgraduate, private, quote, risk, see art, self aware, spartan, study, tara lee, tara lee photography, this is art, tv, wake up, web series, webisode, webisodes, webmaster, webseries, website designer, writing | 10 Comments
Celebrating Our Cast

May 17, 2011 by Anne

This Is Art is about what it takes to make art happen. Our cast lives that story every single day. We want to celebrate their successes, give you a taste of their current projects, and tell you how you can see their work.

When cast member Christopher Ruth was approached about playing a show at The Duplex in NYC by fellow Boston Conservatory alum, Morgan Pate, he was offered a rare opportunity to bring his guitar out of his bedroom and play in front of a live crowd. Their first show was titled A Jew, A Gentile, and a Guitar. That show cemented a creative relationship between Chris and Morgan and they have continued to cover songs and imbue them with a new personal twist ever since. Wednesday May 18th, they are playing their first official show under their new band name, Shepherd’s Crook. You can join them at Arlene’s Grocery in NYC and cheer them on! The show starts at 7PM and the cover charge is $8. For a taste of what’s in store, check out their cover of “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?” by Paula Cole.

Chad Miller is about to head off to the premiere of the independent film, An Ordinary Family, at the LA Film Festival.

An Ordinary Family is a surprisingly humorous drama that follows two brothers dealing with their conflict of belief over homosexuality and their own personal baggage in a story that asks the simple question; “At the end of the day, are we still family?” The film begins as the annual family reunion gets rocky when Seth arrives with his new boyfriend. No one bats an eye except his brother Thomas, a married man of the cloth, in this fresh, bittersweet exploration of frayed family ties. ~www.anordinaryfamily.com

Chad plays Seth’s boyfriend, William. He told me that the show had a very unusual process. The whole cast lived together during the shoot, becoming more comfortable with each other both as actors and as their characters. At the outset of the project, they started with the basic story outline and script, but before each day of shooting, the cast met with the Director, Mike Akel, Writer, Matt Patterson, and Assistant Director, Melissa Dalley. They discussed the story and collaboratively offered lines of dialogue that they felt would move them through the events of each scene. Once the cameras started rolling, the cast improvised, experimented, and developed these scenes into what has become a very organic feeling film, from what I can tell based on their trailer. They are premiering the film on June 19th at the LA Film Festival, so if you’re on the west coast, get your passes to the festival or purchase an individual ticket for as little as $12! You can follow the film on Twitter and keep up with them on Facebook as well.

AN ORDINARY FAMILY – Official Film Trailer! from Matt Patterson on Vimeo.

Emily Floyd and I have been rehearsing for ALICE AU PAYS DES MERVEILLES, a new Beautiful Soup Theatre Collective production based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, written and directed by Steven MacCasland, and playing Off Broadway at The Soho Playhouse June 1-5. Emily first began working with Steven and Beautiful Soup in their production of Hamlet, in which she understudied Ophelia. She was also featured in their production of the new musical, Crossing Brooklyn.

Steven wrote ALICE AU PAYS DES MERVEILLES with Emily in mind for the title role, which is always a great honor as an actor. He was holding a reading and needed more actors, so Emily asked if I would like to participate. I was delighted to join in and support her. We had recently performed together in Alice LIVE at the Rabbit Hole with Box Full of Wasps Theatre Collective and I was very familiar with Lewis Carroll’s world. Unlike that production which focused on deconstructing Wonderland for an adult audience, Steven’s Wonderland is refreshingly close to the book and just begging to be staged. When he cast the show, Steven asked me to be a part of it based on the reading, and I happily accepted. We began the process with a workshop on Viewpoints, a technique for composition using movement and gesture that was developed by Anne Bogart and Tina Landau in the 1970′s. Throughout the rehearsal process, we have used Viewpoints to block the show and it has created a very interesting world that relies on theatrical rules we have imposed on the space, the imaginative performances of the actors, and minimal use of stage props and costumes. Emily is charming and whimsical in the role of Alice, and I will be featured the Gryphon, which I must say is riotous fun to explore.

Buy tickets and $5 of every ticket will be donated to Project Night Night, which provides “Shelter Kids” with tools to enhance their literacy and packages of essentials to help them take the best possible care of themselves. Plus if enough people come to see the show, we may get an extended run!

So get out there and see some great work by the cast of This Is Art!

-Anne Richmond
@annerichmond
@followthisisart
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Category Production Update | Tags: , a gentile, a jew, AD, Alice au Pay des Merveilles, Alice in Wonderland, Alice LIVE at the Rabbit Hole, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Allison Winter, alum, alumni, and a guitar, Anne Bogart, anne richmond, Arlene's Grocery, Assistant Director, Boston Conservatory, Box Full of Wasps Theatre Collective, boyfriend, buy tickets, chad miller, chris ruth, Christopher Ruth, college, concert, cost, Courtney de la Rigaudiere, Courtney Keller, cover charge, Crossing Brooklyn, david blue garcia, david fabelo, David Marx, Dierdre Cutler, Director, embed, emily floyd, gay, gay marriage, greg wise, Hamlet, homosexual, homosexuality, janelle schremmer, Jennifer Spears, Joanie Fritz Zosike, LA Film Festival, laurie coker, Lewis Carroll, live, Logan Riley Bruner, Los Angeles, Mallory Berlin, matter patterson, megan minto, mike akel, music, new artists, new york city, off broadway, Ophelia, Patrick Whitehead, Paula Cole, priest, project Night Night, richard C. jones, Robert Hieger, Rory Allan Meditz, shelter kids, Shepherd's Crook, show, Stephanie Streisand, Steven MacCasland, steven schaefer, The Duplex, the soho playhouse, tickets, Tina Landau, Tracy Jennissen, trailer, troy schremmer, video, Viewpoints, west coast, Where have All the Cowboys Gone?, wonderland, workshop, youtube | 2 Comments
The Blip.tv Relaunch

May 17, 2011 by Anne

Blip.tv is a very popular site amongst webseries creators. It allows us to distribute our show across many of the popular video platforms online with the click of a button and monetize our product through allowing ads to play before our videos. With their new design, they make themselves even more viewer friendly, incorporating new easy ways to discover shows, either by category or by recommendation of the show you’re currently watching. The new incorporation of the show posters all over the site gives us new opportunities to reach out and grab the attention of possible views. It’s just visually stunning at the end of the day.

If you’re a series creator, this is the perfect time to go over to Blip.tv and check out what they’re providing us with, and if you’re someone interested in learning about webseries for the first time, this is now the perfect discovery tool. Watch this video and hear about the new changes directly from the team at Blip.tv.

Congratulations guys! We cannot wait to start distributing our show!

-Anne Richmond
@annerichmond
@followthisisart
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Category Digital Spotlight | Tags: , 2011, AD, ads, blip, blip.tv, categories, congratulations, creator, discovery, distribute, free, launch, layout, monetize, new blip, new design, newblip, redesign, relaunch, show posters, view friendly, web series, webisode, webisodes, webseries | 1 Comment
5 Tips for Standing Out at an Audition: Lessons from the Other Side of the Table

May 16, 2011 by Emily

As most of our followers probably know, we recently held auditions for a few open roles in our webseries, This Is Art. This was not only an exciting milestone for our show, as we got to see our characters come to life in the hands of strangers, but it was also an important experience for me as an actor.

After all, this was my first time being on the other side of the table. For years I’ve been coming into auditions blindly, singing “God I Hope I Get It” on repeat in my head while I nervously lock eyes with this mysterious person whose job it is to judge me. Later, when it’s all over and I’ve received no phone call and my hope starts to dwindle, I always find myself asking, “What could I have done differently?”

Unfortunately, casting is such a subjective business. As actors, we’re trained to assure ourselves that we just “weren’t what they were looking for.” Usually, this is true. I learned that the hard way while casting This Is Art; there were a lot of really talented people who, sadly, just weren’t what we were looking for.

However, I also learned a lot of other important things about casting and auditioning during that experience. I can truly say that after sitting on the other side of that table, I will never go into an audition the same way again. It is now my sincere belief that every actor should get this experience at least once. So my first big acting tip is this: write a fake show, post auditions all over the internet, throw down a few hundred bucks for renting an audition space, and hold yourself some fake auditions!

Ok, maybe that’s not the most practical way to learn these lessons. How about I just share with you all of this priceless knowledge I gleaned from my own personal casting experience?

Now, there are 2 important factors for doing well at an audition:

#1: Obviously, the thing that will help you most at an audition is talent. You have to be good at it. But I hardly possess the ability to help you with that, especially through this blog. Let’s assume you’re confident in your talent (and you should be! You’re an ACTOR! And you’re fantastic!) and just focus on the other thing:

#2: You have to stand out. It sounds easy enough, and I’m sure you’ve heard it before. You already know that at every audition you’re competing against everyone else in the waiting room – sometimes hundreds of people! Now think about it this way: That person on the other side of the table, the one casting you, has been sitting behind that table for 3 hours when they see you. Five minutes after you finish singing your sixteen bars and reading your sides, they see another person who looks remarkably similar to you. And so on and so forth, for another 3 hours…

It took being subjected to this for three hours myself before it finally sunk in for me just how important it is to stand out. And here, my friends, are the easiest ways you can do it. From submission to audition, follow these tips and I guarantee you’ll be more than just another 5 minutes.

1. Submit yourself, not just your headshot.

When Anne and I first looked at all our submissions on Actor’s Access, we were overwhelmed with just how many faces were staring back at us. Unfortunately, the evil truth IS the truth – our first step was to go through, face by face, and determine which faces we wanted to see in person. We essentially looked at every headshot and every resume and formed a gut-instinct Yes Pile and No Pile. It was grueling and made us feel dirty and shallow. But! Every now and then we’d come across a submission that had a note attached: “I can definitely connect with this character!” or “The project sounds like a lot of fun, I’d love to be involved,” or even just plain old “Please consider me.” These notes were few and far between, but they made the actors who wrote the notes stand out. Often, someone would be heading for the No Pile, but we’d see that they “really loved the concept” and we’d put them in the Yes Pile just because they showed genuine (or non-genuine? Who knows, or cares?) interest. Long story short: When you are submitting to a project or asking for an audition, include something that denotes your interest in the project. If you’re submitting via e-mail, write a cover letter! This takes a little extra time, but it shows you’ve actually read the breakdown and aren’t just blanket-submitting to every project you see. Note: Yes, I’m aware most actors blanket-submit to every project they see. But you don’t have to make it so goshdarn obvious!

2. Répondez s’il vous plaît!

Simply put, if you get called or e-mailed to come in for something, respond! If you’ve recently submitted and know you should be expecting a call, then don’t freak out when you get a call from an unknown number. I called people to offer them audition slots and got treated like a telemarketer. That just… baffled me. It also surprised me how many people I’d call to offer an audition, only to hear “And what is this project?” I get it. It’s that whole blanket-submitting fiasco again. I’m not going to delude myself into thinking that every person who submitted for This Is Art desperately fell in love with our project just because of the breakdowns, BUT I will say that some of the people we called had no idea what a “webseries” is. Pro tip: If you are submitting for something, please know what it is. A little research never hurt anyone.

And while we’re on the subject, keep in mind a little enthusiasm never hurt anyone either. When someone sounded happy or excited to get the chance to audition for my show, or was even just polite about it, it made me all the happier and more excited to see them in the audition room.

3. Remember: You’re at an audition, even when you’re outside the room.

You know that person who sits outside and hands you your sides and tells you when it’s time to go in? For bigger-scale auditions, this person may just be hired to do that portion of the job, or may be volunteering and have no connection to the project. But if you’re auditioning for more independent projects, like webseries, independent films, or small-company theatre, that person outside the room is probably somehow connected to the people inside the room. I’m not saying to be fake to them, or feel nervous around them, but I WILL say that if you’re nice and personable to them, that person might remember you. Remember: People want to work with people with whom it’s easy to get along.

Please allow me a mini-tangent about this stage of the rehearsal process: You know that little sheet you usually get at an audition, with a few questions for you to fill out and turn in with your resume? Everyone is turning one in, and everyone is answering the same questions. Don’t be afraid to use this space to really express yourself. It’s just another chance for you to stand out! The people for whom you’re auditioning may never even glance at that sheet while you’re in the room. But later, as they’re rifling through endless piles of headshots and trying to narrow things down, they will read what you wrote, and it CAN make a difference.

4. Dress the part!

At Tisch School of the Arts, we learned that when getting dressed for an audition, you should always wear what the character would wear if they were getting dressed-up. In other words, you want to look nice, but show a little hint of the character. Even the prominent New York casting director Bernard Telsey once told me a story of the time a girl auditioned for the role of a princess character in a full-on princess gown. It was a little much, but he and his staff remembered her and ended up calling her in for other things.

I’ve always followed this rule religiously. Once I even auditioned for the role of Ophelia in a Steampunk production of Hamlet wearing a huge pair of custom-made Steampunk goggles. I don’t think it’s always necessary to go this over-the-top, but a suggestion of the character in your wardrobe really helps you stand out at an audition.

For instance, the actress Melanie Portsche was auditioning for a role in This Is Art which we had described as a “feminazi.” She came in to her audition wearing a nice black shirt paired with army-green cargo pants and boots. The moment she walked in the door I instantly took notice! During her audition, as Anne and James were complimenting her performance, I jumped in and complimented her outfit. Anne proceeded to hastily cover up for me with a quick “And your acting was good, also!” Of course, I didn’t mean that Melanie’s outfit outperformed her audition. I merely appreciated the fact that she’d put some thought into the character, and it showed in ALL aspects of her audition.

Later, as we were narrowing down our picks, Melanie endearingly earned the nickname “Cargopants.” What really pulled it off for her was a fantastic audition, but the detail she put into her audition, including the way she dressed, really helped her stand out to us so that we could REMEMBER just how fantastic her audition was. In the end, she got the part! She’s now a member of the This Is Art cast, and… hopefully still likes me even now that I’ve told you all this story.

5. For the love of all things holy, Make A Choice!

Seriously, this is the most straightforward tip I can give you. Make. A. Choice. If you get the sides beforehand, read them carefully and Make A Choice. If you get the sides right before you go in, read them quickly and Make A Choice.

Here’s something I think we actors forget: We’re not expected to nail the character perfectly at an audition. That’s not what they’re looking for at all. Instead, it’s more important that we prove our chops as actors (ie, Make A Choice) and that we can follow direction. If you come in having Made A Strong Choice, that shows the casting team that you are capable of Making Choices and it is most likely assumed that, given the context of the script, the Choices You Make will greatly influence the character during production. If you come in Making a Ridiculously Wrong Choice, it really doesn’t matter. The director will probably just tell you “This time, do it this way,” and then you have a chance to Make ANOTHER Choice. That’s Two Choices! In one audition! Do you know how much that will make you stand out?

So, there you have it. Five very important tips for standing out at an audition. Most of these primarily apply to auditions for independent projects, like our own, but even if you’re going to a Broadway Equity casting call, following these steps can only help you.

Finally, please keep in mind that even if you stand out really well at an audition you will not always get the part. Sometimes you just “weren’t what they were looking for.” Le sigh. The bright side: when they tell you they’ll hold on to your headshot, or keep you in mind for future projects, it’s probably not a white lie. What benefit do they gain from falsely boosting your confidence? If they’re not interested in you, they won’t pretend like they are. But if you’ve stood out to them – if you’ve proven that you’re a polite, fun to work with, smart choice-making machine – then they probably DO want to work with you.

Anne and I saw a lot of people at our auditions that really inspired us, even if they weren’t right for the part. In some cases, we even wanted to write new roles for them. In most cases, we hung on to their headshots and information so that we can call them in as soon as we have a place for them. It’s not a myth. You’re not just auditioning for the role for which you were called in, you may be auditioning for every role that the casting director will ever cast. That’s a GOOD thing!

Now, since we’re all learning here, I highly encourage you to comment with any other audition-related wisdom you might have.

-Emily Floyd

@emilythespoon
@followthisisart
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Category Production Update | Tags: , @annerichmond, @followthisisart, actor, actress, anne richmond, artists, auditions, Bernard Telsey, casting, emily floyd, entertainment, James Herron, melanie portsche, new york city, nyc, producing, production blog, submitting, this is art, tips, Tisch, Tisch School of the Arts, TSOA, tumblr, twitter, webseries, writers | 3 Comments
The 10 Best Sites About Webseries

May 12, 2011 by Anne

A successful webseries isn’t just about good content. It’s about learning the territory.

As we developed the script for This is Art, and now as we march through preproduction and fundraising, I have been doing my best to keep up with industry news, watch as many other web shows as possible, and engage in meaningful dialogue with other webseries creators. The following is a list of sites that I check almost daily in order to improve my knowledge of new media entertainment.

News

Tubefilter aims to be the leading authority on web television and webseries. They were the creative minds behind The Streamy Awards (think of it as the Oscars of web tv) and the IAWTV (International Academy of Web Television). They post articles daily about developments in the industry, previews for new shows, and they cover major distribution deals as well.

Slebisodes not only provides news and reviews, but also amasses a broad list of webseries for you to browse.

Gigaom has a lot of great articles not just about webseries but about new media entertainment news in general in their NewTeeVee section.

Discovery

Koldcast is an online webseries channel that features several shows and even sponsors some of them. It’s just a great collection of shows with a lot of variety.

Blip.tv is a site that webseries creators use to distribute their shows across multiple platforms. They also feature episodes on the front page as well. This is a great tool if you’re creating webisodes, vlogs, or video podcasts. It can be helpful to see how others are using it.

Digital Chick TV was created by writer/director Daryn Strauss, who seeks to amass a reliable database of the finest online video content available for a female audience. The site breaks down its featured shows into a broad spectrum categories, from comedy to experimental, so you can easily find shows that might be similar to yours or explore genres you haven’t looked into yet.

Dialogue

Dialogik Digital is a boutique digital marketing consultancy for entertainment properties. They have several notable clients including Tubefilter (mentioned above), Anyone But Me (an award winning webseries), and the IAWTV. They also publish a blog that shares their PR strategies and news about their clients. I think it’s generous and very much in keeping with the spirit of this industry that they share their “how-to’s” with the rest of the community.

Celebrate the Web was created by Kim Evey and Jenni Powell in 2010 as a way for web content creators and their supporters to start a dialogue about the current state and the potential future of web tv. They mostly hold events on the west coast, but they also ran a pilot contest online that gave creators around the world an opportunity to win money to put towards producing their show. It’s got a serious “by the people, for the people” vibe that I really dig.

BigScreen LittleScreen is a monthly meetup series sponsored by Digitas, Tubefilter, 10ton, Focal Press, AskLocal/Zami.com, and Mo Video Mojo and hosted by Matthew Semel and Paul Kontonis. Every month, they present a group of videos and post viewing, you get a chance to do Q and A with the creators. There’s always great company, good conversation, and many opportunities for networking. I check their meetup page to sign up for the events because there’s limited capacity. If you are in NYC, definitely start attending. They also recently announced that there will be an LA version starting up soon.

“The New York Webseries” Facebook Group is a site I check daily without fail. You have to be a series creator/writer in order to join the group, but people post questions, suggestions, and show links every single day. It’s a very active hub and an extremely welcoming/supportive community. This is, of course, geographically focused, but if you’re a NY series creator, you’d be shooting yourself in the foot if you didn’t join the dialogue.

Those are my best 10 resources for the webseries industry. If you have more suggestions, please feel free to add them in the comments below!

-Anne Richmond

@annerichmond
@followthisisart
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Category Digital Spotlight | Tags: , 10 best, 10ton, 2010, @annerichmond, @followthisisart, anyone but me, AskLocal, audience, blip, blip.tv, blog, categories, celebrate the web, channel, communities, community, consultancy, content creators, creators, critiques, daryn strauss, database, dialogik, dialogue, digital chick tv, Digitas, discover, distribution, facebook, facebook group, female, Focal Press, geographically focused, gigaom, how to, iawtf, industry, international academy or web television, jenni powell, kim evey, koldcast, list, Matthew Semel, Mo Video Mojo, new media entertainment, new shows, new tee vee, new york webseries, newteevee, online video, Paul Kontonis, pilot contest, platforms, PR, preview, public relations, reviews, show, shows, sites, slebisodes, sponsor, sponsors, suggestions, support, this is art, tool, tubefilter, tumblr, tv, twitter, vimeo, web series, web video, webisodes, webseries, welcome, west coast, youtube, Zami, Zami.com | No Comments