Cut to September of '08 and I happened to make a comment on an entertainment lawyer's Facebook link about webseries which ultimately resulted in a message from some guy who was producing a webseries himself, and his name was Mark Gantt.  His Facebook avatar looked so familiar...right! He was one of the guys behind The Bannen Way who apparently didn't think I was babelicious enough to even audition for his show.  But I messaged him back anyway as he seemed quite nice and then checked out the new site.  Holy shit! The site was gorgeous, with a small teaser trailer...Jaguar, Miu Miu and Prada product endorsement, everything shot on the RED.  Who the hell were these guys and what connections did they have? I was struggling to prep for the indie release of 'After Judgment', Mike and I having no idea really what we were doing and racing (with our webmaster) to get our site up and ready, and here was this show that just seemed to have everything primed and prepped for the big time.

So I exchanged phone numbers over Facebook and had a two and a half hour coffee with Mark...and found out that everything I saw on the site, every product placement, every gorgeous piece of content, had been independently achieved, produced and financed by Jesse Warren and himself.  I was honestly flabbergasted and then incredibly inspired.  There was no benefactor behind them, no studio deal (yet), they had cold-called Jaguar to borrow a car for the shoot, called in production favors, and designed and built the site themselves.  My conversation with Mark was an eye opener.  I'm not saying they didn't have resources (and not that I'm privy to that info anyway) but they've both been in the biz for a while and Jesse's wife is O.C. actress Autumn Reeser, and regardless what their combined bank statements look like, they independently produced a killer online sizzle reel, two awesome episodes and built a beautiful site...all because when they sent the scripts to agents and studios, they were rejected across the board: 'Show us something'. So they did.

What is my point here? The Bannen Way and Mark and Jesse are as indie as the rest of us. They just made something on spec (and on point) that the studios were eager to compete over and ultimately buy.  If Mark and Jesse had chosen to release the episodes that they had already shot on their own in '08, I guarantee you they would have been at the Streamys last year and probably won.  But they kept things under wraps and waited to make a studio deal. Good on them for the faith and patience.  Don't turn on them or the show because you're angry that Sony released three episodes in advance of its official release date so that it would be Streamy eligible: The slick studio throwing its shiny new webseries, chalk-full of Hollywood stars, on its site with no warning, so that it can take home all the awards for a year that it wasn't even really streaming during and then it will win everything AGAIN in 2010?  Sure, I understand the general frustration.  But what if Sony had set the official release date for December 23rd? If those three episodes that are on Crackle right now were 'officially' released, would it make a difference? But Sony made a business decision, based on whatever X, Y, Z variables to release the series in January, probably due to some ancillary market distribution deal.  And come to think of it, what if Sony had released say 5 episodes in 2009 and the remaining 9 in '10?  'After Judgment' released 8 episodes in '09 thus we're still eligible.  Same problem but no cloak and dagger routine.  So is it the underhanded, slightly shady Hollywood-type play that Sony made to a) make Mark and Jesse happy so they could have a shot at a 2010 award and b) take advantage of any potential Streamy publicity, that we are miffed about, or the fact that one season of a studio webseries is now eligible for two Awards seasons, thus potentially taking away awards from deserving, low budget fair that could use the exposure?  I'm thinking it's a bit of both but neither is the fault of the show itself.  We should be thanking the internet gods that The Bannen Way is good.  

Obviously the rules need to be re-examined and possibly re-fined next year, but as they are now: 3 episodes released in the '09 calendar year means Streamy eligibility.   The Bannen Way is eligible.  Done.  That means some of us won't get guest star nominations because Michael Ironside and/or Robert Forrester get it instead.  Well that does kinda suck. But that's the real world baby and if more of the mainstream media picks up the Streamys because of The Bannen Way, then more mainstream studios and their offshoots, and then independent financiers and brands will have the confidence to finance original content for the web and that behooves us all.  We're the original players kids so make all this craziness work for you. 

One last thing...this debate also means the Streamys mean something to us as a community. In one year the Streamys have become a big thing.  I remember Marc Hustvedt telling me about his plans for the Streamys in November '08 and I remember thinking 'how cute'. Nothing cute about it these days (well except for the pic of Felicia).  Also remember, there is an actual board, an IAWTV membership that votes on the Streamys, comprised of YOUR PEERS and I'm fairly confident that this board takes their role pretty seriously.  It has the responsibility to push our space to the forefront but it also doesn't want to be seen as a Hollywood sellout.  I'm hopeful that the great shows and talent of '09 will be recognized. 

So! Run your campaigns, vote and support the space, watch The Bannen Way and enjoy what Mark and Jesse have achieved.  Know that if you have a kickass mainstream idea that you can deliver on and that can be monetized across multiple platforms, the web arm of a studio will probably be interested.  If not, just tell a story that you are passionate about. This is going to be an awesome year.

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