Vu Bui cowers from the Giant Nazi Woman of the SS on Apple TV in 2007!
Photo courtesy of Lan Bui.

“It’s been a long road… getting from there to here.”

Well, after a long campaign of reluctantly asking my fans and colleagues to nominate A Comicbook Orange for a Streamy, I can finally sit back and concentrate on the show while the voting process takes place. Wait, no? People are setting up For Your Consideration screenings and sending out DVD screeners? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!

At first glance, the new For Your Consideration trend in web series looks like fun. Who doesn’t love getting dolled up and hanging with their friends and colleagues at a shwanky bar/theatre in Hollywood? But the more I think of it, the more I cringe.

A lot has changed over the past 5 years. When I launched Kitkast back in 2005, the Yahoo Videoblogging Group was up in arms over the fear that “shows” will overtake the personal vlogs that they loved so dearly. In time, they embraced the change and new fears emerged. Fears that Hollywood will come in and stake their claim on our turf.

All of these fears have now come true. Most web series getting recognition in mainstream press are big studio productions, the unions now have new media contracts and a lot of web series are throwing red carpet premieres for their work. The good thing about all this is that it generates more interest in the industry bringing in new viewers, more acting talent and a classy image. The sad reality, however, is that it also makes it more difficult for low-budget (and no-budget!) productions to get noticed.

So when it comes to hearing about For Your Consideration screenings and DVD screeners, I feel a little uneasy. Here’s why:

• The Streamys are for web series. Not for (how does it look and sound on my) TV series or (look how glorious this could’ve been as a) film.
• The Streamys are for international web series. Not for Los Angeles based producers with the time and budget to make DVDs and throw parties.

I can’t convince people to refrain from holding screenings or sending out DVDs to promote their work, but I can make decisions for how I will vote as a member of the International Academy of Web Television. As such, I make the following statement:

I solemnly swear to judge Streamy nominees based on their web series on the web.

If I get a DVD in the mail, I won’t watch it… and if I go to a screening, I’ll go for the networking opportunity, not the viewing.

Think of it as net neutrality, but for web series. All producers should be judged on equal ground… that ground is the web.

We finally launched season 5 of A Comicbook Orange yesterday and it feels great! I’m dancing around my apartment today like a complete idiot. And, to make a day better, I also just got off the phone about something really exciting… so keep your fingers crossed for me

Also out this week is an interview that Rudy and I did with The Web Files. The interview turned out even better than I thought it would because of the awesome editing! Take a look:

And, lastly, thanks to Tubefilter for the blog post yesterday, and thanks to YouTube and Blip.tv for featuring our new episode! 2010 is off to a great start… XOXO

Today is the last day to nominate your picks for the Streamy Awards. Here is a quick list of categories we’re eligible for. If you’ve already nominated us, you can do it again today! The nominee with the most nominations in any category becomes a guaranteed finalist, so OM NOM NOM NOM!!!

• Best Hosted Web Series – A Comicbook Orange
• Best Web Series Host – Casey McKinnon, A Comicbook Orange
• Best Guest Star in a Web Series – Casey McKinnon, Hurtling Through Space at an Alarming Rate
• Best Editing in a Web Series – Casey McKinnon, A Comicbook Orange
• Best Art Direction in a Web Series – Josh Allard, A Comicbook Orange
• Best Visual Effects in a Web Series – Casey McKinnon, A Comicbook Orange
• Best Original Music in a Web Series – Casey McKinnon, A Comicbook Orange (for my Dr. Horrible prequel song)

Thanks,
♥ Casey XOXO

Rudy Jahchan and Casey McKinnon re-create the Galacticast intro at the 2009 Streamy Awards. Photo courtesy of Kodak.

The 2009 Streamy Awards was the first awards show since the 2006 Vloggies to be devoted entirely to web video. As a result, it was a wonderful celebration of what I’ve been passionate about doing and advocating for the past 4+ years. Unfortunately, since my 2008 was spent relocating to Los Angeles and trying to get established, it was the ONLY year that we hadn’t made enough episodes of a web series to qualify for a nomination! Still, we watched contently as many of our good friends won for their shows. (We were probably most proud of our friends at Epic Fu who won for Best Hosted Web Series.)

2010 is going to be different. No longer are we in production limbo, we are back in full force.

The 2009 Streamys gave me the drive I needed to come back with a vengeance. Along with the support of my partner and co-writer Rudy Jahchan, the passion of our new director Josh Allard, the encouragement of our friend (and first Season 3 interviewee) Ben Templesmith, the assistance of Meltdown Comics for providing a location for our interviews, and our devoted A Comicbook Orange fans, I worked my little ass off to bring the show back.

And we did it all for free… because that’s how we roll.

So this year I ask you to please help keep us driven. If you love what we’ve been doing, please nominate us in as many categories of the Streamy Awards that we’re eligible to enter. Here’s a list:

• Best Hosted Web Series – A Comicbook Orange
• Best Web Series Host – Casey McKinnon, A Comicbook Orange
• Best Guest Star in a Web Series – Casey McKinnon, Hurtling Through Space at an Alarming Rate
• Best Editing in a Web Series – Casey McKinnon, A Comicbook Orange
• Best Art Direction in a Web Series – Josh Allard, A Comicbook Orange
• Best Visual Effects in a Web Series – Casey McKinnon, A Comicbook Orange
• Best Original Music in a Web Series – Casey McKinnon, A Comicbook Orange (for my Dr. Horrible prequel song)

And thanks to all of you who encouraged us to bring A Comicbook Orange back. Friends, fans, comic connoisseurs… you are the reason we do what we do.

♥ Casey XOXO

…at an Alarming Rate. Link

My guest appearance on sci-fi comedy web series Hurtling Through Space at an Alarming Rate went up last month! Be sure to check it out, if you haven’t already. There could be a Streamy Award nomination for Best Guest Star in there somewhere…

I was really excited when creator Mike Davies suggested I play the role of Kalm. Not only am I a lover of old Trek, but I’ve even read The Eugenics Wars series that explained the rise and fall of Khan Noonien Singh (which I was critical of, but still quite enjoyed) and, as an actor, I was ecstatic to be stepping into Riccardo Montelban’s Shakespearean shoes.

My only disappointment was that I felt the final edits downplayed the lesbian undertones I was going for with the character. However, to their defense… the character wasn’t written with lesbian undertones in mind, that was just my creative interpretation. In fact, at one point we were even talking about having a lesbian kiss between me and Taryn O’Neill! I felt that after Mike Davies grabbed Hottie McHotterson to make out in the middle of the video game face off, Kalm’s naturally vengeful reaction would be to grab Taryn’s character and kiss her, therefore undermining Mike’s attempt to throw Kalm off. I even got the “ok” from my boyfriend Rudy… what a forward thinking man!

Unfortunately, we never shot the kiss and the lesbian flirty looks between me and Taryn O’Neill were pretty much cut out… but I can always hope that Mike’ll write it in a future episode… Right, Mike? Pretty please…?

And, for the record, I’m not the only one who wants more hot girl-on-girl action… here’s the IM chat I had with Rudy just after he showed the episode to his co-workers: