Ellen Winter Goes Orange and Joins the OJBG Tapestry Project

We’re excited to announce that ELLEN WINTER, the star of Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden and accomplished singer, will be Going Orange for OJBG’s interactive new media Tapestry project! She’ll be joining us at the Capital Pride Parade in Washington, D.C. Saturday, June 8th to show her support for  LGBT youth. Come join us!

You can participate in the Tapestry and show your support from anywhere in the world with our Go! App. Show yourself “Going Orange” and put your city on the map by submitting a picture using #OJBG.

You can also support LGBT youth-focused organizations when you buy a “Mind the Gap” shirt. We’re donating a percentage of all the sales to organizations that represent and serve under represented LGBT youth issues. So what do you say? Will you join us and Go Orange? :)

More information is available here: http://orangejuiceinbishopsgarden.com/tapestry/

Make your first post an "introduction"

JOIN the Web Series Today Community !!!!!!

We try to avoid having many rules on Web Series Today because we want the platform to be as open as possible. That said, when it comes to a "community" it is always nice when people act as they would in a "community. That often means you begin with an introduction. In return, existing community members can respond to the "introduction" and welcome the new members into the community. The key here is that "norms" are set by the community, so any community becomes a reflection of your behavior. When you welcome someone to the community consider sharing what you have found helpful in terms of fitting in, or how best to present information effectively. One of the things we discovered back in the early days of lonelygirl15 is that a simple welcome goes a long way to driving future conversations.

So, before you begin posting in earnest take a few moments and post an "introduction". If you then follow this up by reading/watching previous posts within the community and leaving a comment to show you did, you are much more likely to find a warm reception when you begin to post your own content. Believe us, people watch how someone behaves in a community and even if they say nothing, they are keenly aware of your pattern of interactions. If you come across as "selfish", "arrogant" or a "spammer" it will not end well in this new World of social media. If you embrace the community as a community of individuals then you build a network of strong bonds that can help you in the future. 

Even if you have been a member of the community for some time and never posted an introduction, consider taking a moment now to do so. We can build a community together and ultimately, that is what is important.

Discuss in the Web Series Today Community: http://plus.google.com/101175516092771757092/posts/djxhPB1a5b5

Below you will find a few more topics that we highly recommend you read before posting:

A Note About This Community
http://plus.google.com/101175516092771757092/posts/FoE19G1B4CT 

Selecting a Topic
http://plus.google.com/101175516092771757092/posts/3V9ybrsatho

How To "Select A Topic"
http://plus.google.com/101175516092771757092/posts/1pGY3e5JayE

Understanding Communities
http://plus.google.com/101175516092771757092/posts/Y2ih2nNLiEB

How To Help Grow This Community
http://plus.google.com/101175516092771757092/posts/CrqgoRprnDm

Sharing Makes The World Go Around
http://plus.google.com/101175516092771757092/posts/EcjEExoonZV

Have You Watched My Videos?
http://plus.google.com/101175516092771757092/posts/caWK4MiASgG

It is not all about you!
http://plus.google.com/101175516092771757092/posts/T4VPiEpHhJG

DO NOT YELL AT US!
http://plus.google.com/101175516092771757092/posts/5QRFSp3Aqi3

Become an "Author" on the Web Series Today Blog
http://plus.google.com/communities/110073950258800417692

Submitting a Press Release to Web Series Today
http://plus.google.com/101175516092771757092/posts/44kDwJogDmX

GUIDES Episode Seven: Because You're A Liar.

More questions arise about Koric, who really doesn't care, as Zyra and Cree butt heads and MaKenna cozies up to one of her assignments. Watch episode seven!

Watch all the episodes on YouTube. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Screening Time in the ATL!

Tonight is an important one for us! The Zombie Socks family will be screening Episode 4 Piranha Bowl at a film industry event in Atlanta GA. This was the piece that helped us become a

SAG-AFTRA New Media Production! I was interviewed on A105radio.com on Tuesday and Nicholas Minter was very gracious to let me talk about our ZSS! Hopefully I will have a copy and can post it here soon! Here is the write up for our screening!

If you are in the area please come by!

Several of our cast and crew will be there!

 

 

 Get Connected is an amazing monthly film industry for absolutely everyone involved in the process of making films! It is a mixer full of networking opportunities, panels on relevent topics, casting and crew calls, seminars and of course screenings of amazing films by some of Atlanta.s brightest new independent filmmakers! If you are in the area, usually the last Thursday of every month please come! It is a MUST for independent filmmakers!!!!!! If you would like more information I have provided links below!

 

Filmmaker Spotlight

 

Get Connected Atlanta

 

Blank Stage Productions

 

http://blankstageproductions.com/north-georgia-actor-services-audition-taping-demo-reel-editing-coaching/

 

Facebook - Zombie Socks

 

Blip - Zombie Socks

Jen Foster Goes Orange for OJBG's Tapestry Project!

Otessa Ghadar is launching her Interactive New Media “Tapestry” project at this year’s Capital Pride Parade on Saturday, June 8, 2013 in Washington, D.C. After hearing so much positive feedback from LGBT viewers around the world who said “Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden” helped fill a void in their lives, Otessa started the Tapestry and its “Go Orange” campaign to create positive and safe spaces for LGBT youth online. Acclaimed musician, Jen Foster is joining Otessa’s campaign and her song “This is Me” will be the sound of the Tapestry.

To kick off this project, Otessa will have a float during the Pride parade and will be filming interviews with top influencers in the LGBT community and their positive messages to LGBT youth around the world. This will be just one part of a larger “New Media Tapestry” project where she will be collecting vlogs from people of all walks of life. We will have a call to action inviting people to submit their own stories and experiences of youth to create a forum where people can connect and form compassionate community online. In addition to the LGBT community, our tapestry will spotlight all kinds of under-represented people and stories–whether women’s stories, minority, or second generation immigrants. The video will also feature a live performance by Jen Foster and unaired footage from “Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden”.

We want to hear from everyone! This project is all about creating a space where viewers become storytellers themselves and the oral tradition is kept alive in a 21st century form.

We’ve made new t-shirts calling people to “Go Orange!” which we will be selling online and will donate a percentage of our sales to LGBT youth supportive organizations. We’ve also developed a special “Go!” App to be used during and after Pride for people to show they’ve “Gone Orange.” Users from all over the world can submit pictures of themselves showing their support for their communities and put their cities on the map.

The Tapestry video will be screened in select locations and will be made widely available online. To participate or for further interest, please email reply@twentytwentyproductions.com or visit http://www.OJinBG.com/tapestry.

Web Series Wednesday: Set The Table

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Every Wednesday SnobbyRobot.com highlights a web series and hosts a chat with creators on twitter using the hashtag #WebSeriesWednesday. We watch the show together and comment on it - Last week Set The Table was the featured show and these are my final thoughts on it. Be sure to check in on Twitter tonight at 5 PM PT as I'll be watching and tweeting Louis Grant with creators Damien Blackshaw and Todd L. Green.
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Set The Table is an interesting show. It's well put together, well written, well shot, well acted, well edited, etc. Across the board it's pretty well done, but it's only six episodes long, with about 35 minutes of show. This is something that is quite common in web series. Production is time consuming and expensive, so short makes sense, but is it the best way to go?

First let me start with my critique. Each episode is essentially a single scene, or sequence, which makes Set The Table essentially a grouping of six scenes. I think the single scene / episode format is great for web series and it works well here. The issue is that nothing is able to get resolved in the six episodes. I'd say the combined story feels like less than one act.

 

Currently creator Deborah Adair is working on creating a season two to help give us a bit more to chew on, but the biggest hurdle is finding the money to make it. Money is always the challenge in web production, and the relationship between money and length is starting to feel like an issue that producers need to learn to deal with.

While the classic three act structure has come under fire on the web it has also become clear that stories, no matter the format, need to have a beginning, middle and end. When I look at a series like Set The Table from the perspective of an audience member I have a hard time seeing myself getting hooked. The show just does not get deep enough into the story, to that point where an audience member can decide that they need to watch more.

 

A lot of series are created with this one season = one production cycle model because it makes sense financially. It is a convergence point between old media production and new media distribution. Creators need to be experimenting with new ways of telling their stories and producing their content. If you have money for a half hour of content you should tell a complete story in a half hour. One big fear people have when it comes to getting hooked on new television shows is the fear of a show getting canceled before the story is told - the same phenomenon exists on the web I am sure - people will pass on a show that takes two years, three production cycles and two kickstarter campaigns to tell.

I don't want to give the wrong impression about the show though, because I really enjoyed it and there was definitely something special going on somewhere. The real interesting thing here is that, despite its short length, I was able to feel a real connection to the story, characters, ideas, and themes - which is something that even a television show like LOST couldn't accomplish in seven years... I think this is the combination of good, personal writing and quality acting performances.

 

Becca (played by Adair) and her husband are a couple struggling with the challenges of mid-life. Their daughter has moved away and is perusing a life of her own, their jobs and extended family have pulled them away from each other and put unwanted burdens in their place. At its core Set The Table is a story about recalling the times when everything was in its right place, and trying to find a way to put it all back together. 

In a lot of ways Set The Table is the type of story that asks a lot of questions but does not offer any answers - which I love. Where we see Becca and her husband trying to rediscover that spark through the personal touches of homemade food, we also see challenges get in their way (spilling the coffee beans, and being forced into the latkes felt symbolic) and no resolution. Ultimately the story leaves us perhaps with a bit of foreshadowing, as we see Becca's mom struggling to let go of those same memories of the past, and the times where everything was how it should be. Maybe one day Becca's daughter will come home from France and pull her out of a tree.

It is rare that I feel a story work on that level for me and I believe that is the result of some personal writing and working with actors that really get the material. Sometimes I feel like one of the biggest problems in web series is that creators are too scared of telling the stories that really mean something to them. With Set The Table I believe I found a show where that is definitely not the case. I wish we could see what Deborah could share with us if given a little more time and a little more room to let these characters grow and change. Hopefully we do.

Set The Table can be found at their website http://www.watchsetthetable.com  and for more reviews and web series coverage visit SnobbyRobot.com.

American Detours Season 1 Episode 3

American Detours, presented by American Collectors Insurance, pairs epic American roads with collector cars. Episode 3 features a in a head-turning '68 Shelby Cobra, a one-time Hertz Rent-a-Racer cruising the historic Brandywine Valley in Pennsylvania. Visit www.AmericanDetoursTV.com to see and share the full episode now.

Scoble gets a good look at Open Garden, seamless connectivity across 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

Open Garden leverages crowdsourcing to create seamless connectivity across 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It enables users to create their own ad-hoc mesh networks with other Open Garden-enabled devices including smartphones, tablets and PCs. And it offers benefits for nearly every player in the mobile ecosystem: consumers, carriers. handset and tablet manufacturers.

 http://www.opengarden.com

Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden: Retro Tuesdays - Aleca Piper

Retro Tuesdays is back for another OJBG interview of yesteryear, this time with Aleca Piper (aka Maggie) flying solo, speaking about her time on the set of OJBG.
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Telly, LA Web Festival, and Webby honoree award winning teen web series following the lives of 18 kids as they grow up and get down in grunge-era Washington DC.
"The bad things we do. The things we get caught for--and how they are never the same.

Meet the Mayfarers: Ep. 2.11 - "The Return of Claire"

Claire returns to the family, who never knew she was gone in the first place.
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“Meet the Mayfarers” is a comedy about an estranged, dysfunctional family who is forced to live together for one year in order to get their grandfather’s massive inheritance.

TODAY ONLY: Free Download of Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden Season 1 Pilot

It’s simple. Like Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter, and share this photo with #OJBG and we’ll send you a code to download the OJBG Season 1 pilot for free :)

This offer is for TODAY ONLY! So get sharing!

Lunch With Zombies!

We Are Going LIVE, in the flesh, relatively speaking anyway, with Nicholas Minter on

his show Nick @ Noon TODAY 12:30pm EST!

 

A105 Listen Live!

 

 

Feel free to call in and give me a shout out

or just talk all things Zombie Socks!

Check out all our pieces here

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