DC Web Fest to Accept Submissions

Attention all web series creators, the DC Web Fest has opened its preliminary submissions for the 2nd annual festival! Also, its accepting applications to be a judge during the 3rd annual festival in 2015. For more information about both applications, visit the DC Web Fest site.

OJBG Presents: The Tapestry - Martin Swift

Painter MARTIN SWIFT discusses choosing a creative path, his understanding of human awareness in childhood, and the changing role of masculinity in the modern world.

OJBG Presents: The Tapestry - Kate Jenkins

KATE JENKINS, founder and editor-in-chief of The Intentional Quarterly, talks about struggling to find her way after graduating from college, and what inspired her to overcome depression and start a publication.

APRIL 14 Otessa Ghadar Hosts 1st Web Series Screening at Filmfest DC - International Film Festival

Sunday, April 14th at 2:00 PM
NYU Abramson Auditorium

FilmFestDC Celebrates New Art Form and Collaborates with ITV Innovator Otessa Ghadar at Upcoming Panel Discussion

A new entertainment format, the Web Series, is changing the film industry. The new Internet-based art form made its long-awaited festival debut on April 6th, 2013 at the DC WebFest at the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse. Otessa Ghadar, founder of the DC-based new media company 20/20 Productions and Greg Godbout, owner of the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse, came together to put Washington, D.C. on the web entertainment map. Together, they showcased local talents and introduced this new film medium with its first theater screening in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Ghadar will be now bringing the best of the DC WebFest to the upcoming 27th Annual D.C. International Film Festival, a week-long showcase for new international cinema and talent held from April 11-21. Filmfest DC invited Ghadar to showcase some of the best web series produced by creators in the DC-area and to present a panel discussing the dynamics and potential of the web series within film industry. Among the locally produced series to be screened include “Orange Juice in Bishops Garden” (OJBG) one of the oldest and longest running web series online, “Thurston”, a new Western drama series, “Anacostia,” a soap-opera series that follows the lives of the DC neighborhood’s residents, “Malice,” an original and haunting horror, and “Mo and the Cheese”, a comedy new to the medium, among others.

A full list of the web series to be featured include:
Orange Juice in Bishops Garden (drama)
Anacostia (soap opera)
Malice (horror)
Mo & The Cheese (comedy)
Thurston (western)
Georgian Way (comedy)
Milgram and the Fastwalkers (noir soap)
Hard Fix (thriller)
Shotgun Mythos (sci-fi thriller)

Globally viral, much-beloved, and highly-lauded show OJBG is created by award-winning filmmaker Otessa Ghadar. As one of the medium’s earliest adopters, Otessa began OJBG in 2007, when the idea of the internet television was still in its infancy. OJBG tells the story of naive and rebellious teens growing up in the 90s DC grunge era. Set on the cusp of the Internet Age, the show follows the lives of a group of teenagers navigating high school and growing up, getting down, and coming out. As one of the oldest and longest running web series, it’s a true forerunner and pioneer of the wild west of film. Being screened online, OJBG also fills a global void in gay and lesbian storytelling among LGBTQ youth and, more importantly, acts as a catalyst for tolerance in countries where sexual orientation is considered taboo. Her series has recently been screened at SXSW’s OUTlander Project, Dinah Shore, and is a Telly Award Winner, 4 times LA Web Fest Winner, and Webby Awards Official Honoree. Otessa and her work have been honored by the Human Rights campaign, and Otessa has been named “Filmmaker of the Month” by the DC Film Office. OJBG is now airing on DCTV and has fans in over 140 countries around the world. The series is currently being subtitled in several languages.

Highly celebrated and universally admired during the DC Web Series Festival was “Thurston” created by Paul Awad and Kathryn O’Sullivan. “Thurston” is a Western drama about the residents of a remote mining town and their struggle for survival in the 1880’s Kansas Ozarks.
Some residents are fleeing troubled pasts. Others are pursuing dreams. All keep carefully guarded secrets. As outside forces move in, the residents must decide who amongst them is friend and who is foe as they fight to save their lives and the place they now call home. “Thurston” seeks to retell the American story of the West and its peoples for the new frontier of online television.

“Anacostia”, created by award winning local web series star Anthony Anderson follows the lives of the residents of Anacostia, a small residential community in Washington D.C. as they navigate through love, betrayal, deception, sex and murder, with a season finale that will leave your mouths open. This series is filmed on location in several areas including Washington DC, Landover Maryland, Baltimore Maryland, Virginia and New York City.

“Malice” is an original series, tightly scripted, directed and produced for brisk story telling by Phil cook – a veteran of independent genre films. The series is about the Turner family’s supernatural adventures in a house left to them by their late Grandma. The father has just returned from a combat tour in Afghanistan, reuniting with his recovering alcoholic wife and two daughters, Abbey and Alice. The whole family hopes that a change of venue, a new town, new home and new school will reboot their troubled lives. But no sooner do they in than strange and macabre events seemingly manifest from the very foundations of their old house and family members one at a time start to disappear.

Compelling, promising and well–crafted were words overheard in the audience last weekend when describing the comedy series “Mo and the Cheese”, piloted by newcomer Connor Bergeron a noteworthy web series creator on the rise. Mo & the Cheese, two renegade cops, take the law into their own hands, one webisode at a time. In a world of professional flatfoots, the two wise-cracking detectives throw the book right out the window and spit in the face of injustice to the delight of the law-abiding viewership!

Best of DC Web Fest at Film Fest DC

Sunday, April 14th at 2:00 PM

NYU Abramson Auditorium

FilmFestDC Celebrates New Art Form and Collaborates with ITV Innovator Otessa Ghadar at Upcoming Panel Discussion

A new entertainment format, the Web Series, is changing the film industry. The new Internet-based art form made its long-awaited festival debut on April 6th, 2013 at the DC WebFest at the Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse. Otessa Ghadar, founder of the DC-based new media company 20/20 Productions and Greg Godbout, owner of the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse, came together to put Washington, D.C. on the web entertainment map. Together, they showcased local talents and introduced this new film medium with its first theater screening in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Ghadar will be now bringing the best of the DC WebFest to the upcoming 27th Annual D.C. International Film Festival, a week-long showcase for new international cinema and talent held from April 11-21. Filmfest DC invited Ghadar to showcase some of the best web series produced by creators in the DC-area and to present a panel discussing the dynamics and potential of the web series within film industry. Among the locally produced series to be screened include “Orange Juice in Bishops Garden” (OJBG) one of the oldest and longest running web series online, “Thurston”, a new Western drama series, “Anacostia,” a soap-opera series that follows the lives of the DC neighborhood’s residents, “Malice,” an original and haunting horror, and “Mo and the Cheese”, a comedy new to the medium, among others.

Globally viral, much-beloved, and highly-lauded show "Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden" is created by award-winning filmmaker Otessa Ghadar. As one of the medium’s earliest adopters, Otessa began OJBG in 2007, when the idea of the internet television was still in its infancy. OJBG tells the story of naive and rebellious teens growing up in the 90s DC grunge era. Set on the cusp of the Internet Age, the show follows the lives of a group of teenagers navigating high school and growing up, getting down, and coming out. As one of the oldest and longest running web series, it’s a true forerunner and pioneer of the wild west of film. Being screened online, OJBG also fills a global void in gay and lesbian storytelling among LGBTQ youth and, more importantly, acts as a catalyst for tolerance in countries where sexual orientation is considered taboo. Her series has recently been screened at SXSW’s OUTlander Project, Dinah Shore, and is a Telly Award Winner, 4 times LA Web Fest Winner, and Webby Awards Official Honoree. Otessa and her work have been honored by the Human Rights campaign, and Otessa has been named “Filmmaker of the Month” by the DC Film Office. OJBG is now airing on DCTV and has fans in over 140 countries around the world. The series is currently being subtitled in several languages.

Highly celebrated and universally admired during the DC Web Series Festival was “Thurston” created by Paul Awad and Kathryn O’Sullivan. “Thurston” is a Western drama about the residents of a remote mining town and their struggle for survival in the 1880’s Kansas Ozarks.
Some residents are fleeing troubled pasts. Others are pursuing dreams. All keep carefully guarded secrets. As outside forces move in, the residents must decide who amongst them is friend and who is foe as they fight to save their lives and the place they now call home. “Thurston” seeks to retell the American story of the West and its peoples for the new frontier of online television.

“Anacostia”, created by award winning local web series star Anthony Anderson follows the lives of the residents of Anacostia, a small residential community in Washington D.C. as they navigate through love, betrayal, deception, sex and murder, with a season finale that will leave your mouths open. This series is filmed on location in several areas including Washington DC, Landover Maryland, Baltimore Maryland, Virginia and New York City.

“Malice” is an original series, tightly scripted, directed and produced for brisk story telling by Phil cook – a veteran of independent genre films. The series is about the Turner family’s supernatural adventures in a house left to them by their late Grandma. The father has just returned from a combat tour in Afghanistan, reuniting with his recovering alcoholic wife and two daughters, Abbey and Alice. The whole family hopes that a change of venue, a new town, new home and new school will reboot their troubled lives. But no sooner do they in than strange and macabre events seemingly manifest from the very foundations of their old house and family members one at a time start to disappear.

Compelling, promising and well–crafted were words overheard in the audience last weekend when describing the comedy series “Mo & the Cheese,” piloted by newcomer Connor Bergeron a noteworthy web series creator on the rise. Mo & the Cheese, two renegade cops, take the law into their own hands, one webisode at a time. In a world of professional flatfoots, the two wise-cracking detectives throw the book right out the window and spit in the face of injustice to the delight of the law-abiding viewership!

LINEUP UPDATED~ 1st Annual DC Web Series Festival

The Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse and 20/20 Productions present the 1st Annual Washington D.C. Web Series Festival on April 6! Come experience new local talent and celebrate an emerging artform in the wild west of film: the Web Series. A newly emerging medium, web series consist of a series of videos that are released on the Internet as web television. The MISSION of this festival is to Entertain, Educate and Promote this new artform. Co-hosted by accomplished comedian, Dan Levy, and acclaimed D.C. filmmaker, Otessa Ghadar, the night will be full of laughter and industry insight.

As the first D.C.-based web series production and the first theater venue in the area to screen web series, 20/20 Productions and Arlington Drafthouse want to put Washington, D.C. on the web-entertainment map. For the 1st Annual Festival, we have curated a number of web series to feature across many genres: comedy, drama, horror, soap opera, etc. We will use this first festival as a launching pad in anticipation of full-blown web series festivals to highlight the best of the web over the years to come. We encourage any and all web series creators to get involved. Please contact us at [email protected]

Otessa Ghadar, founder and president of 20/20 Productions, created the hit drama web series, "Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden" in 2007. It was recently screened at the OUTlander Project at SXSW, Dinah Shore, LA Web Fest, and has won numerous web series awards, and will be one of the web series featured during the festival. Also being featured is the comedic series, "Long Distance Relationship," created by comedian and acclaimed web series producer, Dan Levy, who has had appearances on Comedy Central, HBO, Chelsea Lately. Other web series and trailers for upcoming talents will also be screened.

Otessa and Dan will take part in a Q&A session about their experience in the web series industry. In particular, Otessa will touch upon how "Orange Juice in Bishops Garden" has gone global and gained viewership in over 140 countries around the world and how she actively caters to her viewers by adding sub-titles in French, German, etc. Accompanied by live music, drinks, and good company, the 1st Annual D.C. Web Series Festival promises to set a precedent for quality entertainment and an evening of fun!

Featured Web Series:
Orange Juice in Bishops Garden (drama), Long Distance Relationship (comedy), Anacosta (soap opera), Malice (horror), Mo & The Cheese (comedy), Georgian Way (comedy). Milgram and the Fastwalkers (noir soap), Hard Fix (thriller), Shotgun Mythos (action/thriller), "Thurston" (western), Toying with Jerry" (comedy), and "Laps" (romance/comedy)

4:00PM - 4:30PM Live Music with Nick Tierra
4:30pm - 4:45pm Introduction by Co-Hosts Dan Levy & Otessa Ghadar
4:45pm - 5:05pm web series "Orange Juice in Bishops Garden"
5:05pm - 5:30pm web series "Long Distance Relationship"
5:30pm - 5:50pm web series "Anacostia" and "Malice"
5:50pm - 6:10pm - web series trailers for "Milgram and the Fastwalkers," "Mo & The Cheese," "Hard Fix," "Shotgun Mythos," "Georgian Way," "Thurston," "Toying with Jerry," and "Laps."
6:10pm - 6:30pm - Q&A & Awards

1st Annual Washington D.C. Web Series Festival

The Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse and 20/20 Productions present the 1st Annual Washington D.C. Web Series Festival on April 6! Come experience new local talent and celebrate an emerging artform in the wild west of film: the Web Series. A newly emerging medium, web series consist of a series of videos that are released on the Internet as web television. The MISSION of this festival is to Entertain, Educate and Promote this new artform. Co-hosted by accomplished comedian, Dan Levy, and acclaimed D.C. filmmaker, Otessa Ghadar, the night will be full of laughter and industry insight.

As the first D.C.-based web series production and the first theater venue in the area to screen web series, 20/20 Productions and Arlington Drafthouse want to put Washington, D.C. on the web-entertainment map. For the 1st Annual Festival, we have curated a number of web series to feature across many genres: comedy, drama, horror, soap opera, etc. We will use this first festival as a launching pad in anticipation of full-blown web series festivals to highlight the best of the web over the years to come. We encourage any and all web series creators to get involved. Please contact us at [email protected]

Otessa Ghadar, founder and president of 20/20 Productions, created the hit drama web series, "Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden" in 2007. It was recently screened at the OUTlander Project at SXSW, Dinah Shore, LA Web Fest, and has won numerous web series awards, and will be one of the web series featured during the festival. Also being featured is the comedic series, "Long Distance Relationship," created by comedian and acclaimed web series producer, Dan Levy, who has had appearances on Comedy Central, HBO, Chelsea Lately. Other web series and trailers for upcoming talents will also be screened.

Otessa and Dan will take part in a Q&A session about their experience in the web series industry. In particular, Otessa will touch upon how "Orange Juice in Bishops Garden" has gone global and gained viewership in over 140 countries around the world and how she actively caters to her viewers by adding sub-titles in French, German, etc. Accompanied by live music, drinks, and good company, the 1st Annual D.C. Web Series Festival promises to set a precedent for quality entertainment and an evening of fun!

See more at: http://arlingtondrafthouse.com/drafthouse/event.aspx?eid=1715#sthash.F2box4VL.dpuf

OJBG's Secret Project - DC Rollergirls Practice

We recently hung out with the DC Rollergirls at one of their practices to find out a bit more about the sport of Roller Derby, and just what it takes to be a DC Rollergirl.

Be sure to check out the DC Rollergirls at DCrollergirls.com and be on the look out for our second video with them at one of their bouts!
---
The creators of teen web series Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden have created the Secret Project. Get the low-down on upcoming events, cool people & secret places in Washington, DC.

OJBG's Secret Project - Curbside Cupcakes

Everyone likes cupcakes, but who has the time to always get to a shop? Enter: Curbside Cupcakes, the Washingtonian Magazine’s reader picked best food truck in Washington DC, bringing some of the city’s best cupcakes directly to you.

---
The creators of teen web series Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden have created the Secret Project. Get the low-down on upcoming events, cool people & secret places in Washington, DC.

Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden: Season 1 Recap

Season 1 of OJBG may be in the vault (available to purchase at our shop), but just in case you need a quick refresher on all things early OJBG, we’ve got a nice little recap for you hitting all the major beats of the first season!

---

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.

OJBG's Secret Project - Location Spotlight: The Exorcist Stairs

DC’s famous Exorcist Stairs will be appearing in an upcoming episode of Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden, so join series creator, Otessa Ghadar in exploring this local hotspot.

---
The creators of teen web series Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden have created the Secret Project. Get the low-down on upcoming events, cool people & secret places in Washington, DC.

Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden: "Table for Two?" - Ep. 6.7

Chloe is now in a relationship with Sarah? Adrian? And does anyone remember Travis?
Chloe, Chloe, Chloe can’t you see tomes your whims just hypnotize me?

Bibs & sailor hats – it’s all so cute as we watch our favorite couple struggle to eat crawfish. Last time, we saw Chloe’s deceptive swagger swayed Adrian from any assumptions or ideas of his honeybun with another man, let alone Sarah! HOW naive is Adrian? HOW can Chloe think she can have both? AND WHO will be paying the bill?

---

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.

Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden: "Berries, Cream, and Untold Dreams" - Ep. 6.5

Our two runaways, Sarah & Alex find sanctuary on the cliff over the Potomac River, and within each other. Exchanging candy, berries, and advice; Alex shares a dream which Sarah was in. Things grow uncomfortable as Alex pours her heart to Sarah. That’s typical when friends tell one another of dreams in which they’re “kissing in other places”.
---

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.

Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden: "Have You Seen My Friends?" - Ep. 6.4

As the band seems to be falling apart, Tamsin and Cassandra try to be the glue as they paste and tape flyers for their first concert. And what’s that? Visions of Missing Alex? Is Tamsin sipping on robitussin too? Serendipitously, band leader, Sarah meets them as passes on pearls of wisdom as well as a few posters too. Tamsin uses Sarah’s advice, yet it’s resisted by a sick and bitter Alex. How can these two patch up and perform in time for Miss Spent Youth’s debut?

---

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.

Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden: "Friends Gone AWOL" - Ep. 6.2

Band practice is starting and where the hell are Sarah and Alex? No response from band conductor, Sarah. Yet Tamsin’s ‘olive-branch’ phone call to Alex only magnifies her jealous rage of Tamsin’s new boyfriend, Robin (and his sweet ‘stache). Where will these frazzled emotions drive her?
---
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.

Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden: "The Summer of '97 Continued..." (SEASON PREMIERE) - Ep. 6.1

Welcome back to the summer of ’97! Last we saw things were sweltering between Sarah and Chloe as Chloe coyly lured Sarah into her bed. But why is Sarah lookin’ morose? Did she forget Chloe’s boyfriend, Adrian, was still in the mix?
---
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.

OJBG's Secret Project - Location Spotlight: ArtJamz

Connor stops by the ArtJamz Dupont Studio (1742 Connecticut Ave. NW) for one of their Weekly Night Owlz sessions, which run from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM and 9:00 PM to 11:00 PM. For 35 bucks, you can unleash your inner artist with a night of drinks and painting. “Creative Enablers”, Mike and Emily, explain the ArtJamz concept and what makes this space unique.

Get more details on ArtJamz and their weekly evening paint parties here: artjamzdc.com
---
The creators of teen web series Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden have created the Secret Project. Get the low-down on upcoming events, cool people & secret places in Washington, DC.

OJBG's Secret Project - Food Truck Spotlight: Stella's PopKern

Meet Kristina Kern, the brains behind DC's first gourmet popcorn truck, Stella's PopKern.  Find out what inspired Kristina to put popcorn on wheels, and how she preps the tasty snack before heading out on the road.

Find out where Stella's will be next:  http://stellaspopkern.com/
---
The creators of teen web series Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden have created the Secret Project. Get the low-down on upcoming events, cool people & secret places in Washington, DC.

OJBG's Secret Project - Concert Spotlight: The Wild

We recently caught up with The Wild--an indie punk-folk band based out of Atlanta--when they played at the Black Cat.  The five friends with a DIY music philosophy talk about their style, upcoming projects, and how they feel about DC.  Plus, we get an inside look at their infamous tour bus.  The Wild will be back at the Black Cat on October 22.

Go to their Facebook page to find out more:  http://www.facebook.com/thewildatl
--
The creators of teen web series Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden have created the Secret Project. Get the low-down on upcoming events, cool people & secret places in Washington, DC.

Orange Juice in Bishop's Garden - One (More) Minute in the Life of Chloe

The girl with the Kool-Aid cherry-berry hair has always been an intriguing mystery, and her rocky relationship with Adrian has been an amusement park of tragic twist and turns, landing Chloe in an unexpected love triangle of sorts.
---
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."