Pretty much from the start-up of this blog, I’ve been tracking web series, primarily because I keep hoping the economics of it works out to create more opportunities for writers to write and get paid for it.  Two things make me wonder if things have turned the corner on that front.

First there was this announcement from the WGA:

Two new categories have been added to the annual Writers Guild Awards.

The awards are in writing original and derivative (work based on an existing, traditional media piece) new media created between December 1, 2009, and November 30, 2010.

“These new awards pay tribute to their talents and to the diversity of work being done under Writers Guild contracts,” said WGAW President John Wells.

It’s not just that the Guild has been successful in attaining signatory agreements with web producers — that’s been a point of focus for the last few years.  It’s that – evidently – there’s enough original web content to warrant a WGA award.  That suggests both penetration and permanence..

The second thing is this:

When Tom Hanks imagines the future, you might think he sees a desk strewn with Oscars, Emmys and the scripts for a dozen more World War II projects. But the far-flung earth that Mr. Hanks will present in a new Internet-based animated series called “Electric City” will be a more complicated one and yet – not surprisingly, given its creator – an optimistic one.

“Without a doubt, everything has changed, but not necessarily for the worst,” Mr. Hanks said in a telephone interview. “In fact, a good life and good world has been created out of the usual end-of-life scenarios. It hasn’t degenerated into an Orwellian society – just the opposite.”

On Thursday, Mr. Hanks and his producing partner, Gary Goetzman, said their Playtone company will bring “Electric City,” which Mr. Hanks is credited with conceiving and writing, to the Web early next year. The project, which its creators hope will eventually be spun off into other media, may also offer a preview of Hollywood’s future: it is being produced as a joint venture with Reliance Big Entertainment of India, a media company playing a growing role in global entertainment properties.

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After several more years of development, “Electric City” has evolved into an animated series that will be shown on the Web in 20 three-minute installments, and focus on socially conscious themes like energy consumption and the freedom of information.
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Instead, “Electric City” will be produced with Reliance, the Mumbai-based company that last year provided $825 million to Steven Spielberg and his DreamWorks studio to create films for an international audience, and which was cited earlier this year as a possible partner for the debt-addled MGM studio.
Mr. Hanks said of Reliance, “They immediately came to us, and said, look, in India alone, there are like 700 million people who speak English, who are very much used to looking at things that last about three minutes on their phone. What they haven’t seen so far is a true story that they stay up with. So it’s an electronic version of ‘Little Dorritt.’”

Mr. Hanks said the “Electric City” franchise could be expanded into graphic novels or an online role-playing game, among other properties. “It’s all about how good it is and how much traffic it draws,” he said.

Tom Hanks & Playtone.  Reliance.  Those are some heavy hitters.

Let me use this opportunity as I’ve done in the past to touch base with GITS readers.  Perhaps you write and/or produce web series.  Or maybe you’re just a fan.  I’d like to see if your sense is that (A) there is an upswing in terms of original scripted web content, (B) what new series might be out there worthy of mention, and (C) if you’re a writer working on a web series, what that experience is like.

For more background, you can go here to read a previous post I did on web series.

And some links to series I’ve tracked in the past:

Kyle Piccolo: Comic Shop Therapist, The Guild, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Circle of 8, Project X: The True Story of Power Plant 67, Cataclysmo and the Time Boys, Cataclysmo and the Battle for Earth, Nora Breaks Free, Trunk: A Love Story, The Black Dawn, Gemini Division.