Desk of Amy Suto

TV writer who eats danger for breakfast

Antidote 15: Web Festivals, TV Interviews, & More

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Antidote 15 on the Red Carpet Photocredit: Snobby Robot MagazineThe cast and crew on the red carpet for Hollyweb Festival!
Avi Kaye (director), Conner Sorensen (Benji), Amy Suto (showrunner), Portia Juliette (Sarah), Ashley Maimes (Anita), and Irina Kuzina (producer)
Photocredit: Snobby Robot Magazine

The past seven days have been a whirlwind of press and exciting events to celebrate Antidote 15’s season two and all the amazing people who are the lifeblood of the show.

On Friday, Antidote 15 screened in the Charlie Chaplin theater at Raleigh Studios, and I was able to talk on a panel about the inspiration for the show, and why ex-boyfriends, deadlines, and drinking things you’re not supposed to be are common college struggles. [Read more…]

Web Series as Practice for the Real World

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2014-07-12 16.36.17on set with Bryce Morgan, our fearless director, and Claire Hupy, our lovely stand-in

Today after the 10am staff meeting for Orientation I hibernated in my apartment and attempted to catch up on sleep, but then quickly realized that wasn’t going to happen and I was better off catching up on work.

For the past few months I’ve been in pre-production for season two of my web series, Antidote 15, which has (happily) been my life since December 2013. Season one followed Anita, a theater major who was poisoned and has fifteen hours to follow a set of instructions to find the antidote. At the end of season one, she has to poison someone else — and she does. Season two will deal with her guilt, and the lengths she’ll go to make things right.

One aspect of this project that I love is that everything is practice for the “real world.” Can you write something people like? Can you organize a team of great people to help and add their own visions to the project? Can you drink four cups of coffee and not be shaking too much to make a call sheet? [Read more…]

How to Create a Web Series [Part Five: Marketing]

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howtocreateawebseries5read Part One: Pre-Production, Part Two: Casting, Part Three: Production, and Part Four: Post Production

Getting the word out about your web series is an art, and there is no way I can possibly cover all the major marketing concepts in one post, but here are some major points you need to think about when marketing your web series:

  • Social media — be EVERYWHERE. People are picky. Most of my peers only really use one or two social media networks frequently. If you can get your web series on ALL platforms, you’ll have a better chance at reaching your audience. Post entertaining tweets on Twitter, share behind the scenes photos on Instagram, and blog frequently on your website.
  • Have a “home base” website. This is where all your episodes are posted, and links to all your social media platforms are. For us, Antidote15.com is that home base.
  • Create a marketing plan AT LEAST six months before your series launch. We had a fairly solid marketing plan back in December 2013 for our May 2014 launch. We had trailer release dates, ideas for blog content, and some simple marketing campaign ideas for our Facebook. Have a plan in place and have people who can help you make it happen.

That’s enough theory — here’s what I did for my web series marketing:

Marketing the Antidote 15 Web Series

[Read more…]

How to Create a Web Series [Part Four: Post-Production]

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howtocreateawebseries4read Part One: Pre-Production, Part Two: Casting, and Part Three: Production

Editing is my jam. I remember the first real project I ever edited was freshman year of high school, where I was entrusted with the filming and editing of a 2 hour long Veteran’s Day Parade. We had two camera angles shooting the parade, and I was instructed to edit four hours total of footage into a two minute video in Adobe Premiere Pro that somehow hit all the best floats with lower third graphics as well. It was a nightmare, but I learned how to edit quickly and efficiently. (Somehow, the video turned out alright, too– I received an award and special thanks for my work.)

I’ve since switched to Avid Media Composer 7 after using it in my production class last semester for my four short films, and I love editing even more now that I’ve learned more about it. [Read more…]

How to Create a Web Series: [Part Three: Production]

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howtocreateawebseries3 read Part One: Pre-Production and Part Two: Casting

I am not saying I know everything there is about film production. As a screenwriter, my focus is on story and character, but I do have a handle on some of the basics like three point lighting, green screening, and wrangling erstwhile sound equipment. I’ve taken a required production class at USC (in which I had to write/direct/edit/produce four short films, and then crew on a fifth) have been on countless sets, and have been making and editing videos on Premiere and Avid for the past six years.

Regardless, learning video production is an entire art form, so this article is intended to be about “how I went about production for my web series Antidote 15” instead of “here’s film school in a single blog post.”I’m lucky that I had the help of Avery Xie on Antidote 15. He’s my savvy cinematographer, who makes the series come to life.

Screen Shot 2014-03-21 at 4.27.28 PMinteresting lighting and shadows on our actors from episode three of Antidote 15 [Read more…]