With the Epic Fu Tubefilter event tonight (if you’re in the LA area you should go) I thought it’d be good to get back to some of the roots of the show and how it came to be.

Annemarie Pazmino in the IT Room set.

One of the big phases of Pre-Production is settling your locations, and one of the first knee jerk reactions is to go with the cheapest (read: FREE) available. Looking at our Season 1, you can see an array of locales but two that really stand out as challenging finds were the Warehouse and the Computer Repair Room. Early on in our pooling of resources we found two such locations that would have cost us nothing… “Great!” we thought, but we soon realized how they were both “Traps.”

The term “Traps”, was spoken often by Producer Robert Grand in Pre-production. In his vast experience in line producing (and it is VAST) he’s come across many such experiences and warned us about falling into them. He described them as Traps because on the surface they appeared great, economical, the easy path, but in reality crossing them would result in more problems and more money in the long run.

Trap #1: The Computer Repair Room – From Day 1, Producer :Michaeltohl:  spoke about a Computer Repair shop that he was friendly with. Quickly into planning we managed to secure a deal with them to shoot at their working storefront for free but with one big restriction; we could only shoot there at night when they were closed for business.

So what’s wrong with only shooting at night? Well for one you’re doing 7pm to 7am shoot days, and those of you who have been on shoots like these know they are NOT FUN. They are draining for everyone, people move slower, and they are tough to recover from. Also specific to us, we’d have to shoot night for day, which meant not only slowing us down but also we would have to o rent more lighting gear. Thus in reality shooting at the “free” location would have in reality ballooned our budget with extra gear and extra crew time. Thus… a trap.

The Compulsions Crew onset at the Warehouse Location

Trap #2: The Warehouse – Let’s take away from the fact that this was the make or break location of our series, we were willing to put some money into this. The story here starts similar to the IT room, we found a serviceable empty commercial space right away. By commercial space I mean like a store front.  You see a space in a mini-mall open it and it’s just bare, plenty of room to stick poor Seth Caskey in a chair and mess him up right? Sure, but again there was big caveat, it’s a mini-mall store front.

Many of us go to mini-malls every day, they’re great, but are they great to film at? This particular mini-mall is busy; you have a gym upstairs and dry cleaners adjacent. Add the fact that the mall faced a major Hollywood street and you have sound issues all day and pretty much all night.  Plus with big storefront windows it meant lighting problems as well.  Thus again, blocking out all the windows with light and sound would mean more needed gear and a slower pace for our crew so again it would mean more money and again… a Trap.

As a result in both cases we ended up with other locations that we sunk some money into. Both locations were better, easier to work with, required less gear, and thus cheaper in the long run. In indie Web Production nothing is ever truly “free”, so beware of traps.

As always be sure to sign up on our EMAIL LIST, fan us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter

Happy Martin Luther King Day everyone.

Incidentally this day also is the last day for the public to submit their Streamy Nominations and in relation to both I’m reminded of our amazing and diverse cast.

Early in our casting process we as a team were adamant about having a racially diverse cast. Did we cast on race? No… we just wanted to be diverse to feel real. The real world isn’t predominantly one race, and as such our world in the show isn’t either.

One of the exciting results for our cast is how well they’ve come together as an ensemble. One of the most consistent complements we get for our series is in our performances. NewTeeVee said that we have  ”some of the best acting in web series last year.” A praise that really goes out to the cast and our director Nathan Atkinson

If you’re reading this you’ve probably already seen our Season 1,  so I’m sure you have your own opinions. If not please watch and see for yourself. – Watch Season 1

I encourage you to send some submissions votes for show and cast today for the Streamys. Don’t submit because I’m telling you to, submit/vote because you believe in the strength of the performances on screen.

Best Male Actor in a Drama – Craig Frank

Best Female Actor in a Drama – Janna Bossier

Best Female Actor in a Drama – Annemarie Pazmino

Best Guest Star in a Web Series – Seth Caskey

Best Guest Star in a Web Series – Taryn O’Neill

Best Guest Star in a Web Series – Sean Spence

Best Directing for a Dramatic Web Series – Nathan Atkinson

Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series – Compulsions

Best Drama Web Series – Compulsions

Compulsions received 11 nominations in the 1st Annual Indie Soap Awards

The 1st Annual Indie Soap Awards were developed to honor the efforts of creative forces in the world of independent web series production, specifically those who produce continuing drama series. Spurred by it’s ensemble of character and drama heavy storyline Compulsions was rewarded with 11 nominations.

The Indie Soaps Awards are sponsored by We Love Soaps and the nominees were selected from a first round of judging from a panel of entertainment critics that cover the industry.

We Love Soaps is a high traffic website and podcast dedicated to the world of soap operas, and has recently begun covering Independent Dramatic Content with it’s Indie Soap Beat

Compulsions is also up for the Fan’s Choice Award at the Indie Soaps – Poll Embedded below

The Compulsions – Official Ballot

Hello everyone, thank you all for watching and supporting the show. A great way to help us get exposure and recognition for the show is to help us get nominated for the prestigious Streamy Awards. Help support the show by submitting us for nomination. Below are the individuals that are eligible  for each category in our slate. Be sure to take time to nominate for the craft awards as well, every one on this list worked their butts off for this show.- You can vote once per category per day so go nuts.

Series URL: http://www.compulsions.tv

Best Drama Web Series – Compulsions

Best New Web Series – Compulsions

Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series – Compulsions

Best Directing for a Dramatic Web Series – Nathan Atkinson

Best Writing for a Dramatic Web Series – Bernie Su

Best Male Actor in a Dramatic Web Series – Craig Frank

Best Female Actor in a Dramatic Web Series – Janna Bossier

Best Female Actor in a Dramatic Web Series – Annemarie Pazmino

Best Guest Star in a Web Series – Taryn O’Neill

Best Guest Star in a Web Series – Seth Caskey

Best Editing in a Web Series – Michael Darrow

Best Cinematography in a Web Series – Jason Raswant

Best Art Direction in a Web Series – Rachel Payne

Best Sound Design in a Web Series – Tom Boykin

Best Original Music in a Web Series – Sally Chou

(continue reading…)

UPDATE – Live show will be at 8:00PST at http://www.justin.tv/fangirlsguide

We will be showing clips from the season as well as talking about the production and the making of this unique series. Also included will be a live stream of the Episode 8 Season Finale and will be taking questions from the live stream.

Guests will now include -

Craig Frank aka Mark Sandler – also of the The Crew and Craig and the Werewolf

Annemarie Pazmino aka Cassandra Morrissey – also of Sorority Forever

Taryn O’Neill aka Sara Flannery – also of After Judgment and Hurtling Through Space

Director of Photography Jason Raswant

Producer Michael Tohl

Director Nathan Atkinson

Writer/Creator Bernie Su

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We’re announcing another Live Show tomorrow night for the launch of our Episode 8 – Season Finale. Thursday, Dec 10th at approx 8:30pm PST.

Featured on the show will be :Craigfrank: (Mark Sandler), Annemarie Pazmino (Cassandra Morrissey), Writer/Creator Bernie Su, Director Nathan Atkinson and other members of the cast and crew.

The show will be hosted by Cricket Lee, and feature some clips from the season. They will also be “pushing launch” on the final episode and will be talking about the show, the web space, how the series was made, shot, and their experiences with this show and other web productions. Questions will be taken from the live chat room, so be sure to stop by! Exact URLs and details will be announced tomorrow so be sure to check back or follow/fan us on Facebook and Twitter

Also be sure to look out for Episode 7 – Obsessed with a Crush – later tonight!