Monday, March 30, 2009

The Streamy Awards: Web Television Comes of Age

History was made Saturday night with the first annual Streamy Awards show held at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles. A sold-out crowd of over 1300 guests gathered for the gala event to honor the best web series and talent from 2008.

The big winners of the night were Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and The Guild and both Joss Whedon and Felicia Day provided moving acceptance speeches that inspired the audience and legitimized the art and craft of the independent web series producer.

Day called herself, "a square peg and I’ve been trying to fit into a round Hollywood hole for a very long time" and thanked all the Hollywood establishment for beating her down and forcing her to pick up a pen and write her own web series. Whedon referred to himself as “the establishment guy" noting that while the television industry is in a funky state, web television is on the rise and web series producers are the pioneers "of what’s going to be not just the new media, but the media."

Tubefilter's Marc Hustvedt noted that,"For the thousands of people who tuned in to the live stream of the show, they may not have realized they were a part of history, watching the first ever professionally produced awards show live streamed to the internet. Viewers from all over the world watched, without any distribution restrictions, and shared the play-by-play with constant flow of tweets and updates."

Original episodic web television has grown up in a short time and is now recognized as a respected and legitimate art form. The Streamy Awards has set a new precedent and Jamison Tilsner said it best in post today that the Streamy Award winners celebrated the arrival of open entertainment, "The list of artists below represents the unique, outstanding, commercially viable entertainment industry that’s thriving on a totally open medium with limitless possibilities. The Streamy Awards Ceremony highlighted the new power dynamic in the entertainment industry within which creators, studios, agents, guilds and advertisers have begun to operate."

Congratulations to all the award winners, nominees, the organizers Tubefilter, Tilzy.tv, NewTeeVee and all the sponsors!

Here's the official list compliments of Tubefilter News:

The Official Winners of the 1st Annual Streamy Awards - March 28, 2009

Overall Series

Best Comedy Web Series
The Guild

Best Dramatic Web Series
Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy

Best Hosted Web Series
EPIC FU

Best Reality or Documentary Web Series
The Shatner Project

Best News or Politics Web Series
Alive in Baghdad

Audience Choice Award for Best Web Series
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Directing

Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
(Joss Whedon)

Best Directing for a Dramatic Web Series
Pink
(Blake Calhoun)

Writing


Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
(Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, Joss Whedon, Zack Whedon

Best Writing for a Dramatic Web Series

Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy
(Jane Espenson, Seamus Kevin Fahey, Ronald D. Moore)

Acting

Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series
Neil Patrick Harris — (Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog)

Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series
Felicia Day
(The Guild)

Best Male Actor in a Dramatic Web Series

Alessandro Juliani (Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy)

Best Female Actor in a Dramatic Web Series
Rosario Dawson (Gemini Division)

Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series
The Guild

Best Guest Star in a Web Series
Paul Rudd (Wainy Days)

Best Web Series Host
Alex Albrecht (Project Lore)

Craft Awards

Best Editing (*)
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog— (Lisa Lassek)

Best Cinematography (*)
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (Ryan Green)

Best Art Direction (*)
Tiki Bar TV (Kim Bailey)

Best Visual Effects (*)
Backyard FX — (Erik Beck)

Best Animation in a Web Series
The Meth Minute 39 — (Dan Meth)

Best Original Music (*)
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
(Jed Whedon)

Best Ad Integration in a Web Series
Back on Topps (Skype)

Best Artistic Concept in a Web Series (*)
You Suck at Photoshop

* indicates awards presented at the Craft Awards reception on March 26, 2009.


Back stage coverage of 1st Annual Streamy Awards | 12seconds.tv (beta):


streamyawards on 12seconds.tv


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Photo credits:
Felicia Day by TheBuiBrothers.com
Neil Patrick Harris by WireImage.com

Stay tuned for more StreamyAwards coverage in the coming days.