Larry Kless' Weblog: The Streamy Awards: Web Television Comes of Age

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)