2010: Resurrecting The Year Of The Web Series Part II

Feb. 21, 2010 - PRLog -- February 20, 2010 -- While there are no hard statistics for how many new web series are created every year, but industry experts estimate that over 20,000 new series will emerge on the Internet this year. In light of these overwhelming numbers, Kiss Hug Five Films helmer, Angelo Bell, is banking on one thing to separate his new web series, Resurrection of Serious Rogers from the pack: story.  

Resurrection of Serious Rogers is a neo noir action thriller Angelo bills THE USUAL SUSPECTS meets THE PROFESSIONAL. The series tells the story of a female assassin (Serious Rogers) who seeks redemption for her inhuman and often sadistic detachment from society by rescuing a nanny marked for murder. Unbeknownst to Ms. Rogers, the nanny, Trixie, is caught up in the middle of a deadly political conspiracy and an ongoing personal war between a drug-addicted FBI agent and a charismatic crime lord.

What immediately sets the series apart from most web series is its intended drama, a niche Angelo refers to as "neo noir." Web series typically fall onto three genres: comedy, reality and sci-fi, but Angelo knew from the beginning that he needed to do something different.

"At first I was completely against doing a web series," Angelo confesses. "I'm a writer/director not an Internet filmmaker ...at least that's what I told myself. I didn't see the value of enduring development hell only to stream video on the Internet."

But Angelo soon realized that he was focusing on the wrong aspect of web series creation. "I was thinking about the other web series out there when I should have been thinking about the audience and the type of project I could bring to them," says Angelo.

Many web series go from concept to completion in just months. Most of these series are by novices -- that is, filmmakers working on their first project. Angelo stands firmly on a decade of experience writing, directing and producing independent films and he took a year to write a script to cover the first season of the series.

"I knew from the start that I would not write or produce a comedy web series," Angelo affirmed. "The Internet is overflowing with the next Seinfeld or It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia or The Hangover. Comedy is sacred ground but not everyone treats it like it is. I wanted to find a niche I was comfortable with that wasn't over-saturated."

Neo-noir is a spinoff of historic film noir movies in the 1940s and 1950s. Angelo explains the genre as "A contemporary stylistic version of film noir standards."

"Film noir mostly involves crimes -- usually crimes of passion or revenge. Generally there's an outcast or loner -- someone with a perspective on life that's skewed or different." Resurrection of Serious Rogers has those elements and the series boasts its use of contemporary film noir lighting techniques, similar to what Robert Rodriguez did with Sin City.

Filmmaking is about connecting with your audience. This connection is managed through the story. Hence, film is about story and has always been about story. Regardless of production value, location budget, or whether one shoots on film or digitally it's about the story and the characters. "I rely heavily on my experience writing emotional stories with characters we care about," reiterates Angelo to drive home his point. "In Serious Rogers there are many people to care about and marvel at, and hate."
 
Serious Rogers is told via a fly-on-the-wall perspective as the story of Sarah “Serious” Rogers (Cooper Harris) unfolds via the interrogation of Trixie (Mercedes Manning) by FBI Agent Martin (Jamie Fishback). As Trixie weaves a tale about a highly skilled assassin who went borderline mad after suffering a personal loss it becomes unclear what parts of her story are fact and which are fiction. However, as Trixie lures Martin in she begins to suspect that Martin’s intentions aren’t as noble as he claims and her life may be in jeopardy

The series also stars Amelia Pawlak, Jeff Torres, Philip Hersh, Nancy Corbo and other talented performers. "We hit the jackpot as far as finding talent in front of and behind the camera," beams Angelo.

Luck seems to be on the side of Serious Rogers. Hot on the heels of the global distribution and DVD release of Broken Hearts Club (http://www.brokenheartsclubfilm.com), Angelo's indie romantic comedy, word spread of his foray into the web series world.

"There's interest," admits Angelo. "There's significant interest, including a possible TV deal. It's exciting but I'm mostly excited about getting the series out to the public by any means necessary. That's what Serious Rogers would do."

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KISS HUG FIVE FILMS is an Independent film production and distribution company specializing in small budget artistic and commercial films.