Felicia Day and her web series, The Guild, are full of win. »
Actress Felicia Day Reroutes Her Career With Web Series “The Guild”
BY: ARI KARPEL September 1, 2010
With her groundbreaking series “The Guild,” actress Felicia Day took control of her own career — and shook up the world of Web video in the process.
I danced for four hours in high heels,” Felicia Day says by way of apology for her morning-after sluggishness.
Last night was the wrap party for season four of her Web series The Guild, and for once it was no set-up-the-Rock-Band-in-the-living-room shindig.
She went all out, getting a local bar to donate space and hiring a DJ who played ’80s music all night. “I was like, If we’re going to do this, I want to dance,” she says between spoonfuls of fruit and yogurt at a West Hollywood café. “I’ve been working 12-hour days.”
It’s not as if she needs an excuse to celebrate. In three years, The Guild, a homemade comedy series about gamers playing a World of Warcraft-like virtual role-playing game, has gone from cute one-off to full-fledged phenomenon. The show’s run so far has garnered an estimated 65 million views, and has even spawned its own comic book. And in Day’s brave holdout for ownership and creative control of her series, she devised an innovative distribution deal with Microsoft that’s a new model for the burgeoning world of Web video. In fact, she just may be the only person who has figured out how to make a living by producing, writing, and starring in an original online series.
“This year, my coproducer Kim Evey and I have been able to say, ‘This is my full-time job,’ ” says the Alabama native. “A little blind enthusiasm got me a long way.”
Day shot the pilot for The Guild in friends’ houses with a borrowed camera. YouTube featured the third episode on its home page, garnering 1 million views. A PayPal button solicited donations and yielded a fan-driven bounty that let them produce roughly an episode a month.
As buzz built, Day and her company, Knights of Good Productions, signed with ICM new-media head George Ruiz. “At one point, there were 25 different offers on the table,” Ruiz says, “including from some major studios and networks and even a director with several $100 million films.”
Day turned down every one. “She said, ‘George, don’t make me take this deal!’ ” he says. So by the time Microsoft came calling, the agent had a new approach: The Guild is not for sale, but you can license it.
The Seattle-based behemoth bit. Microsoft pays an undisclosed fee to debut each season exclusively on the company’s Xbox Live, MSN, and Zune platforms (season four debuted in mid-July). “There is a common perception about Microsoft,” says Day. “Especially when we first signed with them, the fans had reservations.” But she was impressed that it got what she was doing and didn’t want to interfere. “Microsoft doesn’t even give me notes [on scripts]!”
“Felicia could be an entertainment executive,” raves Ross Honey, Microsoft’s GM of content acquisition and strategy for media and entertainment. He says that The Guild is Xbox Live’s most successful original-content effort.
Day’s company shares in sponsorship revenue from Xbox Live’s “branded-destination environment.” Ruiz has secured similar distribution and revenue arrangements with Amazon, iTunes, Netflix, and New Video Group, which distributes the show on DVD.
Still, Day says, “I’m turning down a lot of money. I could be much richer now. But if I have an idea, I can have it out to the world very quickly.” She has spun off a comic-book series with Dark Horse Comics, and when she had the idea for a sexy promotional music video, Microsoft put up the money to make “Do You Want to Date My Avatar?” Day says the scale of working on The Guild is much different from a traditional TV show’s. “Everyone is cutting their rate to work in Web video,” she says. “That’s why Kim and I always make sure the food is really good, and why we always have a really nice party. “
For years, Day got by in Los Angeles acting in commercials and the occasional TV episode, most notably an eight-week stint on Buffy the Vampire Slayer back in 2003. Frustrated by how slow Hollywood was to come around to her talents, the redhead channeled her geek love of gaming into The Guild.
Early episodes caught the eye of her former employer, Buffy creator Joss Whedon, who was inspired to cast her as the female lead in his own groundbreaking Web series, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.
For all of Day’s success, she’s only now starting to win over Hollywood proper. She has yet to land a regular network or feature-film gig, though Day recently wrapped the leading role inRed, a werewolf-slaying adaptation of the Little Red Riding Hood tale for the Syfy channel.
But Day seems content with her progress. “I’m used to being an outsider,” she says. “I was homeschooled. I don’t think like other people do.”
nerd crush.
Andrew Brody, who works for The Princeton Review and heads up the LSAT teaching division, has a podcast about logic.
Comic Con 2009: LEGO Star Wars Tattoo (via earthdog)
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this is the new hotness.
Operation Chokehold: tomorrow at 3pm EDT »
iPhone service in NYC (and San Fran) sucks. This is not news.
The latest news is, AT&T might want to implement a new pricing scheme to punish the heaviest data users. Apparently, according to the WSJ, 3% of smart phone users account for 40% of the network traffic (read: 3% of people use their iPhone the way it was intended to be used, despite the 3G network in NYC and San Fran being pitiful…low speeds and an average of 30% dropped calls.)
So of course AT&T has decided, instead of shoring up their infrastructure to ramp up to allowing 100% of smartphone users to have a good user experience, they are instead going to set a price structure that will encourage iPhone users to switch over to the Droid on Verizon.
From betanews.com:
What a strange 10 days it has been for AT&T. How did it comes to this? On December 7, AT&T released the “Mark the Spot” app that lets iPhone users notify the carrier about service problems. The next day, Network World recapped a Root Wireless study that revealed AT&T consistently has the fastest 3G service of any major U.S. carrier. OK, if data’s so fast, why can’t telephony be more reliable? A day later, AT&T’s Ralph de la Vega started talking about imposing data caps on wireless users, which would be one way to address service problems. Say what? Cap the same people who are required to purchase a data plan with their smartphone?
Needless to say, some people are unhappy about it. (Cue the whining.)
Funniest part? AT&T attempting simultaneous nonchalance while shiatting their pants about the network crawling. One moment they are feigning indifference, pointing out that the Facebook page for the digital flash mob only has 3400 members; the next, they are crying about this constituting a DoS and screaming about legal action.
So, um, if AT&T’s network is so critical to its 80 million users and stuff, how come only 3400 people using their iPhones as they are intended to be used is able to degrade the service of said network to a dangerous level??
BTW… participating in Operation Chokehold will not affect 911 emergency services, even if the whole AT&T network crashes. 911 calls, made from AT&T phones, would be rerouted automatically through another carrier in accordance with Federal law.
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i am beyond speechless with want.
