Evolution of web series
How Web Series evolved to what we've today.
You're alone at home, scrolled all the way down Facebook and Twitter, parsed all the snap stories for the day. You're bored. What'd you do? I choose a series from a great pool! Ever wondered how was the pool built?
Long before the Internet changed the way people live their everyday lives, in 1988, there was “The QuantumLink Serial” on AOL. Thanks to Tracy Reed, the world experienced the first-ever online fictional series via chat room and emails.
As it ended in 1989, nothing of the kind was seen anytime soon.
In early 1995, "The Spot" became the first web series produced, changing the norm of story telling. Scott Zakarin created a baseline and had fans mail the characters to alter storylines. Despite massive growth, the industry was diluted by phony versions. Soon, the production company went bankrupt in 1997.
Fast-forward to now and you have a great amount of online episodic content. “House of Cards,” “Orange Is the New Black” and the TV-to-web “Arrested Development” found their immensity on Netflix. Several celebs found their way to do an online presence. It has even launched some careers, such as the standup comedians, web sketchers.
While there are shows cater to global audience, there are regional shows and web series which catered to lesser audience, or specifically, the audience the artists want to reach. The ability to tell stories to a wide audience on a relatively low budget opened new gates. India is fortunate to have web series makers like TVF, taking over the traditional TV soaps gradually.
As the number of web series has grown over the past years, so has the culture specific to that world. Soaps, TV series which get aired on a specified time are on the way to be obsolete. Even a conservative nation like India, is able to adapt to this fast growing trend.
Due to the success of Netflix’s original shows, look for even more quality programming from other sources in the near future. Many believe the web will one day overtake TV. With the way things are moving these days, why wouldn’t it?
