If you follow @Scene_TV on Twitter then you would have seen us refer to either the casting call, auditions or teasers of a new web series by the website Brothers With No Game. Well, Michelle Owusu – founder of SceneTV – is a part of the project and the first episode is now live! Here is the synopsis:
“A joker, a nice guy, a self-proclaimed playboy and a theorist walk into a bar…
Set in London, Brothers With No Game – The Web Series follows the social and romantic lives of four friends: Theo, Dorian, Junior and Marcus. Facing a ‘quarter-life crisis’, the 20-somethings come to terms with the responsibilities and dilemmas that revolve around work, family, friendships and most notably, women. Their distinctive personalities and ever-changing love lives are paralleled with a strong friendship and one evident, common, trait…they have no game.”
The TV Collective recently caught up with Michelle to find out more about the web series and her thoughts on whether they are the way forward for diverse content producers. See below for an extract:
Michelle, tell us about Brothers with No Game – the web series, how did it come about?
Well, Brothers With No Game is the creation of the popular website of the same name: www.brotherswithnogame.com. The website is written by four guys who give their comedic perspective on a range of issues such as music, entertainment, sport, business as well as dating and relationships. The last two topics have proved to really resonate with readers and the comments that they received were always about how realistic and relatable they were. The style of writing is very scenario based, e.g. “I remember this one time I went on a date and…: which means that often readers send in comments about their own real life (and hilarious) experiences.
The website has been around for about a year and a half and has received 700,000 unique visitors to date so when thinking about ways to build on this and also give all the readers more entertaining content, it seemed that the best way to do this would be through an web series. We already had the content in the form of the articles so it was mainly about bringing some of the favourite articles to life. We thrashed out ideas, developed characters, pulled together a small production team and got underway. The first episode airs on Monday 11 June on the YouTube channel and there will be ten episodes in the first series. We have had so much support so far which we really appreciate. It’s great to see people get behind the whole web series movement.
With the number of web series emerging, notably All About The McKenzies, Meet The Adebanjo’s and Citizen Khan, is this the future of diverse content?
We are all huge supporters of the web series movement and think it is a great way for people to showcase their talents, whether that is in scriptwriting, directing or acting. It also satisfies the need that many television viewers have regarding more diversity on their screens, albeit their computer screens!
Is it the future of diverse content? While it is great to see so many examples of diversity online, there is the risk that people may become complacent in the drive to see more diversity on traditional television. There are some people that argue that online is the future for content full stop but I still think that traditional television still has an important and prominent role to play in this.
Citizen Khan was commissioned for BBC 1 so this is an example of how web series can give audiences power – if they show support and this is reflected in the views and popularity of a particular web series, then broadcasters are able to see what viewers want. However to get commissioned and picked up by a traditional broadcaster is not always the ultimate aim. Being online allows for creativity, control, flexibility and close interaction with audiences.
Some may argue that quality and the commercial aspect still needs to be looked into but even in the last year there have been huge strides in these areas so it’s getting there.
To read the full interview, click here.
There is an Indiegogo campaign for the Brothers With No Game web series so please donate, share the link and tell a friend: www.indiegogo.com/brotherswithnogame
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