Why #WebSeriesChat?
Over a year ago Patrick from Slebisodes and Stephanie from MingleMediaTV decided to host a weekly chat to help bring together independent filmmakers, writers, actors, fans, producers of web series to share ideas and build community.
Initially, we were pulling in guests which was really fun to meet people outside of the LA web series world and then we would have topics from funding to marketing to budgets. But sometimes it gets old. We have always been open to suggestions from our community and have supported community events from festivals to Celebrate the Web.
With that said – there are some rules of the road that we all should follow. Here’s the business side of my brain along with feedback we’ve seen from others in the community who have tried to join the chat but have found it somewhat disjointed at times.
We are not “Cat Herders”
- We announce via Twitter and Facebook the topic of the day before #WebSeriesChat starts, we also tweet it during the chat – so @MingleTVNetwork @Slebisodes or searching on #WebSeriesChat in Twitter will provide you with what we are talking about for that week.
- If we have an invited guest, we encourage you to join in the conversation and ask questions about their series or expertise.
- We ask that you keep OFF TOPIC conversations off #WebSeriesChat during the hour – you are free to chat with anyone on Twitter – but keep the #WebSeriesChat hashtag off if it is not related to the current topic
- We ask that you keep your promo tabled until the end of chat as the last 5 minutes are dedicated to self-promo.
Respect your fellow creator.
Twitter is not like a BlogTalkRadio or Stickam show where the hosts can hold the conversation / topic without being interrupted by the chat room. In a Twitter chat – your off-topic tweets are in the stream. These tweets to other participants are a distraction and are disrespectful to the guests who have agreed to join the chat and share their expertise for that brief time period.
- If you don’t like the conversation topic – then don’t use the #WebSeriesChat hashtag and hold your own conversations separately.
- If you don’t like the conversation topic – and have a topic you’d like covered – tweet to @Slebisodes or @MingleMediaTV and suggest it for coverage for a future #WebSeriesChat session – that way your topic will get the attention it deserves
- The weekly #WebSeriesChat is hosted by @Slebisodes @MingleMediaTV and we’re the hosts and the leaders of the “show” – so respect us, the guests and or the topic selected for the week – we’re trying to support the community and it is not all about YOU when it’s time for the weekly #WebSeriesChat on Twitter – it’s about the topic/guest.
With that said – we are huge supporters of the Web Series community – we provide services to many web series by promoting their series through listings and hosting on our respective sites. We are panelists at festivals and industry events and have made the weekly chat something we didn’t give up on like so many others before or during us – it’s not easy to promote and hold chat every week – and we do it. We also are trying to bring NEW people into chat so you are exposed to other ways to launch your series successfully.
You may agree that sometimes the topic has been beaten to death over and over in chat and nothing new is shared – hence the need to come up with new and fresh topics that are planned by @Slebisodes & @MingleMediaTV for that next #WebSeriesChat.
There are other weekly chats from other industries on Twitter and they are very focused and the audience is very in-tune with what is going on for that week. We want #WebSeriesChat to be fun and engaging – but if you aren’t happy with the topic, you don’t have to stay and disrupt it – we won’t hold it against you.
We want to make this chat something that helps all involved with web series meet new people, learn new things and we always welcome your suggestions AHEAD of TIME to making it even better.
Thanks for participating and supporting the weekly chat.
Mingle Media TV Network 