Favourite webseries posts: UK Online Drama Series - KATEMODERN

Re-posting some of my favourite posts through August.

Partly to pick out anything useful, partly because some have gone missing from my blogger search box. This is so Google doesn't forget me.


The reason this is a favourite is because I wrote on Season 2. It's what got me into web series.

The Lonelygirl15 creators gave me a glimpse into a world where you can have a two-way interaction with the audience.

It's nuanaced. Somewhere between a focus group and being heckled on stage.

Everyone who works on the show are fans of the show - alongside the other fans of the series.


The mistake I made, and alot of people in the TV industry still make, is to compare webseries to TV Drama.

If you're disparaging about this show - the writing, the acting, the quality of production... then surely the traffic and number of video and profile views it gained in one year is all the more disproportionate and remarkable.


I think it, and Lonelygirl 15 shows the way for having good interactive storytelling technique. The production values are intentionally low - it was meant to look as if the characters were uploading themselves - but that aside, I think these shows are landmarks in showing how a community can be built around a show, rather than a one-time-viewing audience figure.

This whole blog is about finding examples of that kind of transaction with the audience.


If you'd like me to send these links for webseries creators to you directly, why not sign up here so I can send them via email?!

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(Original 2008 Kate Modern post here)



From wikipedia:-

KateModern is the sister series of lonelygirl15. The series, which was announced on April 16, 2007, began filming on July 9 and the first video, Fight and Flight, was released on July 16. The show is produced by LG15 in partnership with Bebo. It ended on June 28, 2008, slightly less than a year following its original release.

KateModern is set in East London, England, and bears many similarities to its parent series. Both Kate and Bree are avid video bloggers and carry a dark secret. There is an alternate reality game component of the series as well.

KATEMODERN HOME SITE:
You could either watch the show here, on the KateModern bebo site

"KateModern ran from 16th July 2007 to 28th June 2008 and was produced by the creators of lonelygirl15 - EQAL. During it's highly successful year long run it was nominated for two TV Craft BAFTA awards, a Webby Award and won the Broadcast Press Guild Award for Innovation 2008."

www.bebo.com/katemodern

Or here on the lonelygirl15 katemodern show site:
www.lg15.com/katemodern

KATEMODERN WIKI, on the LGpedia:
http://www.lg15.com/lgpedia/index.php?title=Image:KM_Portal_Season_2.jpg

And the Production Team even have their own bebo profile:
http://www.bebo.com/KateModernProduction



KateModern Forums are here:
http://www.lg15.com/katemodern/forum/

GMTV Behind the Scenes item on KateModern here:






Here are some press articles on the show...

Kate Modern herself was killed off at the start of the second series; a bit of a bold move you might think, but the format of the show means it is constantly breaking new ground.“You can interact with the story, talk to the characters, comment on the plot – we get feedback all the time,” explains Rushton.

“What I find so interesting is the fact that people are coming together and discussing the show, but they’re also coming together to discuss things that lie outside of the show that affect them. People actually come to you on Bebo and share their experiences and they feel like they’ve got a place to do that. It’s the way that communication is going.”

The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/student-life/music-film/modern-miss-817538.html

We told you last month about the planned wrap-up of KateModern, the very successful Internet television show exclusive to the AOL-owned Bebo social network.

Well, today’s the day that all is put to pasture. KateModern is having its finale, and it’s going out with 12 episodes in 12 hours. The countdown to the series close began earlier this morning and will stretch to 7PM EST, with hourly videos releases complemented by live chats with and among the fanbase.

In fact, due to its viral achievements EQAL was able to secure both a $5 million Series A funding round and CBS partnership in the space of a single month.

Mashable.com
http://mashable.com/2008/06/28/katemodern-2

BEBO's Kate Modern has become an internet sensation since being launched a year ago.
More than 66 million people have logged on to view the interactive online drama's 'webisodes' since July 2007.

TV Biz has an exclusive preview of this week's season 2 finale for your pleasure. It features Ralf Little and man-of-the-moment Noel Clarke - who wrote, directed and starred in the Kidulthood and Adulthood films.

The Sun
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article1345446.ece

Who killed KateModern? It's the question that has been occupying several million minds since the beginning of the year, when the heroine of the eponymously named online drama met her end. Kate, for those who have been living in a bunker since July 2007, is, or rather, was, a troubled teenage university art student living in London. She had a dark past that she was unable to remember and was somehow connected to a secret organisation called The Order.

The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/mar/03/digitalmedia.web20

Social networking site Bebo is to shock fans of hit online drama Kate Modern by killing off its eponymous star in the first episode of its new series.

The series' first sponsors - which get to see their products placed within the video - will be Cadbury's Creme Egg and Toyota's youth-targeted car Aygo. Sponsors of the first series included Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Warner Music, Paramount and Orange, which each paid up to £250,000 to appear within the show.

No figures have been revealed about what each company might pay to be involved with the second series.

However, each company stumps up cash based on the amount its brand is integrated into the storyline, which includes monitoring the number of times it appears in the video and is mentioned in the script.

The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/16/bebo.television

KateModern, the flagship online drama broadcast by social networking site Bebo, will wrap up for the last time at the end of June, it was announced today.

The last part of series two will air on June 28, with Bebo promising a "high octane" ending with multiple episodes.

Featuring Royle Family star Ralph Little, the interactive drama has run for more than 300 four-minute episodes since it launched in July last year, racking up more than 57 million views.

Bebo wanted the show to "encourage unprecedented interactivity" with its audience and has also tried to distinguish itself from rival social networking sites by building up original content.

Users are given interactive tools to "talk" to KateModern characters and producers from the series, suggest storylines and solve puzzles in the plot.

The Bebo president, Joanna Shields, said KateModern has "created a new genre and demonstrated the power of media on a social network with gripping storylines and peerless production values".

The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/12/bebo.web20


CLICK HERE for all posts on KateModern

CLICK HERE for all the FAVOURITE POSTS

CLICK HERE for links for some other shows you should check out


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Webseries Storytelling - The Ludic Marker (Letting your fans know its a web series?)

Via the awesomeWebSeries Today
Great blog post on this very specific aspect of online storytelling, written by Tom Liljeholm

The uncanny valley of Transmedia Storytelling

The ludic marker was a way to inform participants that they were taking part of something fictional. There were three main ways to create a ludic marker;

•The popup disclaimer, leaving websites themselves intact and ‘unharmed’ by the not-so-seamless conducts.

•The constant marker, putting a symbol, logo or other common denominator on all pages and content, making sure that when participants understood that they were in fact playing a game, they would not have to doubt weather or not new content was a part of the experience or not.

•The spectacular setting, where the story was simply so unbelievable that it had to be obvious that it was not real.

I have seen a growing trend of making transmedia experiences ‘seamless’. A lot of people seem to think that immersion can only be achieved when people actually think that a story is real. I am here to tell you why you are wrong and why that is bad.

MORE HERE:- http://tea4twoentertainment.tumblr.com/post/6520633671/the-uncanny-valley-of-transmedia-storytelling

Tom Liljeholm on TWITTER @tomliljeholm

CLICK HERE for all posts labelled RECOMMENDED READING

CLICK HERE for all posts about WRITING for web series

CLICK HERE for all posts labelled TIPS


Finally, if you'd like me to email these blog posts to you directly, just click here to try it out! THANKS!

KateModern on The Money Programme - Media Revolution

Mentioned this almost exactly a year ago here!http://storygas.blogspot.com/2009/03/katemodern-and-me-on-money-programme.html

Here's an extract.

KateModern Mention on TV




From BBC News Money Programme:-

A decade ago, the UK was a net importer of television programmes. Now we're one of the most powerful players on the international television stage, exporting more than half the world's TV "formats".

Consumers are changing the way in which they watch television
But a transformation in the way viewers consume television is turning the industry's business model on its head and threatening the long-term future of this, one of the UK's most significant creative industries.

'Profound' changes
All the UK's major broadcasters have set up websites to allow viewers to watch their programmes via the computer, while social networking sites such as Bebo are carrying television content and even originating their own shows.

As the lines between television, the internet and social networking sites blur, this presents exciting but controversial new opportunities to bring advertising revenue into programmes.

Experts predict a future in which broadcasters gather substantial amounts of information about viewers and sell this data to advertisers who target their messages much more precisely than at present.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE


CLICK HERE for more posts labelled INDUSTRY

CLICK HERE for all posts labelled UK

CLICK HERE for all posts labelled KATEMODERN

CLICK HERE for all posts labelled LONELYGIRL15

CLICK HERE for all posts labelled FUNDING

Favourite Posts - KATEMODERN - online drama web series

Started StoryGas just over a year ago, and now going through the blog archive to pick out notable shows and favourite posts.

I'll try to update some of the entries along the way too, and don't forget you can CLICK HERE to get these posts sent direct by email.


From November 2008...

This is KateModern - Original Post here.




From wikipedia:-

KateModern is the sister series of lonelygirl15. The series, which was announced on April 16, 2007, began filming on July 9 and the first video, Fight and Flight, was released on July 16. The show is produced by LG15 in partnership with Bebo. It ended on June 28, 2008, slightly less than a year following its original release.

KateModern is set in East London, England, and bears many similarities to its parent series. Both Kate and Bree are avid video bloggers and carry a dark secret. There is an alternate reality game component of the series as well.

KATEMODERN HOME SITE:
You could either watch the show here, on the KateModern bebo site

"KateModern ran from 16th July 2007 to 28th June 2008 and was produced by the creators of lonelygirl15 - EQAL. During it's highly successful year long run it was nominated for two TV Craft BAFTA awards, a Webby Award and won the Broadcast Press Guild Award for Innovation 2008."

www.bebo.com/katemodern

Or here on the lonelygirl15 katemodern show site:
www.lg15.com/katemodern

KATEMODERN WIKI, on the LGpedia:
http://www.lg15.com/lgpedia/index.php?title=Image:KM_Portal_Season_2.jpg

And the Production Team even have their own bebo profile:
http://www.bebo.com/KateModernProduction



KateModern Forums are here:
http://www.lg15.com/katemodern/forum/

GMTV Behind the Scenes item on KateModern here:






Here are some press articles on the show...

Kate Modern herself was killed off at the start of the second series; a bit of a bold move you might think, but the format of the show means it is constantly breaking new ground.“You can interact with the story, talk to the characters, comment on the plot – we get feedback all the time,” explains Rushton.

“What I find so interesting is the fact that people are coming together and discussing the show, but they’re also coming together to discuss things that lie outside of the show that affect them. People actually come to you on Bebo and share their experiences and they feel like they’ve got a place to do that. It’s the way that communication is going.”

The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/student-life/music-film/modern-miss-817538.html

We told you last month about the planned wrap-up of KateModern, the very successful Internet television show exclusive to the AOL-owned Bebo social network.

Well, today’s the day that all is put to pasture. KateModern is having its finale, and it’s going out with 12 episodes in 12 hours. The countdown to the series close began earlier this morning and will stretch to 7PM EST, with hourly videos releases complemented by live chats with and among the fanbase.

In fact, due to its viral achievements EQAL was able to secure both a $5 million Series A funding round and CBS partnership in the space of a single month.

Mashable.com
http://mashable.com/2008/06/28/katemodern-2

BEBO's Kate Modern has become an internet sensation since being launched a year ago.
More than 66 million people have logged on to view the interactive online drama's 'webisodes' since July 2007.

TV Biz has an exclusive preview of this week's season 2 finale for your pleasure. It features Ralf Little and man-of-the-moment Noel Clarke - who wrote, directed and starred in the Kidulthood and Adulthood films.

The Sun
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article1345446.ece

Who killed KateModern? It's the question that has been occupying several million minds since the beginning of the year, when the heroine of the eponymously named online drama met her end. Kate, for those who have been living in a bunker since July 2007, is, or rather, was, a troubled teenage university art student living in London. She had a dark past that she was unable to remember and was somehow connected to a secret organisation called The Order.

The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/mar/03/digitalmedia.web20

Social networking site Bebo is to shock fans of hit online drama Kate Modern by killing off its eponymous star in the first episode of its new series.

The series' first sponsors - which get to see their products placed within the video - will be Cadbury's Creme Egg and Toyota's youth-targeted car Aygo. Sponsors of the first series included Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Warner Music, Paramount and Orange, which each paid up to £250,000 to appear within the show.

No figures have been revealed about what each company might pay to be involved with the second series.

However, each company stumps up cash based on the amount its brand is integrated into the storyline, which includes monitoring the number of times it appears in the video and is mentioned in the script.

The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/16/bebo.television

KateModern, the flagship online drama broadcast by social networking site Bebo, will wrap up for the last time at the end of June, it was announced today.

The last part of series two will air on June 28, with Bebo promising a "high octane" ending with multiple episodes.

Featuring Royle Family star Ralph Little, the interactive drama has run for more than 300 four-minute episodes since it launched in July last year, racking up more than 57 million views.

Bebo wanted the show to "encourage unprecedented interactivity" with its audience and has also tried to distinguish itself from rival social networking sites by building up original content.

Users are given interactive tools to "talk" to KateModern characters and producers from the series, suggest storylines and solve puzzles in the plot.

The Bebo president, Joanna Shields, said KateModern has "created a new genre and demonstrated the power of media on a social network with gripping storylines and peerless production values".

The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/12/bebo.web20




CLICK HERE for all posts on KateModern

CLICK HERE for all the FAVOURITE POSTS

CLICK HERE for some other shows you should check out

Article - Beyond Bebo Originals

bebo originals were pretty much the only show in town for proper 2-way web series commissioning in the UK and Ireland... until it was axed last year.

Was emailed this article which picks up on what might happen next...


From C21Media:-

Restructuring at AOL last year hit its social networking site, Bebo, with staff being lost and its Bebo Originals initiative axed. So what's next for original online youth content?

Bebo pioneered the model for online youth drama with ground-breaking content such as KateModern, Sofia's Diary, The Secret World of Sam King and The Gap Year. The demise of its web production arm, Bebo Originals, in November will make it tougher for indies in this sector to survive, according to Nuno Bernardo (left), the man behind Sofia's Diary.

"It makes what was already hard even harder. Bebo was one of the few outlets that commissioned content," says Bernardo, adding that apart from the BBC and new Virgin Media channel Liv, few other UK portals offer scope for online content commissions.



Zad Rogers, formerly creative director at RDF Digital and founder of Atomized Entertainment... worked with Bebo on series including the site's community review show B-Box... "Bebo Originals was absolutely a catalyst for a whole new way of creating content. What they created in a short period of time, from KateModern (above) to B-Box, was really impressive and it falls to some of the broadcasters to pick up that mantle and start working with brands to commission original content," he says.

FULL ARTICLE HERE:-
http://www.c21media.net/resources/detail.asp?area=79&article=53850


CLICK HERE for all posts labelled INDUSTRY
http://storygas.blogspot.com/search/label/industry

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http://storygas.blogspot.com/search/label/funding

Web shows and live events - KateModern style

Found this great academic post exploring the live events on KateModern, and what that means for the medium of online shows.


From mediacommons.futureofthebook.org:-

However, (the clips) from web series Kate Modern, show how online video content is also working to recapture the ephemeral moment of broadcasting. Hosted by the social networking site Bebo, the series presents a form of entertainment that simultaneously utilises the ‘anti-ephemeral’ archive capacity of the internet whilst promoting a ‘hyper-ephemeral’ mode of engagement. The former is clear in the total length of the series (almost 14 hours over the two seasons) and the permanent access to the series offered through its website (www.bebo.com/katemodern). The latter is evident through techniques such as marathons, where viewers were invited to remain at their computers for 12 hours as new videos were released hourly, and quizzes that formed part of the narrative and viewers had to solve before the next episode.

MORE HERE:-
http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/2009/02/16/10am-carnaby-street-kate-modern-and-ephemeralisation-online-drama

(Click here for more articles labelled RECOMMENDED READING)

.

Bebo cuts back drama budgets and brand deals

From broadcastnow.co.uk:-

Bebo is to focus on short, low-budget drama series rather than the marathon runs of daily dramas such as KateModern because of the "exhausting" workload involved.

The social network is also keen to move away from signing multiple brand-integration deals with commercial partners in favour of a single sponsor per series.

Speaking at Broadcast's TV Drama Forum, Bebo European managing director Kate Burns said non-scripted formats such as The Gap Year were easier to sell to advertisers and cheaper to make.

MORE HERE:-
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/2009/03/bebo_cuts_back_drama_budgets_and_brand_deals.html

KateModern (and me) on The Money Programme

Footage and mentions of KateModern on The Money Programme: Media Revolution - Tomorrow's TV.

Missed it first time - but now repeated this week. You can only see it in the UK, and it only appears for 7 days here:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hs97g/Money_Programme_Media_Revolution_Tomorrows_TV/

From BBC iPlayer:-

The final episode of Media Revolution, a three-part series from the Money Programme, looks at the transformation of the UK TV industry.

(Max Flint) charts the extraordinary rise of Britain's global tele-industry, but learns that like print, British TV's very existence is threatened by plummeting advertising revenues, the internet, and the explosion of information sources. He discovers that product placement, merchandising and new ways of approaching the massive problem of piracy are all part of the future.

MORE HERE:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hs97g/Money_Programme_Media_Revolution_Tomorrows_TV/


UPDATE:- Here's an extract.

KateModern Mention on TV

500,000 Visits for LG15 Today!!!!!

One of the inspirations for starting StoryGas - and still one of the best places to track web series, and follow how communities form around content is
lg15today.blogspot.com


From lg15today.com:-

It is just a little under two years since LG15 Today launched and a few minutes ago the blogspot passed the 500,000 visit landmark with over 797,000 page views.

A long long time ago the 436 had taken away the official chat on the lonelygirl15 web site so a few fans got together to create the LG15 Addicts Userplane chat site. While chilling there the concept of the collaborative valentines card was hatched. It was a huge hit and it became quite apparent that given the opportunity this community had a huge capacity to collaborate creatively using the tools provided by the Internet. It was out of that spirit and the open free philosophy of lonelygirl15 comments that LG15 Today was born as a collaborative blog with the goal of keeping the community up to day with what was going on in the Breeniverse. Whether it be lonelygirl15 news, community videos, a snow ball fight on comments, lonelypirates15, the latest ARG puzzle or any of the other antics that were taking place in the community we wanted to find a way of keeping the community up to date on what was going on.

MORE HERE:-
http://lg15today.blogspot.com/2009/01/500000-visits-for-lg15-today.html

They link to great nuggets like this too - Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried of EQAL talking about the history and issues surrounding the writing and production lonelygirl15 and KateModern, and how they would describe them as "Social Shows".
(Here below I think talking at the launch of the Polish lonelygirl15 spinoff, n1ckola).

Lonelygirl15 - The show is yours...

Interesting things going on in the Breeniverse at the moment.

And another great example of the ability of web series to generate content creation amongst the show's community.

From inside.lg15.com:-

Thanks so much for watching LG15: The Resistance, we’re thrilled that you enjoyed the show! We’ve talked a long time about increasing the prominence of community shows on LG15.com. We’ve read your comments, watched your videos, and asked ourselves the question, “What would you do?” What characters would you develop? What story would you tell? With this in mind, we’re excited to announce a new chapter in the ongoing LG15 Universe: The Show Is Yours.

Also from inside.lg15.com:-

Do you think you have what it takes to make the next LG15 series? Here’s your chance! Submit your ORIGINAL LG15 PILOT and get the chance to see your show be the featured content on LG15.com.

The chosen video pilot may be turned into a full-length social show, which will be the featured content for eight (8) weeks beginning in February 2009.

The Pilot:
Your pilot must be derivative of the LG15 Universe by building upon the mythology of lonelygirl15, KateModern, and LG15: The Resistance. For more information on LG15, please read the LGPedia, the #1 resource on all things LG15.
The pilot can either be Episode One of your proposed show or a Pilot Presentation, which gives a general idea of the look and feel of the proposed show. It must be no more than 5 minutes in length.

MORE HERE:-
http://inside.lg15.com/2008/12/16/lg15-the-show-is-yours-submit-your-pilot/

LG15: The Show Is Yours is also tracked on the lonelygirl15 fansite lg15today.blogspot.com:-
http://lg15today.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Show%20Is%20Yours
.

Weekend Video: Entertainment execs talk with Rafat about Hulu, YouTube and more

From Guardian PDA Digital Content Blog:-

During the second session at our LA year-end Digital Media Review and mixer, paidContent's founder, publisher and editor Rafat Ali led a panel with Albert Cheng, executive vice-president of digital media for Disney-ABC Television Group; Miles Beckett, co-founder and chief executive of EQAL and co-creator and executive producer of lonelygirl15 and KateModern; and Lewis Henderson, senior vice president - head of digital for William Morris Agency.

Among the topics they covered were plans for 2009, indie content developers and those online video giants called YouTube and Hulu. Find out what Cheng had to say when he admitted ABC was not on either YouTube or Hulu and Rafat asked, point blank, "Why?"

MORE HERE:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2008/dec/22/digitalvideo-youtube

Interesting for me...
13.30
How replicable is the lonelygirl15 model? (Creating a studio from one hit)
14.30
Primary focus: "We are an audience company... our goal is built around building community based websites with very rich social features..."
17.45
Seth McFarlane deal with Google - (that's fine but what I want to know is) "how do you get something that's unknown distributed effectively?"
19.00
"we really believe in building a community around the brand... so there should be a fully featured rich social network around that branded show... that should be the home and everywhere the content goes should increase the distribultion and reach... increase your eyballs...
But ultimately serve to drive people back to the site, so that for the content creator... they have a much more bankable and long-term monetisable asset."
21.00 - 23.03
On Product Integrations.
24.45
ABC-Disney on geo-fencing
26.25
Why aren't you guys (ABC-Disney) on YouTube?
29.20
"We love YouTube - we see Youtube, Flickr, Photobucket as services..."

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Creating cutting edge web drama is hard

From broadcast.co.uk:-
Stuart Cosgrove on Online Drama.

"...the mechanics of drama are always changing and that has led to a frustrating paradox. The web is a phenomenal arena of innovation and yet "web drama" is painfully underdeveloped and charmingly naive. Maybe the explanation lies deep in history. Teen revelation dramas like Lonely Girl 15, Kate Modern and Sofia's Diary may just be the cave-drawings of civilisations yet to come.

Those most frequently cited web-dramas largely rely on shifting recognisable forms onto new platforms, creating "telly on the web," rather than interrogating the uniqueness of the internet, and its alchemy of search, participation and networking."

More here:-
http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/opinion_and_blogs/hot_topic/2008/11/hot_topic_creating_cutting_edge_web_drama_is_hard.html

UK Online Drama Web Series - KATEMODERN

From wikipedia:-

KateModern is the sister series of lonelygirl15. The series, which was announced on April 16, 2007, began filming on July 9 and the first video, Fight and Flight, was released on July 16. The show is produced by LG15 in partnership with Bebo. It ended on June 28, 2008, slightly less than a year following its original release.

KateModern is set in East London, England, and bears many similarities to its parent series. Both Kate and Bree are avid video bloggers and carry a dark secret. There is an alternate reality game component of the series as well.

KATEMODERN HOME SITE:
You could either watch the show here, on the KateModern bebo site

"KateModern ran from 16th July 2007 to 28th June 2008 and was produced by the creators of lonelygirl15 - EQAL. During it's highly successful year long run it was nominated for two TV Craft BAFTA awards, a Webby Award and won the Broadcast Press Guild Award for Innovation 2008."

www.bebo.com/katemodern

Or here on the lonelygirl15 katemodern show site:
www.lg15.com/katemodern

KATEMODERN WIKI, on the LGpedia:
http://www.lg15.com/lgpedia/index.php?title=Image:KM_Portal_Season_2.jpg

And the Production Team even have their own bebo profile:
http://www.bebo.com/KateModernProduction



KateModern Forums are here:
http://www.lg15.com/katemodern/forum/

GMTV Behind the Scenes item on KateModern here:






Here are some press articles on the show...

Kate Modern herself was killed off at the start of the second series; a bit of a bold move you might think, but the format of the show means it is constantly breaking new ground.“You can interact with the story, talk to the characters, comment on the plot – we get feedback all the time,” explains Rushton.

“What I find so interesting is the fact that people are coming together and discussing the show, but they’re also coming together to discuss things that lie outside of the show that affect them. People actually come to you on Bebo and share their experiences and they feel like they’ve got a place to do that. It’s the way that communication is going.”

The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/student-life/music-film/modern-miss-817538.html

We told you last month about the planned wrap-up of KateModern, the very successful Internet television show exclusive to the AOL-owned Bebo social network.

Well, today’s the day that all is put to pasture. KateModern is having its finale, and it’s going out with 12 episodes in 12 hours. The countdown to the series close began earlier this morning and will stretch to 7PM EST, with hourly videos releases complemented by live chats with and among the fanbase.

In fact, due to its viral achievements EQAL was able to secure both a $5 million Series A funding round and CBS partnership in the space of a single month.

Mashable.com
http://mashable.com/2008/06/28/katemodern-2

BEBO's Kate Modern has become an internet sensation since being launched a year ago.
More than 66 million people have logged on to view the interactive online drama's 'webisodes' since July 2007.

TV Biz has an exclusive preview of this week's season 2 finale for your pleasure. It features Ralf Little and man-of-the-moment Noel Clarke - who wrote, directed and starred in the Kidulthood and Adulthood films.

The Sun
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article1345446.ece

Who killed KateModern? It's the question that has been occupying several million minds since the beginning of the year, when the heroine of the eponymously named online drama met her end. Kate, for those who have been living in a bunker since July 2007, is, or rather, was, a troubled teenage university art student living in London. She had a dark past that she was unable to remember and was somehow connected to a secret organisation called The Order.

The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/mar/03/digitalmedia.web20

Social networking site Bebo is to shock fans of hit online drama Kate Modern by killing off its eponymous star in the first episode of its new series.

The series' first sponsors - which get to see their products placed within the video - will be Cadbury's Creme Egg and Toyota's youth-targeted car Aygo. Sponsors of the first series included Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Warner Music, Paramount and Orange, which each paid up to £250,000 to appear within the show.

No figures have been revealed about what each company might pay to be involved with the second series.

However, each company stumps up cash based on the amount its brand is integrated into the storyline, which includes monitoring the number of times it appears in the video and is mentioned in the script.

The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/16/bebo.television

KateModern, the flagship online drama broadcast by social networking site Bebo, will wrap up for the last time at the end of June, it was announced today.

The last part of series two will air on June 28, with Bebo promising a "high octane" ending with multiple episodes.

Featuring Royle Family star Ralph Little, the interactive drama has run for more than 300 four-minute episodes since it launched in July last year, racking up more than 57 million views.

Bebo wanted the show to "encourage unprecedented interactivity" with its audience and has also tried to distinguish itself from rival social networking sites by building up original content.

Users are given interactive tools to "talk" to KateModern characters and producers from the series, suggest storylines and solve puzzles in the plot.

The Bebo president, Joanna Shields, said KateModern has "created a new genre and demonstrated the power of media on a social network with gripping storylines and peerless production values".

The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/may/12/bebo.web20


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