WATCH LIST Melbourne WebFest 2019 and the Continued Rise of Web Series

With the growing prevalence of subscription video-on-demand services such as Netflix, Stan and Amazon as well as the increase in online-only content on broadcast affiliates like ABC iview, what characterises a ‘web series’ remains up for grabs. For television scholar Aymar Jean Christian, the definition is broad, in that web series ‘combine the modus operandi of scripted television programming (series and serialization) with new formats (primarily short-form, due to fewer resources and perceptions of audience attention)’.¹ Unlike traditional broadcast television, which acted as gatekeeper to content, platforms for web series don’t necessarily differentiate between productions with huge resources and those made on student or shoestring budgets. And, while web series might once have been defined by their DIY aesthetic, progressively more money is being invested into Australian titles through state and national screen-funding bodies as well as new initiatives looking to reward work with established audiences.²

Over the past few years, the popularity and quantity of web series have rapidly expanded. However, as media researcher Whitney Monaghan observes, there continues to be a paucity of scholarly attention given to the form, with most studies that have existed to date focusing on the medium’s potential to cater for diverse and under-represented communities. For example, critic Stephanie Van Schilt suggests that, through affording ‘marginalised voices space to create content and reach audiences’, web series ‘reflect reality more readily than traditional television’. But things move fast in the online space – something I witnessed firsthand at the seventh annual Melbourne WebFest, which I attended last year. Of the