Jen Danielson of SNL’s Above Average to Judge New Web-Series Category

With the deadline for Fusion submissions fast approaching (January 30^th to be exact) the team has some exciting news to share about our newest category: Jen Danielson, Head of Content for SNL’s web-series platform Above Average, will be judging the web-series category. Starting out as a young up-and-coming associate producer for SNL’s Broadway Video and becoming an associate producer on both 30 Rock and Mean Girls, Danielson continues to carve out a bold position for female comedians and innovators by guiding the development of multiple female-driven web-series.

Requirements for submitting a series to Fusion include creation or co-creation by a woman, meaning a female show runner, head writer, cinematographer, or director. This new category reflects the rise of the web series as a successful and popular mode of filmmaking. And Fusion is not the only organization recognizing its significance; the Producer’s Guild of America created an Outstanding Digital Series award in 2011, which still continues to welcome all creative web series.

Fusions’ new category comes in the wake of successful work being done by women filmmakers and artists on the web. The online hit “Broad City” is a shining example of this; Comedy Central picked up a 10-episode run of the scripted comedy starring Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer. The web series turned television show counts Amy Poehler among its producers. The unique work by women is evident in many other web series, too. Check out Elaine Carroll’s “Very Mary Kate,” Sasheer Zamata and Nicole Byer’s “Pursuit of Sexiness,” and a slew of others. Female created/co-created series are taking over the online platform of filmmaking—and that’s a good thing!

Participants can submit up to three entries per category and can submit to as many categories as desired. Applications and more submission details can be found HERE. Finalists for all categories will be announced on February 17th.

Categories in this year’s film festival also include Animation, Docs-in-the-Works, Undergraduate Film, Graduate Film, Undergraduate Short Screenplay, Graduate Short Screenplay, Undergraduate Feature Screenplay, Graduate Feature Screenplay, Rising Star (for freshmen only), Sight and Sound, and Web Series. Rules and necessary information can be found within the applications.

By Amanda Saiewitz