By launching the bare minimum of episodes practically hours before the deadline, The Bannen Way has sparked a debate over its Streamy eligibility. This is a mile stone for the net, but not unheard from in the movie industry.

With heavy debates raging on Twitter, NewTeeVee, Tubefilter and even the LG15 message-boards, VisiowebTV humbly submits an opinion for your approval. We’re the youngest, smallest and least experiences WebTV site, and so we have little right to give an opinion, thus we will only point you to the very well balanced article on the subject written by Taryn O’Neill, someone who knows what she’s talking about.

As she writes,

“[...] this debate also means the Streamys mean something to us as a community. In one year the Streamys have become a big thing.  I remember Marc Hustvedt telling me about his plans for the Streamys in November ’08 and I remember thinking ‘how cute’. Nothing cute about it these days (well except for the pic of Felicia).  Also remember, there is an actual board, an IAWTV membership that votes on the Streamys, comprised of YOUR PEERS and I’m fairly confident that this board takes their role pretty seriously.  It has the responsibility to push our space to the forefront but it also doesn’t want to be seen as a Hollywood sellout.  I’m hopeful that the great shows and talent of ’09 will be recognized.

So! Run your campaigns, vote and support the space, watch The Bannen Way and enjoy what [The Bannen Way producers] Mark and Jesse have achieved.  Know that if you have a kickass mainstream idea that you can deliver on and that can be monetized across multiple platforms, the web arm of a studio will probably be interested.  If not, just tell a story that you are passionate about. This is going to be an awesome year!”

Very well said, Taryn! Let’s not enter the next year with a flame-war that is bound to end with Godwin’s Law sooner or later, which we will all regret.

For those still wanting to tip in with their worth of salt over the Networks Butting Into Indie-Land debate, here is a great collection of links of the various battle fields. Also, for some very good contrasting points, check out the passionate arguments by Invention and Safety Geeks:SVI’s Tom Konkle at the bottom of the NewTeeVee article of the subject.

Here at VisiowebTV we hope everyone will have a great 2010, great fun shooting and mostly, lots of fun watching new shows!

I only wish The Bannen Way was available outside the US so I could see for myself what the fuzz is all about…

Signing off for the year,

Alec