Sophia’s Diary Unlocks a Second Season on Bebo

The news is that the UK webseries SOPHIA’S DIARY has been picked up for a second season on the popular site Bebo (recently acquired by AOL).

“The online drama, which follows a feisty 17-year-old and her friends, invites users of the social network to vote on twists in the storyline.  Sofia’s Diary typically attracts upwards of 1,000 comments each day on the show’s Bebo channel and character profile pages.” (via GuardianUK)

What’s interesting to note here is that the second season will consist of 64 episodes.  This is a much larger commitment to a storyline than so many of the US webseries we’ve seen that seem to be content putting up an episode a week for a couple of months and then dying off quietly in a dark corner of the web.

Obviously, this sort of commitment takes money and clearly Bebo/AOL is investing at least some cash into this venture – though I doubt anyone is getting rich just yet.

This series is a clear decendent of lonelygirl15 and demonstrates that, given the right target audience, exposure and comittment a webseries can be a serious entertainment contender.

Bebo Not Sweating It

Sweet, my first pun of the day.  Bebo has announced a partnership between Unilever’s teen deodorant spray Sure Girl and the new web series (or “snack drama”) Sophia’s Diary.  According to Brand Republic:

“Bebo users will be encouraged to send in articles in the theme of “What makes you sweat?” with the chance of winning a cameo role in the drama. Users will also be able to become friends with the brand through a dedicated profile page.”

I love that last phrase, “friends with the brand.”  There is no irony in that sentence. They really think this will happen.  Hell, maybe it will.  Maybe teen girls want to be friends with deodorant sprays.

“Claire Gomm, senior brand manager at Unilever, said: “The partnership with Sofia’s Diary is ideal for Sure Girl as it allows us to engage in a dialogue with the brand’s core teen audience and make an emotional connection with them that can be far deeper and more resonant than via traditional media spend.”

I’m so conflicted.  On the one hand I am glad to see more support on web series by major advertisers but I am completely saddened to see how those integrations are working.  It doesn’t feel like this will benefit the viewer or the show and maybe not even the brand.

The Generation Gap and Web Series

There is another review of the new Bebo web series, Sophia’s Diary, up at NewTeeVee.  For the most part, they agree that it is very nicely produced but aren’t especially thrilled with the writing.

Their other problem has to do with the show’s inconsistent treatment of the “fourth wall.”  While earlier series like LonelyGirl15 used direct address to the webcam, Sophia simply turns to the “camera” wherever she is.

“…the constant breaks with the first-person format become frustrating — in a media community where series like Lonelygirl15 fully exploited it, this halfway commitment to playing with the vlog style is more than a little disappointing. But the damage being done to the fourth wall apparently has little impact on the show’s audience, whose Bebo comments are numerous and enthusiastic. ”

Perhaps the issues with the fourth wall are not such an issue at all for a younger generation of viewers less trained to blindly accept certain past media conventions.  Why can’t an actor just turn and speak to their audience?