Raindance Web Fest, the UK’s only dedicated web series festival has announced the winners of the first ever British Independent Series Awards (BISA) – an awards ceremony dedicated to recognising upcoming talent within the web series industry.
The ceremony, which was hosted by Raindance Web Fest FounderElisar Cabrera and previous Web Fest winner Phillip Whiteman, took place at Vue Piccadilly yesterday evening (28th September). They were joined by Christin Baker of premium online network, tello films and members of the BISA jury, Brett Snelgrove (BuzzMyVideos) and Vicky Howell (Frostbite UK) in presenting the awards.
The winning series were selected by a high profile panel of movers and shakers in the industry, including Jake Avnet C.O.O. of WIGS, recently named as one of Hollywood’s new leaders by Variety, Mark Melling, director of AOL Video – Europe, Vanessa Bakewell, head of entertainment at Facebook, and Leslie Morgan, Executive Director of Vertical Network and Programming at Endemol Beyond.
BISA categories included Best British Series, Best International Series, Best Leading Actor and the inaugural Raindance Discovery Award.
The winner of Raindance Web Fest’s Web Series Pilot Competition, in association with DailyMotion, was also announced on the night.
British Independent Series Awards Juror Leslie Morgan commented:“Judging this year’s nominations was tough. These series really were well done and each creator should be so proud of what they accomplished. “
Elisar Cabrera, Raindance Web Fest Founder adds: “We had an exciting line up at Web Fest this year, with six world premieres and a host of industry events. The BISAs are a great way to close the festival and recognise the brilliant filmmaking talent of the digital world.”
The winning series are as follows:
BEST INTERNATIONAL SERIES
“Destroy The Alpha Gammas”
Created by Leah McKendrick
BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION FOR A SERIES
“Whatever, Linda”
For Achievement in Production Design
BEST LEAD ACTOR IN A SERIES
“Whatever, Linda”
Hannah Cheesman
BEST BRITISH SERIES
“S.O.S.: Save Our Skins”
Created by Chris Hayward and Nat Saunders
BEST ENSEMBLE IN A SERIES
“Flat3”
JJ Fong, Perlina Lau, Ally Xue
RAINDANCE DISCOVERY
“Whatever, Linda”
Writers, Hannah Cheesman & Julian De Zotti
RAINDANCE WEB FEST DAILYMOTION WEB SERIES PILOT COMPETITION
“Dance4Me”
created by Rebecca Graham
