Hypable is launching a new feature which will celebrate the webseries phenomenon and highlight some of the most important works out there!

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Over the coming weeks, Hypable will be starting up Webseries Wednesday – a weekly feature putting the spotlight on the webseries phenomenon, looking at a different series each week.

Staff members Selina Wilken and Marama Whyte will be taking a closer look at what’s out there, and seek to highlight both the most iconic series and the lesser known gems. We are so excited to share our favourites with you, and to find new series along the way.

So, what is a webseries?

Webseries, to those not yet initiated, are scripted series that are produced for and distributed online.

In general, these series tend to have shorter episodes more suited for YouTube, bite-sized for easy internet consumption, but that’s about all they have in common.

Webseries can be dramatic or humorous (such as Awkward Black Girl), be parodies (see School of Thrones) or original creations, or sometimes even musicals (like Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog). Often, you’ll find them exploring a particular social issue, or dealing with a set of stereotypes.

Their budgets vary, as do their reach – sometimes well-known professionals within the TV and film industries might venture into webseries territory to try out a new idea (as Jane Espenson and Brad Bell have done with Husbands).

One type of webseries we will not be covering will be the so-called webisodes, created to be part of an existing TV show’s canon, such as Lost: Missing Pieces and Battlestar Galactica: The Face of the Enemy. However, the impact these have had in raising the profile of webseries and helping bridge the gap to television should not be overlooked.

What we will be focusing on will be the independent creations of both amateurs and professionals, that in some way bring something new to the scripted series medium.

Finding the BEST webseries

Before we begin our weekly column series, we want to give you the chance to have your say and tell us what you think is hot in the webseries world! We want to do a poll to determine which is the BEST webseries of all time – but since there are so many great ones out there, you need to tell us which series to put on the poll!

So nominate your favourite webseries in the comments below, and tell us a bit about why you love them! They can be classic series that have already ended, or series that are still ongoing. The poll will go up on the site Wednesday, May 1.

What are your favourite webseries and why?

Graphic by Camden Remington