Felicia Day

Felicia Day

Creator: Felicia Day, actress-writer-Web producer, has become the patron saint of online talent. She has one of the highest profiles among actresses working on the Web and is well-regarded by the online community that’s active on social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

Shows: A self-proclaimed “rebel at heart,” she wrote, produced and starred in “The Guild,” an independent Web series that has garnered more than 9 million views and numerous awards. She starred alongside Neil Patrick Harris in Joss Whedon’s “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” this summer and played Vi in eight episodes of Whedon’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” on TV in 2003. Her new projects include a sitcom she’s writing for Machinima.com. “I’m most surprised about how much happier I am having my own show on the Web than when I was just another actress in Hollywood.”

Advertisers: “The Guild” is supported by fan donations, and a DVD of the show is available. “We have turned down a lot of deals because we haven’t felt the partner was a perfect fit for our vision of the show,” she said.

Distribution: The Guild is distributed at www.WatchTheGuild.com, MySpace and YouTube. The first season ran for 10 episodes and the second season launches next month.

What’s to like? “The Guild” is a wry portrayal of a group of online gamers whose dysfunctions make them lovable. The writing is tight and actors turn in surprisingly coherent performances.

What’s not to like? The show is still self-funded and has yet to land an advertiser on its own. That model has a lot of street cred, but isn’t financially viable for long. Production values need to improve to hit the level of other top-level Web shows.