Ahead of Melbourne WebFest 2014 we are profiling all the series in the Official Selection as well as the “Second Look” series. 

Tim, a mainstay of the music scene in his hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina, was diagnosed in April 2009, aged 29. His mother and grandmother both died from ALS in his infancy.

Tim’s friends decided to join together, calling themselves the Often Awesome Army, to help Tim and his girlfriend Kaylan. They help the couple to deal with both the everyday aspects of Tim’s increasing needs for care, as well as throwing fundraising benefits.

The series unflinchingly tracks the disease’s progress, as Tim’s body slowly becomes paralyzed, and he loses his functions one by one, until he is not even able to breathe or swallow on his own.

Often Awesome the series has been well received by the public.  In 2012, Often Awesome won a People’s Choice Award for the Webby Awards as well as a Vimeo award for best web series. 

What inspired your series?

We were inspired to tell Tim’s story and try to raise as much awareness of this awful disease.  When we began we didn’t know how many episodes we were going to do.  Every other week we kept up with Tim and the Often Awesome Army and we kept getting more and more ideas for episodes.

Why should people watch your series?

People should watch Often Awesome the series to meet Tim and his amazing friends.  They will inspire you, make you laugh, cry and give you hope.  The series shows what pure, selfless love looks like, when a community of friends come together to make Tim’s quality of life the best it can possibly be.

What do you want people to take away from your series? 

There are a couple of things we want people to take away from this series.  First, we want people to help spread awareness about ALS and do what they can to help get funding to find a cure to this disease.  Secondly, we want people to see Tim’s story and be inspired to live with ALS. Lastly, for caretakers, friends and family members to understand that there is something they can do to help by forming a group/community and try to improve the quality of life for their loved one living with ALS.

How do you finance your series? 

We were very fortunate that the community of Often Awesome raised some funds so we could purchase equipment.  Other than two DSLR cameras we fronted the bill ourselves.  Andy, worked a full-time job while Blake worked as a video production contractor during the 2 years of production. We believed that Tim’s story was too important to sit on. 

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome in production? 

The biggest challenge that we had to overcome in production was time.  When we first began production on this series Tim was already diagnosed and both of us were working during the days.  During our off time was when we had to shoot, edit and produce the episodes.  The first year in production we produced 26 episodes and dedicated our time to produce an episode every other week.  It was an important year, because of how many physical changes that Tim went through. 

How do you reach your audience?

The Often Awesome Army really helped us get the word out when we released an episode.  They would post on Facebook and Twitter and really helped us with reaching an audience.  Because the series was based on Tim with ALS, it was well received in the ALS community, on message boards as well as ALS websites.

Is it an ongoing project? If so, can you give us some clues about what comes next? 

Unfortunately no. Once Tim passed on, we ended the series by introducing the audience to another brave warrior and his battle with ALS. Both Andy and Blake are working on independent projects separately but continue to collaborate when possible.

Why make a web series? 

Why not.  It is the perfect way to share your creation with the world.  To continue to grow as a creator, learn from your mistakes and keep at it.  Meet other creators and talented people and collaborate and make the best production you can.  Do it because you want to and excel.  You never know what may happen.Tell interesting stories and don’t be afraid.  Be bold, try new things and always put your heart into it.

Often Awesome the series on the web:

Web Site: allacesmedia.com/oftenawesome/

Facebook: facebook.com/OftenAwesomeTheSeries

Twitter: @AllAcesMedia

Non-Profit Page: oftenawesome.org/

Keep up to date with Melbourne Web Fest on twitter: @MelbWebFest

La Trobe University is a festival sponsor of Melbourne WebFest.