Venice: The Series

*Venice: The Series*
Venice: The Series
Genre	Soap opera; Web series;
Created by	Crystal Chappell; Kim Turrisi;
Starring	Crystal Chappell; Jessica Leccia; Galen Gering; Hillary B. Smith; Gina Tognoni; Nadia Bjorlin; Lesli Kay; Dot Jones; Shawn Christian; Molly Burnett; Eric Martsolf; Judi Evans; Michelle N. Carter; Jordan Clarke; Harrison White; Michael Sabatino; Liz Keifer; Adrienne Wilkinson; Christian LeBlanc; Annika Noelle; Patti Pelton; Aaron Hartzler; Wesley Ramsey; Tina Sloan; Gregory Zarian
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	5
No. of episodes	49
Production
Executive producers	Crystal Chappell; Kim Turrisi; Hope Royaltey;
Production location	Venice Beach, California
Running time	6–10 minutes (season 1); approx. 15 minutes (seasons 2–5);
Production company	Open Book Productions
Original release
Network	YouTube (seasons 1–2); Vimeo (seasons 3–5);
Release	December 4, 2009 –; present
Related
	The Grove: The Series

Venice: The Series is a soap opera web series co-produced by and starring American actress Crystal Chappell. The series was inspired in part by the "Otalia" storyline on the daytime drama Guiding Light. The series has been streamed on VenicetheSeries.com since December 4, 2009, and ended with its sixth and final season in 2015.

Venice is described by Chappell as "a show about families, and life, and all the simplicity of it, and the turmoil of it. We're going to be following a character named Gina who is a designer, and she is a gay woman."^[1]

Cast and characters

Venice: The Series stars Crystal Chappell as Gina, a designer and a gay woman, and Chappell's love interest from Guiding Light, Jessica Leccia, this time as Ani, Gina's love interest. Some of Chappell's and Leccia's former Guiding Light co-stars also appear in the series, including Tina Sloan, Gina Tognoni as Sami and Jordan Clarke as The Colonel. Other Venice cast members include daytime actress Hillary B. Smith of One Life to Live as Guya, Nadia Bjorlin as Lara, Galen Gering as Owen, Gina's brother, Michelle N. Carter as Michele, Lesli Kay as Tracy, Michael Sabatino, Chappell's husband, as Alan, and Robert Newman as an old boyfriend of Gina's. Other cast members include Shawn Christian, Eric Martsolf and Molly Burnett from Days of Our Lives. Gregory Zarian joined the cast in Season 5 as Detective Nick Pfander.

Production

Creation and development

Crystal Chappell played Olivia Spencer on the long-running CBS daytime drama, Guiding Light, from 1999 until the September 18, 2009 network ending. She won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Daytime Drama for her work as Olivia in 2002 and was nominated again in the same category in 2005 and 2006. In 2007, she earned her first nomination in the Outstanding Lead Actress category and her second in 2010.

In 2009, after Guiding Light was cancelled, Chappell, with help from her writing partner and co-producer Kim Turrisi, decided to create Venice: The Series drawing inspiration from the popular romance between her Guiding Light character, Olivia Spencer, and GL co-star Jessica Leccia's character, Natalia Rivera Aitoro, also known by the portmanteau "Otalia". However, for copyright reasons, the names of the two actresses' characters are changed, and there is no official connection to Guiding Light.

Although Chappell's character in the show is an openly gay woman, the show is not a "gay web series" but rather a show that "embodies all kinds of people, with all kinds of issues".^[1]

Chappell heavily publicized the series through the social networking sites Twitter and Facebook.^[2]

Filming

The web series is set in, and filmed in, Venice Beach, California, United States. It is filmed digitally. Each episode of season 1 is 6–10 minutes long, while episodes from subsequent seasons run approximately 15 minutes.

Distribution and release

The first three seasons were released for free, and are viewable, on the video sharing website YouTube. The fourth, fifth and sixth seasons are available streaming on the show's website to rent or buy.

DVDs of past seasons of the show are also available for sale online at the website.

Reception and awards

In 2011, Venice: The Series won the first Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Short Format Daytime,^[3] and won again in 2014 for Outstanding New Approaches Drama Series.^[4] The series was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Digital Daytime Drama Series in 2017.^[5] In 2018, Venice was nominated for Outstanding Digital Daytime Drama Series and Outstanding Directing in a Digital Drama Series.^[6]

Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Alina Adams named the series one of the "4 best soap operas on the web" in 2015.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b Crystal Chappell, venicetheseries.com Fan Q&A Part 1 www.venicetheseries.com
^ Lisa Bernhard "Love That Dares to Tweet Its Name Sparks Web Series", The New York Times, August 24, 2009
^ "38th Annual Daytime Emmy® Award Winners" (PDF). National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. June 19, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 19, 2016. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
^ "41st Annual Daytime Emmy® Award Winners" (PDF). National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. June 22, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
^ "The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Announces Nominations For the 44th Annual Daytime Emmy® Awards" (PDF). National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. March 22, 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 23, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
^ "2018 Daytime Emmy Awards Nominees". Daytime Emmy Awards. New York City: National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 13 April 2018. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
^ Adams, Alina (February 3, 2015). "The 4 best soap operas on the web". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 13, 2017.

External links

Official website
Venice en Lesbicanarias Episode recaps (Spanish)

[Q&A-1] Crystal Chappell, venicetheseries.com Fan Q&A Part 1 www.venicetheseries.com

[2] Lisa Bernhard "Love That Dares to Tweet Its Name Sparks Web Series", The New York Times, August 24, 2009

[3] "38th Annual Daytime Emmy® Award Winners" (PDF). National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. June 19, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 19, 2016. Retrieved July 28, 2014.

[4] "41st Annual Daytime Emmy® Award Winners" (PDF). National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. June 22, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2014.

[44th_Noms-5] "The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Announces Nominations For the 44th Annual Daytime Emmy® Awards" (PDF). National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. March 22, 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 23, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2017.

[6] "2018 Daytime Emmy Awards Nominees". Daytime Emmy Awards. New York City: National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 13 April 2018. Retrieved April 27, 2018.

[7] Adams, Alina (February 3, 2015). "The 4 best soap operas on the web". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved February 13, 2017.

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v t e Daytime television soap operas in the United States
Current	The Bold and the Beautiful (1987–present) Days of Our Lives (1965–2022 TV; 2022–present Web) General Hospital (1963–present) The Young and the Restless (1973–present)
1940s debuts	Faraway Hill (1946) Highway to the Stars (1947) These Are My Children (1949) A Woman to Remember (1949)
1950s debuts	A Time to Live (1954) As the World Turns (1956–2010) The Bennetts (1953–1954) The Brighter Day (1954–1962) The Edge of Night (1956–1984) The First Hundred Years (1950–1952) First Love (1954–1955) Follow Your Heart (1953–1954) For Better or Worse (1959–1960) From These Roots (1958–1961) Golden Windows (1954–1955) The Greatest Gift (1954–1955) Guiding Light (1952–2009) Hawkins Falls (1950–1955) Kitty Foyle (1958) Love of Life (1951–1980) Miss Susan (1951) One Man's Family (1954–1955) Portia Faces Life (1954–1955) The Road of Life (1954–1955) The Secret Storm (1954–1974) Search for Tomorrow (1951–1986) The Seeking Heart (1954) Three Steps to Heaven (1953–1954) Today is Ours (1958) Valiant Lady (1953–1957) Woman with a Past (1954) The World of Mr. Sweeney (1954–1955) Young Doctor Malone (1958–1963)
1960s debuts	Another World (1964–1999) Ben Jerrod (1963) Bright Promise (1969–1972) The Clear Horizon (1960–1962) Dark Shadows (1966–1971) Days of Our Lives (1965–2022) The Doctors (1963–1982) A Flame in the Wind (1964–1966) Full Circle (1960–1961) General Hospital (1963–present) Hidden Faces (1968–1969) Love is a Many Splendored Thing (1967–1973) Moment of Truth (1965) Morning Star (1965–1966) Never Too Young (1965–1966) The Nurses (1965–1967) One Life to Live (1968–2012) Our Five Daughters (1962) Our Private World (1965) Paradise Bay (1965–1966) Peyton Place (1964–1969) Where the Heart Is (1969–1973) The Young Marrieds (1964–1966)
1970s debuts	All My Children (1970–2011) The Best of Everything (1970) Bird of the Iron Feather (1970) How to Survive a Marriage (1974–1975) Lovers and Friends/For Richer, For Poorer (1977–1978) Return to Peyton Place (1972–1974) Ryan's Hope (1975–1989) Somerset (1970–1976) A World Apart (1970–1971) The Young and the Restless (1973–present)
1980s debuts	Another Life (1981–1984) The Bold and the Beautiful (1987–present) Capitol (1982–1987) Generations (1989–1991) Loving (1983–1995) Rituals (1984–1985) Santa Barbara (1984–1993) Texas (1980–1982)
1990s debuts	The City (1995–1997) Passions (1999–2008) Port Charles (1997–2003) Sunset Beach (1997–1999) Swans Crossing (1992) Tribes (1990)
2000s debuts	Spyder Games (2001)
Web series	All My Children (2013) Anacostia (2009–2018) As the Cookie Crumbles (2008) The Bay (2010–2015) Beacon Hill (2014) The Cavanaughs (2010–2011) DeVanity (2011–2014) East Los High (2013–2017) EastSiders (2012–2020) Miss Behave (2010–2012) One Life to Live (2013) Ragged Isle (2011–2014) River Ridge (2012) The Spot (1995–1997) Tainted Dreams (2013–2014) They Go On (1997) Venice: The Series (2009–2014) What If... (2010) Winterthorne (2015) Youthful Daze (2012–2016) Days of Our Lives (2022–present)
Upcoming	Beyond the Gates (2025)