5th Annual Indie Series Awards: Complete List of Nominations

Nominees for the 5th Annual Indie Series Awards were revealed in a special episode of We Love Soaps TV earlier today. The ISAs celebrate the best in independently produced, scripted entertainment created for the Web.

Hustling led all web series with 9 nominations. Out With Dad was next among Dramas receiving 8 nominations, followed by DeVanity and Progress with 7, with EastSiders and Thurston earning 6.

Among Comedies, Wrecked led with 7 nominations, followed by Bloomers and Husbands with 6. Noirhouse and Professional Friend each received 5.

A record-breaking 56 web series received at least one nomination.

"We had an all-time high number of shows submitted this year," said Roger Newcomb, founder of the Indie Series Awards and editorial director of We Love Soaps.  "The shows that have been nominated in the past keep getting better and the new series blew us away."

The 5th Annual ISAs will take place on April 2 at the historic El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, hosted by Carolyn Hennesy, who received a nomination in the "Best Guest Star - Comedy" category for her work on Single Siblings.

Check out the complete list of nominees below:

READER POLL RESULTS: Indie Series of the Week (August 18-24 2013); VENICE #1

VENICE was voted Indie Series of the Week for the third week in a row.

The results are in from the We Love Soaps Indie Series of the Week poll for web series that aired August 18-24, 2013. A new Season 4 episode inspired viewers to vote VENICE into the top spot as favorite show for the third week in a row.  A new episode of HE'S WITH ME was second followed by EDGE OF NORMAL, HUSBANDS and WHERE THE BEARS ARE.

Check out the complete results below including the Favorite Actor, Actress and Couple of the Week:

RANK	SHOW	LAST WEEK	TOP 3
1	VENICE	1	33
2	HE'S WITH ME	-	2
3	EDGE OF NORMAL	4	1
4	HUSBANDS	13	0
5	WHERE THE BEARS ARE	11	0
6	MY SYNTHESIZED LIFE	9	1
7	THE STAFFORD PROJECT	-	0
8	L.A. GIRLS	6	0
9	LIPS	18	0
10	HEADSHOTS	13	0
11	IN TRANSITION	21	0
12	REGULATORS	-	0
13	HOW I SEIZE IT	23	0
14	PARALLELS	26	0
15	THE COLD READ	-	0
16	SISTAS	22	0

See the rest of the poll results and watch last week's Top 3 Indie web series below:

VENICE (watch with subscription)

Watch The 4th Annual Indie Soap Awards

You can now watch the 4th Annual ISAs online. This year's presenters included Colleen Zenk, Kevin Spirtas, Cynthia Watros, Hillary B. Smith, Martha Byrne, Jillian Clare, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Bhama Roget, Brad Bell, Anthony Anderson, Michael Caruso, Sebastian La Cause, Ben Baur, Kayla Olson, Sharon Smyth Lentz and many, many more.  Check out the poignant speeches, the funny moments and all the glamour from the best in independently produced scripted and serialized programming for the Web below.



RELATED:
- 4th Annual Indie Soap Awards Nominations Announced
- WINNERS: 4th Annual Indie Soap Awards
- PHOTOS: 4th Annual Indie Soap Awards (ISA4)
- 4th Annual Indie Soap Awards: Jillian Clare, Miriam Pultro, Sam Martin Top Anne Sayre's Best Dressed List
- Indie Soap Awards History and Archive

WATCH: HUSBANDS Season 3 Premiere

Smash comedy HUSBANDS received 12 Indie Soap Awards nominations for the show's first two hilarious seasons, and won two ISAs this year for Lead Actor (Brad Bell) and Best Writing (Bell and Jane Espenson). Today the show kicks off its third season on CW Seed with guest star Amy Acker in an episode entitled "I Do Over."

Tabloid darling Cheeks (Bell), and star athlete Brady (Sean Hemeon) are preparing to re-do the "I do"s they neglected during their first accidental drunken wedding, when Acker shows up as Claudia, Brady's ex-fiancee-with-an-agenda. Additional guest appearances include Seth Green, Michael Hogan), Beth Grant and Deb Theaker).

HUSBANDS is created and executive produced by Brad Bell and Jane Espenson (ONCE UPON A TIME, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER).

Check out the Season 3 premiere below:

INDIE HOUSE: THE WALKING TEDD, BROKEN AT LOVE, HUSTLING, DEVANITY, HUSBANDS, GAYS, TAINTED DREAMS

Gossip, secrets, leaks; kudos, picks, congrats - in the Indie Soap Web Series (Indies) world, this is where they live. Listen up: Kevin's Indie House.

Sean Willis' upcoming web seriesTHE WALKING TEDD just passed the $4,000 mark in their Kickstarter campaign. The show is a heart-warming comedy about a zombie teddy bear that may make you rethink your favorite childhood stuffed animal. Derek Stusynski, Sofia Regan, Ashton Swinford, Cherami Leigh, Kylie Sparks, Brett Johnson, DeVille Vannik, Trey Munden, Beau Wirick, Steven French, John French and Brooke Coleman star. Check out their fundraising video below.

Hot off the presses is casting news from the Karolina Sivas web series BROKEN AT LOVE. Former THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS and RITUALS actress Sharon Farrell has joined the cast for Season 2. Who will she be playing? Stay tuned!

"Mum's The Word" on BLOOMERS Featuring Guest Star Sean Hemeon

On the hilarious and poignant new episode of BLOOMERS, it's the night of Brooke's (Matt Palazzolo) first date with Ken (guest star Sean Hemeon, a two-time Indie Soap Award nominee for his work in HUSBANDS).  When Brooke's mom unexpectedly arrives, a costume party suddenly breaks out.  Watch it all unfold below:

ISA4: Brad Bell Wins Best Actor (Comedy)

At the 4th Annual Indie Soap Awards, HUSTLING stars Sebastian La Cause, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Jessica Press presented the Best Actor (Comedy) award.

The nominees were:
Ben Baur, HUNTING SEASON
Brad Bell, HUSBANDS
Sean Hemeon, HUSBANDS
Dane Joseph, DRAMA QUEENZ
Rob Michael Hugel, I HATE BEING SINGLE
Ed Robinson, PAIRINGS

Brad Bell won and gave one of the most memorable speeches of the night.

Oh crap, I really should have written a speech. And earlier I won for writing so the irony is not lost on me that I didn't write anything. This is the second thing I've ever won in my life. This really means a lot because I think some people look at the character of Cheeks as a stereotype or caricature or something two-dimensional. What I really wanted to do with this script and this story was to show that even if you have stereotypes, even if you are feminine and have long eyelashes, or you love Madonna, or you sashay down the street, it doesn't mean that you're not a fully developed human being and you don't have depth or dimension. My femininity is actually what gives me strength. It is not a weakness. To Jane Espenson and Jeff Greenstein, who directed a performance that I never would have delivered on my own, and my co-stars Sean Hemeon and Alessandra Torresani, I would not have been able to deliver without them giving me that energy, thank you. And really thank you so much for this. This means a lot to me.

Watch a montage of the nominees and the speech below:

NEWS ROUNDUP: REVENGE Wedding, NASHVILLE Soundtrack, Kat Moon Reveal On EASTENDERS

REVENGE Stars Emily VanCamp, Gabriel Mann and Nick Wechsler Shoot Seaside White Wedding
Earlier this week, several members of the ABC cast, including Emily VanCamp, Gabriel Mann, Nick Wechsler, Margarita Levieva and Christa B. Allen, were spotted in a sea of wedding white on the Redondo Beach, Calif. set.

Stepping away from their serious characters, the cast took some time to relax and pose for silly pictures in between scenes.

4th Annual Indie Soap Awards Nominations Announced

4th Annual Indie Soap Awards Nominations Announced Today

- Surge of "extraordinary" shows this year; committee "inspired;" faced with "excruciating choices."

- DEVANITY and OUT WITH DAD most nominated drama series; HUSBANDS, THE BLOODY MARY SHOW,  and PRETTY most nominated comedies.

- Winners to be announced Tuesday, February 19, 2013 at legendary awards show.

New York, NY (December 17, 2012) - Could this be a turning point in the history of Television? The entire world wide web?

"After breaking all these records (to begin with, we had the most submissions ever and the most nominations ever) we faced a daunting task.  Excruciating choices.  Haggling and horse trading were at an all-time high. But the quantity of high quality made it all worthwhile.  We were definitely inspired.

"But honestly, we barely avoided fisticuffs during the final meeting! There just has never been so much carnage after reducing each category to only six nominees," said We Love Soaps founder Roger Newcomb.

"We used to argue on behalf of a potential nominee, 'it's so good, it could be on TV.'  This time, to make the cut, it had to be, 'this is excellent, it's better than anything on TV!'  It's extraordinary. I think we've passed an historic landmark for the genre.  In so many ways, the shows on this list are better than the scripted, serialized programming on network Television.  Than anything on network Television." 

Over 40 web series received at least one nomination.  Almost 100 were submitted.  To be considered, among other qualifications, shows had to be independent, scripted, professional and serialized. And, they had to broadcast at least three episodes in 2012.  In addition to general excellence in TV programming, a special premium is placed on series which follow the mission of the Awards' charity sponsor, the Indie Series Network.  Their mission is to bring quality, independently-produced TV series, with socially relevant messaging and artistic merit, to under-served audiences.

Happily, everyone who worked on one of the series that was accepted for consideration, whether nominated or not, is invited (and encouraged) to attend the enormous, star-studded, industry-only gala celebration planned for February 19, 2013 at New World Stages in New York City. All-access Guest Passes for the event (really a series of events) just went on sale - at a discount, early bird rate, for now. Series will all be able to sit together for the actual Award Presentation Ceremony as long as they reserve their assigned seats before January 5.

NOW, THE NOMINEES

DEVANITY and OUT WITH DAD led all drama series with nine nominations each.  HUSBANDS, THE BLOODY MARY SHOW and PRETTY each had nine nominations on the comedy side.

Complete list of 4th Annual Indie Soap Awards nominations:

BEST WEB SERIES (DRAMA)
DEVANITY
HITMAN 101
HUSTLING
OUT WITH DAD
THE OUTS 
RAGGED ISLE

WATCH: HUSBANDS Season 2 Premiere

Hit indie soaps HUSBANDS is back with its second season premiere today. In the episode titled "Appropriate is Not the Word," on the morning of their three week anniversary, Cheeks and Brady aren't awake for long before the trouble begins. Watch it below:

INDIE HOUSE: Get Money from Samsung; THE EX-BOX, DATING RULES FROM MY FUTURE SELF, FREEFALL, HUSBANDS, THE VARIANTS, THE SOURCE

HOT BOX:  "The Hunk" ( Alix van Aernam) returns
to THE EX-BOX

Gossip, secrets, leaks; kudos, picks, congrats - in the Indie Soap Web Series (Indies) world, this is where they live. Listen up: Kevin's Indie House.

Samsung wants to give one lucky Indie $300,000!

Samsung Electronics America, Inc. and the NYTVF have launched a landmark partnered initiative providing indie producers and production companies with the opportunity to compete for a guaranteed production budget of $300,000 to create an original short series with accompanying second screen material. The winning selection and subsequent series will debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2013 and will then be exclusively distributed via Samsung Smart TVs and Galaxy devices.

INDIE HOUSE: DEVANITY, FUMBLING THRU THE PIECES, ANACOSTIA, THE OUTS, TINY APARTMENT, IN BETWEEN MEN, HUSBANDS & More

ARIANNE ZUCKER: "Drama, drama, drama on the set."

Gossip, secrets, leaks; kudos, picks, congrats - in the Indie Soap Web Series (Indies) world, this is where they live. Listen up: Kevin's Indie House.

DEVANITY, that luscious, lurid nexus of glamour, drama, and camp, has been shooting scenes with soap heavy-hitters Arianne Zucker, Kyle Lowder and Charlene Tilton for season 3 (enjoy our exclusive photos from the set). Showrunner Michael Caruso predicts we'll see a trailer "late September, early October" and promises big, beefy episodes with running times of around 22 minutes each - or longer.

I just happened to be chatting with Arianne on the phone Friday evening, and so I turned the conversation to DEVANITY.  How did it go?

INDIE HOUSE: THURSTON, MISS BEHAVE, BAY, INN, PRETTY IN GEEK, CLINIC, HUSBANDS, BREAKING POINT, DEVANITY, CAVANAUGHS, 8 BALL, OUTS

NICE GUNS:  The Snead boys wave 'em around.

Gossip, secrets, leaks; kudos, picks, congrats - in the Indie Soap Web Series (Indies) world, this is where they live. Listen up: Kevin's Indie House.

Snead another reason to love THURSTON? I'll give you three - Harlan, Amon, and Owen Snead, the badass brothers set to double the trouble (and almost double the population) in the 19th century Kansas Ozarks frontier town. Showrunner Kathyrn O'Sullivan offers the lowdown on this virile trio:

NEWS ROUNDUP: Patrick Muldoon Says New Writers "Fire Everybody"; EASTENDERS Suspends Late Actress Four Weeks; TV Star Pay Per Viewer!

DAYS OF OUR LIVES' Patrick Muldoon: 'When new writers come in, they fire everybody'
"When new writers come in, they fire everybody and bring in new actors," he tells Zap2it. "As soon as they let go of all of the actors, there are already rumors of us going back."

"The writers write toward your strength," Muldoon says. "Austin, the first time I played him, was a musician and a boxer. That was the character. Then I left the show and was gone for 15 years and went back after 15 years. This time they brought the character back as an accountant."

INDIE HOUSE: HUSBANDS, PIECES, SHARKS, THE OUTS, INTERSECTION, THE CAVANAUGHS

HUSBAND MATERIAL:  Sean Hemeon returns for HUSBANDS season two.

Gossip, secrets, leaks; kudos, picks, congrats - in the Indie Soap Web Series (Indies) world, this is where they live. Listen up: Kevin's Indie House.

Question: What's better than exceeding your original $50,000 Kickstarter campaign goal by ten thousand clams?

Answer: Kicking it HUSBANDS style and going for the big $75,000!

Showrunner Brad Bell is hellbent on giving us as much season two goodness as he possibly can, and fans have been responding splendidly to the notion that - in addition to earning more traditional incentives such as autographed photos and TV paraphernalia - the more money we give, the more show we're going to get.

NEWS ROUNDUP: Husbands, Y&R Casting News, Moonves Makes $69.9M, Fat Betty

How television portrays the 'wife'
Army, prison, mob, sister, footballers: These are the first words of television show titles in which wives is the second word. There’s THE GOOD WIFE; then, if she’s not good enough, WIFE SWAP. There’s DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, but who cares any more, because now we have THE REAL HOUSEWIVES franchise (granted, it is the desperate housewives who seem real and the real housewives who seem desperate, but that’s why we have adages about truth and fiction). There are Housewives in Orange County, New York City, Atlanta, New Jersey, Beverly Hills, Miami and now Vancouver; that Canadian debut was the highest-rated premiere in Slice network history, drawing 1.2 million North American viewers.

There is one show called HUSBANDS and it’s the Indie Soap Award-nominated web series in which all the husbands are men.

CBS Chief Les Moonves' 2011 Haul: $69.9M

WE LOVE SOAPS TV 3.28 Indie Soap Awards Red Carpet Hosted By Colleen Broomall

WE LOVE SOAPS TV asked Colleen Broomall to host our red carpet show at this year's Indie Soap Awards. Broomall, who we interviewed in 2008, was cast as a baby to play Dani Andropolous on AS THE WORLD TURNS, the daughter of Betsy (Meg Ryan) and Steve (Frank Runyeon). She played the role for several years and fans saw her grow up on camera. On the ISA red carpet, ATWT longtime actress Colleen Zenk recognized her former co-star and it was a fun reunion to watch.

The red carpet interviews include cast members from ANYONE BUT ME, BANDWAGON, THE BAY, BLOOMERS, THE CAVANAUGHS, DEVANITY, EMPIRE, GREGORY WAY TV, HUSBANDS, HUSTLING, MISS BEHAVE, OUT WITH DAD, THE RAs, RAGGED ISLE, SIX OF ONE, THURSTON and VAMPIRE MOB.

Watch our Indie Soap Awards Red Carpet Show below and tune in on March 18 when the 3rd Annual Indie Soap Awards telecast airs exclusively on The SFN.

National Gay Lesbian Chamber Of Commerce Partners With Indie Soap Awards

As organizers of The 3rd Annual Indie Soap Awards, We Love Soaps TV is honored to announce our Community Partnership with The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, New York Chapter (NGLCCNY).  NGLCCNY is committed to forming a broad-based coalition representative of the various interests of LGBT owned and friendly businesses, professionals, and students of business for the purpose of promoting economic growth and prosperity of its members.

We spoke with Richard Oceguera, President of the respected organization, about the cultural impact of the Indie Soap Awards in the New York LGBT community.  "NGLCCNY is proud to support the talented artists who are creating this exciting new wave of video content," he said. "That many of the nominees are LGBT is a testament to the massive creative and business genius that our community has to offer!"

While daytime television has wavered in its commitment to accurately and respectfully representing the lives of gay/lesbian individuals, Indie Soaps have always portrayed members of this community with complexity, depth, and resilience.  This year's nominees such as ANACOSTIA, ANYONE BUT ME, EMPIRE, GREGORY WAY TV, HUSBANDS, HUSTLING, OUT WITH DAD, PRETTY, and VENICE, all prominently feature LGBT characters with real strengths and flaws.  They are part of the very fabric of their shows, not trounced out for a "special episode."

Such diverse and rich portrayals help to transform lives, empower viewers, and validate a sense of universal experience.  Similarly, NGLCCNY offers opportunities for New Yorkers who wish to succeed in business, improve connections, and empower their personal and professional communities.  We are grateful to Mr. Oceguera for recognizing this commitment in the Indie Soap Awards, and look forward to seeing all of you there!

Click here for a complete list of nominees for the Third Annual Indie Soap Awards.

If you would like to support the LGBT artists who are being recognized and celebrated, and be in the audience for this live event (to be filmed and broadcasted for The SFN) then register to come to the Indie Soap Award show and party in Manhattan, at New World Stages, on February 21st, 2012. For only $69.99 you can come view the ceremony, meet your favorite stars, and enjoy the open wine and beer bar!  

Register: $69.99. Click the "Add to Cart" button below. You will be prompted for the number of people in your party and method of payment.

WATCH: Nathan Fillion & Michael Buckley Guest Star On HUSBANDS

In a collision of television and internet stardom, ONE LIFE TO LIVE and CASTLE actor Nathan Fillion and YouTube star Michael Buckley appear -- together -- in the new web comedy HUSBANDS The Series, in a new episode out today.

Fillion, an established television presence made a previous standout web appearance in Joss Whedon's DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG, while Buckley's WHAT THE BUCK web show reaches over a million YouTube subscribers.

Watch the episode below.

WATCH: Premiere of HUSBANDS: The Series

If you read our Indie Soap Fall Preview Guide, you were probably looking forward to the premiere of HUSBANDS: The Series. Well, the wait is over. From executive producer Jane Espenson (BUFFY; TORCHWOOD; GAME OF THRONES) and director Jeff Greenstein (FRIENDS, DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES) comes the first ever marriage equality comedy. Watch it below.