The Perks of Writing a Musical

Something that I discovered about two months ago (and have been religiously reading since) is Tom Diggs's blog about up-and-coming musical web series The Perks of Writing a Musical, which will feature music by Jason Michael Snow and lyrics from Mishaela Faucher. The series will follow a gamer/poet as he tries to musically adapt Stephen Chbosky's classic coming-of-age novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, in an attempt to impress the girl at school who he's in love with. It's a fun, meta concept with a fantastic cast attached.

What makes this project even more engaging is being able to read about the process of developing a web series. Blogging at least five times a week, Diggs gives regular updates about the progress of the creative team and details about the cast. One of the coolest things he also does is breakdown his research process as he explores the different platforms for promoting a web series and finding an audience on the great wide web. Everything from QR codes to copyright are topics of discussion, all incredibly well researched and articulately analyzed. Not only does seeing behind the scenes really make you root for the series, but seeing the nuts and bolts of how they will be successful is also incredibly valuable (so much so, I am using them as an example in the Social Media workshop I'm doing today at the Florida State Thespians conference).

Also, the music already looks like it's going to be awesome. See below for the song "Absolutely Hell," performed at Mishaela Faucher's recent New York Theatre Barn D-Lounge show: