​Well, I'm a lot later posting this than I had hoped... but better late right?

While I was in Vegas for the triple threat of New Media Expo, the IAWTV Awards and CES, I had the pleasure of being a part of the “Ready, Set Shoot! A Beginners Guide to Web Video Production” panel.  The panel was part of the Web TV and Video track at NMX and was sponsored by the IAWTV (which I’m a member of).

I was excited to be a part of it for a number of reasons.  First off, it was cool (and admittedly a stroke of my ego) to be recognized as someone with the experience to talk about the topic.

Secondly, my co-panelists Fank Chindamo and Ken Nicholas as well as our moderator, Stephanie Piche, happen to all be people who rallied behind me when I first got into New Media.

But most importantly, it’s a topic that I honestly think needs to be covered a lot more.  Check out #WebSerieschat’s twitter feed, take a spin through many of the blogs devoted to web series, or the curriculum of many online courses dedicated to new media, and you’ll notice that often newcomers to the space seem more interested in learning about social media and monetization than how to hone their craft.

It’s understandable of course.  All of us are hoping to be able to make at least enough money doing this to make our shows self-sustainable and keep our credit card debt in check.  But in the rush to figure out the secret to becoming a 6 figure YouTube partner, we often forget that any success we have, especially if we’re creating scripted content, starts with a solid foundation in the basics of production.

When I became actively involved in the web series world in 2009, I noticed that there weren’t a ton of qualified creators actively trying to educate newcomers about the basics of production (not to mention, pre-pro and post).  Happily, that’s a trend I’ve seen changing over the last year, and I’m hoping to use the Highway 9 blog as a way to contribute to that effort as well.  While this panel only begins to scratch the surface of this (we didn’t start talking about shooting for the edit or the proper way to mic a scene or anything) I do think it does a good job of shifting the conversation.

Check out some selected takeaways from everyone, as well as stream the entire panel discussion, after the jump.