Dimensions Weekly Mens Lifestyle Magazine

DWTV Host: Tiffany Bolton sat down with Mark Gantt of "The Bannen Way" for an exclusive interview at Give Studios in Beverly Hills this past weekend.

TB:
 "I had a blast interviewing Mark!  He's down-to-earth, and deserves the success coming to him.  He's an inspiration as well...most actors give up on their careers at a certain point, but Mark found a way to make it happen with "The Bannen Way".  Forget about my dream of being a Bond Girl...I want to be a Bannen Girl!  

Here's what I found:
 Many websites that buy original video clips often pay so little that “The Bannen Way,’’ a flashy crime thriller debuting online, looked destined to be made poorly, if it could be made at all.

Yet budding filmmakers Jesse Warren and Mark Gantt managed to hire 40-odd staff, including a boom operator, camera people - yes, more than one - and even production assistants (on hand to offer sunscreen and sandwiches). And the production had actors familiar to some TV and movie audiences, including Michael Ironside, Robert Forster, and Vanessa Marcil. 

What's secret to their success?
They treat the Internet run like a TV or movie release, which often loses money on its on-screen debut but can make healthy profits when issued on DVD or Blu-ray and later sold for reruns on cable or overseas. With that in mind, major movie studios are now getting behind such productions, giving them a lift in budgets and quality - a far cry from the shaky camera work and dubious special effects prevalent when Web video became a new phenomenon a few years ago.

Sony picked up the project in April and gave it a budget of around $1 million. That’s nowhere near the $30 million-plus budgets of many Hollywood movies, but more than the producers were told they could sell it for. Websites typically pay up to $5,000 for a short clip of original video; with 16 episodes, other websites might have paid around $100,000 for “The Bannen Way.’’

“This money buys more lights and more production value,’’ said Mark.

As Warren appeared to bask in the fullness of his crew: “We can afford extras rather than having our friends come in.’’

One quirk of the Web is that each episode must have a cliffhanger to keep online viewers coming back. In one scene, the audience learns for the first time that Neal Bannen, the title character, had been working for his uncle, a mob boss. Bannen’s father is the chief of police, and viewers realize the son is about to be entangled in a cops-and-robbers struggle between father and uncle.

“It moves pretty well,’’ Jesse says, snapping his fingers. “We had breaks that would naturally lend itself to the Web.’’ 

The Bannen Way since it's debut in January on Crackle.com has already hit 8.4 million streams by it's fans. Stay tuned. Bannen will get it's Way!

Tiffany Bolton

-DW | Entertainment

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