To a certain extent that has happened for us, though not to the degree it has for Felicia Day.

You're right, success can be defined many ways. For BaL's creator the show has done well for him, though still see above.

Exposure is always great, but the point of the article is valid. Web series aren't finding money, so I guess I agree!

Actors don't care about money though. If we did we'd be... well, not actors.

As another comment noted, they were not really that successful until actually receiving distribution. As a cast member in a web series (Break A Leg) we have been struggling not to gain an audience, respect, or critical acclaim since we have all of that. We just need money. Even the brushes we've had with sponsorship and major network distribution tend to fall apart through no fault of our own. It's just the way the business works.

We poke fun at The Guild from time to time, but it's a great show. I don't think though that's it's really a model of how to "stay successful" as an online-only series. You can't replicate what they did or follow their path like a recipe.

It just doesn't seem possible to actually BE successful as a web-only series, if success is defined at all in terms of money, without real money backing you. We even had a marketing firm whoring us around for awhile, and while it led to a few sponsorship deals here and there it never really led to independence for anybody from their day-to-day careers. There's just no real monetizing of the online-only series going on unless you have a patron or distributor who's willing to take a loss on you in order to get some other intangibles out of it.

That said, Break A Leg has a major distribution deal in the works, but it only proves the point. We're never going to be "successful" sticking to the web. The internet was just a way to get our show out there, and the show initially was just a way to showcase our talents (as writers, actors, editors, sound designers, directors, cinematographers). We need someone to get us OUT of the internet in some form in order to really get us see and heard of on a scale massive enough for everyone to quit their jobs.

Oh well, that's just me ranting. I love internet episodics, I hope they never go away. I just also hope some way materializes for people to earn real money doing them without needing a Microsoft distro deal or a major network buy-out.

True story.

Anyway, I agree and disagree with just about every competent post here.

I thought this movie was good, but not great. I felt Nolan was going for something epic, something beyond what any action film had done before, but he probably felt the constraints of the genre hemming him in.

I mean some great debates in the film about the role of the hero and the villain in society, but then the BatPod does an about-face against a building? Cheesy stunt.

True, some of the dialogue made me cringe as well.

Contrary to a prior poster, I thought this was the first believable portrayal of Harvey Dent's transformation in to Two-Face, and I've read them all. Having an actor of Eckhart's abilities in that role brought the drama to life in a way that none of the comic portrayal's ever have. And I've never really liked Aaron Eckhart that much.

Ledger was great, blah blah blah. Not Oscar-worthy by a damn sight, but this would certainly have been one of the defining roles of his career. Amazing.

I tried watching Tim Burton's original again recently, and all I can say is that it's near unwatchable anymore. Jack Nicholson owes more to Caesar Romero than any of the comics, and the art direction and cinematography seem amateurish by comparison. Sorry guys, Tim Burton's Batman, once cherished, is dead to me now.

I will say this to wrap things up (finally): I was thinking about the movie all afternoon, then had some weird-ass dreams last night, and I've been thinking about it all morning. Not just the performances or the plot but the concepts and themes explored. That's why I was moved to (finally) create a slashdot account when I saw this topic. Someone felt my need and answered it.

I'll probably go back and see it again soon, but in the meantime, I'll keep an eye out here on the discussion.