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Beckinfield is an ongoing science fiction web series created by actors Bob Gebert, Tracy Evans and Biff van Cleve. Similar to The Guild in that Beckinfield posts new entries in its series online as opposed to on television, Beckinfield is nonetheless different in that actors can participate from all over the world. The site allows any user to join for free, similar to Facebook, although unlike Facebook, there is currently no advertising on the site. The site (and the series it hosts) are similar to YouTube in that users are able to upload videos, but unlike YouTube in that all the videos are part of an interconnected story.
Users of the site create characters who then relate the events in the fictional town to their audiences. (The story points are given to them in weekly e-mails by Gebert.) The users (actors) can then have their characters give their opinions or perspectives on the town's events, or talk about their character's own unique story points as well. As such, the site bills itself as "Mass Participation TV." [1] On Mashable.com, writer Kate Freeman described it in her headline as "a YouTube Show with 4,000 Actors." [2]
The actors' videos are then compiled into a weekly video entitled "Previously on Beckinfield," so that viewers can keep track of the overall storyline without having to watch hundreds of videos each week.
Beckinfield does not observe "seasons" of stories the way that most prime-time network series do, or even abbreviated seasons like those of The Guild. The format is much more open-ended, similar to the format of a daily television soap opera.
During the first week of posting (Dec. 2, 2010), ___ videos were posted on the site. {Need link/reference for that} During the most recent week at the time of this writing (Feb. 8, 2012), 114 videos had been posted. [3]
Also at the time of this writing (Feb. 8, 2012), there are 3,645 users on the site, with the most recent 100 being displayed at any given time. [4]
Industry professionals who are involved with Beckinfield include noted writer and story editor Marc Scott Zicree [5], casting director Scott David [6], and actor/director Jonathan Frakes [7].
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