WHAT IS A 'VIRTUAL SERIES'?
Written by JT Vaughn
Fan fiction, one way or another, has been around since the 17th century, but the modern phenomenon of fan fiction started in the 60s with Star Trek. In its simplest form, fan fiction is a fan of an original work writing stories in the same universe. Sometimes short stories, sometimes the length of a TV episode, sometimes novel length stories, there is no "rule" about how fiction is written.
And then came the VIRTUAL SERIES (or virtual seasons). More rigidly defined, virtual series are episodic stories that take the same overall format of a real television season, with premieres, cliffhangers, finales, standalones, and short and long term story or character arcs. Virtual series can be written in prose format or in screenplay format, both are acceptable. They can be written by a single author, or a collaborative effort by a whole group of like-minded writers.
Virtual series ARE NOT written by professionals in Hollywood, they ARE NOT filmed and shown on television, they're crafted by normal people like you or I who just want to entertain. It just so happens our preferred medium is the television script (or sometimes, movie scripts).
We also write VIRTUAL CONTINUATIONS. These are more like fan fiction, as we play in the sandbox of already established work, but we try out hardest to adhere to the same standards as real television. It is of the utmost importance to our writers that we make our shows feel like they could air on real television. We don't suddenly turn the entire cast into lesbians and start scripting orgies (unless somebody does an "L Word" continuation!), we don't kill everyone off and bring them back next episode just for the hell of it, we don't give all our characters superpowers for no reason whatsoever. Everything is authentic and genuine.
Here on MZP-tv, we primarily deal with script format. This is exactly how real television is written. Each of our episodes "airs" over the internet, posted online in .PDF or .HTML format. Usually once a week, just like real television shows. You can check out how a real television script looks at Lee Thomson's TV Scripts directory, such as the "Human Target" pilot script or the "V (2009 Series)" pilot script.
FREE PDF Readers:
We try to make our virtual series seem as REAL as possible, to this end, we like to "cast" famous actors, actresses, and sometimes even musicians, to play the roles of our characters. Sometimes to help the readers picture how a character looks. Sometimes so we can hear a certain "voice" in our heads. Sometimes just so our series "feel" more like a real television series. It is important to note that NONE OF THE ACTORS WE USE HAVE ANY ASSOCIATION WITH OUR PROJECTS. We're not making money, we're not stealing their rights, we're just trying to create authentic feeling stories that bring people into the world of television.
Writing virtual series are a hobby for most of us. Some are using it as practice before they get into "the business" for real, some just love telling stories. For whatever reason we write, here at MZP-tv we do so for the love of entertaining our readers and getting people hooked on fiction.
If you keep reading 'em, we'll keep writing 'em
MZP-tv WEBSITE (Original virtual series and continuations)
Virtual Mutant WEBSITE (Jossverse virtual series and continuations)