Bernie Su is an American web series creator, writer, director and producer. He is best known for his work on the Emmy Award-winning web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries with Hank Green, a modern vlog-style adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice which won YouTube's first primetime Emmy. His five-platform interactive re-imagination of Austen's Emma, called Emma Approved, won the same Emmy two years later. Su also worked on Vanity, was Multi-channel network StyleHaul's first original online series, with Maybelline New York attached as the exclusive sponsor for its centennial celebration.
Bernie Su | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Su at Vidcon 2012 | |
| Born | May 31, unknown year |
| Occupation(s) | Web series creator, writer, director, film producer |
| Years active | 2007–present |
| Notable work | The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Emma Approved |
Su's most recent project, Artificial, follows a young AI named Sophie as she learns what it means to be a human. It is the first web series to debut on the streaming service Twitch and was awarded a Primetime Emmy and Peabody Award in 2019.[1]
Career
editCompulsions
edit.jpg)
Compulsions is an American drama web series created by Su and directed by Nathan Atkinson.[2] It debuted on Dailymotion on December 1, 2009 and was nominated for multiple Streamy Awards at the 2nd Streamy Awards the next year, including Best Drama Web Series, Best Directing for a Drama Web Series (Nathan Atkinson), and Best Male Actor in a Drama Web Series (Craig Frank).[3][4] Su won the award for Best Writing for a Drama Web Series at the ceremony for writing the show.[3][5]
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Pemberley Digital
editThe Lizzie Bennet Diaries is an American web series adapted from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The story is conveyed in the form of vlogs.[6][7] It was created by Hank Green and Bernie Su,[8] produced by Jenni Powell[9][10] and stars Ashley Clements, Mary Kate Wiles, Laura Spencer, Julia Cho and Daniel Vincent Gordh. It premiered on YouTube on April 9, 2012[11] and concluded when the 100th episode was posted on March 28, 2013.[12] The story is told in vlog-style by the eponymous character, each episode being between two and eight minutes long.[13]
In 2013, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries won YouTube’s first primetime Emmy.[14] The Guardian called The Lizzie Bennet Diaries "the best Austen adaptation around" at the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice.[15] In 2014, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries YouTube Channel was listed on New Media Rockstars Top 100 Channels, ranked at #40.[16]
A DVD set containing every episode of the series and its spinoffs was launched on Kickstarter on March 22, 2013; the initial pledge goal of $60,000 was met within six hours.[17]
Sequels
editWelcome to Sanditon
editTaking place after the events of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries,[18] Welcome to Sanditon follows Gigi Darcy as she spends her summer in Sanditon, CA to run a beta demo of the Pemberley Digital Domino application. The residents of Sanditon have all been invited to join in the test, and discover how this “life-revealing” app performs.
The mini-series is a modernized adaptation of Jane Austen's unfinished novel, Sanditon. One notable difference from the source material is Gigi replaces the unfinished novel's original heroine, Charlotte Heywood (as Sanditon is actually not connected to Pride and Prejudice in any way).
Emma Approved
editTaking place after the events of Welcome to Sanditon, Emma Approved focuses on Emma Woodhouse, a confident and proud female entrepreneur who believes she is an excellent matchmaker.[19]
The series is a modernized adaptation of Jane Austen's novel, Emma.[19] One notable difference from the source material is Caroline Lee replaces Augusta Hawkins as Philip Elton's wife (as Emma is actually not connected to Pride and Prejudice in any way).[20]
The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet
The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet is a book by Bernie Su and Kate Rorick which takes readers deep inside Lizzie’s world and well beyond the confines of her camera.[21]
Artificial
editArtificial, also referred to as ArtificialNext, is the first ever scripted and interactive show distributed on Twitch.[22] Created by Bernie Su and Evan Mandery, Artificial follows Dr. Matt Lin (Tohoru Masamune) and his artificial intelligence creation/daughter Sophie (Tiffany Chu). Dr. Lin socializes Sophie with the live and interactive Twitch audience in order to help her become human. Episodes are broken into recorded and live scenes. In the live scenes, the audience directly influences the story, and, through in-stream polls and comments, helps the characters make decisions. The first season ran weekly from August 12, 2018 through October 25, 2018 for a total of sixteen episodes and accrued more than two million views. The second season began on March 6, 2019, and will conclude on August 28.[23][24] In 2019, he series was awarded the Peabody Futures of Media Award for Webisode. The series additionally has a spinoff podcast, Artificial Uncovered, an in-universe transmedia video podcast that airs as two livestreams with one of the show's two hosts providing commentary and taking questions on a pre-recorded podcast with both hosts. The audio of the pre-recorded segments is also posted for download.[25]
Awards and nominations
edit| Year | Award | Category | Nominated Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2nd Streamy Awards | Best Drama Web Series | Compulsions | Nominated |
| Best Writing for a Drama Web Series | Won | |||
| 2013 | 3rd Streamy Awards | Best Writing: Comedy | The Lizzie Bennet Diaries | Won |
| Best Comedy Series | Nominated | |||
| Best Interactive Program | Won | |||
| Audience Choice for Series of the Year | Nominated | |||
| 65th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media - Original Interactive Program | Won | ||
| 2nd International Academy of Web Television Awards | Best Interactive/Social Media Experience | Won | ||
| 2014 | 4th Streamy Awards[26] | Best Drama Series | Won | |
| Audience Choice | Emma Approved | Finalist | ||
| Cynopsis Digital Model D Awards | Web Series Comedy | Nominated | ||
| 3rd International Academy of Web Television Awards | Best Comedy Series | Nominated | ||
| 2015 | 67th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media - Original Interactive Program | Won | |
| 2016 | 43rd Daytime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Digital Drama Series | Vanity | Nominated |
| 2019 | Peabody Award | Futures of Media Award: Webisode | Artificial | Won |
| 2019 | 71st Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Innovation in Interactive Media | Artificial | Won |
References
edit- ^ "Webisode - Peabody Futures of Media Awards: Winners List (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
- ^ Hustvedt, Marc (December 31, 2009). "'Compulsions' Opens Strong With Exclusive Dailymotion Deal". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on February 4, 2010. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
- ^ a b Hustvedt, Marc (December 2, 2010). "Could 'Asylum' Be This Year's 'Compulsions'?". Tubefilter. Archived from the original on 2020-03-06. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
- ^ "2nd Annual Winners & Nominees". The Streamy Awards. Archived from the original on 2012-08-17. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
- ^ Gustafson, McNayr (May 26, 2010). "Streamy Award-Winning Writer: Bernie Su, COMPULSIONS". Script Magazine. Archived from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
- ^ Hasan, Heba (April 24, 2012). "Pride and Prejudice, the Web Diary Edition". Time. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
- ^ Koski, Genevieve (May 3, 2012). "Remember Pride And Prejudice? It's back, in vlog form!". The A.V. Club. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
- ^ Matheson, Whitney (May 4, 2012). "Cute Web series: 'The Lizzie Bennet Diaries'". USA Today. Retrieved August 16, 2012.
- ^ Whyte, Marama (25 February 2013). "Exclusive interview: 'Lizzie Bennet Diaries' producer Jenni Powell talks casting, Anne Frank, more [part 1]". hypable. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
I am the producer of the show.
- ^ Lenker, Margaret (11 February 2016). "Chaz Bono Joins 'Adi Shankar's Gods and Secrets' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
- ^ "Episode 1: My Name is Lizzie Bennet". The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Archived from the original on 2013-05-25. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
- ^ "Episode 100: The End". The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Archived from the original on 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2013-05-07.
- ^ The shortest episode, The Charming Mr. Lee (episode 11), lasts 2 minutes and 41 seconds. The longest, An Understanding (episode 87), lasts 8 minutes and 12 seconds.
- ^ "'Top Chef's' 'Last Chance Kitchen,' 'Oprah's Lifeclass,' the Nick App, and 'The Lizzie Bennet Diaries' to Receive Interactive Media Emmys". yahoo.com. 22 August 2013.
- ^ Welsh, Kaite (28 January 2013). "Pride and Prejudice at 200: the best Jane Austen small-screen adaptations". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
- ^ "The NMR Top 100 YouTube Channels: 50-26!". New Media Rockstars. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
- ^ Green, Hank. "THANK YOU OH MY GOD!". The Lizzie Bennet Diaries DVD...and More!. Kickstarter. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
- ^ Pemberley Digital. YouTube.
- ^ a b "'Lizzie Bennet Diaries' Team Will Take On Jane Austen's 'Emma' Next". Tubefilter. 2 August 2013.
- ^ Karma is a ... - Emma Approved Ep: 41. YouTube. 31 March 2014.
- ^ Su, Bernie; Rorick, Kate (2014-06-24). The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet: A Novel. Touchstone. ISBN 9781476763163.
- ^ "Artificialnext". artificialnext. Retrieved 2018-11-01.
- ^ "Twitch". Twitch. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
- ^ "Watch An Exclusive Teaser For Twitch's Artificial". ScreenRant. 2019-08-13. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
- ^ "Artificial Uncovered: AI: Innovation or Destruction? on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
- ^ LaCroix, Emy. "WINNERS ANNOUNCED FOR THE 4TH ANNUAL STREAMY AWARDS PRESENTED BY COCA COLA". Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.