Retro Tuesdays is back for another OJBG interview of yesteryear, this time with Aleca Piper (aka Maggie) flying solo, speaking about her time on the set of OJBG.

Ghadar has been breaking ground in new media since 2007 and is widely praised for her pioneer work in the new web series format. She completed her Graduate Film studies at Columbia University’s Film School in New York. “Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden” (OJBG) her signature series started as her Master in Fine Arts (MFA) Thesis and is now one of the oldest and longest running web series. OJBG is viewed by an audience in over 146 countries around the world.

As the founder and president of 20/20 Productions, a new media company, Ghadar is a veteran of the genre who continues to serve and define the industry. 20/20 Productions consults, produces, and distributes independent new media productions from its headquarters in Washington D.C., one of the emerging centers of the film industry.

Otessa Ghadar is keenly aware of the demand for educational tools for students of the media growing up in the digital age. There are no definitive guides to the emerging new media formats – and yet web based productions constitute the fastest growing market segment within the industry. Her new textbook “Wild West of Cinema” is a guide and academic textbook for this vibrant new art form that starts from the ground up.  Taking a student through the process from the script to the screen and to market, it focuses on the specifics of the “Small Screen”, including short form script-writing, short form story structure, cinematography for the web, budgets, breakdowns, self-publishing, self-distribution, best practices of social media, film festival lists & strategies, post-production for online viewing, down to the details of codec analyses.  This textbook is an overall academic how-to and provides an exhaustive and detailed picture of the most exciting and least understood art form.

Ghadar is a busy woman these days, the filmmaker’s series, OJBG, is currently being used as a case study in new media web-based productions in film and media courses in schools across the U.K. “Wild West of Cinema” will be used as a resource for global learning and youth development as part of a film program run by Global Kids, a prominent US non-profit educational organization

Wild West of Cinema will be widely available both in print and in step with its function as a messenger for new media, as an ebook download.

Inquiries and orders for the textbook can be placed by emailing reply@twentytwentyproductions.com

« « Back to Books

« « Back to Books

These are their days of youth, full of honest beginnings, where everything in life is insatiably tried for the first time. They will delight in new experiences, not thinking of consequences or that certain episodes of their lives will be irreparable, unchangeable. “Do you like me? Yes or no.” Love will at times seem simple, other times, awkward, full of anxiety, complicated beyond comprehension. But it is unimaginable to them that time could do anything to diminish the intensity of their feelings.

All the teens will have their unique drama–whether with failed exemplary parents, clumsy self-discovery, or glorious heartbreak–and they will cling to their friendships to get through it all. They’ll find relief by going to raves, secrecy, and rebellion. Careless and carefree, they are timeless teenage renegades on the search for meaning and identity.

This book contains the full collection of scripts from Season 2 of the oldest and longest running teen web series, “Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden.” This is the book where the epic “Sarah & Gwen” love story develops and spans throughout 4 more books. It is this romance that sparked a following for the web series and its creator, Otessa Ghadar. The story is part recollection, part urban legend, and part pure fiction– but completely inspired by the author’s memories of growing up in Washington, D.C. and the enchantment of her youth.

Venture into Bishop’s Garden and remember what it feels like to have your whole life ahead of you! Best part is, when you’re done reading, you can live the romance by watching the web series adaptation online.

« « Back to Books

This book details the lives of a group of teenagers navigating high school and growing up in DC during the 1990’s. It’s all about teen magic– creating new and marvelous mischief with best friends, listening to mix-tapes and reading Sassy magazines, missing the last Metro, and getting stuck miles from payphones. Accompany the young heroine, Sarah, as she gets herself into idle summer misbehaving, love triangle betrayals, and friendship fallouts. This is a story about what her life is like before school’s truly over and she knows it’s all going to change for good. It’s about the friends she’ll never forget, those first mistakes, and her childish dreams not yet polluted by reality. She and her friends will engage in typical teen idolatry of hot musicians and renegades. They’ll set each other up and tear each other down. They’ll crash house parties and realize that sometimes in life, there are no ‘do-overs.’ They’ll steal cars, candies, and hearts. They’ll make you wish you were a teen again.

This book contains the full collection of scripts from season one of the oldest and longest running teen web series, “Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden.” And it’s the prequel to the epic romance between two teen girls that has become known as “The Sarah & Gwen Experience.” The love story develops in season 2 and spans to season 6. It’s part recollection, part urban legend, and part pure fiction, and completely inspired by the author’s memories of growing up in DC and the enchantment of her youth. The author, Otessa Ghadar, captures teen life as it is lived–dramatic, filled with self-discovery, and the pain of growing up. Together, as a whole, the stories and the characters ring true. Read the book and you’ll realize you’ve either been– or known– one of these characters before.

Venture into Bishop’s Garden and remember what it feels like to have your whole life ahead of you! Best part is, when you’re done reading, you can meet the characters by watching the webseries adaptation online.

« « Back to Books

Orange Juice in Bishop’s Garden creator Otessa Ghadar discusses the inception of QJBG and why she decided that the new media web series format was the way to go with the show.

Last week we saw the cast try and answer the question “Where is Laura the Goth?” to no avail, so this week, let’s go back and have a chat with Laura the Goth actress, Hannah Goldman.

Production of OJBG may be over, and the 90s a thing of the past, but the question remains, where is Laura the Goth? Perhaps the OJBG cast may know what happened to her?

This week’s installment of Retro Tuesdays sees OJBG actor George Ross (Ryan) discuss his character, why he chose to be an actor, and what it was like on the set of OJBG.