Britain has Skins. Spain has El Internado. And the U.S. had The OC. But could we be about to embark on a new brand of teen based TV-drama? Welcome to online series ‘Anyone But Me’- and guess what? It’s turned to Crowdsourcing for help…

‘Anyone But Me’ follows 16-year-old Vivian McMillan, the daughter of a New York fire-fighter. Vivian’s life goes through massive turbulence after her father suffers health problems- directly related to the 9/11 attacks- forcing their family to move from the city to the suburbs and Vivian has to contend with maintaining a long distance relationship with her girlfriend.

With five million worldwide viewers and two series in two years, ‘Anyone But Me’ has advanced well beyond its infancy. It has received honours from the Streamy (Best Actress) and Webby awards (Drama and Writing) and has commanded a dedicated and loyal following. However, the show requires $120,000 to continue into a third series, and last week the cast and producers conducted a three-day ‘Web-a-Thon’- aimed at generating donations to foot the bill.

No web series has ever attempted to fund itself by utilizing social media and the internet to Crowdsource funds. The Web-a-Thon was hosted by U.S. entertainment reporter, Lisa Bernhard and featured several interviews and appearances from cast members.

Hardcore fans were offered a number of incentives in order to persuade them to dip into their pockets- including walk-on roles, an auction of memorabilia, Skype calls to view cast read-throughs, and every two hundredth donation received a personal call from cast members.  Ok, so it’s hardly in the same stratosphere as a chat with Mischa Barton or even Nicholas Hoult- but it seems a nice touch all the same.

“Everyone’s scrambling to find a way to sustain new media” says Executive Producer and writer Susan Miller. “A subscription model was on the table for a while, but we were concerned that it would limit our reach. The beauty of the web… is inclusion.”

And there is certainly potential for an online drama to break through and achieve unprecedented success. There are no border restrictions and the audience has the potential to stretch from Bangalore to Bangkok, to Barcelona and beyond.

But will it prove  to be an effective method for saving the online drama? There has been no word so far as to whether the funding streams have approached anywhere near the $120,000 target. However, if the show fails to reach its fundraising target, Miller remains hopeful that they will be able to supplement their Crowdsourced funding with additional private financing or sponsorship.

While it seems a bit much to ‘ask the audience’ for a financial vote of confidence, funding streams are drying up and targeting viewer’s loyalty seems to be as good a method as any other.

After all, if the five million viewers care enough, they should be able to smash the show’s monetary barrier without any problem. A dollar from each fan would equate to $5million. And if the fans aren’t passionate enough to provide a stay of execution, the show will simply die and no-one will have any complaints. It may appear a risky strategy but if the ‘Web-a-Thon’ proves a success, perhaps Crowdsourced funding could be the model that other online dramas will follow in the future?