TORONTO 鈥� Of all the nominees for the fans鈥� choice trophy at this year鈥檚 Canadian Screen Awards 鈥� a list that included prominent TV stars Yannick Bisson and Helene Joy of the CBC鈥檚 Murdoch Mysteries, and Daniel Levy of Schitt鈥檚 Creek 鈥� it was a web star who took the title for the second year in a row.
Elise Bauman of the Canadian web series Carmilla won the Cogeco Fund Audience Choice Award, a year after her co-star Natasha Negovanlis took the title.
With a fervent worldwide fanbase and over 71 million views on YouTube channel KindaTV, Carmilla stars Bauman as a university student and avid vlogger whose new dorm roommate turns out to be a lesbian vampire, played by Negovanlis.
The series, inspired by the classic gothic vampire novella by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, launched in August 2014 and has been extended into a Carmilla movie that was released last fall.
Bauman said part of the reason for the show鈥檚 success is that the story speaks to marginalized groups 鈥� in this case, a vampire who needs to hide in the dark and not fit into society and
know her place in it.
鈥淚 think a lot of young, queer kids have felt like that in their lifetime,鈥� she said.
In her acceptance speech on Sunday, Bauman credited fans for being 鈥渧ocal about what positive queer representation meant to you.鈥�
And she encouraged them to continue spreading the word about projects that have 鈥渋nclusive representation鈥� to their network of friends, 鈥渢o prove that diverse stories will have a large and dedicated audience.鈥�
鈥淩epresentation matters, especially a show that I鈥檓 in, which caters to such a young audience,鈥� Bauman said backstage Sunday after accepting her trophy. 鈥淗aving them be able to see people that they look up to win something like this, and in the ranks with a lot of other wonderful Canadian stars here 鈥� it means a lot to them.鈥�
Producer Shaftesbury says the series 鈥渂oasts one of the most engaged fandoms in the world, particularly with the global queer community.鈥� A primetime series is now in development.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e starting to recognize the power of digital media,鈥� Bauman said.
鈥淲ith digital media, you鈥檙e able to create and tell the stories that you really want to be telling and people connect with that, and that鈥檚 what we should be working towards.鈥�
Carmilla fans call themselves 鈥淐reampuffs,鈥� in reference to a line in the series.
鈥淥ur web series was seen in ... 193 countries worldwide, and [fans are] able make friends in other areas of the world,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen we do fan events, a lot of the times we hear people who meet their best friend at an event or through watching the series, so I think there鈥檚 something in there.鈥�
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, which puts on the Canadian Screen Awards, said another web series star was in the top three for this year鈥檚 fans choice award 鈥� Jade Hassoune of That鈥檚 My DJ.
鈥淗e was a write-in [suggestion]. He wasn鈥檛 even one of the people that was on our radar that we started out with 10 people,鈥� said academy CEO Beth Janson.
鈥淭o me, that鈥檚 like a wake-up call for every media company in our country. These are the people that fans care about, that those millennials, those cord cutters that they鈥檙e trying to reach 鈥� these are the people they care about.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e a force and our traditional industries would do well to embrace that force.鈥�
