Videography spoke recently with David Beebe, director, video production, for Disney/ABC Television Digital Media Group. Beebe oversees the production, post and distribution of the content on ABC.com and ABC Mobile. Among his recent projects is the current season of Seattle Grace: On Call, the Webisode series tied into Grey's Anatomy. Set in Joe's Emerald City Bar, a favorite hangout on the show, the four-to-five-minute Webisodes follow aspects of characters' days that are left out of the series.

Videography: What is your department at ABC responsible for?
Beebe: The video group here produces all the Webisodes the network does for entertainment shows like Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs and Ugly Betty, and we do the unscripted non-Webisode material, such as "making of" pieces and on-set interviews with actors you can see on our Web site or through our mobile partners.

Is there a formula for how you approach Webisodes creatively? Are they designed to look like the series?
It varies by show. For Ugly Betty, we went with the characters Mark and Amanda, who are very popular, and we extend those stories and characters into the Webisodes that explore the question, What do these two do in the office when everybody else is gone? For the Grey's Anatomy Webisodes in the bar, the approach is a kind of documentary style: handheld camera, fast zooms and pans. The series is not shot like that. So the shooting style is different, but it's on the same [bar] set at Prospect Studios that the show is shot on, so in that way it looks just like Grey's Anatomy.

Where do the stories come from?
The Webisodes are written by people who write the show. They know the characters inside and out. They know how these people will react to any situation. Sometimes assistant writers script Webisodes under the supervision of the writers and producers. We source directors from the series. We've had actors and editors direct Webisodes, too.

How are Webisode shoots coordinated with shooting the series?
The crew comes from second unit on the show. It's an entire crew that is familiar with the show and the sets. Certain days, they will break off and will be 100 percent dedicated to Webisodes for the day when the sets we need are free.

How much time can you schedule for shooting Webisodes?
It depends on the approach we take. The way we did the Ugly Betty Webisodes required a lot of camera setups. We were able to shoot two of those a day. But the documentary approach we use for the Grey's Webisodes allows us to shoot three a day.

Do you shoot the new Grey's Webisodes with the same cameras that the series uses?
No, we use our own Panasonic 3700s. They're very good cameras that let us do fast setups, and they're easy to match [to one another] using scene files on SD cards. We've also come to love the P2 format. We bring files into Final Cut Pro, and everything is output and prepared for distribution internally. Our online player is available in HD, so we keep everything in HD throughout the process.

Your Webisodes are sponsored content. Is the thinking that the show can drive more people to your site, or do people go to your site for other reasons and discover the show?
It's both. The network does a call-out for us. We pulled 800,000 views after the launch of the first Grey's episode this season. Fans of the show want more. In the month of January, when the show is in repeats, we have new Webisodes up. People discover all the [series-related] content on the site, and that can get them excited about watching something on TV they don't normally watch.