Carmilla (web series)

Carmilla is a Canadian single frame web series co-created by Jordan Hall, Steph Ouaknine, and Jay Bennett. The series stars Elise Bauman and Natasha Negovanlis, and is loosely based on the novella of the same name by Sheridan Le Fanu. The series premiered on the Vervegirl (rebranded as KindaTV as of January 2016) YouTube channel on August 19, 2014. U by Kotex is the executive producer of the web series. The series takes place at the fictional Silas University in Styria, Austria and is told through vlogs recorded by Laura, a first-year student. When Laura begins investigating the disappearance of her roommate, she is assigned a new roommate named Carmilla.
The first and second seasons each consist of 36 three to seven-minute episodes. A twelve-episode prequel mini-season, "season zero," was announced just after the release of the final episode of season 2. On February 13, 2016, it was announced that "Carmilla" would air its third and final season in the summer of 2016. The third season was eventually released in September and October 2016, in three acts. On October 6, 2016, it was announced that there would be a movie (not sponsored by U by Kotex) that would take place five years after the end of the third season. The film, called "The Carmilla Movie", was released in 2017. At the Canadian Screen Awards in 2018, it was announced by Elise Bauman that an unnamed prime time series was in development.
In 2016, the series won a Canadian Screen Award and a Rockie Award for Branded Content at the Banff World Media Festival. As of August 2017, "Carmilla" had generated over 70 million views on YouTube.
Plot.
Season 1.
The series is told through a fictional vlog broadcast by Laura Hollis (Bauman), a freshman studying journalism who has decided to document her college experience. When her roommate Betty (Glowicki) suddenly goes missing at a swim team party, Laura is assigned a new roommate, Carmilla Karnstein (Negovanlis), whom Laura describes as "broody."
Laura, aided by her friends, discovers that her former roommate is not the only girl to have abruptly gone missing from Silas. The season follows Laura's investigation and her relationship with Carmilla, which progresses from hostile to romantic over the course of the season. Meanwhile, the university's mysterious dean is up to something that can't be good.
Story between seasons.
Between the first and second seasons, series story editor Ellen Simpson published additional story content. Canon Twitter accounts under Laura, Carmilla, and LaFontaine's names relay the group's encounters with supernatural Styrian dangers while trying to escape the Silas campus.
Between stories on the Twitter accounts, a Christmas special was released detailing the group's not-so-pleasant encounter with a seemingly-pleasant Mama Klaus.
Season 2.
The second season begins with Laura, Carmilla, LaFontaine, and Perry's return to the Silas campus following the Dean's defeat. Laura decides to investigate the murder of several members of the newspaper staff. Other strange occurrences on campus draw the attention of Carmilla's adoptive sister Mattie and the Silas Board of Governors. Laura and her friends decide to launch an election to replace Mattie as the Chair of the Board with a kindly old baron.
New characters include:
Season Zero.
A teaser trailer announcing this season was released on October 1, 2015. This season consisted of 12 episodes instead of in previous, where there was 36 episodes. All the episodes except the first episode were released on U by Kotex's YouTube channel.
While Carmilla and Laura are trapped in the library, they watch VHS tapes that document interactions between Carmilla, Perry, and Mel while they are trapped in a room where U by Kotex brand tampons are stored. These events occur a year before Laura is a student at Silas University.
Season 3.
The series was renewed for a third and final season on February 13, 2016. It premiered on September 15, 2016 and finished on October 13, 2016.
This season's episodes were released differently than in previous seasons. Season three was released in three acts with several episodes released within each act. Act I consisted of episodes 1-17, Act II was episodes 18–24, and Act III was episodes 25–36.
Laura and her friends face the Dean yet again, who has now possessed Perry and intends to open the gates of Hell. Laura and her friends spend most their time hiding out in the sentient campus library, that has been mentioned in previous seasons. They are in search of a way, once and for all, to stop the Dean. 
New characters include Sherman Hollis (Enrico Colantoni), Laura's father.
Extra content from this season includes: Mel's transmissions from the pit. Thirteen podcasts of Mel, detailing the daily life and several different events that happen while the students of Silas University are trapped in the pit digging for the dean.
Film.
A feature-length film based on the series was produced in 2017 and premiered on October 26, 2017 in theatres across Canada. It is available to stream via VHX. It also appeared on the platform Fullscreen before the site shut down.
A teaser trailer for the film was released on October 6, 2016, and an extended trailer was added at the end of the web series finale. An teaser trailer was released September 2, 2017. The movie is going to take place five years after the events of season three.
Natasha Negovanlis and Elise Bauman were confirmed to reprise their roles. This is the second film that the two have co-starred in, the first being "Almost Adults", created by The Gay Women Channel, a channel on YouTube. According to news first reported by "Variety", the following actresses and actors appeared in the film: Dominique Provost-Chalkley, Grace Lynn Kung, Cara Gee, Annie Briggs, Kaitlyn Alexander, Nicole Stamp, and Matt O'Connor.
The movie takes place five years after the final events on season three. Laura and Carmilla have moved in together in an apartment in Toronto, Ontario. Post-graduation, Laura has felt rather unsuccessful with her journalism career thus far. After experiencing lucid dreams in a Victorian setting, Laura notices supernatural events are occurring in her life again. Carmilla has once again become a vampire after a mysterious meeting with a supernatural-therapist. Perry and LaFontaine own a start-up, Danny is a vampire rights activist, and Mel and Kirsch have joined Laura in journalism. Laura and Carmilla, along with Perry, LaFontaine, Mel, and Kirsch travel back to Styria, Austria to the Victorian mansion Laura has been dreaming of. Along with the ghosts of Carmilla's former victims, they fight the ghost of Carmilla's ex-lover in order to regain Carmilla's humanity.
Episodes.
The first season of "Carmilla" consists of 36 episodes, which aired from August 19, 2014 to December 2, 2014. A Christmas special aired on December 24, 2014. The second season of "Carmilla" consists of 36 episodes, which aired from June 2, 2015 to October 1, 2015. The next season, titled Season Zero, consists of 12 episodes, which began airing on October 22, 2015 and concluded on November 24, 2015.
The third and final season of "Carmilla" consists of 36 episodes and was split into three acts. Act I, which contains the first 17 episodes of the season, aired on September 15, 2016. Act II contains episodes 18-24 and aired on September 29, 2016. Act III contains episodes 25-36 and aired on October 13, 2016.
Cast and characters.
Due to budgetary constraints, the actors cast in season one were not members of ACTRA, a Canadian labor union for artists and performers. During pre-production for the second season, it was announced that the show would be financially able to support its actors in joining ACTRA, and several actors of color had been cast as new characters.
Reception.
"Carmilla" has been praised by Dana Piccoli of AfterEllen for its near all-female cast and representation of various LGBT characters. In 2016, the series won a Canadian Screen Award and a Rockie Award for Branded Content at the Banff World Media Festival. Its use of LGBT characters and fantasy has earned it comparisons to the hit television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".
Novelization.
On May 7, 2019 a novelisation of the web series was released. The book "Carmilla" is written by Kim Turrisi.