Lookbook is Hypable’s webseries of the week, and we are celebrating with an interview with showrunner Bernie Su. This is the newest addition to our weekly webseries feature, following on from the other webseries we have featured, including Husbands, Marble Hornets, and even Bernie Su’s own Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

‘Lookbook’ the series

Lookbook is the webseries created for fashion blogging website Lookbook.nu. The series is a Gossip Girl/Pretty Little Liars-esque story of a small town girl trying to make it in a big fashion world. When Hannah (Neva McIntosh) meets photographer Mark (Daniel Romer), she is convinced to try her hand at Lookbook fashion blogging.

The only problem is Mark’s ex, Cleo (Kimberly Whalen), is less than pleased with Mark’s new found interest, and makes it her mission to sabotage Hannah’s new success. She calls in reinforcements from the questionable Julius (Wes Aderhold) and drama ensues.

Lookbook aims to include elements of Lookbook.nu, such as the outfit photographs broken down by piece of clothing and brand, and the fashion shoots and parties that accompany. However interestingly, Lookbook.nu has taken the brave step of not presenting the world of fashion blogging in a uniformly positive light.

The characters are deceptive, devious, and often easy to dislike. The plot of Lookbook is driven by intrigue, and it doesn’t get held up by the brand placements. The first season recently wrapped up, and ended on a nice cliffhanger, so we hope that Bernie Su and his team will be back with season 2.

Interview: ‘Lookbook’ showrunner Bernie Su

Why did you decide to partner with Lookbook to create this series?

I think there’s a perception that Lookbook was a “post Lizzie Bennet” series for me but in actuality the development of that show was running concurrently with The LBD. So yeah, while I was showrunning The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, I was writing and developing Lookbook at the same time. It was really difficult.

So anyway, why them? They have an audience, and they’re willing to try something outside the box. In a way, it’s similar to Hank Green and The LBD. Same kind of thing, very different type of show.

But Lookbook.nu is basically a social network site. So here was a social network site that had built this large international community and was willing to do a pretty bold move going into scripted programming. I actually think that’s what caught everyone off guard when we launched. It was like “woah they’re a fashion based series and it’s NOT reality?!”

What was your inspiration for the series?

A lot of things, a lot of people have picked out the “Cruel Intentions/Gossip Girl/Devil wears Prada with Fashion Bloggers” vibe but the genesis of this was pretty out there. My original pitch to Lookbook was “what if Helen of Troy and Cleopatra were fashion bloggers.” It’s a long way from that now but if you know those two historical figures you can sniff out the rest of the inspirations.

How was your experience working on this series different to others you have worked on, given that this time you were representing a brand?

Despite the amount of outside clothing brands, the brand of the show was really Lookbook, and working with them was great. They were the ones who actually encouraged me to go edgier with the material. When we started, I actually asked them straight up how dark I could go. They were familiar with my work on Compulsions, so they knew I could take the story to a pretty twisted place, so they gave me the parameters and cut me loose.

Cleo (played by Kimberley Whalen) is definitely one of the nastiest characters I’ve ever written. So to think that character is in “branded” series about Fashion bloggers is really a testament to Lookbook’s willingness to go bold.

Why do you think this story lends itself to a webseries format?

Well I think any story could be a webseries but with a show like Lookbook, it really comes down to the scope because that informs cost. If this was a story about the high end fashion world, it would be way too expensive. But because it’s about street fashion bloggers, then it becomes contained and doable as webseries.

This show is essentially a 5 person television pilot. Sure you have these characters that come in for a scene here and stuff, but really it’s a small cast with limited locations. Since you’re so limited, it comes down to having memorable characters in a fast moving story. Add to that the style of our show, and you have something that definitely works.

This was the pilot run of ‘Lookbook.’ Were you happy with the response, and are there plans to continue with the series?

I’m generally happy with it. There are of course things I would have liked to have done differently, but I don’t have any big regrets. We did this show so quickly and for so little resources that I’m very proud to have it have as a body of work. I’m really happy for the actors and team as well. It’s a really glossy show and the main 5 actors all had some fun meaty scenes to dive into.

I do hope we get to continue it and there have been discussions about it but it’s too early to tell. If we do get to do more, I hope it’s for more minutes of content. It was really hard to get that production train going for just 60 minutes of video.

Fashionable faces: Looks from ‘Lookbook’

[scrollGallery id=1372 autoScroll=false thumbsdown=true height=358]
Images courtesy of Lookbook