Over the years, web shows have grown in popularity. Video platforms like Youtube have put the power to spread original media in the hands of various non-professional groups such as high school students.

A new web series, titled Zodiact, was conceived by three students at White Station.

Inspired by shows like “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation,” Zodiact takes on the style of a confession-camera sitcom, allowing the characters to narrate the story and present their own perspectives.

The series follows several characters in high school. Each is based on one of the twelve ancient Greek astrological signs, taking on the traits each zodiac is assigned in horoscope culture.

“Basically, we’re taking different personality stereotypes and making characters out of them, but trying to make them kind of, like, well-rounded versions of their personality,” Hanna McCarthy (11), who plays Aquarius, said.

The writers describe the beginning premise of their series as a “two-in-the-morning idea.”

“[At a sleepover] we were reading zodiac horoscopes on the internet and we were like, ‘What if this was a webseries?’ ‘Oh my gosh. Let’s do it,’” Nell Springer (11), who plays Cancer, said.

The writers say they have a lot of fun working on the show. They love collaborating with the cast and crew, as many were friends beforehand, and they enjoy generating an original project outside of school without the stress of grades or specific due dates.

“I had fun filming the Othello project last year, but we spend hours writing for [Zodiact] because it’s fun. When it comes to writing for school, it’s very different,” Springer said.

Without any guidelines or rules to follow, their creativity can expand past the usual boundaries of school presentations.

“Coming up with ideas for [the series] is really fun because we get to do whatever we want and it’s an original idea. So we really do get to make up everything because there’s nothing to go off of,” Elsie Paugh (11), who plays Pisces, said.

The process of working on Zodiact has given the crew an opportunity to foster talents typically not explored in school. Regaining the imaginative mindset can be difficult once a student has reached a higher level of responsibility with school work. A high school student must put forth a concerted effort to work outside of academic standards.

“[Working on Zodiact] has helped with [film] editing skills and also creative writing. You don’t really do much of that once you leave elementary school,”McCarthy said. “After that, it’s pretty much just like ‘This is how you write for research.’ So this has really helped me remember how to creatively write.”

According to the writers, season one will primarily serve to introduce the characters and the episodes will not necessarily be chronologically ordered. They are excited to start working on the second season, where they will move onto operating with a full plot structure.

Although the show has not been released yet, they have filmed a few episodes and have written the scripts for about a dozen. Paugh speculates they may be ready to upload the first episode in December.