Intrigue. Comedy. Murder. Sexy men. The occasional torture wheel. As fans of Where the Bears Are already know, these are par for the course. For the rest of you, where have you been? This charming, earnestly funny, and only occasionally uneven web comedy series is now into its second season, thanks to the efforts of its creative team, and to the generosity and enthusiasm of its fans. Rick Copp, Joe Deitl, and Ben Zook have created something that’s easy to love, likely because they so clearly enjoy what they’re doing. Speaking recently with writer, producer, and actor Rick Copp, I was given a bit of a glance at how the sausage is made - and lovingly-framed, climbing out of the pool in HD.

Though this season has two fewer episodes than the one previous, each episode is longer. Copp confided that, when it’s edited into a feature-length movie for the DVD, "it’s going to be more like the length of Gone with the Wind. With bears." This alteration to format is probably the most minor change between seasons one and two, and the growth process has been a direct result of fan support. "We were kind of stunned by the reception [of season one]. We made this for ourselves and the bear community, and we thought it’d be fun to do, but we never expected the response that we got." And it’s not just in their native California or even North America that WtBA is gaining popularity. "I was just in Tel Aviv, sitting at an outdoor cafe with some friends, and a guy came up to get his picture taken. It’s still really unbelievable to us."

The scale and scope of the production has improved steadily as well, as the production team adds new sets, new cast members, and new equipment. "Because we invested our own money in the first season, we kept it bare-bones, shooting at friends’ houses, and it still ended up being very expensive because of all the post involved. This year, because of fans buying the DVD and the merchandise, we were able to up the quality and the look of the show. We have donations, and they’ve been critical for us, but it’s merchandise that is really helping us." And, as any devotees of Mel Brooks will remember, merchandising (or, if you will, ‘moichandising’) is where the real money is made. While there aren’t any WtBA-branded titanium ball-stretchers yet, DVDs and t-shirts have kept this comedy series roaring on through the post-production of season two, and have the creative team looking seriously at their plans for season three. "As long as the fans keep supporting us! We’d love to do five, six, seven seasons."

Naturally, as a denizen of the frozen north, I had to ask just how true-to-life WtBA’s depiction of the Los Angeles bear scene is. As it turns out: pretty accurate. "Silverlake [the area where Zook and Deitl live] seems to be ground zero for bears in LA. It all revolves around two bars ... and we’ve now shot at both of them." If you’ve been watching season two, you’ll recognize one of those bars as the Faultline, the location of a delightful sequence that has the central members of the cast done up in leather. "For me," Copp said, "it was my first time in leather, and I loved it! I didn’t want to take it off – it was very empowering!"  He also confided that fan-favourite Ian Parks, who plays the character of Todd, "took to it right away." Certainly no argument from anyone who has seen the episode.

Parks has been the subject of much fan adoration and speculation, and Copp certainly has a soft spot for him as well. "He’s nothing like the character of Todd. It’s funny: when you meet him, people are a little taken aback, because he’s surprisingly shy. He and I just did a bear cruise [in the Mediterranean]. He and I were roommates, so I got to know him even better than before, and he’s like a brother to me now. You know, we actually had a kissing scene, and it felt so weird to both of us."

Copp certainly isn’t doing anything to hide his love for producing television in this web-based format. "It’s a joy for us that there’s no studio or network hovering over us, telling us what to do. It’s our baby and nobody can say no to us – that’s the whole reason we started it." Though he confesses that he and his co-creators aren’t the most technically-savvy bunch in the world, they’re certainly forward-thinking about their show, and the future of television in general. "I think the line is blurring faster than any of the networks or studios anticipated. I think all television will be web-based, eventually, but it’s a new frontier like the wild west – nobody knows exactly what’s going to happen."

The team behind Where the Bears Are is set to meet that frontier in exactly the same as way the cowboys of the old west: brandishing whips and wearing leather chaps.