Last Sunday I was lucky enough to be invited onto the set of The Bannen Way, an original web series, funded by Sony for their digital platform, Crackle.

So what, I hear you cry but this series is like no other. The production values are streets ahead of anything else that you’ll have seen on the web and although no-one was prepared to give me an exact figure, I wouldn’t be surprised if the budget hovered somewhere in the region of $1million.

So forget the typical web fare of three people in a badly lit room, a shaky camera and some lame jokes, The Bannen Way, is a slick gangster tale, that has a distinctly Ocean’s 11/Italian Job feel and will probably change the way that web content is viewed.

More people are turning to the internet for their entertainment – heck, I don’t even own a television any more, I cherry pick my viewing from the web - and as the technology embeds itself even further into our lives, it’s this kind of ambitious content that’s going to shape the industry over the coming years.

I sat next to Eric Berger, who is the senior vice president of digital networks at Sony (Crackle), during filming and he was clearly delighted with what he saw.

“We want to prove that web content isn’t what it used to be which is why we’re investing in productions such as these” he told me. “The Bannen Way has great characters and high production values. Yes, it’s an ambitious direction but it was about time somebody raised the bar and we’re very excited.”

Of course the bottom line is business, so although The Bannen Way was conceived as a web series it’s written to work just as well as a feature. Says Eric, “We believe there’s opportunity for this kind of content to appear on other windows throughout Sony, whether it’s on DVD, TV or international TV distribution. We also produced Angel of Death and that had similar production values and went on to show on Spike TV, so the opportunities are definitely there.”

At this point of the interview my right contact lense fell out, which I have to say is a first in my journalistic career, but even with one eye I can see the bigger picture.

Sony are definitely onto a winner by investing in these kinds of projects – and as a creative type myself, it’s also heartening to see a big studio supporting two relative newcomers.

The Bannen Way is the brainchild of Jesse Warren (on the right in the above picture) and Mark Gantt (on the left), who met four years ago at an acting class in Beverly Hills.

And cleverly by going down the web route, they’re also hanging onto creative control. While both are credited as executive producers, Jesse is helming the project (“It’s a dream come true”), while Mark stars as the eponymous Neal Bannen, a charming con-man who has to complete one more job in order to pay off his debt to a fearsome gangster.

Shooting took place at the Lacy Street Studios in downtown LA, home to Cagney & Lacy for eight years (I admit I got a certain thrill knowing I was treading such hallowed ground) and although I turned up just before the 19-day shoot wrapped, the cast and crew were still very much in high spirits.

Over lunch Mark revealed that he was “living the dream” and admits that one of the motives of this collaboration came from him “trying to work as an actor in a business that is ever shifting”. It was his idea to go down the web route feeling that they could come up with better material than what was out there. He’s clearly leading man material (move over Jon Hamm) and although I’m not one to gush someone should really give his cheekbones their own credit.

The rest of the cast is equally impressive and includes Oscar nominees Michael Lerner and Robert Forster, Las Vegas’s Vanessa Marcil and Terminator Salvation actor Michael Ironside, who plays Bannen’s police chief dad. He simply says, “I was quite taken by Mark and Jesse’s enthusiasm and sincerity so I’m just happy to be a part of it. The acting and directing is wonderful but the cleverness is in the writing. That’s what attracted me. It’s so well written and well cared for, and that’s all you need.”

That, and good cheekbones.

Watch the trailer here.