It’s a bit ironic that a local television production crew by the name of Wasted Potential Filmworks is not only producing a Web series called “Winners,” but that the show seems to be doing well. The last time head writer Jon Saks, of Norwalk, checked ratings, which was about a year ago, he learned that “Winners” had been watched on between 6,000 and 7,000 computers.That isn’t too bad for a show that is made during the actors’ and crews’ spare time. “Winners” is the brainchild of Saks, Paul Catanzaro, Charlie Roina, Christiaan Enthoven and Sean Mayo, five, 24-year olds from Greenwich who attended Greenwich High School together.

The friends had always been interested in filmmaking and would often get together over summer vacations to make home videos and short films. In July 2006, Saks came up with an idea for a movie, but when he started working on it, he realized it wouldn’t be enough to carry a full feature film; it felt more right for a 30-minute show, which is how “Winners” began.

It’s a comedy about a guy who returns to his hometown after graduating from college and reconnects with four of his high school friends who didn’t go away to school. The friends come together to, as Saks put its, try and figure things out.

The 12 episodes that have been filmed so far are available for viewing at www.winnerstheseries.com by anyone with access to the Internet. The episodes were written by Saks, directed by Enthoven, and edited by Roina. Locations are scouted and catering is taken care of by Mayo and Cantanzaro manages the production and finances for the show.

The producers fund the show themselves. Cantanzaro explained that it wasn’t too expensive to get started, since everyone had all of the equipment already. But there isn’t a lot left over for the actors, for example. They are all unpaid, as are the producers, though the film crew does pay for the actors’ transportation to the set on film days and provides food when they are working.

Another aspect to being self-funded is that there is no location budget. Scenes from the show, which are mostly filmed in and around Greenwich, take place at either homes of various producers or at certain public locations like That Little Italian Restaurant and Corbos Corner Deli, where owners have given permission for the crew to shoot there.

Filming began in March 2007 and from the beginning, it has been a balancing act. All of the producers have full-time jobs and many of the actors have other gigs, too. Two of the actors – Jimmy Librandi and Johnny Ferro – are from Greenwich. The rest are based mainly in New York City and have other acting jobs. “We have to work around their schedules,” said Cantanzaro.

For Librandi, who plays Benjamin Shepard or Shep on the show, the irregular filming schedule is part of the fun. “They call ahead of time and schedule around all of the other actor’s schedules. It’s amazing we get anything done,” he said, adding that it has been a lot of fun working with the five friends whom he knew from high school, too.

Librandi works full time in education and has acted a bit in and out of school, though unlike the other cast members, he isn’t pursuing acting beyond his work with the show. “It’s the kind of stuff I like to do, with who I want to do it, when I want to do it. It’s the perfect thing.”

The season finale was shot only a couple of weeks ago, so now with the first season complete, the producers want to regroup and reorganize a little before they start the second season. According to Cantanzaro, that means “getting back to the business end of things” and doing more promotion. Word-of-mouth is what has gotten the show along so far, plus the fact that the 45 plus number of actors on “Winners” mention the series on their own personal Facebook and MySpaces pages.

The production crew would like to try and enter “Winners” as a short in a film festival. (Currently, they are trying to get it into the Westchester Film Festival.) And because they are a Web-based show, promoting “Winners” on college campuses is another tactic they want to try.

“We just want to go to colleges and spread the word ’cause that’s kind of our target audience,” said Saks.

Of course, more exposure on the Web wouldn’t hurt either, so if you have a free moment, check out www.winnerstheseries.com.