Leap Year is an American comedy-drama series created and executive produced by Wilson Cleveland and Yuri Baranovsky, who also star as brothers Derek and Aaron Morrison. The series, sponsored by Hiscox, about five former co-workers starting a tech company, debuted June 6, 2011, on Hulu and YouTube. The first season had received 3.7 million streams as of February 29, 2012, when it was announced the series had been renewed for a second season, which premiered on June 18, 2012.
The series received generally favorable reviews from critics. TheWrap's John Sellers called Leap Year "a well-wrought online comedy," adding that while the series was sponsored by a brand, "even those who are cynical about such matters should laugh at the show." Forbes contributor Jesse Thomas titled his August 9, 2011 review "Leap Year: The Web Series Every Entrepreneur Should Watch" and New York Observer tech writer Jessica Roy noted, "The show follows the ups (but mostly downs) of building a startup, with a wry comedic voice and plenty of inside jokes for the tech set." In his August 1, 2012 review, television critic Keith McDuffee wrote, "IâÂÂm not sure I care about any of these characters enough. I struggle to see what anyone sees in Aaron besides that he's apparently good in business. Aaron's brother, Derek (Wilson Cleveland) doesn't yet have a meaty enough role to latch onto, and Olivia (Daniela DiIorio) is almost right up there with how I feel about Aaron: lots of negative vibes."
The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences honored Leap Year with the 2012 Webby Award for Best Online Series. The series also received Streamy and Banff World Media Festival Awards for Best Branded Entertainment Series and the IAWTV Award for Best Dramatic Series at CES in 2013.
After being laid-off from their corporate day jobs, Aaron, Bryn, Derek, Olivia and Jack compete to get their businesses off the ground when a mystery benefactor promises to invest $500,000 in one of their startups.
Six months have passed since Aaron, Bryn, Derek, Olivia and Jack won half a million dollars by banding together to create a holographic video conferencing platform called C3D. Now living in Silicon Valley with launch day approaching, the founders of C3D are beset by a mysterious series of setbacks.