Megan Amram just wants to win an Emmy

Megan Amram, a renowned comedy writer who’s worked on beloved shows like "Parks & Rec," "Silicon Valley," and "The Good Place," is up for two Emmy awards this year. But her nominations have nothing to do with her TV work.

They’re for her web series, "An Emmy for Megan," which she hopes will catapult her from The Comedy Writer You Know From The Internet to The Emmy Winner You Know From The Internet. The whole series is about 30 minutes, beginning to end, and serves one simple purpose: to win Megan an Emmy.

“I am very fascinated in the way that someone like Angelyne just decided that she was going to be famous and it didn't matter for what,” Amram told VICE News. “I feel like there's a parallelism to how Donald Trump ran his campaign where he just said you know, ‘I'm here. I deserve this. Give this to me,’ and I'm trying to have the bizarro nice version of the that.”

And she played her hand well: "An Emmy For Megan" has taken on a life beyond the web, spinning out into a real-life campaign.

Between the billboards, lawn signs, stands, and flyers, she’s spent over $12,000 on marketing, or about 250 percent (Amram’s math) of what she spent making the series itself. It's done so well, the series is now set to make its TV debut — as counter programming to the Emmy awards

If it all seems like a desperate grab for acknowledgment, that’s because it is. But at least it’s one with heart.

“I really want young girls in America to know that they can just ask for what they want,” Amram said. “You don't need anyone to be there to say that it's okay to do something. You just need to read the rules and make sure you follow them so you don't get disqualified.”

This segment originally aired August 27, 2018 on VICE News Tonight on HBO.