Wong Fu Productions has been a rising force in the YouTube landscape lately, bringing their distinctive filmmaking polish to the mat with the breezy comedy vibe of YouTube’s top stars. Rumors had been circling of a ‘secret’ 45-minute movie project with YouTube’s current #1 most subscribed user, NigaHiga (Ryan Higa). Finally Wong Fu released the teaser trailer (below) confirming the project and giving a glimpse at their high school action-comedy.
Wong Fu’s Philip Wang co-wrote and produced the project with Higa, with Wang and his Wong Fu partners Wesley Chan and Ted Fu sharing the directing duties. Casting the project, like many of Wong Fu’s originals, meant tapping a number of YouTube notables as the leads, including Kassem G, SMOSH, and Rawn. Higa stars as a covert agent or “A.S.S.” (Agent of Secret Stuff) sent on assignment to high school to protect Taylor from assassins. (Think a lighter spin on Jon M. Chu’s The LXD)
Their early 2009 project Up in Da Club scored raves—and over 1 million views—for the four-part comedy series. Then their 11-episode Funemployed series (see below) starring top YouTuber KevJumba broke through the 7 million view mark. Not bad for a web series.
The film is set to release on NigaHiga’s YouTube channel, with its 2.6 million subscribers later this fall.
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Good to see coverage on Wong Fu Marc, but calling 7 Million Views “not bad” for a web series? How about one of the most viewed web series of all time? Especially when you can take into account the views are much more transparent and track-able than the other series that claim large view counts. It’s a MASSIVE number for a web series.
:):):)
+1 to TheFineBros
Nice work all around from Ryan and Wong Fu.
@TheFineBros – yup, it’s definitely up there. The lines of what is and what is not a web series are blurring, but in terms of episodic storylines for sure Funemployed is up there.
And I agree, having transparent views is essential. I’ve basically started ignoring claims from some shows I’ve never heard of that boast 20 million views without pointing to anywhere it can be verified.
Funemployed was a pure passion project for the guys – produced on all heart and zero $$$.
@Marc – Good to hear more scrutiny is being put on view counts, but honest viewership and a rabid following a show like “Funemployed” had deserves to be talked about in a larger way than as an afterthought at the end of an article.
If it’s not right it’s Wong! ;)