French Maids on Tubes

NakedNews might have made the mold, but French Maid TV crushed the mold into a fine powder, sprinkled it around, and then cleaned it up with a feather duster all the way to the heights of viral video fame.

The latest addition to FMTV producer Tim Street’s line-up of “integrative advertising” how-tos features a sexy set of super sleuths tracking down a curvy cat burglar with Francophilic custodial tendencies. When the film noir-inspired detectives capture some incriminating photos, it’s as easy as dusting off the chaise to send the files to the tightly dressed authorities via the girls’ new favorite desktop app, Tubes.

Check out the episode and what to expect from Tim Street after the jump.

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The program lets you instantly share any file with anyone connected to your “tube” through a desktop-to-desktop connection without waiting for uploads or logging into websites. It’s also the first sponsor of a French Maid episode since Street signed with United Talent Agency in April. His homegrown business model will only allow production when a sponsor is in place and puts a price tag of $50,000 on each piece of “infotainment”. With an ad market previously reluctant to extend into more experimental areas of online video, and a producer that sticks to his b-plan, this has meant only six episodes of FMTV since it’s debut in late 2005. However, advertisers are catching on.  15 million+ total downloads and recent representation have helped as Street tries to produce the show on a more frequent basis.

“UTA has been awesome. They really get it,” Street said over e-mail. “They are sending me out on meetings with studios and web 2.0 companies and helping me with strategy to build the French Maid TV brand beyond viral video.”  And what might FMTV 2.0 entail?  Street wouldn’t say much,  “everything is in the early stages,” but I’d put my money on a bigger push and possible prizes for auditions and uploads, some French Maid cameos in more mainstream fare (a la Ask a Ninja), and hopefully a bunch more good old fashioned episodes.

There are definitely alternatives to learning how to, say, change your car’s oil, but French Maid TV has a certain…je ne sei quoi that always keeps me engaged.