Flash forward to 2008. maniaTV is now boasting 11 million monthly viewers and has relocated from its Denver upbringing to a sizable new production studio in Hollywood. The live-shows-only plan was nixed, along with the UGC area, and today’s maniaTV is a top-notch premium web television studio. With an impressive lineup of non-scripted shows including Dave Navarro’s Spread TV, video-gamer-themed Arcade with Rob and Turtle, All Access music interviews hosted by Samantha Maloney, live music streaming Gibson Garage, and Comedy on Demand featuring National Lampoon’s Lemmings sketch comedy troupe, maniaTV is to the music and gaming world what Revision3 is to the tech set.
We sat down with show creators Devin Boddie and Michael Mihail of Guerilla Hollywood, who pitched the show to maniaTV and landed a 13-episode order. Now working full-time out of the maniaTV studios, the duo brings true urban comedy cred to the team, creating Talib Kweli’s Blacksmith TV and YouTube 11-million-view hit G’Sup TV. Boddie and Mihail grew up basically “on the same block” in LA and have been filmmakers since the early years.
With Rida, the pair set out to make a feature film with the concept but found it could be made much quicker, and with more creative freedom on the web. The way they see it, says Boddie, “everything should be cross-platform.” Veterans on the web front, but relatively new to scripted episodic television, they hired TV comedy writer James Hannah (The Steve Harvey Show; My Wife and Kids ) to spearhead the writer’s room.
Sponsorship is maniaTV’s forte, and the studio landed a number of advertisers that can be integrated on a script level from the onset of production, including AT&T and Five Gum. Episode one is out now, with new episodes coming out every Monday on maniaTV.
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