Tubefilter News was at the NTV Pier Screenings in San Francisco Thursday night, where we got a chance to take a look at six pilots for episodic web shows. The pilots ranged from sci-fi thrillers, all the way to sketch-comedy and single camera shorts. In the end, our favorite show was Tertiary Productions‘ Park Bench, although all the pilots had great potential.
Even though Park Bench can be described as simply “two guys sitting on a park bench and talking,” this show amazed us with its powerful dialogue and great comedic timing. The dynamic between the two main characters is one we’ve seen before – Matt is level-headed, but has relationship problems, while Adam is insecure and overcompensates for it. By using the freedom that the internet provides, the two guys get into some hilarious scenarios that we would never see on primetime TV. In the pilot, the guys are approached by a volunteer to get tested for STDs, but they decline and explain the “process of elimination” that (allegedly) keeps them disease-free. The videos are hosted on Moli, a custom social networking site, similar to Ning, for “both enterprising individuals above the age of 18 and small business owners.” Although it seems like an odd choice, the partnership has obviously worked out for Tertiary, who have announced on their blog that a second season of Park Bench is on the way (although no release date has been announced).
Also worth mentioning was Visit, a sci-fi thriller from Gray Miller. Originally created as a feature length film entitled ‘2k3,’ it appears that it will instead be released as a series. Although the story is a bit complicated to figure out at first, this is one of the best episodes we’ve ever seen in terms of overall production value – video quality, sound quality, directing, and camera work are all top-notch. Considering that web video is heavily focused on comedy, we’re excited to see a sci-fi series with this much potential, and look forward to watching more.
Rewind of the week on Tubefilter News – top stories in case you missed them. This week was all about the ladies of web television: Felicia Day (The Guild, Dr. Horrible), Illeana Douglas (Easy To Assemble), Eden Riegel (Imaginary Bitches), Jessica Rose (Sorority Forever), Justine Bateman (Candy, Inc.) and more. There’s no question that that strong female-driven series are winning over the hearts of online viewers.
Acknowledging the power of the Barack Obama brand and message, the McCain camp has begun to campaign through the prism of the Obama phenomenon with videos meant to stifle the enthusiasm with a thick, wet blanket. Can we really trust a thoughtful, well-spoken, pragmatic black guy with a funny name?
I consider myself a moderate and, as a native Arizonian, I’ve long been compelled by McCain’s maverick style on issues ranging from campaign finance reform to immigration to military spending. But as far as I’m concerned, these ads do nothing but fortify Barack Obama’s message of escaping the politics of the past.
First, there was a video that likened Senator Obama to Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton….
A lot of people know who Illeana Douglas is. Her film and TV credits (Cape Fear, Ghost World, Six Feet Under…) are extensive and fittingly, she’s also no stranger to the web, with her Illeanarama – Supermarket Of The Stars becoming a hit on YouTube and racking up three TV Guide Awards by the end of 2007. As we mentioned a few weeks back, Douglas is coming back to the world of web television this September with the launch of her new IKEA-sponsored show, Easy To Assemble. We sat down with Illeana for a chat about the show, working with IKEA, playing with Swedish meatballs and the future of web television. She had so much great stuff to share that we decided not to cut it down for length so be sure to click on “read more” to read the whole thing. Trust us, you’ll be glad you did.
Tubefilter News: What was it like working with IKEA? Did you have a fair amount of creative freedom? How involved was IKEA’s marketing department in the production?
Illeana Douglas: When Tom Bannister [SXM] came to me and said, “You know I think I found a sponsor for the show,” it was so exciting, and everyone from Illeanarama wanted to do it. It’s like we’re putting together our own little ensemble. Chris Bradlee and and Kyle LaBrache directed Pittsburgh, and then we did Illeanarama because we worked so well together. When I went in to meet Magnus, the head of IKEA marketing, it was one of the funniest meetings I’ve ever had. I pitched the show, and all he kept saying was, “Yah, yah,” and I was like, of course this is how they hook you in and then change everything later. Well, I sent him the script and it came back with only a single note, saying that they loved it. Everyone from IKEA was great, and they all have little cameos in the series. We even cast the real life manager of the store as the manager in the show, he was that perfect. A lot of people from IKEA were in the series, it was crazy. I’ve never had an experience like that.
By the end of the shoot we had trashed the place. We had all these jokes about Swedish meatballs, culminating with a dance number, and since we didn’t have a huge budget we had to use actual meatballs, and lacquer them and glue them—needless to say by the end the week it was a mess. There’s Magnus from marketing, sitting, texting, talking on the phone, and I’d say to Tom Bannister, “Do you think everything is alright?” And Magnus would just look up, and say, “Spazzy Sheraton—very funny yoke.” It was almost like being a dog who’s been kicked too many times. We kept waiting for someone to suddenly stop us like, “What are you doing?”
The show kind of renewed everybody’s faith in everything. The whole show is about how art is where you make it. You don’t have be in a movie, and no one can say “no” to you. If you decide you’re going to do it, if you put two sticks together, and somebody enjoys it, you’re creating art.
TF News: What was it like filming in the middle of a working store?
Douglas: We had a lot of customers in scenes with me or with Robert Patrick. We incorporated people wandering onto the set. To be able to use the whole store—you know, I’d be doing a scene with Tom Arnold—people were incredibly nice and patient and didn’t seem to mind; it didn’t interfere with anybody’s shopping.
The whole thing is about how I’m desperately trying to get out of show business, but whatever I do it’s following me. The show picks up where Supermarket of the Stars ends, and I’ve come to IKEA to get away. But pretty soon Justine Bateman is coming by, telling shoppers about her new internet chat show called I’m 40 and I’m Bitter, and Jeff Goldblum, and it’s all starting up again.
Only a year ago, it seemed like the key to online discovery, internet success, and golden tickets to Hollywood could all be attained through the then ubiquitous online video contest.
In retrospect, we can say they were all just big, anticlimactic, dog and pony shows. A way to drum up site publicity and mine for talent that eventually proved ineffective in finding any undiscovered, chart-topping hits (save YouTube’s First Sketchies – Awkward Pictures is awesome!).
Two years, three seasons, and 554 episodes afterlonelygirl15 first captured the imagination of millions of viewers, the show is finally coming to an end. Starting tomorrow (August 1, 2008) at 8am PST, one new episode of LG15 will be released every hour at the top of the hour for 12 hours. It’s a “12-in-12” release that die hard fans will recall from the Season One finale. EQAL, the production company behind LG15 and KateModern, also used the 12-in-12 approach to wrap upKateModern earlier this summer. This means that you have about 12 hours tonight to catch up on any of the episodes you might have missed in the last couple of months – best to get started now.
If twelve whole hours of lonelygirl15 won’t satiate you for long, don’t worry, the LG universe will be back in a big way this fall, with the release of the still-under-wraps sequel in September. Series creators Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried are mum about all but a few details – but we do know that an alternate reality game (ARG) setting up the premiere is already well under way. “The new show is not going to be a fusion of lonelygirl15 and KateModern,” the creators said in a recent blog post. “Instead, it will take the best things from each show, meaning that we will apply what we’ve learned from producing them over the past two years – writing, interactivity, 12 in 12’s, etc. There might be some familiar characters in the new show, but we do not intend on combining the two series.”
Rumor has it that things might get started a wee bit earlier than 8am tomorrow, so it might not hurt to rise with the sun – and with tomorrow’s total eclipse, who knows what might be in store.
Update: It looks like lonelygirl15 fans might not have to mourn the end of the show for long – Nikki Katz has taken up the banner with a twitter novel inspired by the show.
I love Hulu. Love love love love love. I want to take Hulu out to a fancy dinner then back to my place, and I’m always keen to check out the webshows they’ve picked up, but this time, the Hulu curators have let me down.
Producers at online production company Big Fantastic yesterday confirmed that despite rumors of a delay in the series Sorority Forever that surfaced earlier this month, the show is still on track for launch on September 8 on TheWB.com. Writer/Producer of the series Chris McCaleb assured us that things are fully moving forward with the highly-anticipated fall web mystery/drama, which is being produced together with film director McG‘s Wonderland Sound and Vision. The 40-episode show, which will star the original lonelygirl15 herself, Jessica Rose, is expected to be one of the biggest hits yet for Big Fantastic.
Coming off of a less than spectacular run for Foreign Body, which has had trouble building a large online audience, they BF team is returning to their old stomping ground. Executive Producers Ryan Wise and Douglas Cheney of Big Fantastic yesterday at LATV Festival noted that they expect to see some of the success they’ve had with younger-audience hit Prom Queen carry over into the college-centered Sorority Forever. The series will follow three incoming freshman in “the hottest sorority on campus” and while it will have some Gossip Girl elements to it, they noted that it will “also contain a lot of the mystery similar to Prom Queen.”
UPDATE: The original version of this story had the launch date for Sorority Forever listed as September 1st, when in fact it will be released September 8th. Thanks to Big Fantastic for the correction.
One year ago, MyDamnChannel was born of pretty simple concept: empower real talent and get the hell out of the way. The success of the new media studio, both financially and creatively, is a testament to that philosophy. After just one year, the company has begun to reach over one million unique monthly viewers with ads from brands including Lincoln, Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Southern Comfort, Puma, and HBO, and with revenue pacing to exceed $1 million by year’s end.
The birthday festivities include announcements of some interesting initiatives and more top-rate talent.
The beautiful agony of autoerotic asphyxiation has woefully deprived children of the ‘80s their INXS reunion tour, but also given them a gift that’s equally satisfying and capable of satiating pangs of adolescent nostalgia.
Before he can say, “Excuse me, Princess!” one hand’s wrapped around his controller and the game chord’s wrapped around his neck, cutting off a sufficient amount of oxygen to magically transport him to Hyrule, where he’s hungover and everyone thinks he’s Link.
This story of an unlikely hero thrown into a situation beyond his control was not surprisingly conceived with the aid of alcohol, insomnia, and video games (but no autoerotica, or so I’m told).
There’s no question Imaginary Bitches is on fire this summer, even with the fuss over possibly inflated view counts aside, scooping up a whole new set of fans and establishing itself as a bonafide summer sitebuster (web blockbuster) with over 1.5 million views so far. The show found early success largely on the back of star Eden Riegel‘s vast online fan base, from her Emmy-Award winning role on All My Children, who helped promote the show through MySpace and Facebook. With the recent launch of Season 2 (or actually more of Season 1) the show has struck a chord with viewers hungry for a strong female-driven comedy about navigating the perils of young adult life in the city. The Sex And The City comparisons are everywhere, but Bitches offers a refreshing take on the urban chic-set, making them cleverly quirky with Riegel’s spicy humor. It also helps to have a talented (and beautiful) cast including Brooke Nevin (The 4400), Jessalyn Gilsig (Nip/Tuck, Friday Night Lights) and Elizabeth Hendrickson (All My Children, The Young and The Restless). We caught up with Eden’s husband who is the writer and director of the hit series to ask him a few questions on just what makes the show tick.
Tubefilter: First off, congrats on the success of the show and the launch of Season 2. New episodes come out every Friday – what made you choose Friday as the release day?
Andrew Miller: Thank you. Although technically, we’re considering these last seven episodes as a continuation of season one. It’s just a 13 episode season that was broken up by those bitches trying to re-negotiate their contracts (and by “bitches” I mean the imaginary actresses, Catherine and Heather). It’s their agents who are trying to spread the rumor that these episodes are part of Season Two, because that would entitle them to a salary bump. But back to the question…we decided on Friday as premiere night because we thought it might be easier to get noticed on YouTube over the weekend when less of the big shot shows were putting up episodes. Also, because our episodes are a minimum of five minutes and sometimes the subject matter is a little racy, we thought people might prefer to watch at home rather than the office. Although we highly recommend watching at the office too.
TF: Has working with your wife (Eden) been challenging at all? Do you act as the lone director or is it more of a co-directed project?
Miller: It’s not nearly the nightmare I expected it to be. Mostly because Eden is incredibly talented. She’s an amazing collaborator and her thoughts and comments on the scripts are invaluable to me (if invaluable means important). Also, in that we live together, we were able to rehearse extensively before we started shooting which really helped both of us nail down the style and tone of the show. We made a series of vlogs in Europe and all the funny lines were ones that she made up on the spot. At the outset, we promised each other that if working together ever started to effect our relationship, we’d stop. Now with the show’s success, we changed the pact to if our relationship started to effect the show, we’d get divorced. So far I’m the lone director–she just has too many lines to worry about. And I’m really good at yelling at people.
TF: Let’s talk about money for a second. Are you and the cast making any money off the show at this point? Are there any sponsorship deals in the works that you can share (or hint at)?
Miller: No. Sadly. Thus far, the whole thing has been out of pocket and only possible due to the incredible generosity of our friends and the poor unsuspecting actors they were able to rope into this. We’ve been telling the actors that they “own a gross percentage of our views–which is way better than money” and thus far, they’ve bought it. We would very much like a sponsor, or several to help finance next season. Because the actual production and post production was so time consuming, we’ve only recently started to really explore our sponsorship options. So far, people seem pretty interested. We just need a company who doesn’t mind standing behind something with Bitches in the title.
TF: There’s been some recent controversy over the view counts being inflated for the show due to Eden’s loyal fan base on MySpace. How accurate would you say the viewership numbers are on YouTube? Do you have a rough estimate of how many actual viewers the show gets per episode over all sites?
Miller: More than I ever expected…per episode. Eden’s fans have been the sole reason we’ve been able to reach as many viewers as we have. Their enthusiasm and support has opened up countless opportunities for us. It was one of Eden’s fans who led us to Entertainment Tonight Canada who ended up doing a whole feature on the show, with interviews and an on-set visit. Our views have fluctuated wildly–one of our episodes was featured on the front page of YouTube and now has over a million views–while other episodes are just now climbing past 50,000.
TF: You’ve been working in the business both as an actor and a writer for a while now, has the success of the show opened any new doors for you and Eden?
Miller: Not yet. But we were out for dinner with another couple (who play “Brooke” and “Michael”) and Eden and Brooke were recognized from Imaginary Bitches. They didn’t offer us any movie deals, but we all took pictures and signed autographs which is almost as good, right?
TF: What’s your take on the emerging medium of episodic web television? Is there a future for it?
Miller: Absolutely. We’re seeing the quality of web television get better and better all the time. It’s such an incredibly exciting time with a pretty low admission price and creative-type people have no restrictions on the type of shows they can make, so what we see doesn’t have to get watered down through the normal development process. It’s talent driven and I think viewers can sense the authenticity. The growing popularity of these shows will just encourage more and more talented people to get involved. Of course that means I’ll be kicked out of the club pretty fast, but the content will be awesome.
TF: Does your mom watch the show?
Miler: My mom loves the show. She and my dad call us on Saturday mornings (we premiere too late for them on the east coast because they’re really old) and relay all their favorite lines and moments. They’re our biggest promoters. I got an email from someone saying he met my dad at a wedding and had recently found the cocktail napkin my dad had used to write down the URL of the show. He watched the show and was shocked that it lived up to my dad’s hype. Now he and his wife are huge fans.
TF: Do you watch any other shows on the web? Which ones?
TF: From a technical standpoint–picture quality, features, embedding–what is the best video player on the web (blip.tv, YouTube, Vimeo, etc.)?
Miller: We’ve stuck it out with YouTube for season one. Even though it kind of feels like we’re uploading into the Borg cube. Vimeo looks incredible. I hate that our beautiful HD show gets compressed into YouTube vision. But YouTube is still the only destination you don’t have to spell to people.
N certainly isn’t the first online/mobile series to showcase A-list talent, but it is an affirmation of the huge potential for big-time names and top-notch production on the third screen.
A joint venture of Simon and Schuster, Marvel Entertainment and CBS Mobile (clearly, money is not an issue for this particular production), N is a 25-episode serial based on an upcoming short story by the master of horror, Stephen King. Unveiled at Comic-Con International in San Diego last weekend, the series premiered online on Monday and will play a new episode every weekday through the end of August.
The episodes are based on King’s previously unpublished story about a psychiatrist who identifies a little too closely with one of his obsessive-compulsive patients. The details of the victim’s demise cleverly unspool when his sister finds a mysterious box containing clues and – you guessed it – horror!
Tubefilter News was at the NTV Pier Screenings in San Francisco Thursday night, where we got a chance to take a look at six pilots for episodic web shows. The pilots ranged from sci-fi thrillers, all the way to sketch-comedy and single camera shorts. In the end, our favorite show was Tertiary Productions‘ Park Bench, although all the pilots had great potential.
Also worth mentioning was Visit, a sci-fi thriller from Gray Miller. Originally created as a feature length film entitled ‘2k3,’ it appears that it will instead be released as a series. Although the story is a bit complicated to figure out at first, this is one of the best episodes we’ve ever seen in terms of overall production value – video quality, sound quality, directing, and camera work are all top-notch. Considering that web video is heavily focused on comedy, we’re excited to see a sci-fi series with this much potential, and look forward to watching more.
Rewind of the week on Tubefilter News – top stories in case you missed them. This week was all about the ladies of web television: Felicia Day (The Guild, Dr. Horrible), Illeana Douglas (Easy To Assemble), Eden Riegel (Imaginary Bitches), Jessica Rose (Sorority Forever), Justine Bateman (Candy, Inc.) and more. There’s no question that that strong female-driven series are winning over the hearts of online viewers.
There’s no question
