The majority of NYTVF was dedicated to screenings including everything from in competition pilots, web series premieres, and even specialty screenings like Channel 101 NY. A good portion of the in competition pilots can be found on NYTVF’s MSN Video channel. They will host the pilots for the next few weeks, including the festival winners. To wrap up our coverage of NYTVF, we thought we would share six unreleased web series you may have missed that should be popping up online soon.

Johnny B. Homeless, the people’s choice winner at the festival, follows creator and star, Al Thompson, playing the titular Johnny B., “The world’s Greatest Couchsurfer.” In the pilot, Al’s friend and SNL star, Kenan Thompson, plays Johnny B.’s arch-rival. The show follows Johnny as he attempts to win back a coveted spot on his friend’s couch while being constantly sabotaged by Kenan’s character. This series hit home for me as while in NYC, I, of course, couch surfed my way through the city from friend to friend. Expect this series to do big things very soon, I’m told they are currently weighing a number of online distribution offers.

Titsburg, is the well received, hilarious sex comedy web series. I had a chance to meet and chat with the creators, Chioke Nassor and Tavon Bolourchi, and yes, they are as dirty, perverted, disgusting, and hilarious in person as in their web series, so much so, I wonder if Titsburg is actually a documentary. Lucky for them, they actually ended up having a double billing at the festival. The first three episodes were bundled as a pilot for the competition, and their latest episode screened and placed on Channel 101 NY this month.

Man Man is a collaboration between Escape Pod Films‘ Chris Prine and Tom Silvestro and Ed Mundy (who also animated the NYTVF animation winner, God & Co.) The show follows a not-so-superhero who was created when “[his] DNA was extracted and crossed with… [his] own DNA!” If you like this, check out Escape Pod Films’ other offerings such as Scissor Cop, Sandwich of Terror, or the recently reviewed Octane of Pistols.

Lost Cities is a mock-travel show which takes its viewers on a ride through the exciting backdrop of Jersey City exploring the finer parts of a forgotten city. This includes things a normal person would obviously expect from Jersey’s second largest city: rampant fire, a factory that makes snow globes(coincidentally with a miniature factory inside), and Jersey’s favorite past-time Spaghetti and Laser-Tag. Dan McNamara, one of the creators of the show, explained “People were always amazed that I live in Jersey City, so I began to think, what do people really think Jersey City is like?” The show was recently covered on the Huffington Post. Dan told me, he’s in talks with a couple of companies who are interested in helping turn his 20 minute pilot into a web series. Currently, more of Dan McNamara’s work can be seen on the Onion News Network, where he works in the graphics department.

Blue Movies which will soon be available on Koldcast TV sort of reminded me of 30 Rock…if 30 Rock had 12 inch dildos, sexed up midgets, and arguments over the merits of Double Penetration. The show follows an unlikely intern trying to enter the business who ends up getting stuck working at a porn studio. Like James Gunn’s PG Porn, this show is all the filler and none of the thrill. The show has a fantastic cast with a really funny premise set to carry the series. Interesting to note, Blue Movies was shot in the heart of the San Fernando Valley also known as “Silicone Valley,” home of Vivid Entertainment and the porn capital of the world. One wonders how they might have financed this endeavor…

Idiots Dating is the Brainchild of Dan Gregor and Doug Mand and directed by Ben Weinstein (Wet Hot American Summer). Idiots Dating follows Dan and Doug as they both utterly fail at dating. Highlights include the impeccable directing of Ben Weinstein which elevated the already funny source material to absurdly comic levels very reminiscent of Ben’s beginnings with The State.

There were many other great web series screening I was able to catch at the festival including some already written about on Tubefilter: Odd Jobs, which took the coveted Fox/15 Gigs development prize, MERRIme.com, who’s creator and star, Kaily Smith, won for best acting at the NYTVF, which follows their recent deal with Turner’s TheFrisky.com and GOLD, The Series.

Check out the rest of the pilots that are up on the NYTVF MSN site. I was only one man and did not have time to cover every series at the festival. I know there were many shows that I missed out on. Watch them and share them and help support Independent and Web Television alike.

Top photo courtesy of NYTVF.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Comedy, News, Production Companies, Web Series, YouTube by Adam Wright
No Comments »

A group of teenagers discover an old well hidden in a derelict house. They of course take a look at what is inside…and end up disturbing something very sinister indeed. And here’s the fun part: the audience has the chance to stay a step ahead of the characters in this creepy tale.

Written by British author Melvin Burgess – dubbed ‘the godfather of young adult fiction – The Well is a four-week drama collaboration between the BBC and Conker Media created for BBC Two, bbc.co.uk and Bebo. As episodes are released on BBC Two, additional tasks and challenges will be released online designed to reveal backstory or to uncover mysteries within the show. For instance, at one point a character hides an item in the house on TV and the audience can immediately go to a 3D replica of the house online in order to solve a puzzle to uncover the hidden item.

In a press release, writer Melvin Burgess spoke about how The Well is an excellent fit for the transmedia experience: “A ghost story is perfect for this, because at the heart of every ghost story is a mystery waiting to be solved – a back story, about how the horror arose and others in the past who have brought it back to life.”

Burgess went on to say, “I hope it will deepen people’s involvement with the story and with the characters. It creates a whole new dimension – you get to know the characters better, for one thing. And there is a whole other story, from the last time the well was opened, that will only be available to online users. If you manage to access all the hidden drama, you’ll definitely be one step ahead of anyone who’s just watching it on TV.”

The Well premieres October 10th on BBC Two with the online components launching simultaneously.

Filed under: Articles, BBC, Channels, Horror, News, Production Companies, Thriller, Web Series by Jenni Powell
No Comments »

The October countdown is on for MWG’s supernatural thriller web series, Camera Obscura which is now just a week away.  The new exclusive preview content out today includes the first continuous clip from the series, a minute’s worth of an episode, which gives another brief tease into this dark chiller from director Drew Daywalt.

Reagan Dale Neis stars as Clara who gets left an old book from her grandfather (Jack Klugman) that turns out to be filled with some nasty creatures from a parallel dimension. Opening the book lets them loose and that means Clara must take grandpa’s old camera with the help of an LA police detective (Donnie Jeffcoat) and recapture those bad boys, Ghostbusters style.

Also out is a short behind-the-scenes look at how the heck they pulled off those special makeup and creature effects. The show’s special effects EPK (below) is worth a look if that’s your thing and you want to try to reverse engineer that Splinter fellow (pictured right). Creature effects artist Jeffrey S. Farley of Obscure Artifacts handles the effects and Dirk Von Besser and Mikal Sky crafting the makeup and sculpting. The video could be longer, as this one is just a tease. But fans will probably have to wait for the DVD for the full version.

Camera Obscura premieres online in late October. See below for the trailer.

Filed under: Articles, Horror, News, Production Companies, Web Series by Marc Hustvedt
No Comments »

It’s not exactly coincidence that today’s launch of Sony’s zombie comedy web series Woke Up Dead comes on the heels of the company’s box-office-winning $25 million opening weekend for Zombieland. In fact it was pretty much by design. With its debut on Crackle today, the Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) led comedy is the latest example of how the studios are starting the work their digital properties into the synergistic business mix, capitalizing on buzz from one property to drive interest in another.

The series is touted as the tentpole of Crackle’s fall lineup, one that is slimmed down from previous seasons to feature just a handful of premium, more polished online series from Sony Pictures Television. It’s the latest from online creative shop Electric Farm Entertainment, the guys behind web series like NBC’s Gemini Division and more recently MTV’s Valemont.

Heder stars as a six-year USC grad turned office drone, Drex Greene, who suffers an inexplicable accident that leaves him, well, undead. Now a confused newbie zombie, Drex tries to figure out what exactly is going on with the help of his wannabe filmmaker roommate Matt (Josh Gad) and an eager young med student turned love interest, Cassie (Krysten Ritter).

We had a chance to head to set this summer and catch a day of shooting at their downtown LA warehouse set. Electric Farm’s Stan Rogow, a veteran TV producer in his own right, is now considered a Web TV veteran with a number of commercially successful projects under his belt. He talked about the comedy heavyweights they were able to assemble for the cast which alongside Heder, Gad and Ritter include Wayne Knight (Seinfeld), Jean Smart (Samantha Who?), Meital Dohan (Weeds) Daniel Roebuck and even web star Taryn Southern (Private High Musical, Sorority Forever).

“When we started the casting process it was ‘who we we go to if we’re making a movie’ and that was who we went to and who we got,” said Rogow. “We ended up with an extraordinary cast of gunslingers in comedy, we just let them rip, see what happens and laugh.”

Rogow and his partner Brent Friedman are known for artfully weaving major brand sponsorships into their series. Gemini Division in fact had no less than five major brands having their products getting prime placement including Cisco, UPS and Microsoft. So it’s no surprise that they’ve managed to land Kodak for Woke Up Dead, with the new HD Zi8 camera being actively used by the main characters. Rogow in fact met the Kodak team at the 2009 Streamy Awards while he was there as a nominee for Gemini Division, which ultimately led to a sponsor deal. (Disclosure: Kodak is also a sponsor of The Streamy Awards, of which Tubefilter is a co-host.)

“They’ve been a great partner because they get the joke,” he quipped. “In fact, we came this close to using it as our actual camera for the whole shoot. They sent us a pre-release copy and we were blown away—1080i with a 10-to-1 zoom and 32 hours of high def space.”

Rogow said the decision to release a clump of episodes at once is something they learned from asking fans of Afterworld which they preferred. “99% preferred having a clump of episodes, but they still wanted regular content, like a clump every day,” said Rogow. “The answer is that there are different people that want to consume it in different ways, so we try to allow that to happen.” He pointed out the surprisingly strong video on demand (VOD) numbers for Gemini Division after its initial release through NBC.com. “People liked coming home on Friday, watching 15 minutes of it on their plasma screens and seeing Rosario Dawson in all her glory.” Rogow added. “Millions did. We did not think this was going to be substantial, but it was.”

“We’re trying to find the balance and create stuff that is internet entertainment that has a web site that is vital and active, community oriented and allows for some level of interactivity,” said Rogow. “And that allows the viewer to expeierence it any number of ways that they want to experience it.”

I asked Rogow how he defines the genre, and ‘zombie comedy’ is the answer he and his crew are going with. “The conceit of the show is that it’s a reimagination of what zombies are about—is he is he not, what does it mean to be a zombie,” Rogow added. An introspective zom com?

Director Tim O’Donnell calls the project, “a noir zombie comedy—Shaun of the Dead meets Dawn of the Dead.” Coming from a TV and film background this is his first taste as web budgets. “I didn’t take this gig for the dough, I took it because I was convinced it hadn’t been done before on the internet,” he noted.

Writer-creator John Fasano, who has had this project in the works for years, echoed similar sentiments about the appeal of creating for the internet. “On this budget you could not have gotten Wayne Knight, Josh Gad, Krysten Ritter and Jean Smart if it was a movie,” said Fasano. “But because it was for the internet, people did it for the love of it.”

For star Jon Heder, who keeps busy with a number of film offers and an upcoming Comedy Central pilot with his Blades of Glory co-star Will Ferrell’s company, he found the lure of being on the cutting edge enough to get him on board. “It’s a cool medium, there’s no hard set rules and anything can happen,” said Heder in between scenes on set. “I watched Afterworld and I loved it. It’s another reason I got into the project. There were these cool 3 to 4 minute episodes with a big giant mystery behind it all but they only give you little pieces. So that’s fun, I can really watch that.”

Woke Up Dead clocks in at around 5 minutes each. Five episodes out of a total of twenty-three came out today, with new episodes out every weekday through October 30.

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, Crackle, Crackle (Sony Pictures Television), Featured, News, Production Companies, Sci-Fi, Web Series by Marc Hustvedt
No Comments »

Netflix, which started as a simple “DVD delivery to your home” service and has grown to delivering movies straight to computer and XBox is now about to tackle the world of web content. And they are doing it with a bang. Literally. To Corey Feldman’s head.

Feldman announced yesterday on his blog that not only will he be reprising his role as Edgar Frog in Lost Boys 3: The Thirst…he’s also going to be starring in Netflix’s first ever web series, Splatter. Not only that, he’s teaming up with legendary directors Joe Dante and Roger Corman to do it.

Says Feldman: “This will mark the 3rd project I have done with Joe (Dante), the first since 1989’s The Burbs. It came as a shock to me when I received a call from Roger Corman’s (Little shop of Horrors, Rock n Roll High School, Pirannah and hundreds more) office telling me that they were producing a new project that Joe would be directing and they both wanted me to head up the cast as the lead character. Now this will prove to be my 4th project together with Roger, previously we have done Rock and Roll High School Forever, Stepmonster, and Born Bad. Apparently this will be Joe’s 7th project with Roger. So the point is we have all worked together individually, but we have never teamed up together.”

The project itself is still mostly under wraps but Feldman could say a few things about it. “The project is titled Splatter and is being created for Netflix. This will be their first ever live streaming web series. Splatter will be a multi episode web series that will go live on the web on Halloween weekend. My character’s name is Jonny Splatter. That is pretty much all I am allowed to say for now.”

But there is one more small thing more he can show you… “in light of Friday’s Chiller Eyegore awards ceremony, the folks at Netflix were kind enough to launch a teaser site of the new web series as the show began. I will give you the website address so you can catch the first glimpse for yourself…but before I do that I must give you a warning…this is not for little kids. The material is graphic in nature, and parental discretion is strongly advised…this is a pretty shocking 30 second clip you will see. Please make sure you remove small children before reviewing this teaser. OK now that, that has been said, the address is www.netflix.com/splatter … and remember it’s just a little Halloween fun!”

Filed under: Articles, Horror, News, Production Companies, Web Series by Jenni Powell
No Comments »

It seems like every day a new web series launches, so content creators are continually trying to think of ways to distinguish their content from the rest. And with the one-to-one nature of the web, adding an interactive element seems like a logical step in personalizing the story and bringing the characters to life. So, I was intrigued when I heard about the launch of Chapin Circle, a new female-focused web series centering around the lives of four women living in Midwestern suburbia that boasts what the show’s creator, Michele Palermo, calls a revolutionary patent-pending “Character Selection” option that she touts “might just be the future of Internet TV.” According to Palermo, the Character Selection option is a way for viewers “to tailor their experience to the character they want to watch–without ever losing the scope of the show as a whole.”

Episode 1 was a bit slow moving, and while I often consume long form content online, it felt longer than 10 minutes, taking an interminable amount of time to set up the characters. Sort of a G-rated version of Desperate Housewives meets Lifetime special, it follows four generations of women who are endearing enough, if not somewhat predictable. You’ve got the dramatic, bride-to-be 20-something, Heather (Rachael Sheridan), having relationship issues with her doctor fiancé, the spirited 30-something school teacher, Annie (Lolly Howe), more passionate about her students than her docile husband (who you fellow Gen-Xers will recognize from the original Beverly Hills 90210), the 40-something ex-lawyer, Becca (Palermo), dissatisfied with her appearance and having misgivings about her decision to be a stay-at-home mom and the 50-something outspoken menopausal woman, Susan, juggling a career, a husband who doesn’t notice her anymore and a 16-year old daughter’s teenage angst.

The production value is high but it definitely feels like it’s mimicking TV, a hybrid daytime/primetime soap opera covering the gamut of overly dramatized situations like when Annie is fiercely adamant about not giving up her student to the school’s principal, citing the first amendment, or when Becca storms off when her investment banker husband is too tired to take her out to the theatre. Even Heather babysitting Becca’s kids, who are stomping their feet and screaming like Children of the Corn, is a tad melodramatic, leading up to a moment where she and fiancé, Eric, gleefully swear off having children as a result. But the Chapin Circle creators don’t seem to be shrouding that fact since their goal is to become the premier Internet television show for women, inspired by “the way TV used to be,” and capitalizing on an audience that unapologetically enjoys daytime dramas, has a minivan and 2.5 kids and spends most of their time online.

Palermo says that she developed the show in response to the fact that women have increasingly less time to watch traditional TV. “Most of my friends no longer watch TV–they’re too tired at the end of a day to wade through hooks and gimmicks to find a character they can relate to,” she explained. “They’d rather spend those 30 ‘me-time’ minutes taking a bath. But they all log on to the Internet every day…What if their Internet time could translate to ‘me-time?’ If there was a great narrative television show with episodes brief enough to view on the Web, but substantial enough to entertain them, perhaps even inspire them–about people who look and live like they do–maybe they’d tune in.”

In that respect, Chapin Circle, has definitely built something relatable to their core target which they may be able to parlay into a solid slice of the market, appealing to the female head of household decision-maker that is highly coveted by advertisers. I could envision consumer packaged goods woven into the show with coupon codes or eCommerce pull-through for products featured. And it certainly seems like the type of series that Target or JC Penney might sponsor. It seems they may be thinking along those lines as well as they are actively seeking sponsorship, holding off on the release of episodes 3-5 until they secure funding. It’s an interesting approach releasing only 2 episodes, the second of which will be available this Saturday, 10/10, as a way to build initial viewership and spotlight the content for those trying to reach the targeted demographic — a digital upfront of sorts that allows potential advertisers to see the series on spec to assess if they want to invest in it.

Content and advertising opportunities aside, I was slightly disappointed with the Character Selection vignettes which Palermo says “complements each full episode of the show with four mini-episodes that allow viewers to tailor their experience to the character they want to watch–without ever losing the scope of the show as a whole.” With that description, I was expecting to see the episode I’d just watched literally through the eyes of each character, with their unique perspectives on the events that had unfolded, when in actuality, it appears to be little more than just each character’s scenes extracted from the whole, stitching it loosely together with only the opening scene containing all four characters on their ritual morning walk. Granted, I only saw one episode, so perhaps they’re framing the initial context before adding in more interactive features that better set the tone of each character’s viewpoint, but it seems to me that if I were to just watch the abbreviated character-specific versions, I’d miss what was happening with the other characters.

Heather’s vignette, for example, only showed the scenes she was in, so I got to see her interpersonal relationships with the people with whom she interacted directly, but I didn’t get to see anything that was happening in Annie, Becca or Susan’s lives, so I struggle with Palermo’s claim that if “you’re only interested in one character–you can watch just that character’s story and still experience the full dramatic engagement of the show.” How would I learn about Annie’s struggles with the school board over her Journalism 2.0 project or Susan’s husband’s medical issues unless I watched the full multi-character episode? Seems the character videos just tell an isolated story without weaving all of the storylines together for a complete picture of what’s happening.

I do believe that cooperative entertainment is the future, but few are executing it well. FOX’s attempt at participatory TV viewing was a colossal failure, overlaying tweets on the screen that disrupted the viewing experience and weren’t interactive at all. And most network forays into this area are in the form of slapping up an info-frame around the content that’s a more of a distraction than true engagement. So, those who can create compelling vehicles through which viewers can interact with their favorite characters or get more involved with the storyline, are poised to take a leadership role. And series like Valemont and Heroes‘ multi-platform initiative are showing great promise by bringing story elements to life and giving users bonus content to explore and actively participate with rather than being a passive viewer merely watching events unfold.

Through the web and mobile devices, you can reach users at the point of consumption, so interactive elements can play a major role in enriching a story, and with the increasing prominence of geo-targeting and location aware apps, customizing content within the context of viewers’ personal lives, opens up a floodgate of possibilities. Imagine unlocking content ‘on location’ or finding clues at your neighborhood coffee shop. We haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of extending content to the full potential that multi-device convergence offers, but I’m happy to see content creators beginning to think along these lines, and formulating ways to add layers to the experience. In an undefined space, it may take a lot of trial and error to find a formula that works, but it requires at least trying something. And Chapin Circle is blazing an unchartered trail, which they will hopefully fine-tune as the story evolves.

So, while it doesn’t appear that Chapin Circle will be revolutionizing interactive television quite yet, it does deliver solid narrative and a believable cast of characters facing everyday trials representative of mainstream America. And for whom I can see many women finding a connection. If Chapin Circle continues in the direction of finding interactive angles for delivering their content in a meaningful way, they may stumble upon the types of character relationships that spark lasting affinity. And cultivate viewers who reach for the laptop, instead of the remote.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Drama, News, Reviews, Web Series by Gennefer Snowfield
No Comments »

One of the things that initially fascinated me with storytelling on the web was that it had no rules. Who knew a girl talking to a web cam would engage thousands to try to come to her aid? Or that French maids explaining how to change the oil in a car could grow into one of the most successful examples of product integration? As the community of web creators continues to grow and try to find the key to financial success, the internet space has become littered with series with similar formats, plotlines, and integration attempts and the margin for originality has become smaller and harder to find.

HBO, following up on its acclaimed “HBO Voyeur” project, has decided to push that envelope…not only that, it’s attempting to create an entirely new type of envelope. Like a space-age teleporting envelop that doesn’t even need to be pushed…

To become a part of this unique new form of storytelling, start by visiting HBOimagine.com. There you will be introduced to the HBO Cube. According to an HBO press release, “The HBO Cube … offers four different perspectives on the same scene, simultaneously. In telling the same story from four distinct points of view, each side of the cube stands alone as an engaging film, and as one piece of a larger puzzle. As viewers move around the cube, they watch the story unfold from different perspectives, forming different perceptions, and often misperceptions, of the characters and plot. Only by watching the story unfold from multiple sides of the cube can we begin to see the bigger picture.” A giant 4-sided version of The Cube was even on display in New York, DC and Philadelphia, with scenes directed by Noam Murro.

This unfolding story contains two of these “Cubes”, each 2:00 minutes in length. They each play twice successively, and you can rotate the cube to see each angle of the story at your discretion. One cube titled “The Affair” centers around a husband, wife, maid, and a mysterious half-naked man and the other, simply called “Heist” shows the execution of a meticulously organized crime. The cubes are connected by an additional 41 pieces of content that include both short- and long- form video, news stories, images, and audio files. As you navigate the content, a status bar tracks your progress and once every piece of content is unlocked, you are taken to a new page that contains a final video that connects the pieces together in a more traditional, linear fashion.

But just because you’ve unlocked all the content, don’t expect to see a distinct beginning, middle, and end to the tale. You will be left with many unanswered questions, including a question I still have no answer for: “will there be more content added at a later date?” Well, that and “what’s with the mime???”

Something you will have an opportunity to do is add your own original content. HBO Imagine’s companion site asks for community-created videos using the shooting style utilized in many of the videos in the story. As the site explains: “The rules are simple. Each film will be one take. No cuts, no editing. A simple turn or move of the camera will reveal there is much more to the story than the viewer first envisioned. The story should twist, turn, take us on a mental journey to a place far different than where we started. A place that’s more than first imagined.” So far, there only seems to be one original video posted as well as some example videos from HBO (including the one above…seriously, what’s with the mime???) and perhaps additional interaction is what HBO will want to see before continuing with this storytelling experiment.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Drama, Featured, HBO, News, Thriller by Jenni Powell
No Comments »

New York has a lot of scenes. There’s the “Williamsburg hipster” scene, the “Lower East Side hipster” scene and the underrepresented “West Village apartment-sitter’s who’ve fallen in love with much older bankers“ scene (also mostly hipsters).

Created by Pistols Kill Ponies for Index Magazine, Delusional Downtown Divas is a web comedy devoted to parodying one of New York’s lesser known societal signposts, the “20-something rec. drug divas with art degrees” scene. It’s very niche-y, kind of how The Factory was except with no figurehead. (Or, are Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen figureheads?)

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Michael Neal
No Comments »

We didn’t intend for it to work out this way, but this week was all about the ladies in web TV. Or maybe its just CBS that has a thing for them. Either way, this week saw news that Shira Lazar had signed on with CBSNews.com to be a regular correspondent on Mo Rocca’s Tomorrow Show along with her own video rich blog on site. Then came the release of two new CBS Interactive web series, TV in a Flash with former Wallstrip host Julie Alexandria and Sports in a Flash with Lauren Shahedi, The two series will live on CBS-owned sites TV.com and CBSSports.com. And rounding out the ladies theme, with Breast Cancer Awareness Month upon us, web star Taryn Southern rallied some celeb friends together to make a series of click-worthy Save a Tit videos which debuted this week.

Our own Adam Wright wrapped up his coverage of NYTVF earlier this week with some reflections on the very real intersection of independent television and web TV. As panelist and Easy to Assemble creator Illeana Douglas put it, “A year ago people came to me and were like ‘what are you doing’ … we’re at the tipping point where people are saying ‘Now, I get it.’”

And in case you weren’t glued to the commercial break after The City on MTV, the network bowed its Valemont web series from the creators of Gemini Division and Afterworld. The first two episodes are now online:

Top stories of the week:

• Shira Lazar Signs On With CBSNews.com, ‘The Tomorrow Show’
• Julie Alexandria Speeds Through TV.com’s ‘TV in a Flash’
• Altoids ‘Brainstorm’ Is Minty Fresh Web Series Magic
• NYTVF Solidifies Web Tipping Point For Indie TV
• ‘Save a Tit’: Taryn Southern and Jaime King’s Celeb Slumberparty For Breast Cancer
• MTV’s ‘Valemont’: A Transmedia Experience Murder-Mystery Style

Filed under: Articles, CBS, Friday Rewind, MTV, News, Studios, Web Series, YouTube by Marc Hustvedt
No Comments »

Weed Shop has all the ingredients for a great web series– a subculture-filled world of a medical marijuana shop in Los Angeles, a catchy theme song, a fun, animated web site, and free give-aways to viewers. Yet, the show still feels very much like a work in progress which also makes it surprisingly lovable.

While the web series world is becoming a competitive breeding ground for possible TV and film deals (note, another web series about a medical marijuana shop entitled The Clinic is still in the works) it also still remains a great place to experiment. Let’s face it, CBS, or any of the big three networks aren’t likely to jump on a show set in a tenuous world of borderline legal drug dealing—that’s what cable, and the Internet are for!

Although, a weary eyed development exec probably would enjoy a chuckle when listening to Weed Shop’s Executive Producer Michael Perri tell the story of the show’s development.

“The road to Weed Shop started like many ideas,” says Perri. “Over too much beer and Jaeger Shots… All over town, we noticed that more and more medical marijuana shops were popping up.  What goes on inside there we thought to ourselves at 3am at a friend’s house?  The number of shops in SoCal has tripled to 600 hundred shops in the past 3 years alone.  So, we said let’s create a workplace comedy pilot and maybe film some webisodes.”

Perri’s partner Rock Shaink started penning the script, and as Perri puts it, “Cheers in a Weed Shop was born.”  With an itch to start shooting, the two borrowed money from friends, and family, and called in favors and even bartered to get it done. Inititally Shaink and Perri thought $15,000 would be enough, but ended up raising $30,000 to finish it and were proudly able to pay cast and crew.

The show does indeed still feel to be finding it’s feet. Lead  Dan Gordon seems to bring an very naturalistic acting tone to the show while all his surrounding characters are larger than life to the point of occasionally being unbelievable. Nonetheless, stunts like adding an alive or dead hooker permanently living in the Weed Shop are just the kind of wacky stunts one would hunger for in a medical marijuana type setting.

Perri says the two are “aiming high” with the show. They had a presence at this year’s ComicCon handing out thousands of stickers, and t-shirts which paid off. After the big weekened their pilot episode streamed 120-thousand views.

The guys are now out and about promoting the show and pitching to TV networks, but at least hope to bring a second season online to current viewers. In the meantime, viewers can catch catch up on past episodes on their website weedshop.tv. A new set of eps is set to debut November 5.

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, News, Web Series, YouTube by Lindsay Stidham
No Comments »

Some more CBS web series news today, this time out of CBS Interactive which is bowing two new original series for TV.com and CBSSports.com. Former Wallstrip host Julie Alexandria is coming back to the web as host of TV in a Flash, a new primetime TV recap series that will live on TV.com starting today.

The two-minute recap series is weekly, so it’s less about hitting the details of last night’s shows instead bouncing on the top hits of the week. With a Sportscenter-style sidebar ticker of what she’s covering, it’s easy to keep up despite fast talking Alexandria as she rolls through speedcaps of House, NCIS, Modern Family and others. Still the two minutes seem rushed, more suited for on-the-go mobile content than a late 2009 weekly web series.

That could be something to do with lead sponsor AT&T, which developed the series alongside CBS Interactive through its ad agency Mediaedge:cia. For now the series will live on TV.com with new episodes every Tuesday. And unfortunately, episodes of the show are not embeddable despite pre-roll ads and watermarked AT&T branding that would come along with the videos. No word yet of any plans for mobile distribution though we wouldn’t be surprised to see that coming.

Also announced today was a related sports web series Sports in a Flash set to run on CBSSports.com with host Lauren Shehadi. Similar to TV in a Flash, it’s also a two-minute breezer through top sports news of week.

“Both of our In a Flash series are a great way for television and sports fans to quickly get up to speed with fresh, original content from the experts,” said Dave Morris of CBS Interactive. “This series is a great example of how CBS Interactive can work with a client to create original content that resonates with our diverse communities.”

There’s some irony in using a web series to catch viewers up on what they missed by not watching television, but it seems to have worked, in a big way, for Yahoo with its Primetime in No Time series. The daily TV recap series was already at over 208 million views and counting when we talked to host Frank Nicotero this spring. While TV.com isn’t quite the traffic behemoth that Yahoo.com is, it still commands about 11 million monthly visitors according to Quantcast, meaning this one should get its share of snackers.

Alexandria’s predecessor on the now-cancelled Wallstrip (which was also a CBS Interactive series), Lindsay Campbell has also recently returned to the web with her Small Business Rules series for Next New Networks. While the new gig for Alexandria isn’t the cheeky style of Wallstrip, it still gives her a little playing room for color bits roasting TV duds. Still, we do miss Wallstrip though:

Filed under: Articles, CBS, Channels, Featured, Hosted, News, News-Current Events, Web Series by Marc Hustvedt
No Comments »

When Alyson Hannigan, Emily Deschanel, Kat McPhee, Minka Kelly and Jaime King get together to star in a video entitled “The Booby Scare,” you may get visions of pillow fights and wardrobe malfunctions running through your head. And while this might be what inspires you to click on “The Booby Scare”, I implore you to continue watching even after you realize that (almost) all the ladies’ tops are going to stay on.

Because “The Booby Scare” has something very, very important to say that effects all of us. It is actually the first video in the Save a Tit campaign created by Webutante Taryn Southern and Sin City actress Jaime King. Launched in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the campaign will consist of 6 celebrity-driven videos released each month on Funny or Die, YouTube, Veoh, and a variety of other viral platforms and sponsored by Her Energy that is designed to promote breast cancer awareness, early detection, and support for breast cancer research.

I corresponded with Taryn Southern on how this remarkable campaign came about. “Our producer, David Bernad, really deserves the credit for that”, said Southern. “Emily, Alyson, Minka, and Kat are all active in charity work and breast cancer awareness was a particularly important cause to each of them, so they were really excited about being involved. I also want to add that having Steve Carr (director of Mall Cop, Dr. Doolittle 2, Daddy Day Care and a bunch of other great comedies), come in and guest direct the episode was awesome.”

“I just can’t believe that we were lucky to have Steve and the girls all available on the same day!”, she went on to say. “Alyson had just had a baby, and Emily had to be on set of Bones the next morning at 5am. Talk about dedicated! We all had a great time.”

With the slogan of the series being “Touch a Tit, Save a Tit”, the project is intended to be edgy. As Southern explains, “Just like anything in TV or Film, you have to tailor content to different audiences if you want a message to have more reach. A lot of anti-smoking PSA’s have been criticized for being too edgy, but growing up, those were the PSA’s I remember most. Jaime and I felt it was really important to reach Gen Y with this message, not only so that young women can practice breast cancer early detection methods, but also encourage their mothers and grandmothers to get their exam. So many women forget to get checked because they get so busy and just don’t think about it. Discovering breast cancer early is the key to survival.”

I asked Taryn if there was anything more she’d like to share, which inevitably means a few more thank-you’s. “It takes more than just producers, writers, and actors to make a web series,” said Southern. “Jaime and I were incredibly fortunate to meet the guys behind Her Energy, who sponsored the series and embraced the concept from day one. Brett Jacobson, who runs the company, was already really active in breast cancer charities and they’ve lined up a series of racing events this year to raise money for the cause. None of this would have been possible without them. We also owe a huge thanks to Laura Ziskin, Madeline Marotto, and Jules DiBiase at Stand Up 2 Cancer. Jaime and I met with them several months ago when we were just getting the concept off the ground, and they loved the idea. They are a wonderful organization and hopefully more people will look into donating to their accelerated cancer research program after seeing the PSA’s.”

For those who would like to keep up with the behind-the-scenes of the campaign, they can visit saveatit.com, or follow Taryn and Jaime on twitter – @tarynsouthern and @Jaime_King.

Filed under: Articles, Comedy, Educational, Featured, Funny Or Die, News, News-Current Events, Production Companies, Web Series, YouTube by Jenni Powell
No Comments »