Arnold Schwarzenegger’s movie characters are notorious for terminating everything in their respective paths. Now, the actor and former California governor is bringing the action of his movies to real life. Schwarzenegger has partnered with crowdfunding platform Omaze to offer one lucky winner the chance to blow sh*t up with him to benefit the After-School All-Stars program.

Fans can enter the Schwarzenegger contest by visiting its dedicated Omaze page and donating $10 or more for an entry into the raffle-style drawing. The winner of the raffle will be flown to Los Angeles with a friend, put up in a 4-star hotel, and taken to a private location where all the explosions can commence. Omaze will even film the winner, the friend, and Schwarzenegger walking away from a fireball in slow-motion.

The “Blow Sh*t Up” raffle offers fans a few incentives for higher donation amounts. Fans who donate at least $75 will get an exclusive campaign gym towel, and those who give $2,500 will get a personal video from Schwarzenegger critiquing their workout forms. Any donor who gives $50,000 gets an invitation to actor’s 2016 Charity Poker Tournament at his Los Angeles home.

Proceeds for the Schwarzenegger-Omaze campaign will go to After-School All-Stars, an organization which provides after-school programs to help underprivileged students succeed in school and life.

As an example of what the Omaze raffle winner will get to participate in, Schwarzenegger filmed a video where he, of course, blows up various objects. The actor insists blowing things up can actually help make your life better, like destroying that closet you’ve put off cleaning, or exploding the extra spaghetti you made so it’s not left sitting around.

This is the second time Schwarzenegger has partnered with Omaze for a charitable cause. Previously, the Terminator offered fans a chance to crush objects by riding with him in a tank. Proceeds of Schwarzenegger’s fund for this initiative also went to After-School All-Stars, a charity he’s also supported through a partnership with Reddit.

To enter the Schwarzenegger “Blow Sh*t Up” charity raffle, head on over to Omaze.com/Arnold.

Filed under: Articles, Celebrity, News, Omaze by Bree Brouwer
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We receive a ton of tips every day from independent creators, unaffiliated with any major motion picture studios, television networks, new media studios, or other well-funded online video entities. The Indie Spotlight is where we’ll write about and shout out to a select few of them and bring you up to speed on the great (and sometimes not-so-great) attention-grabbing series you probably haven’t heard about until now.  Read previous installments here. 

What would happen if you smashed together an indie comedy web series and an informative infographic? Food For Thought provides the answer. The new series, from Australian creative team The Pirone Brothers, combines bantering characters with clever nuggets of wisdom and informative statistics related to common topics.

The easiest way to explain Food For Thought is to discuss one of its episodes. In an installment about breakups, the characters Michael and Ruby eavesdrop on a couple that is on the verge of splitting up and offer their own thoughts about the proper way to go about the task. Food For Thought also makes liberal use of flashbacks to explore Michael and Ruby’s pasts. In the last section of the episode, the two eavesdroppers take a seat on a bench of their own and share some statistics about how different generations prefer to carry out their breakups.

In total, three episodes of Food For Thought have been released thus far. The series’ use of stats is not excessive; instead, there are just a few numbers peppered into each installment. Instead, the comedy and character development serve as driving forces, with the titular “food for thought” serving as a fun wrinkle that allows the series to stand out from the field.

OTHER UNDER-THE-RADAR SERIES TO CHECK OUT

• Baked. A trio of friends in India decide to launch a late-night food delivery service.
• Young Love. A pair of high school sweethearts test their relationship as “co-captains” of their school.
• Bailout. A credit crisis sets the stage for an exploration of first-generation immigrant families.
• Titus And Dronicus. This web series translates Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus into a modern-day cop show.

Got a series you’d like to see featured in the Indie Spotlight? Be sure to contact us here. For best coverage, please include a full episode in your e-mail.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Indie Spotlight, News by Sam Gutelle
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Hulu is yet again confirming its reputation as a safe haven for axed TV shows. The streaming subscription service has officially picked up Fox’s cancelled The Mindy Project for a fourth season.

Hulu will add the comedy starring Mindy Kaling to its slate of original programming by ordering 26 new episodes. The fourth season of The Mindy Project will continue to tell the story of the titular character, an OB/GYN juggling issues in her personal and professional lives. The SVOD platform already boasts exclusive streaming rights to The Mindy Project as per a deal with NBCUniversal from April 2014.

“Mindy has been a beloved member of the Hulu family, so this deal is a natural extension of our relationship,” said Craig Erwich, Hulu’s Senior Vice President and Head of Content, in a release. “With so many of her fans already catching up and tuning in to the series on Hulu, we know her millions of fans will be eager to find out what Mindy has in store for the next chapter.”

“I am thrilled The Mindy Project has found a new home on Hulu, where so many of our fans are already watching the show. It’s such an exciting place to be,” said Kaling.

On May 7, 2015, Fox announced it had cancelled The Mindy Project after three seasons. Shortly afterwards, rumors circulated Hulu was in talks with Fox and Universal Television to revive the show, which is created and executive produced by Kaling. At the time, Hulu, Fox, and Universal declined to comment on the matter.

Hulu has yet to announce when the fourth season of The Mindy Project will premiere. The streaming platform noted it will also have the option of ordering more seasons after the show’s upcoming season debut.

Filed under: Articles, Hulu, News by Bree Brouwer
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SourceFedNERD has a new face among its ranks. The Discovery Digital Networks-owned YouTube channel welcomed Australian media personality Maude Garrett to its team.

Garrett is well-known in her native country as a radio and television personality. Previously, she hosted two Nickelodeon Australia shows: the kids’ afternoon segment Sarvo and the reality series Camp Orange. Garrett moved to Los Angeles in 2013 to interview top celebrities and host the Hot Hits Live from LA radio show.

“A multi-faceted talent like Maude is extremely hard to come by, so welcoming her to the SourceFedNERD crew was a no-brainer,” said Jeremy Azevedo, who was made Head of Discovery Digital Networks in Los Angeles in December, via a release. “Maude’s hosting experience coupled with her infectious personality make her a perfect fit for SourceFedNERD, and we are so happy to have her on board.”

“I’m super excited to be joining the amazing SourceFedNERD team to cover all the topics I personally geek out over, from Star Wars to Game of Thrones,” added Garrett.

SourceFedNERD’s sister channel, SourceFed (which boasts over 1.5 million subscribers on its YouTube channel), recently added a new host, as well. Bree Essrig, a YouTuber known for videos like her impressions and drunk movie reviews, joined the team in March 2015. Essrig was brought on to SourceFed after several key members of the channel departed; Joe Bereta left to join Defy Media, and Lee Newton said farewell to SourceFed to pursue her own ventures.

SourceFedNERD currently has over 770,000 subscribers, and more than 205 million total video views.

Filed under: Articles, News, Web Series by Bree Brouwer
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In March, General Electric announced that Sally Le Page, a PhD candidate at Oxford, would serve as the energy company’s first ever creator-in-residence. In her new role, Le Page is working with Fullscreen to create educational, scientific content for the GE YouTube channel.

The first series born from the collaboration is Fiction Fast Forward, which offers scientific explanations for the fictional creations within new movies. In her latest episode, Le Page explores the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max: Fury Road and tries to decipher whether such a barren wasteland could actually exist on Earth. To help answer her question, she gets some help from Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, and YouTube star Brittani Louise Taylor, all of whom appear in the episode.

First, Le Page joins Tyson and Nye on Tyson’s Star Talk podcast, where the two esteemed scientists discuss how silly it is for Mad Max’s characters to have an oil shortage while driving around in tricked-out cars. Then, Taylor joins Le Page to build a homemade desalinator, which in the post-apocalyptic future could be used to make seawater potable. The conclusion: The future probably won’t have nearly as many resource shortages as are depicted in Mad Max.

This is the third episode of Fiction Fast Forward; previously, Le Page explored the use of robotics in Chappie and celebrated Pitch Perfect 2 by discussing the science of sound with Sam Tsui. Fiction Fast Forward is a series that works well with big, tentpole films (Mad Max: Fury Road just arrived in theaters), so we expect to see much more of Le Page throughout the summer movie season.

Filed under: Articles, Branded Entertainment, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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In 2014, Steve Adams and Sean Horlor launched a channel called SHIFT, on which they “test different styles of popular YouTube videos to prove if there’s a formula to YouTube success.” After several months of gathering data, Adams and Horlor have put together a documentary short about their work on YouTube. “Shift: YouTube Star,” which shares details about the duo’s work online, also includes plenty of tips for aspiring channel owners and includes interviews with YouTube success stories like Pamaj, Convos With My 2-Year-Old, and IFHT.

Adams and Horlor, who are based in the Vancouver area, based “Shift: YouTube Star” off their personal experiences on YouTube. On their SHIFT channel, they have posted everything from travel vlogs to celebrity gossip, with varying levels of success. Their biggest hit was their “Dog On A Roomba” video, which has scored more than 1.5 million views and figures prominently in “Shift: YouTube Star.”

SHIFT, though, is a small channel, and in order to more accurately reveal the best practices for success on YouTube, Adams and Horlor sought insights from local YouTube stars. In interviews, Pamaj, Convos With My 2-Year-Old’s David Milchard and Matthew Clarke, and IFHT’s Jason Lucas and Matt Dennison discuss their origins on YouTube, their tips for maintaining healthy channels, and the next steps that have assisted their respective rises. Adams and Horlor also seek out execs from YouTube Canada and BroadbandTV, who provide perspectives from outside the community of creators.

Channels owners who hope to strike it big will find a lot of interesting information within “Shift: YouTube Star.” The 22-minute documentary can be found on the SHIFT YouTube channel.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, Shift by Sam Gutelle
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Believe Entertainment Group will soon offer brands and distributors a lot more custom content. The digital entertainment company is launching a yet-unnamed digital production studio, helmed by new Executive Vice President and Head of Development Brian Hunt.

Believe’s new studio division will focus on creating digital-first, original content for over-the-top and digital distribution partners, as well as branded entertainment for partner brands. A release notes how this focus will help Believe address distributor and brand needs directly, instead of following the digital company’s previous TV-like model of first securing talent and distribution before enticing brands to participate.

So far, Believe’s studio has already partnered with Maker Studios, Mashable, The Hollywood Reporter, Time Inc., Billboard, The New York Post, Marriott International, and Haven Home Media. The digital studio will sell sell original content directly to any of these partners looking to pick up new programming for distribution, or work on developing custom, branded content for select partners.

Hunt will lead Believe’s studio division by overseeing programming initiatives for partner distributors and brands. He will also work with Believe’s co-founders Dan Goodman and William H. Masterson III to create a marketing strategy to reach distributors and brands. Hunt comes to Believe from Yahoo, where he previously served as head of creative development for the media company’s Original Programming division.

“Believe’s business model has always been all-encompassing, including financing, developing, creating, selling, distributing and producing premium content,” said Hunt. “I’m excited to help expand the business to leverage the company’s expertise and capabilities in these areas toward direct partnerships with digital distributors and brands alike.”

“Brian has an incredible track record of delivering a great creative product and has tremendous sensibilities when it comes to knowing what content is going to resonate with specific audiences,” added Goodman and Masterson. “And because he comes most recently from the media delivery side of the business, he also has a keen understanding of how distributors can leverage our content and build successful strategies.”

Believe Entertainment has a solid history of creating programming for various digital outlets. The company’s The LeBrons series, starring LeBron James, is an animated series originally distributed via the Xbox network. And the company’s Money Where Your Mouth Is game show, hosted by Jay Mohr, spanned ten episodes that ran exclusively on Hulu.

In September 2014, Believe received an investment from British broadcaster and television company ITV. Through this partnership, Believe’s new digital studio will be able to secure international distribution and sales opportunities for its content as well.

Filed under: Articles, News, Production Companies by Bree Brouwer
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Kin Community Canada and Corus Entertainment are working hard to bring new branded content to online video fans. The two companies have partnered with various Canadian YouTube creators to launch three new campaigns starting on May 13, 2015, surrounding products from hair brand Batiste, liquor company Mark Anthony’s Palm Bay, and food brand McCain SuperFries.

The first campaign will feature YouTube celebrities and Kin partners Theodore Leaf, Alexandrea Garza, and Carah Furry, who will use the hair product Batiste Dry Shampoo to demonstrate easy-to-replicate hairstyles. Leaf will show how Batiste helps provide volume after a gym workout, Garza will use the product to create a quick morning hair fix, and Furry will provide five different hairstyles using Batiste’s Dry Shampoo.

Launching later in May, the four-week series Party Guide to Girls’ Night In will be hosted by Corus Radio hosts and CoralTV creators Dani and Catherine. The two women will discuss how to throw the perfect at-home, DIY party featuring liquor brand Mark Anthony’s Palm Bay. All videos in the Palm Bay campaign will be featured on CoralTV, as well as curated into a playlist on Kin Community’s YouTube channel.

Finally, Corus and Kin will also launch a campaign starting June 1 surrounding the #Modifry initiative from Canadian food brand McCain SuperFries. The first part of the campaign involves Sara Lynn from Domestic Geek, who will introduce the #Modifry campaign and invite viewers to enter a contest where they could win $5000. Next, Kin will work with select creators such as Diva Q BBQ, Chef Mike Ward, and Lauren Toyota from the hot for food blog to show how to whip up tasty treats and meals by combining fresh ingredients with McCain SuperFries.

For the Batiste and Palm Bay campaigns, Kin hopes to reach an audience of millennial women aged from 24-34 or 35 years old. The #Modifry campaign is aimed at adults aged 30 and older. All videos created under the three campaigns will have a home on Kin’s YouTube channel. The McCain SuperFries-themed initiative will also be featured on Corus TV networks and digital properties, while the Party Guide series will be featured on the CoralTV channel.

“We are thrilled to begin rolling out innovative campaigns that we’ve developed hand-in-hand with the creators on Kin Community and our brand partners,” said Lynn Chambers, Vice President of Client Marketing at Corus Entertainment, in a release. “Since partnering with Kin Community in September, we have been excited to leverage Kin Community Canada and launch these creative influencer programs that show the unique position that the multichannel network offers Corus.”

In addition to these three new campaigns, Kin recently partnered with home design and furniture company Wayfair for the new web series Overhaul. The show features the latest decorating styles and trends, and provides one celebrity each episode with a home makeover from Wayfair’s executive creative director Christiane Lemieux. The first episode shows viewers the new design of YouTube star Rosanna Pansino’s home.

You can check out all of Kin’s upcoming video content from the Batiste, Palm Bay, and McCain SuperFries campaigns on its official YouTube channel.

Filed under: Articles, Kin Community, News by Bree Brouwer
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Through its Creators League, Pepsi creates branded content that lives on digital channels (including the drink brand’s own YouTube hub). For its latest project, Pepsi is enlisting Usher fans to join a project that will be shot from space. Photographers who submit their work using the #PepsiChallenge hashtag can earn the chance to become part of a film created by the Creators League and UrtheCast.

UrtheCast, for the uninitiated, is a technology company that has installed a high-definition camera aboard the International Space Station. The result has been a steady stream of images shot from space, the first of which touched down on YouTube in February. Pepsi’s collaboration with UrtheCast will use these cosmic clips in a short film that will span multiple countries across the world.

Pepsi is looking to add some contributions from its consumers, and that’s where Usher comes in. The musician is serving as the creative director for the project, and in an introductory video, he invited skilled photographers to submit shots “that will inspire, amaze, and show your world bigger than life.” One winner will join Usher on the set of the short film.

“On one level, the ambition of this short film is mind-boggling because it’s an original screenplay that features real-life footage shot from outer-space,” said Frank Cooper III, Pepsi’s CMO of Global Consumer Engagement, in a release. “But, having visionary creators, cutting-edge technologists like UrtheCast and an iconic artist like Usher make it a realistic, exciting collaboration across tech, film, music and pop culture.”

Interested photographers can submit their work with the hashtag #PepsiChallenge. More information about the contest, including submitted photos, official rules, and entry details, can be found on the Pepsi Challenge’s website.

Filed under: Articles, Branded Entertainment, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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Since launching in 2012, YouTube’s creator-focused Spaces have facilitated the production of more than 10,000 videos, which have collectively received upwards of one billion views. Now, the Spaces are providing additional support to creators through a new channel that will curate videos from some of YouTube’s most talented artists. That channel is called Field Day, and it’s a co-production between YouTube Spaces and production company 1stAveMachine.

YouTube describes Field Day as “a curated stream of individual videos from content creators who will push the boundaries of their creativity through the use of enhanced production tools and unique locations.” At launch, it features offerings from four talented online video stars: Vsauce, Game Theorists, Amymarie Gaertner, and Cut. An additional channel trailer introduces Field Day’s mission:

Creators who will collaborate with Field Day include Action Movie Kid, Improv Everywhere, Mike Relm, devinsupertramp, MysteryGuitarMan, SoulPancake, and ‘First Kiss’ director Tatia Pilieva. Subscribe if you’d like to stay current regarding the goings-on of YouTube’s brightest stars.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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In the first few months after it opened to creators, Vessel has turned heads by enlisting an impressive roster of creative partners, many of whom post their videos to the new video platform before sharing them anywhere else. Vessel’s potentially lucrative revenue sharing model has been a big selling point, and we now have a definitive example of the kind of money Jason Kilar and his team are throwing around. In SEC documents, DreamWorks Animation discussed a $2.6 million sum Vessel will pay out to to AwesomenessTV partners over a three-year span.

DreamWorks, which owns AwesomenessTV, revealed some of its finances in a federal document addressed to its board of directors. In one section, the studio mentions payments made from Vessel to creators partnered with AwesomenessTV. According to the document, Vessel will “provide for minimum payments of approximately $2.6 million during the next three years to AwesomenessTV clients, with additional payments depending on applicable advertising and subscription revenues.” A portion of that total has already been paid out:  “An aggregate of $349,040 was paid by Vessel in 2014 with respect to these agreements and an aggregate of $297,250 has been paid in 2015 as of the date of this Proxy Statement,” reads the document.

These payouts are likely related to the multi-million dollar guarantees Vessel reportedly made to high-profile creators as it looked to build its user base in 2014. While AwesomenessTV doesn’t itself directly receive funds from Vessel, it receives a portion of the payouts Vessel makes to its partners thanks to the revenue sharing agreements AwesomenessTV has signed with those creators.

The close partnership between Vessel and AwesomenessTV is no surprise, since Kilar, the co-founder of Vessel, is also on the Board of Directors at DreamWorks. However, to our knowledge, this is the first time specific numbers related to Vessel’s financial dealings with creators have been made available.

$2.6 million may seem like a hefty total, but Vessel, which raised $77 million in funding in 2014, has a deep war chest. The startup platform added to its funding this year with an additional $57.5 million round led by Institutional Venture Partners.

DreamWorks’ SEC filings also include another document that offers up some financial details of its 2013 acquisition of AwesomenessTV. At the time, the base price of the deal was reported at $33 million, with an additional $84 million in incentives made available. Judging from the document, DreamWorks ultimately paid $80 million in incentives to AwesomenessTV shareholders:

“We acquired all of the outstanding equity interests in ATV for initial cash consideration of $33.5 million. In addition, pursuant to a written amendment to the original merger agreement, we made an additional agreed-upon fixed cash payment of $80.0 million to the former ATV stockholders (substantially all of which was paid in December of 2014) in lieu of any contingent consideration potentially payable by us as specified under the original merger agreement.”

Tubefilter has reached out to both Vessel and AwesomenessTV for comment.

Filed under: Articles, AwesomenessTV, Featured, News, Production Companies, Vessel by Sam Gutelle
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Many YouTube content creators released videos celebrating Mother’s Day, but Ryan Higa took the holiday to another level. Higa, who has more than 14.3 million subscribers on his primary YouTube channel, created a crowdsourced Mother’s Day video by using his brand new app to gather messages from his fans.

Higa, who recently launched his app alongside Victorious, asked his fans to send in some words for their mothers by using the #DearMom hashtag. After receiving thousands of responses within the app, he combined the best ones with his own words and a few more from his friends in the YouTube community (such as Smosh, Jenna Marbles, Superwoman, and Miranda Sings). The result was a “Dear Mom…” video that scored more than a million views in its first day online.

At its most basic, Higa’s Mother’s Day effort is a warm ode the mothers around world. At the first time, it exemplifies how YouTube content creators can use mobile apps to engage their fans. “The most important note is that the video was generated by an off-YouTube strategy that simultaneously reinforced the value of his YouTube channel,” said Victorious co-founder Bing Chen. “In short, while many are thinking of ‘off-YouTube strategies,’ the smarter strategy is a cross-platform strategy. How do superfan hub apps reinforce YouTube channels and vice versa.”

Higa’s app, titled TeeHee, will continue to serve as a homebase for his audience, housing the YouTube superstar’s daily vlogs, future crowdsourced initiatives, upcoming mobile games, and more. It’s available on the App Store and Google Play, where it’s performing very well. Within its first few days of launch, TeeHee was among the Top Trending apps on iTunes and peaked at #2 on Google Play’s Top New Free apps list globally.

Here’s the screenshot from iTunes:

And here’s one from Google Play:

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, NigaHiga by Sam Gutelle
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