Louise Pentland (aka Sprinkle of Glitter) can now add “fashion designer” to her list of official titles. The fashion, beauty, and lifestyle vlogger, who has over 3.2 million subscribers across two different YouTube channels, teamed up with European clothing brand and retailer Simply Be to launch her own Sprinkle of Glitter clothing line.

Pentland’s fashion collection for sizes 12-32 will include ten different pieces, including dresses, tops, and a pocketed playsuit which range in price from £16-£60. The 30-year-old YouTube star and bestselling author wrote on her official Facebook page that the Sprinkle of Glitter clothing selection will boast “brights and florals and low cut tops and sleeves and pockets and comfy fabrics and netted skirts and cat prints and copper accents.” The Sprinkle of Glitter fashion pieces will be exclusively available at Simply Be.

“I am so excited to have my own fashion collection with Simply Be!” stated Pentland in a release. “I have always felt it’s not about your size but about finding clothes to suit your shape and feel amazing in. I want the girls and women who wear my clothes to feel girly and confident. This collection is all about femininity and dressing beautifully for any occasion, whether it’s a friend’s wedding, a garden party, or a night out with the girls. I love it!”

“We are thrilled to be working with Sprinkle of Glitter! Our customers want fashion forward pieces that they can feel great in and look to fashion blogs and magazines for inspiration,” added a spokesperson for Simply Be. “Louise is highly influential in the blogging community and is a gorgeous, curvy young woman who will most definitely appeal to and inspire women to shop with us.”

You can purchase clothing from the Sprinkle of Glitter line from Simply Be’s UK website starting August 28, 2015.

Filed under: Articles, News, Sprinkle of Glitter by Bree Brouwer
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Facebook just took a major step towards fighting copyrighted video content on its platform. The social networking site and burgeoning online video brand has launched new video matching technology to help prevent illegal posting of content. And it’s given select publishing partners access to the platform for beta testing.

In a blog post on August 27, 2015, Facebook announced its new content management platform as its solution to increasing publisher demand for better identifying stolen videos, a kind of epidemic known on the platform as “freebooting.” The social site already boasts content identification, fingerprinting, and removal tools through the third-party copyright software company Audible Magic. However, Facebook wrote in its blog post that “some publishers with particular needs, including creators whose videos have gone viral, have been asking for more tools.”

Currently, Facebook is working with Fullscreen, ZEFR, Jukin Media, and a select few unnamed brands and creators to test the video matching technology, developed in-house by Facebook’s team. Facebook writes how the new content management system is “tailored to our platform, and will allow these creators to identify matches of their videos on Facebook across Pages, profiles, groups, and geographies.” Publishers will be able to see all videos and their views through the matching tool, and either request a removal or allow the clip to stay on Facebook.

This content management platform mimics the ContentID system YouTube internally developed and has already had in place for years. Through that rights management platform, Google’s online video site lets creators report copyrighted material and send takedown requests. However, YouTube’s ContentID system goes one step further than Facebook’s new video matching tech, because it also provides video publishers the option of monetizing unauthorized content.

Facebook is working on monetization options on videos for creators and brands, but that process is still in its infancy. For now, the social site wrote in its blog post the company is collaborating with Audible Magic to “enhance the way that system works with Facebook” to help ensure future freebooting is avoided as much as possible. The social networking site also claims its updating its procedures to improve the speed of reporting and removal of infringing content.

Facebook’s efforts to improve its video management options for publishers is in direct response to criticism the site has recently received from some high-level online video magnates. For starters, Fullscreen CEO George Strompolos took to Twitter in early June 2015 to reprimand Facebook for not working harder to remove stolen video content from its platform, content which gets millions of views without proper attribution to the original creator. Two months later, YouTube star and one-half of the Vlogbrothers Hank Green wrote a post on Medium claiming Facebook was lying and cheating just to get ahead in the online video realm.

Now, it seems Facebook is determined to show creators it takes copyright infringement seriously. “This is just the beginning,” the site’s blog post reads. “In the long-term, our goal is to provide a comprehensive video management system that fits the needs of our partners. This will take time, but we’re working on it, and we’re committed.”

“We are collaborating closely with Facebook to provide feedback on their new video-matching technology,” Strompolos told Variety. “This is no small task, but it can be done, and we’re encouraged by Facebook’s early progress.”

Facebook said it plans to make its technology available to more video creators and brands in the future.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Facebook, Fullscreen, News, Studios by Bree Brouwer
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Madame Tussauds has recently shown an interest in the online video world by creating wax figures of Smosh, Jenna Marbles, Zoe Sugg, and Alfie Deyes, but as it turns out, the museum’s interest in Internet stars isn’t limited to humans. It will create an animatronic version of Grumpy Cat, the sour-faced feline who is arguably the most famous cat on the web.

The Grumpy Cat figure will feature five different movements that will help bring its subject to life. The waxification will be the latest extension of the Grumpy Cat brand; the three-year-old feline, whose real name is Tardar Sauce, also starred in a Christmas movie that arrived late last year.

Of course, Grumpy Cat herself had a predictable reaction to the big news. “This is truly an honor,” she ‘said’ in a press release. “I hate it.”

The exact debut date of the Grumpy Cat figure hasn’t been announced but it will first be on display at Madame Tussaud’s San Francisco location “later this year.” From there, it will tour the wax museum’s other five American locations.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Grumpy Cat, News by Sam Gutelle
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Hulu has renewed another one of its original series. The streaming video platform has already ordered the second season of Difficult People from executive producer Amy Poehler.

Difficult People stars show creator and executive producer Julie Klausner as a fictional version of herself living in New York City. Klausner and her best friend Billy (played by Billy Eichner from Billy on the Street) always seem to let their irreverent, self-involved attitudes jeopardize their chances of success in the entertainment industry. The first season arrived on Hulu on August 7, 2015.

“We have been big fans of Difficult People from day one and are so happy to have Julie and Billy be part of the Hulu family,” said Hulu’s SVP and Head of Content Craig Erwich in a release. “I cannot wait to see what a whole new season will bring and am pleased to bring more of their hilarious brand of comedy to fans.”

“I’m the luckiest girl in the world to be able to make more episodes of Difficult People,” added Klausner. “This must be what it feels like to win the lottery, have a fast metabolism, or win an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny.”

Hulu originally ordered the first season of Difficult People in November 2014, and the show’s official trailer dropped online in July 2015. The series is produced by Universal Cable Productions in conjunction with Poehler’s Paper Kite Productions, Jax Media, and Dave Becky’s 3 Arts Entertainment. All four production houses will continue to work on Difficult People season two, with Klausner and Scott King returning to their executive producer positions.

No release date has been announced for the second season of Difficult People as of yet.

Filed under: Articles, Hulu, News, Web Series by Bree Brouwer
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At this year’s Newfronts, Discovery was one of several networks to discuss its upcoming plans in the virtual reality space. Now, the media company best known for its cable channel has opened its VR experience to the public. It has launched Discovery VR, which gives viewers access to a number of 360-degree videos.

Discovery’s VR videos are available on new apps for both iOS and Android, Samsung’s Milk VR service, and YouTube. The library includes a number of companion videos to existing Discovery Channel shows, such as Survivorman, Gold Rush, and Mythbusters. As it is wont to do, Discovery has also tied in one of its favorite subjects–sharks–to its VR launch. Here’s a 360-degree video of the Mythbusters gang as they perform some underwater exploration. For the best viewing experience, watch it on Google Cardboard or a similar device.

“A small team of us at Discovery have been pushing for this for months and we couldn’t be happier with the results,” said Barry Pousman, Director of Programming at Discovery Digital Networks and Head of Discovery VR Originals, in an email to Tubefilter. “We believe VR is here to stay and we’re making sure Discovery is at the forefront. Those interested in virtual reality or 360 content are desperately trying to find amazing content and we’re thrilled to be providing it.”

Discovery has not been shy about experiment with the newest forms of video technology. During its most recent Shark Week, it partnered with Meerkat to provide a selection of live-streaming shows. Its VR videos are another step forward–just make sure to remember you’re not actually swimming with sharks.

Filed under: Discovery Channel, Discovery Digital Networks by Sam Gutelle
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Amazon Studios is adding some more aliens and quirky adventures to its library of original content. The digital production house has signed a development deal for a new series from Paramount Television based on Galaxy Quest, the 1999 cult sci-fi film from DreamWorks.

The Galaxy Quest film told the story of cast members from a cancelled Star Trek-like science fiction TV show, who are mistaken for real heroes and whisked away to space by simple-minded aliens to save them from a threatening race. The movie starred Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shaloub, Sam Rockwell, Daryl Mitchell, Enrico Colantoni, and Justin Long.

So far, Entertainment Weekly, who originally broke the news of the Galaxy Quest series deal with Amazon, reports none of the original Galaxy Quest acting talent is on board with the project as of yet. Overall, the show is still in early stages, but has already signed on original Galaxy Quest director Dean Parisot to head and executive produce the series’ pilot. The 1999 movie’s original co-writer Robert Gordon will write the script for the Galaxy Quest pilot, and also executive produce alongside Parisot, Mark Johnson, and Melissa Bernstein.

Deadline reports Paramount began development on the Galaxy Quest series back in April 2015. Neither Amazon nor Paramount had a comment on EW’s report of the impending series.

For those unfamiliar with Galaxy Quest, here’s the original theatrical trailer for your entertainment (or bewilderment):

Filed under: Amazon Studios, Articles, News by Bree Brouwer
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Welcome to YouTube Millionaires, where we profile channels that have recently crossed the one million subscriber mark. There are channels crossing this threshold every week, and each has a story to tell about YouTube success. Read previous installments of YouTube Millionaires here.

No true Scotsman would ignore the ChaBoyyHD YouTube channel. There, an upbeat Scottish gamer named Cha shares his best moments from video game franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Battlefield. Cha, who is partnered with BroadbandTV, recently surpassed one million subscribers. In order to get his thoughts on his accomplishments and his overall YouTube career, we sent some questions his way. Here are his responses:

Tubefilter: How does it feel to have 1 million subscribers? What do you want to say to your fans?

ChaBoyyHD: It feels ace! Definitely worth all the hard work. To the fans and everyone involved, I want to say thank you! I could not have done this without you.

TF: What’s your favorite thing about running a YouTube gaming channel and why?

CB: I love that I can just live my normal life and upload awesome videos to YouTube. I would say my favourite part is sharing my greatest gaming moments with the people who love to watch!

TF: What’s been the best moment of your entire YouTube career?

CB: Meeting my fans who have helped to make all this happen! It’s amazing to be able to interact with people in real life who have watched my videos.

TF: How long does it take you to collect funny moments from your gaming and turn them into a video?

CB: Generally with an hour of gaming, I can produce a 6-10 minute video. We surround ourselves with comedic individuals so it doesn’t take long to get the ball rolling on some funny stuff!

TF: How does your online success affect your family life?

CB: I always make sure my family comes first. If I’m being honest, I have a small family and only a few know I have a following on YouTube.

TF: Tell us about the process behind your most popular video, the “Battlefield 3 – Everyday I’m Javelin.” How did you come up with the idea, what went into making it, etc.?

CB: I was grouping with a bunch of German dudes at the time, they came up with the idea and created the video. I take no credit in their masterpiece but I did help promote the video to get it to where it is today.

TF: You have a lot of pictures of your dog and kid on your Instagram. Do you ever plan to start doing vlogging to document your life with them?

CB: As much as I’d like to, unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll vlog my dog or child anytime soon. As much as I like watching vlogs, I think for me it’s a little too personal to show what I get up to with my family and friends in real life. Maybe one day, but for now you’ll have to continue to enjoy the pictures! 😀

TF: If you could be invited to any game developer studio to test their newest game, which company would it be and why?

CB: Rockstar Games in New York to try to convince them to get their skips on with Red Dead Redemption!

TF: What’s next for your channel? Anything fun?

CB: I have some big plans so you’re going to have to tune in to make sure you don’t miss em! 😀

On Deck (channels that will soon reach one million subscribers): TheDuckVoice, HobbyKidsTV, Tetra Ninja

Filed under: Channels, Millionaires by Sam Gutelle
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Supergravity Pictures has some brand-new executive team members. The feature film studio, co-founded in 2014 by Marc Hustvedt and Max Benator, has hired Cody Zwieg as the studio’s Senior Vice President of Development and Production, as well as Mike Flavin as Supergravity’s Director of Development.

Zwieg arrives at Supergravity with a wealth of production experience from Hollywood. The executive worked on The Lazarus Effect with Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions and on Apollo 18 for Dimension Films. Additionally, Zwieg served in various producer roles for Wes Craven films like The Hills Have Eyes and The Last House on the Left. Zwieg also held the title of VP of Production and Development at Craven’s Midnight Entertainment company.

“I’m thrilled to join a team that embraces new avenues for traditional storytelling,” said Zwieg in a release. “We are going to support strong voices and innovative perspectives at Supergravity.”

As for Flavin, the new Supergravity executive comes to the company with plenty of experience as Director of Development with Cedar Mill Pictures. Flavin also previously served as Creative Executive at State Street Pictures, where he was responsible for setting up the George Tillman, Jr.-directed and Duane Adler-written Talent Show project at Universal Studios. “It’s inspiring to join a company that so clearly understands where the future of the business is heading,” explained Flavin. “I’m excited to join an amazing team.”

“Alongside Katie [Hawkins], our head of marketing, Cody and Mike round out a formidable leadership team at Supergravity,” said Benator. “We can’t wait to share what we have cookin’ as far as future projects. Lots of fun stuff on the way.”

Thanks to investments from various companies like AT&T’s and Chernin Group’s Otter Media, Supergravity said it plans to expand its creative hires alongside its marketing and digital distribution efforts in the near future. The studio has recently released the film The Chosen, starring Kian Lawley, and has a four-movie deal with Vimeo to produce more feature-length content. Additionally, Supergravity is working to create a stand-up comedy special featuring Elliott Morgan.

Filed under: Articles, News, SUPERGRAVITY PICTURES by Bree Brouwer
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A quartet of online video stars have a message for prospective smokers. Ryan Higa, Rachel Levin, Christian DelGrosso, and Jerry Purpdrank all appear in the truth campaign’s latest video, which channels Admiral Ackbar and warns that “social smoking” is a trap.

In the video, the participating YouTube and Vine stars offer up various rationalizations for why it’s okay to smoke. As soon as the words leave their mouths, various image macro characters show up to deliver a recurring three-word response: “IT’S A TRAP!” The video certainly panders to its Internet-loving target audience, but it also succeeds in getting its message across.

Truth, which has been active since the late 90s, has partnered with online video stars as part of its ongoing campaign to combat youth smoking. It previously enlisted several of the Internet’s most prominent influencers for an utterly ridiculous music video called “Left Swipe Dat,” which reminded viewers that smokers get fewer matches on Tinder. More recently, truth used blaring EDM music, kinetic typography, and fruit emoji to encourage teens to forego hookahs and cigars. That spot aired during the 2015 Teen Choice Awards.

“It’s A Trap” will air during an awards show as well. It is set to run on TV during the Video Music Awards, which will be broadcast on MTV on August 30th. By presenting its latest anti-smoking crusade to as many viewers as possible, Truth is hoping memes can finish the job of ending youth smoking for good. That mission is worthy of a Good Guy Greg for sure.

Filed under: Articles, Branded Entertainment, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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A legal feud Kim Kardashian and Kanye West launched against one of the co-founders of YouTube has been settled. Chad Hurley, who in 2013 was accused of unlawfully filming KimYe’s engagement and uploading it to video site MixBit, has agreed to pay the power couple $440,000, according to TMZ.

Hurley, who co-founded YouTube in 2005 with Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, managed to snag an invite to KimYe’s 2013 engagement ceremony, which took place at AT&T Park in San Francisco. At the time, he was looking to drum up support for MixBit, a Vine-like online video service he and Chen had launched earlier that year. From his seat, Hurley shot footage of the ceremony and uploaded it to MixBit, where it quickly amassed several hundred thousand views.

The video’s existence did not sit well with the happy couple, who alleged Hurley had broken a confidentiality agreement he had previously signed. A lawsuit soon emerged, with Hurley contesting the charges. He reportedly claimed to have not been aware of any agreements preventing him from shooting the ceremony.

The engagement video is still MixBit’s greatest hit; the platform has floundered in the two years since its launch. In 2014, Hurley and Chen’s Avos Systems (the parent company of MixBit) experienced a massive wave of layoffs. A few months later, Chen himself departed the company. Most importantly, MixBit has failed to pick up any major traction among consumers. At this point, it would be extremely optimistic to project any sort of long-term viability for it.

The good news, however, is that Hurley, who profited from YouTube’s $1.65 billion sale to Google in 2006, can surely afford to pay the $440,000 settlement. As for KimYe, they will get to line their pockets. That’s fortunate, because we all know they didn’t have enough money already.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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Welcome to the Fund This column! Each week, we’ll look at a planned web series or other online video project currently in search of funding on crowdfunding sites. We’ll tell you what the series is all about and explain why it is worth your money. Do you have a project that’s currently being crowdfunded? Contact us to let us know and we may feature it in upcoming installments and check out previous installments right here.

Project Name: Dark Detour, Season 2: All That Glitters

Asking For: $3,031 on Indiegogo

Amount Raised Thus Far (At Time Of Post): $3,244

Days Remaining In Campaign (At Time Of Post): 15

Description: Dark Detour originally started as a Halloween comedy-horror story that took place across multiple platforms. Audience members could directly partake in the storytelling process by following the characters in real time on Twitter or other social media outlets. The second season of Dark Detour will continue the multi-platform format, but this time around the story will be a romantic thriller. Taking place in the days leading up to Halloween, All That Glitters will introduce audiences to a London-based wedding photographer who meets a barmaid in the western part of England, but their love eventually takes them to a place from which they have no hope of escape. (Cue the scary music.)

Creator Bio: Behind Dark Detour is a more than qualified team. The interactive story was created by Steve Peters, an Emmy Award-winning Experience Designer and founder of No Mimes Media, who’s worked on projects like the feature film Watchmen. Alison Norrington of storycentral has years of experience in digital storytelling and audience-engaging projects from her time with brands such as Disney Imagineering R&D and FOX. Finally, Jenni Powell is already well-known to online video addicts as the producer of the Emmy Awards-winning web series The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, The New Adventures of Peter & Wendy, and Emma Approved.

Best Perk: If you’re a big fan of horror stories, you should consider investing $55 into Dark Detour, Season 2: All That Glitters. This perk level gets you a personal phone call from one of the story’s characters, played by real acting talent; while the conversation isn’t recorded, the exchange could affect the entire direction of the story. You can’t get much more interactive than that.

Why You Should Fund It: As you can already see, Dark Detour, Season 2 is already fully funded. However, this project has some unique stretch goals worth highlighting which would only bring the project to the next level. The story creators are asking fans to participate in various Twitter challenges, like posting pictures of yourself photoshopped into your favorite horror movie, to win trophies. Once enough trophies are submitted, different stretch goals will be unlocked.

For example, after ten trophies, Dark Detour will bring on transmedia guru Jay Bushman to help consult on the story. A truly impressive stretch goal would be if Dark Detour fans scored 25 trophies to unlock producer Adi Shankar, who’s worked on Hollywood films like The Grey and Dredd, as well as released several bootleg short films based on fan-favorite properties like Power Rangers.

Got a crowdfunding campaign you’d like to see featured in Fund This? Be sure to contact us here.

Filed under: Articles, Fund This, Indiegogo, News by Bree Brouwer
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Through its content studio, Marriott has teamed up with digital media stars and delivered high-quality branded videos on the web. For the hotel company’s latest partnership, it paired its Renaissance Hotels brand with YouTube star Sam Tsui, who used the many sounds of a hotel room to create a new music video.

Tsui, who has more than 2.1 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, filmed the video during his stay at a Renaissance hotel during the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago. By running his hands under running water, tapping water glasses, and playing with clothes hangers, Tsui creates a percussive beat that, when mixed with his powerful voice, creates a catchy jam. It’s a solid effort and Renaissance’s first collaboration with a YouTube star. It’s also reminiscent of a video Kurt Hugo Schneider (a frequent collaborator of Tsui’s) made with Buick. Check it out on the Renaissance YouTube channel:

Based on the annotations that appear on Tsui’s video, Renaissance seems like it will produce more tunes with well-known musicians, so we’ll keep an eye out for future collaborations.

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