At the most recent Golden Globes, Transparent became the first original series distributed by Amazon to win major awards. Now, it’s looking to storm the Emmys, too. Transparent led all Amazon and Netflix shows with 12 Emmy nominations, including representation in Best Comedy Series, Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Jeffrey Tambor), and Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (Gaby Hoffmann).

Transparent’s nominations come after a big push from Amazon, which used an innovative campaign to support its best show’s Emmy candidacy. While Jill Soloway’s dramedy earned the bulk of Amazon’s nominations, one other program distributed by the online retailer managed to sneak into the list as well. If you scroll deep into Deadline’s rundown of Emmy nominees, you’ll find a single nod for Bosch, which is up for Outstanding Main Title Design.

While Amazon Studios will make its first appearance at the Emmys, its main competitor, Netflix, is well-represented for the third straight year. The streaming video service has increased its Emmy presence each year, and with 34 nominations in 2015, it set a personal best once again. House of Cards led the way with 11 nods, but the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences also recognized 10 other programs distributed by Netflix: Orange is the New Black, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Daredevil, Bloodline, Grace and Frankie, Marco Polo, Derek, Virunga, Hot Girls Wanted, and Chef’s Table all scored at least one nomination.

Nothing better exemplifies the growth of streaming video platforms than this fact: In every major category, at least one program distributed by Netflix or Amazon is nominated. Three years ago, who would have believed that?

Filed under: Amazon, Articles, Featured, News, Web Series by Sam Gutelle
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Paul Rudd is back in the digital sphere to promote his upcoming Marvel film Ant-Man. This time, the actor appeared in two separate videos filmed at YouTube Space LA, one for CollegeHumor and one for Jake Roper’s Vsauce3 YouTube channel.

CollegeHumor, which boasts 9.7 million subscribers on its channel, decided to challenge Rudd and his Ant-Man co-star Michael Peña to a unique guessing game for an episode of The Game Show. The two actors end up competing to see who can guess random actors’ ages; whoever ends up with the most correct answers wins. With such a wide pool of acting talent to choose from, Rudd and Peña don’t exactly succeed with flying colors at the CollegeHumor competition.

In the Vsauce3 clip dubbed “What Would Happen If You Were Shrunk?”, Rudd is searching for Roper with a magnifying glass, worried that he’s shrunk the Vsauce3 channel host. The Ant-Man actor eventually finds the mini-Roper, who then explains what would happen to a human body if it were only half an inch tall. The clip, which employs Vsauce’s trademark blend of educational content and wit, has over 2.4 million subscribers.

This isn’t the first time Rudd has collaborated with YouTubers to promote Ant-Man. The actor competed against the guys from Dude Perfect to see who would be the ultimate champion of a Dizzy Sports Battle. As for YouTube Space LA, the digital-focused production hub has played host to a variety of film-themed initiatives in the past, including ones for Legendary’s Godzilla and Paramount Pictures’ Terminator Genisys.

You can view Rudd’s collaborations with CollegeHumor and Vsauce3 on their respective YouTube channels. Ant-Man hits the big screen (not little ones) on July 17, 2015.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, CollegeHumor, News by Bree Brouwer
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Freddie Wong’s RocketJump channel houses some of the most creative, fun, and technically impressive videos on YouTube. Over the past year, however, Wong and his team of special effects maestros have had their sights set on other platforms, and a new partnership will allow RocketJump to flourish. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the digital studio has signed with Hollywood talent agency WME.

The WME deal will support RocketJump as the studio works on multiple projects. Most significantly, Wong and his team are planning a web series on Hulu called RocketJump: The Show, which will explore the studio’s creative process across eight episodes. It does not yet have a confirmed release date.

RocketJump: The Show will be the first of several large-scale projects RocketJump fans can expect. Through the studio’s April 2014 deal with Lionsgate, it is exploring aspirations across TV, film, and digital. When we spoke to Wong after the completion of his popular web series Video Game High School, he noted several projects in the works, including an anthology series called Dimension 404.

“We were looking for representation that was creatively and commercially in synch with our core DNA,” Wong told THR. “The team at WME understands where we’re going, and we’re looking forward to taking our company to the next level with them by our side.”

Despite this wide array of projects, the RocketJump YouTube channel remains the studio’s most popular hub. It has 7.6 million subscribers and more than 1.1 billion views.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Freddie Wong, News, RocketJump, WME by Sam Gutelle
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Kiliaen Van Rensselaer is leaving his job at FOX Broadcasting to form his own independent studio. The Senior VP of Multi-Platform Programming at FOX has launched Insurrection Media, which will aim to provide TV-quality content primarily for digital distribution.

The goal of Van Rensselaer’s new studio, according to a release, is “to more efficiently develop and produce future TV hits by streamlining the development process and empowering creatives with resources to produce bold original content.” Essentially, Insurrection wants to eliminate as much of the business end of content creation as possible, and allow creators more freedom and flexibility in their work.

“Our approach is based on my strong belief that enabling stories to be told as the creators intended, in a light-touch environment will generate better, more compelling shows,” explained Van Rensselaer. “We’re fired up to be able to empower talented creators, writers, directors, actors, producers and crew to unleash their full potential.”

According to Variety, Insurrection will aim to produce scripted, live-action comedy and drama content with lower-end production budgets. Van Rensselaer will aim to distribute this content first on digital platforms, before looking to cable and broadcast options. “With the worldwide proliferation of new video platforms, there is tremendous unmet demand for quality scripted original content and we are uniquely positioned to serve those needs,” he said.

Insurrection Media already has financial backing from a key investment company. Allen DeBevoise’s Third Wave Capital Partners has invested an undisclosed amount in Insurrection. As part of the deal, DeBevoise (a board of directors member for YouTube multi-channel network Machinima) will sit on the studio’s board of advisers.

“We invested in Kiliaen’s vision because we believe strongly in his leadership and ability to create and grow a new kind of pipeline that will uninhibitedly harness the imagination of talent to build a library of world class IP in original content,” said DeBevoise.

Van Rensselaer brings a strong history of digital and TV-centric experience to his new venture. At FOX, he oversaw content development at and the creation of several “micro-studios,” including Party Over Here with the Lonely Island’s Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone. That initiative resulted in a series order for The Tyler Zone from Conde Nast Entertainment’s video hub The Scene.

Additionally, Van Rensselaer has worked on a mini-studio with Keith Quinn and Jonathan Stern of Abominable Pictures. One of that group’s projects, Filthy Sexy Teen$, was picked up by Fullscreen. Van Rensselaer was also a founder for the female-centric digital studio WIGS. Under his guidance, the network produced over 35 hours of original content; one series — Blue, starring Julia Stiles — was picked up by Hulu.

Van Rensselaer will leave his position at FOX on August 1, 2015. He will then start working out of the studio’s Century City offices, and hire new employees within the next few months.

Filed under: Articles, News, Studios by Bree Brouwer
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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: Vermin

Asking For: $30,000 on Kickstarter

Amount Raised Thus Far (At Time Of Post): $12,722

Days Remaining In Campaign (At Time Of Post): 24

Description: Despite all his rage, the main character of a new web series is still just a rat in a cage. Fearless Comedy Productions and The Puppet Forge are seeking funds for Vermin, a puppet-based web series about a group of lab rats.

Vermin‘s central figure is Ralph, a highly-intelligent rat who gets promoted to a middle management position. Upon receiving his promotion, Ralph “starts noticing things that everyone else seems oblivious to.” In addition to his rat compatriots, who will be piloted by puppeteers, Ralph also has a human companion, which is where one of Vermin‘s biggest draws comes into play. In order to bring a familiar voice (or at least a familiar voice) to their series, producer Gordon Smuder and writer Tim Wick have “kidnapped” Trace Beaulieu; the former Mystery Science 3000 cast member will portray Ralph’s human boss.

Creator Bio: The Puppet Forge was one of Kickstarter’s earliest users. In 2010, it raised more than $8,000 to fund a Halloween special for its previous series, Transylvania Television. Fearless Comedy Productions has launched its own arsenal of projects, many of which can be viewed on its YouTube channel.

Best Perk: For $40 you can be listed in the credits as a “Laboratory Assistant.” Creepy laugh not included.

Why You Should Fund It: The Vermin team has termed its Kickstarter push a relaunch, since it previously launched a campaign in April and came close (but not quite all the way) to reaching its goal. Clearly, the support is there, and given The Puppet Forge’s whimsical designs, its not hard to see where interest in Vermin comes from. Beaulieu, who as the voice of Crow T. Robot was an integral part of MST3K’s earliest (and best) seasons, and his decision to come on board will allow Vermin to generate even more excitement.

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

Filed under: Articles, Featured, Fund This, Kickstarter, News by Sam Gutelle
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Netflix has hit yet another subscriber milestone. The streaming subscription platform announced it now boasts a whopping 65.6 million total subscribers across the world, a 3.3 million increase since Q1’s report.

Netflix had estimated it would add 2.5 million more subscribers in Q2 of 2015, so it beat its projection by 0.8 million subscribers. The 3.3 million new subscribers was also almost double the amount of new subscribers (1.7 million) the streaming platform earned in the same quarter in 2014.

In a shareholder letter reported by Variety, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and CFO David Wells credited Netflix’s subscriber growth in Q2 2015 to the service’s growing original content library and subscribers’ increased interest in the programming. Original shows such as Daredevil and season three of Orange Is the New Black, which were introduced to the streaming platform in the last quarter, helped fuel Netflix’s subscriber count.

Hastings and Wells also said in the letter “another indicator that we are on the right path” was the fact that almost 90% of Netflix subscribers have watched the platform’s original content at some point during their subscription period. Hastings and Wells wrote that Netflix “will devote more investment to originals both in absolute dollars and percentage terms” in the future.

Along with the subscriber numbers, Netflix reported a revenue of $1.64 billion in Q2 2015, up 23% from last year’s number. The streaming platform also commanded $0.06 per share of its stock, two cents higher than analysts’ expectations. Plus, in after-hours trading on July 15, 2015, Netflix stocks were up 10%.

Filed under: Articles, Netflix, News by Bree Brouwer
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Among branded videos released on YouTube in June, the Terminator is tops. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s social prank to support the After-School All-Stars program grabbed the number one spot in the latest YouTube Ad Leaderboard, which shows the top sponsored content released on YouTube each month.

In a video released on June 17th, the Governator dons his Terminator get-up and walks around downtown Los Angeles. While it’s fun to watch Ahnold intimidate random passersby, the video was primarily intended as a way to spread the world about his recent Omaze campaign to support After-School All-Stars. Given its 22.7 million views, I’d say it accomplished that goal quite well.

Following right behind The Terminator on the Ad Leaderboard is a video from Dove, which has established itself as one of YouTube’s top brands. In April, the cosmetics company made a splash just in time for Mother’s Day, and in June, it gave Father’s Day a similar treatment.

In third place comes an ad for a mobile game, and no, it’s not Clash of Clans. Instead, collectible card game Hearthstone–which is currently the third most-streamed game on Twitch–scored seven-digit views with a clever commercial.

Here, courtesy of Google, is the entire June Leaderboard:

1. After-School All-Stars: Arnold Pranks Fans as the Terminator…for Charity, 21.8M views
2. Dove Men+Care shares your first fatherhood moments this Father’s Day, 16.6M views
3. Hearthstone TV Commercial “Substitution”, 1.6M views
4. Samsung Mobile: Galaxy S 6 v 6: Edge Display, 1.3M views
5. Google My Business: Building a Proud Community with Google My Business, 1.3M views
6. Apple: Shot on iPhone 6 by Antoine D., 1.3M views
7. Dunkin Donuts: Gronk and Big Papi Summer Chill Hit Single “Sippin'”, 1.2M views
8. Apple:  Shot on iPhone 6 by Cielo D., 1M views
9. OxiClean: How Cleaning Has Changed Through The Years, 1M views
10. Ford GT Returns to Le Mans, 887K views

Filed under: Articles, Celebrity, Featured, News, YouTube Ad Leaderboard by Sam Gutelle
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Felicia Day has expanded her social media presence. The  YouTube star and creator of the nerd-skewing video network Geek & Sundry (owned by Legendary Entertainment) has created her official Facebook fan page, and posted her first video clip, in which she reads from her upcoming book You’re Never Weird On the Internet (Almost).

Day, who has over 1.2 million subscribers and more than 160 million video views on the Geek & Sundry YouTube channel, tells her followers in her first Facebook video upload how the fan page will allow her to better deliver them exclusive content like clips and photos. Then, after explaining how she lost her voice at San Diego Comic-Con, Day manages to read a short excerpt from her forthcoming memoir.

You’re Never Weird On the Internet (Almost) was announced back in December 2014. The Touchstone-published work will chronicle Day’s rise to internet fame, starting when she created her hit web series The Guild because she was tired of being typecast during acting auditions. Day’s memoir will be released on August 11, 2015.

You can check out Day’s new Facebook page at facebook.com/FeliciaDay. Pre-orders for the geek queen’s book can be placed through various retailers on the You’re Never Weird On the Internet (Almost) official website.

Filed under: Articles, Felicia Day, News by Bree Brouwer
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Just as film festivals serve as important showcases of independent cinema, web fests–such as the ones in Los Angeles and Toronto–have become a significant part of the web series community. One of the newest additions to the web fest circuit is the NYC Web Fest, which is currently accepting submissions for its second annual event.

The first NYC Web Fest, which took place last November, honored top web series creators, actors, and crew members across ten categories. Nominees included a few of our personal favorites, such as Caper and Plant.

NYC Web Fest founder Lauren Atkins sees her event as an opportunity for up-and-coming online video content creators to get the word out. “My vision for NYC Web Fest is modeled after the Sundance Film Festival,” she said in a press release. “I want to provide content creators with a place to screen their shows in front of an audience on a big screen. The creative community in New York is second to none, and it’s cool to see everyone come together and support each other’s projects.”

Submissions for the NYC Web Fest will be accepted until July 31st, with the event itself occuring on November 13th and 14th. For more information about the festival, including submission rules, check out its website.

Filed under: Articles, Featured, News, NYC Web Fest by Sam Gutelle
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Netflix is readying viewers for the premiere of its newest original series. The streaming video-on-demand platform dropped the official trailer for its crime drama Narcos, which premieres on August 28, 2015.

The Narcos series trailer introduces viewers to the lavish yet dangerous lifestyle of infamous Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar (played by Elite Squad’s Wagner Moura). The Netflix original series will follow the story of Escobar and other high-level cocaine kingpins of the 1980s as U.S. law enforcement officers try to take them down.

Netflix originally announced the production of Narcos back in April 2014. Moura was already on board as Escobar, along with his previous Elite Squad director José Padilha. In June, Game of Thrones’s Pedro Pascal joined the cast, which also includes Boyd Holbrook, Juan Pablo Raba, Joanna Christie, and Stephanie Sigman. Doug Miro, Eric Newman, Carlo Bernard, and Chris Brancato serve as executive producers.

Produced by Gaumont Television, Narcos will be released on Netflix’s platform on August 28.

Filed under: Articles, Netflix, News, Web Series by Bree Brouwer
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America’s first 24-hour news network has now gone in search of America’s most curious tales. CNN has launched a web series called Great American Stories, in which it brings viewers short documentaries on a variety of eclectic topics.

Great American Stories has launched with an initial slate of five episodes. Subjects run the gamut, covering everything from from a team of collegiate video game players to a West Virginia town where cell phones are banned. The series’ title, as well as its mission to shine light on the underexplored corners of the country, are reminiscent of NPR’s long-running radio show This American Life. One of Great American Stories’ first episodes even shares its subject with a recent This American Life installment by profiling the residents of Whittier, Alaska, who all live together in one big building.

CNN produced Great American Stories through its digital wing, which it launched in April 2014. New episodes will premiere throughout September, with new ones arriving each Wednesday on CNN’s website and across its network of mobile apps and social media accounts.

Filed under: Articles, Channels, Featured, News by Sam Gutelle
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Meghan Rienks has released her own version of a very important public service announcement. The 21-year-old YouTube star, who boasts over 1.7 million subscribers on her channel, teamed with the non-profit organization Futures Without Violence and the Ad Council to create a video about teen dating violence for the Council’s “Cool Not Cool” campaign.

Rienks’s video, entitled “Relationship Goals vs. Relationship Fails,” shows viewers various scenes between a dating couple, with Rienks playing the role of the girlfriend. For each situation that’s considered “cool” (like Rienks’s boyfriend texting her a loving message), the opposite “not cool” side is shown (Rienks’s boyfriend sending her controlling texts). At the end of the video, Rienks implores her viewers to be “safe and comfortable” in their dating lives.

In addition to Rienks’ video, the Ad Council has created several other mobile-first initiatives for its “Cool Not Cool” campaign, which is part of a larger initiative about teen dating violence called “That’s Not Cool.” Alongside youth-skewing marketing agency Archrival, the Council launched CoolNotCoolQuiz.org, where teens can swipe left or right on their smartphone screens to choose whether or not presented scenarios are appropriate in relationships. Additionally, teens can follow “thatsnotcool” on messaging app Kik Messenger to participate in a promoted chat about acceptable digital communications when dating someone.

Rienks is the first YouTube star to partner with the Ad Council for its larger Creators for Good social awareness initiative. The initiative features various digital stars who make videos about a cause dear to their hearts, chosen from the Ad Council’s past roster of projects (which have covered issues like autism and “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk”). Future Creators for Good Council partners include Justine Ezarik (aka iJustine), Grace Helbig, The Fine Bros., and Joey Graceffa.

Filed under: Ad Council, Articles, Meghan Rienks, News by Bree Brouwer
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