by Marc Hustvedt on January 31st, 2009
(Germans(^2) + Science)/Experiments = Fender Bender Strausen. Archival footage from the German government, spearheaded by crack scientists Christof and Dagmar, documents some of the country’s more culturally risqué social experiments. The Atom.com comedy web series is the latest to get called up to Comedy Central’s weekly AtomTV time slot, making its cable debut with the “Stalkers” episode (above) this Monday at 11:30 PM (PST).
The series was co-created by RDF’s Max Benator and Rob Sixsmith along with LA-based web comedy outfit Team Tiger Awesome: Nick Mundy, Clint Gage and Michael Ryan Truly—about a year ago when both groups were working on projects for Turner’s now-defunct SuperDelxue. Team Tiger Awesome’s recent standouts Oprah is Dead and 28 Days Slater have picking up buzz lately. More on those later.
by Michael Shaw on January 30th, 2009
“A pair of strippers by the airport…an elderly woman and her caretaker daughter…two hipsters who hang out in a coffeehouse…and a traditional, conservative Christian couple.” Put ‘em on an island and you’re looking at more mulch in the reality show wood chipper, but these random Americans are asked to pontificate in their own habitats, so [...]
by Jamison Tilsner on January 30th, 2009
The New York Television Festival, which is the first-ever independent television showcase, gives independent television producers and creators the opportunity to present work directly to executives at broadcast networks, cable networks, and online content providers. But don’t let the name fool you. The NYTVF is also seeking to showcase your web series.
by Mary Feuer on January 30th, 2009
John August’s screenwriting credits go on and on: Big Fish, Corpse Bride, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are just a few. His first feature as a director, The Nines, was made in 2007. Now he’s joined the ranks of web series creators.
August’s The Remnants, shot during the writer’s strike, caused a stir when it was posted to Vimeo a few weeks ago. Clips of the show had been previously uploaded, whetting our appetites for more of this mysterious apocalyptic comedy. But we’ll have to keep on pining, at least for the foreseeable future, since The Remnants hasn’t acquired the sponsorship necessary to bring it to the web as a full series.
August recently wrote about The Remnants on his blog, sharing details and specifics you don’t often get to see. I asked him to elaborate on his analysis of the experience for Tubefilter.
Tubefilter: You said that a lot of agencies refused to send their actors out because “The Remnants” was a web series. Can you talk about that?
John August: When you’re casting a traditional TV pilot, you audition 50 or more actors for any given role. So for agencies not to send out their actors to meet an established writer-producer in the middle of a strike which had shut down the industry was absurd. I had no idea who Michael Cassidy and Amanda Walsh were. If their agents hadn’t sent them out to audition, they wouldn’t be in the show, and I wouldn’t be a huge cheerleader for both of them.
I didn’t need any name-brand actors. Ernie Hudson, for example, was just awesome for being awesome. And Justine Bateman has an energy that was fun to write for.
by Alex Crowley on January 30th, 2009
Sam Laybourne and his uncle, Tom Saunders, are from the future (the year 2346, to be exact). As a pre-wedding gift, Tom decided to take Sam back in time to the 1970s to party it up. But on the way there, the time machine broke down. Now they’re stuck in present day, awfully confused by [...]
by Pat Miller on January 30th, 2009
Just in time for this weekend’s national pastime, it’s time to take a look at what we won’t be seeing in America’s Game. No, not the Pats. We’re talking the last crop of TV ads you and your mates actually quiet down to watch. (No wonder NBC is demanding $3M for each 30-second spot.)
LandlineTV gives us a preview of what didn’t make the cut this year, like “Sex Car” (above), their second episode of their web series Rejected Super Bowl Ads.
The premise of the show is rather straightforward: Cory Cavin and Josh Lay of LynnLynn Comedy, a New York-based comedy group, are five-year interns at an advertising agency. Mad Men they aren’t. Instead, they give us commercials like a Budweiser version of the Mac vs. PC ads, the environmentally-friendly cachet of the Toyota Prius for something a little more sexy, and now their latest release which takes a new spin on everybody’s favorite feminine product.
by Joshua Cohen on January 29th, 2009
When I met up with EQAL co-founders Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried last September, they mentioned their ambition to turn lonelygirl15 and its interconnected series of “social shows” into a ”Star Wars-type franchise.” I took that to mean developing and nurturing a mythology that’s replete with characters and images ripe for merchandising and beloved by [...]
by Lesley Goldberg on January 29th, 2009
Created to capitalize on the majority of packaged-goods buyers, Kraft and S.C. Johnson became the latest backers of Mom Life, a new web reality series that launched this week.
Through motherhood-themed site Jenandbarbmomlife.com, the series of four- to five-minute episodes set to run through June features fortysomething moms Jennifer Pate and her friend, Barb Machen and revolves around “life in the trenches of motherhood with a funny take on the mommy life from two real moms who riff on everything from career to husbands to disciplining kids, along with straight on-camera discussion of the daily issues, challenges and joys of motherhood. Real life from real moms,” according to the site.
