by Marc Hustvedt on July 10th, 2009
Daily Show correspondent Josh Gad is set to star in a new web series from MadAtoms.com called Rent Control, which is being produced by USR Content for a possible negative pickup by Fox. Gad created the series along with his fellow Lost Nomad comedy troupe members Tyler Moore, Ida Darvish and Tyler Clancey who are also said to be in the series.
Filming began today on the series, which has Gad playing an underachieving slacker who’s uncle sets him up with a gig as building manager at a decrepit apartment building. (Sounds a bit like the setup of The Super Man.) The quirky supporting characters include a “lecherous gay porn star” who’s using his apartment as a porn set, and “a married couple on the verge of a murder-suicide.” Interesting.
by Marc Hustvedt on July 10th, 2009
To understand how web studio Next New Networks handles web series you have to think in verticals. The New York-based company rolls separately branded content verticals in everything from animation (Channel Frederator) to Do-It-Yourself (DIY) fashion (Threadbanger) to political comedy (Barely Political). For the DIY filmmaker set, there’s Indy Mogul, its increasingly popular network of web series with a flair for indie filmmaking which now averages over 2.5 million video views per month.
This week Indy Mogul added a new web series, The Reel Good Show, to its roster which includes Beyond the Trailer and Erik Beck’s Backyard FX. Ok, while technically it’s a new series, its host Bobby Miller was already an Indy Mogul staple, having hosted two seasons of the award-winning The Best Short Films in the World. But like all things, sometimes a show needs a refresh and the time comes for something new.
by Daisy Whitney on July 9th, 2009
The media agency Digitas is doing its part to ferry more money into the Web video business. It expects to book about 10 new advertising deals stemming from the “NewFront” Web video showcase it hosted along with its visit to the Cannes Lion International Advertising Festival, both early June.
Buoyed by that success, the agency will now bring a smaller version of the NewFront to its regional offices and advertisers around the country starting this week. Joining Digitas in the mini road show will be DECA, EQAL, Next New Networks, blip.tv, CBS Interactive, CAA, Reveille and others, said John McCarus, VP and ground director for brand content at the Third Act, the branded entertainment arm of the media agency. Most of those companies were also presenters at the NewFront.
by Marc Hustvedt on July 9th, 2009
The trailer to Level 26:Dark Origins, the new digi-novel web series from CSI creator Anthony Zuiker was released today. The series, announced in March, is a prequel for Zuiker’s upcoming crime novel Level 26, which is being published by Dutton for release September 8th.
EQAL, the web studio behind lonelygirl15, KateModern and Harper’s Globe was tapped to develop the online experience for the series. Production of the series itself is being handled by Zuiker and his team as part of a seven-figure multi-series deal signed with Dutton last year.
The series is basically 20 “cyber-bridges,” written and directed by Zuiker, which are short two-minute episodes that follow the book’s narrative. With a new cyber bridge every five chapters, readers will have to register at the Level26 site and enter a code from the book to view videos, audio files and photos.
by Michael Joshua Rowin on July 9th, 2009
IFC’s original web series Like So Many Things arrives on the crest of Mumblecore, the approximately five year-old strain of independent filmmaking characterized by low-low-low budget production, unfussy shooting styles, stories focused on the romantic tribulations of young, post-collegiate urban hipsters, and, most notoriously, awkward and hesitant dialogue.
by Lindsay Stidham on July 9th, 2009
Sometimes when brands throw lots of money at web series, the result is classy, and entertaining (see Dior’s Lady Dior). Sometimes, it’s a generic debacle of a successful reality TV series. Unfortunately for Concrete and Cashmere it falls into the later category.
There’s no doubt the show was created with one goal and one goal only–to splash it’s colorful, girlie-looking, definite hangover-inducing, neon-colored cocktail around as much as possible while getting people to say it as often as possible, while remembering to put an accent on the “zaaa” in Alize.
In that tried and true MTV confession-booth fashion format, ten contestants have arrived in New York to impress some Alize “executives” with their awesome ‘tudes and fashion sense for a chance to win ten grand and a career polishing package.
by Marc Hustvedt on July 8th, 2009
Jordan Hoffner of YouTube keynoted NATPE’s LATV Fest today, sharing some insights on the site’s delicate shift into episodic programming. As director of content partnerships for YouTube, this definitely wasn’t Hoffner’s first trip down to LA, having inked numerous deals with Hollywood studios and other content creators.
Starting off with an update on the site’s ever-changing stats, he highlighted the now 20 hours of video uploaded every minute to site, making search ever-so-important in matching all those videos with people who want to watch them. In fact, YouTube now sits as the #2 search engine in the world, Hoffner boasted, right behind its parent company Google, where “search is religion.”
Sure, the Hulu question came up. He couldn’t help but acknowledge their competitor’s success at building an audience for longer-form shows, though did take a stab at Hulu’s lack of “videos from Iran, videos that bring people together.”
by Pat Miller on July 8th, 2009
Think a little bit of Friday and a little bit of South Park.
That’s more or less what gets us to Orlando’s Joint, a Flash-animated short series about pot-puffing Orlando (voiced by Rodney J. Hobbs) and the trials and tribulations of running The Coffee Joint, a neighborhood coffee shop that unexpectedly came into his possession.
Joining Orlando are his two good friends Magda (Sonia Maria Martin) and Ponzi (Kevin John); the former is a girl-seeking girl who moonlights as a (hilariously boring) phone sex operator when she can’t get work at the Joint, and the latter is a wannabe thug who was named after a “famous entrepreneur” who taught his mother everything she knew about business. Together with the spirit of the previous proprietor, Bumpie, who has been reincarnated as a cockroach, they keep the Coffee Joint together amid the pressures of city life – until Orlando’s shady DJ past comes back to haunt him.
