Tubefilter News

To create the entertainment of the future, writer-director Drew Daywalt reaches back into the past to fuel his imagination. The creator of Camera Obscura, the upcoming supernatural thriller web series from MWG Entertainment, draws much of his inspiration from the short form storytelling of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, focusing on the horror of anticipation. Camera Obscura shares the sense of dread prevalent in such literary classics as Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven,” and the works of H.P. Lovecraft.

The series follows Clara, an orphan brought up by her alcoholic, absent grandfather. After he dies, she finds a camera that belonged to him, and discovers that it can capture demons. She also discovers that her grandfather’s work was not done, and it falls on her shoulders to complete his task. It’s a nice little family story with a whole lotta’ scary going on.

The cast features familiar faces such as Reagan Dale Neis (Malcolm in the Middle) as “Clara,” Timm Sharp (Till Death), and three-time Emmy winner and Golden Globe winner Jack Klugman as “Grandpa Sam.” Daywalt had previously worked with Neis and Sharp on his feature debut, Stark Raving Mad, and he wrote the parts in Camera Obscura with them in mind. He was thrilled when Klugman agreed to do the series, excited by the sense of weight and history the performer would bring to the role.

In 2007, with the writers strike looming, Daywalt, writer-director David Schneider, former Newmarket exec John Crye, and actors Paul Hungerford and Kirk B.R. Woller decided to join forces. Says Daywalt, “We were all looking at six months of being completely unemployed. We knew the strike was going to last, and we needed to do something. We also wanted to reinvent ourselves. All five of us are big fans of genre.”

It started as a clever riff on Quarterlife, Marshall Herskovitz’s popular web series-turned-short-lived-NBC drama, but somewhere along the line, 2/8 Life gathered up its own set of fans. The charming comedy of a group of twentysomethings, led by vlogger Angela Curtis (Nellie Barnett) in search for meaning in a hyper-connected world, returned for its second season on Hulu last week.

Matt Vascellaro created the series which was developed as an original property for the Independent Comedy Network (ICN.TV). While ICN has pretty much been dormant this year, with several key members taking off for other ventures, it still technically owns 2/8 Life, which remains the site’s most popular series. That didn’t stop Vascellaro and his team from dusting of the second season which he says they shot over a year and half ago.

I caught up with Vascellaro and asked about the choice to continue the series and the long delay in getting the second season online.

WeTV has one purely online program: Hot Coffee Break. You’ve probably heard of it. Guys taking off their shirts while in the laundry room, at the park, cleaning the house, frosting a cake. You get the picture. Wherever a guy can remove his shirt, they have one doing it. No dialogue, just music and the guy. Once the shirt is off, typically in the first five seconds, the viewer can study the resulting ab shots for about 30 seconds. That’s it!

In 1980 ABC aired a show called Mr. and Mrs. Dracula. It was a situational comedy about a husband, a wife, their two kids, and a pet bat named Gregor. Oh, and they were all vampires, but maybe you guessed that from the title? The show was canceled after one episode. A year later they [...]

KoldCast TV is getting into the original content game and building itself a studio. The Irvine, CA-based company announced a handful of updates today, the most significant being the creation of a new LA-based digital studio dubbed KoldCast Studios. Heading up the new original content division will be former Warner Bros. based HDFilms VP, Marti Resteghini who joins the company as VP network programming and acquisitions.

The hire is a significant step for KoldCast. Before this, the company operated outside the Hollywood studio system, working mostly with independent creators in a distribution and marketing capacity. They made a name for themselves and built loyalty amongst web series creators looking for a home for their series, offering a hands on partnership that included custom ad units, cross promotion and PR support. Shows like After Judgment, The Super Man, The Crew, Pink, OzGirl and The Midwest Teen Sex Show make up the core of the more than 50 web series on the network.

It’s not really a secret anymore, but celebrities, especially in LA, get hooked up with more free gear and high-end garb than they even know what to do with. Seriously, it’s almost criminal how much free swag gets thrown at them at charity events, award shows, launch parties, you name it. Thankfully, for the rest of us, there’s a new web series called Gift Bag Robin Hood from Stylit.TV which tries to share some of that trendy booty.

The Stylit.TV site had been in a private beta until it launched to the public this week. Founded by Ken Feldman, who also mugs a little on-camera hosting time in the series, the site is half web series, half e-commerce startup.

I talked to Feldman about the site launch and his plans for the web series crossover business model that he’s banking on. The concept of the Robin Hood series is essentially autobiographical, I’ve learned, as Feldman himself turned into quite the gift bag giver through his years in commercial production. “I was going to all these fashion shows and getting all these gift bags filled with makeup and clothes and I was just giving them away to my girl friends,” said Feldman.

Feldman saw an opportunity and brought on a handful of talented, not to mention fashionable, hosts like Katya Dara, Rebekah James, Ari Tinnen and Kristen Brockman. While Feldman intros each episode of Robin Hood, he says he’s phasing himself out as quickly as possible. With hosts like Brockman (above), whom he calls “the Julia Roberts of hosting,” we can see why.

It’s been a long day. 8 hours with a headset strapped to your face, pissed off people on the line, and one sexually suggestive caller doesn’t help matters much. As if things couldn’t get worse, someone stopped the countdown clock on the microwave mid-way through your oh-so-delicious penne pasta leftover from last night.

Telemarketers, “tracking specialists,” “sales associates,” whatever you call them, they’re people too, with long days and tough bosses just like the rest of us. That’s the basis of a new comedy web series released by RWP Productions from Austin, Texas titled Call Center, a mockumentary about an overnight shipping company. The series, created by Reagan Peterson, Galen Carter-Jeffrey, and Barbara Clark, tries to give us a hilarious look at who sits on the other end of the phone.

According to information sent by Clark to us, the series will run 13 episodes. Each episode runs a modest 3-4 minutes and stars a plethora of clever, though mostly unknown actors. Per the usual mockumentary style, Call Center focuses on a wide-range of archetypal characters that works well. Like another comedy Austin-shot, Mike Judge’s Office Space, and even The Office, the show’s 29-year-old boss-archetype (John Handem) sits high, screws off, and shrugs complaints made by employees.

Do you ever wonder what it’s like to be a struggling actor in LA? Calls back for roles are few and far-between, waiting tables has long since become a major drag and getting cast in low-grade porn an ever more enticing option? Well, in case you’re really curious there are about three hundred seventy four [...]