by Marc Hustvedt on August 17th, 2009
With web television still being a relatively young medium, we’re still seeing a lot of firsts in the space. The team behind Poor Paul, just hit us with another one. They donated a walk-on role to be auctioned off at the 2008 Children at Heart Gala and Celebrity Auction which benefits the Chabad’s Children of Chernobyl Charity. The role went for $4500 and the winner, fourteen-year-old Chelsea Evered from Connecticut appears in the latest episode (above), “When the Walls Come Crumbling Down.”
Since the show is shot under a SAG new media contract, the 14 year-old aspiring actress actually ended up with a little bonus, being Taft-Hartley’d into union eligibility with her role on the series.
The hit comedy web series returned for a second season on KoldCast TV in June, with hapless video blogger Paul (Zack Bennett) dealing with his antagonizing roommates Clyde (Wes Whitworth) and Justin (Kevin G. Schmidt) and would-be love interest Bonnie (Samantha Droke).
by Marc Hustvedt on August 17th, 2009
After much anticipation since its ‘surprise’ debut at Comic-Con in San Diego last month, The Guild’s first ever music video is now up on YouTube for your mid-day jam-out pleasure. The suspiciously-catchy track, “(Do You Wanna Date My) Avatar?” features Felicia Day and the full Guild cast all in their full WoW avatar garbs singing a sexy fantasy ballad in a dreamlike white limbo.
As we learned at Comic-Con, Day wrote the lyrics before handing them over to Dr. Horrible composer Jed Whedon (brother of Dr. Horrible creator Joss Whedon) who wrote the music. Whedon’s wife and Dr. Horrible writer Maurissa Tancharoen makes a cameo as one of the backup dancers. The colorfully detailed avatar costumes, designed by Sarah Trost, were even donned by the full cast at the Comic-Con panel.
by Lesley Goldberg on August 14th, 2009
Following up on May’s announcement that USA Network would bring its hit drama Monk to the web, network parent NBC Universal made it official with formal details of the 10-episode web series.
Set to bow during one of the few remaining new episodes of its final eighth season, Little Monk will premiere Aug. 21 on USA with a two-minute sneak preview sending viewers to the web to “discover the details” of how Adrian Monk (played on TV by Emmy-winner Tony Shalhoub) became the obsessive-compulsive detective.
Alexandra Shapiro, senior vp of brand marketing and digital at USA Network, said the live-action web series “felt like a great way to send off the series in its final season and to give fans some insight into a small part of his childhood.”
In partnership with Sleep Inn hotels, each episode of the spinoff web series follows young Monk (newcomer Aaron Linker) and his brother, Ambrose (Christpher Lizardi) as the junior high students solve small crimes like missing bracelets, stolen money and graffiti, the network said. Little Monk is written by executive producer and head writer Andy Breckman and directed by Randy Zisk, who both work on Monk.
by Tubefilter News on August 14th, 2009
We get it, you can’t all check in at Tubefilter every few hours, or maybe you even—gasp!—skip a day. So sometimes you just need a little refresher of what you missed. That’s why we’re bringing this back by popular demand, The Friday Rewind, a delicious little recap of the top stories of the week on Tubefilter News.
This week saw a handful of teen drama premieres, like Generate/TheWB’s The Lake from director Jason Priestley, and Alloy’s prep school mystery drama Private. And guest contributor Gennefer Snowfield returned for another well-received informative piece on the fallacy of competition between web series. Creators took her “Form Your Own League of Extraordinary Super Series” call to action to heart, setting off a Twitter discussion that led to the emergence of a #SciFiCollective of series. We’re curious to see what develops from this group.
by Michael Shaw on August 14th, 2009
The WB’s made-for-web series The Lake primarily evokes one question: Do you like your teen dramas spoon fed? Following in the long tradition of prime time teen soaps, from Beverly Hills 90210 to The OC, The Lake wraps up its character introductions and defines the good guy, bad girl, smart kid roles (giving us a [...]
by Marc Hustvedt on August 14th, 2009
I didn’t know who Aloe Blacc was going into this series. Apparently he’s been called “an indie R. Kelly,” a soulful singer-musician-emcee from the O.C. with a loyal cadre of admiring fans. But jumping into the indie music web series The Craft, I can see the appeal.
That’s one of the great secrets of this emerging medium—that web series are discovery tools—grabbing us wherever we are in our on the web and pulling us into other worlds. These are deep dives. The ten-minute episodes are longer than traditional MTV-style jump-cut flyovers, bringing out a fuller, much richer story behind each musician.
Smith calls the series “a show for people who really, really like shows.” He added, “it’s something that is of high quality that has something interesting and engaging. We’re not TMZ. We’re going to give you something that is a short-form, broadcast quality show.” Smith produced the series along with his wife Stephanie Luciano-Smith and his DP, Mat Lucas.
by Tamara Krinsky on August 13th, 2009
Keith Quinn, Paramount Digital Entertainment Senior VP of Creative Development and Production, is a big fan of LOST and lightweight ARGs. So it’s not a big surprise that the new web series coming out of PDE is a supernatural thriller that incorporates interactive gaming elements…along with a heck of a lot of Mountain Dew. The brand has signed on as a sponsor for the series, and will be tightly integrated into both the storytelling and gaming experience. Circle of 8 will debut in October exclusively on MySpace and a mobile partner, followed by distribution via a variety of outlets and formats.
As web television continues to develop, one of the key questions for show creators is cracking the mystery of how the business actually works. Where do deals originate, how does one get a sponsor on board and how does web video generate revenue? Though Circle of 8 is a show with a lot of suspense, I was able to get Quinn and Mountain Dew Director of Marketing Marisol Tamaro to spill some of the secrets about the anatomy of this deal.
by Jake Weaver on August 13th, 2009
Alright all you Dolce&Gabbana sporting, Prêt-à-Porter hating fashionistas. VBS.TV’s Behind the Seams will surely turn your stomachs because high fashion it is not. As the tagline goes, “Behind the Seams picks all the little lint balls of genius off the big gray, astonishingly dumb sweater that is the fashion industry and sews them into petite-siez [...]
