Tubefilter News

Mountain Man, the surreal comedy that follows ex-folk star turned anti-government survivalist Jonas Hawkinus, recently relauched after a brief hiatus. As writer-director Matthew Mangs discussed in an e-mail correspondence with me, “We took a break from releasing Mountain Man every week because we could not keep up with the heavy post-production workload (editing, color-correcting, special FX, sound and music) when everyone involved has their own separate projects, careers, social obligations, vacations, etc. Mountain Man has never had a crew in the double digits. Producer Matt Enlow and I built Jonas’ Sanctuary by hand, with a few friends helping out with the painting and paper mache. There have never been more than a handful of people carrying quite a workload.”

At the risk of repeating what you undoubtedly already know, it’s no secret that web series with one or more affiliations to Joss Whedon are blessed with online pixie dust lately. The Guild certainly had a nice boost in fans after Felicia Day’s leading role in Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog last summer. And let’s not forget Day had an 8-episode run on Whedon’s TV Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

So what’s to be made of the latest Whedon thespian, Dollhouse and The Cabin in the Woods star Fran Kranz, popping up online in a new web series? With today’s launch of robot comedy series MegaBot on Atom.com, it remains to be seen if the connection will bring with it any special perks. It’s even already appeared on Whedonesque, the real-time hub of happenings in the Whedonverse, where fans found it worthy of inclusion.

The Power Rangers (or Voltron) spoof series isn’t quite Whedon standard, though gets by with some laughs, love triangles and self-aware know-it-alls piloting a superpowered robot. The five member team each sports its own color: Blue is Fran Kranz, Red is Miles Fisher, Pink is Heather Anne Campbell, Black is Giovanni Adams, and Yellow is none other than comedian Randall Park who as we noted earlier, you might know from Dr. Miracles.

We asked writer Micah Fitzerman-Blue, one of the co-founders of 5432 Films, the transmedia production company behind the series, about the Whedon connection. “Just to be a distant planet in the Whedonverse is a distinct honor,” he said. “The Whedon fan community has been incredibly warm to us for putting one of their own in MegaBot.”

The 5432 team, which includes directors Nathan Kitada and Aaron T. Umetani had actually taken a unique path to funding the project, teaming up with indie film production company Cherry Sky Films to back the production.

The ARG (alternate reality game) for Riese the Series has begun, you still have time to join the winning side. But first some info on what you have to look forward to when the series kicks off in late October/early November.

Riese is a steampunk-inspired (think steam-engines and goggles) series from co-creators Ryan Copple and Kaleena Kiff, who also co-executive produce and direct the series respectively, that seems closer to something airing on the Syfy network, as-opposed-to the web, based off of the production value and sci-fi standout cast—Christine Chatelain (SyFy’s Sanctuary), Ben Cotton (Harper’s Island), Sharon Taylor (Stargate: Atlantis) and Patrick Gilmore (Battlestar Galactica). Chad Krowchuk is handling the production design and taking full advantage of the picture quality of the Red One camera system with lush, yet post-apocalyptic settings and the costumes look impressively intricate.

Tubefilter research analyst Adam Wright is in New York this week reporting on both Advertising Week and the New York Television Festival (NYTVF). For live updates follow @tubefilter on Twitter. This is his recap of yesterdays’ Industry Day at NYTVF.

Industry Day is a NATPE (National Association of Television Programming Executives) sponsored NYTVF event that features executives in television discussing the current state of the industry. As a running theme for this festival, in general when people from traditional media discussed anything about new media and web television it was with one part caution and two parts dismissal.

Panel Recap: “A Level Headed Look at the Future of Television”
The first panel was by far the dreariest, “A level headed look at the future of television.” It included Bonnie Hammer, the accomplished President of NBC Universal Cable Entertainment, and Rick Rosen, Head of Television, William Morris Endeavor Entertainment.

The panel started off with a surprising question from Rick Feldman, NATPE President & CEO as moderator, “Are we still in the TV Business?” This is somewhat surprising considering he made the prediction on Beet.tv this summer that “Hulu will fail in 2 or 3 years.” This question was responded to with two non-answers I’ll paraphrase: ‘Yes we are or else I’m out of a job … but more appropriately we’re in the content business.’ After continued discussion, they both did concede they had an idea of how the next generation view media. ‘Kids growing up right now have no clue what’s on cable, or what’s on broadcast,” said Rosen. “There is no difference but a plug and a revenue stream.”

When a mirror is prominently featured in moving picture entertainment, you can bet one of two things is going to happen. If you’re watching something sentimental and the protagonist looks at his or her reflection, you’re in for a serious moment of self-realization. If you’re screening something from the horror or fantasy genres, then when [...]

For the uninitiated, Advertising Week is billed as ‘North America’s premier gathering of cutting edge communications leaders.’ So, one might assume that a panel at such a cutting edge conference named ‘The Future is Now: Digital Video’ would celebrate the ascendance of broadband content. Unfortunately, the conversation seemed more focused on beating the drums of fear for a threatened medium, broadcast television, than about video as the future of entertainment.

The Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog sequel rumors have been flying since days after the web musical premiered online last summer. Still, despite strong desire from fans and the cast themselves, there wasn’t any movement on the ‘Dr. H 2′ mostly due to creator Joss Whedon’s primary commitment to his FOX series Dollhouse. But this week there’s new confirmation that the project is moving forward.

During a conference call to promote the new season of Dollhouse, Whedon somewhat officially confirmed that a sequel is going to happen:

The main question, he says, is whether he does it “on a shoe string again” or goes bigger budget and “invites other people into the process.” Either way, he promises that it won’t affect the storyline. (via TV Guide)

In terms of those “other people in the process,” we do hear that Whedon is shopping a digital studio proposal around Hollywood, including to the major studios, looking to raise investment in the $5 million range, according to sources. The unnamed Whedon studio will apparently look to produce four original web series a year, two of which will be directed by Whedon himself. One of those two will be the above mentioned Dr. Horrible sequel.

More vampires? Say it ain’t so! Well, it is. Yes, the entertainment world has somehow not yet reached the saturation point with vampires. With the new web series, Bleed, the ever-expanding genre now includes ‘buddy vampires’. Described on its facebook page as ‘the lovechild of Kevin Smith and Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this horror comedy hits notes of both, while somehow creating its own left of center charm.

With only three five minute episodes to be found on either the Facebook page or Blip.tv there is a sense that this little show has some potential to actually stand out in the pantheon of vampire media. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but there is something here, something not as abrasive as Kevin Smith, nor so self-aware as Buffy. It’s got a little bit of the Austin, Texas charm from where director Ben Snyder shoots the thing – like the wide-eyed good nature of the boys in Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket (another Austin, TX production).

This comes from both the direction and especially Matt Lawson’s writing. Lawson created the show in 2006 as a short film that eventually became the pilot to the web series. His main characters, twenty-something best friends, Perry, played by Alan Seales and Brian, played by Eric Morales, are newbie vampires muddling their way through the early days of undeadness like two kids who just entered puberty. Perry plays it too-cool-for-school, with a ‘let’s get this over with’ attitude, whereas Brian is more the puppy dog, awkwardly finding his way through.