Like most entertainment-related organizations, The Writers Guild of America East has noticed shifting tides. The organization that gained traction during the labor movement of the 1930s, and effectively built a countervailing negotiating force to the all-powerful studios, has begun to re-envision itself in a world with democratized distribution.
Knowing that it was shot on the RED One camera, I was very excited to check out Lumina. And DPs XiaoSu Han and Andreas Thalhammer definitely did not disappoint, having done a stunning job of capturing the beauty of Hong Kong, where the series takes place. Unfortunately, the series’ physical beauty masks some deeper issues with the show itself.
The mythology of the series is intriguing and well designed: in classic fairytale style, workaholic Lumina Wong falls for a prince named Ryder Lee. The catch is Ryder is from the Dark Realm and can only see Lumina through reflective surfaces such as mirrors. The series website goes deeper into the mythology, explaining that there are three known Realms: Earth (also known as the Light Realm), Corwaith (the Dark Realm) and the mysterious Bastion (the Realm of Jewels.).
Scary month (October) is almost here and ramp up for Camera Obscura is in full swing. Today we received some exclusive photos from the set along with the teaser trailer of MWG’s first delve into horror.
We recently caught up with director Drew Daywalt last month to fill us in on what his paranormal thriller is all about. For more on this one, be sure to read our overview:
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 (Til 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.
Last night’s Emmys were a decently classy affair, a night of evening gowns and white dinner jackets to toast the year in television. The producers of the show clearly tried their best to make something special out of what has been a dismal year for the television business. But I couldn’t help but feel what seemed to be worn on the faces of the TV stars throughout the Nokia Theater—that there’s a disquieting evolution underway. And everyone in the room knew it.
“Amy and I are honored to be presenting on the last official year of network broadcast television,” said Julia Louis-Dreyfus jokingly last night at the Emmys while presenting an award with Amy Poehler.
(It’s worth noting and disclosing a slight bias here, I’m also one of the co-founders of the Streamy Awards and Tubefilter is one of the co-hosts of the Awards.)
Taking a cue from the Tonys, the Emmys picking Neil Patrick Harris as host was smart choice; the perfect blend of lifelong TV star, musically gifted Broadway lead, and more recently, Whedon-approved internet star as Dr. Horrible himself.
As James Poniewozik at TIME noted, it was the first Emmy Awards of the post-mass-media era.” The best scripted bits of the night were indeed internet originated—NPH, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day in a Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog takeover number, Jimmy Fallon’s Auto-Tuned voice (and subsequent back spasms) and Family Guy’s YouTube bit.
Sure, the digs at the sometimes spotty buffering of web video in the Dr. Horrible sketch were playful, if not perhaps a bit catty. In truth, it was worth a chuckle, a cheeky admission that web television is still in its growing stages, complete with a few voice cracks and awkward faces.
Now in its second season Randy and Jason Sklar’s sports themed web series Back on Topps is nearing the finish line. The twin brothers are working hard to keep their sports card company afloat in a world where stalkers have stalkers and people are not always what they seem. Fill out each episode with wacky scenarios and hilarious cameos and your have a playbook for a winning show. Speaking of winning that’s just what they did at the Streamys, injecting even more humor into their acceptance speech and just about everything the Sklar brothers do. We asked Jason Sklar to give us a peek inside the Back on Topps locker room and asked them about their game-plan, strategy, and who’s recruiting them next.
Tubefilter: Now that you are finished with the second season, how are things in Back on Topps land?
Jason Sklar: Things in Back on Topps Land are a bit dicey at this point. Leyland and Leif Topps have just discovered first hand, that the odd gentlemen who were claiming to be hosts of a Christian dating service, ‘Cross My Heart’ are not who they say they are. Either way, the season ended on a cliff hanger and we will have to wait until the next installments to find out what happens.
Tubefilter: Where did the original idea for the show come from?
Sklar: The original idea from the show was born out of the reality of what happened to the company in real life. Michael Eisner bought the Topps trading card company and wanted to create a comedic web series that would help bring Topps Trading cards along into the digital age — and create a new relevance for the brand. Steven Cohen at Tornante had been a fan of ours from the work we had done on Cheap Seats and he tapped us to come up with a web series and the result was Back on Topps.
When your online series is called Titsburg!, you don’t very much need the subtitle “a (dirty) web show.” The audience already knows it’s in for something risque. Creators Tavon Bolourchi and Chioke Nassor, along with pal Kristen Holbrook, could’ve gone with a tagline a touch more descriptive. Their program certainly is dirty and definitely NSFW, [...]
Every once in awhile a web series comes along that you really root for people to discover. For me, Acting School Academy is one of these gems, and the web viewing public is already starting to take note. In under a week, the first episode has already garnered over 200,000 views.
Acting School Academy is the brainchild of writers Kris Sharma and Michael Mayorga, and executed deftly by Bengal Mangle Productions which consists of producer Mo Darwiche and director Ian Smith. The group has already done quite the job of pushing a ton of accompanying content out with the first episode. In addition to new episodes debuting every Tuesday, all the students attending the “acting school” post confessional vlog style videos every weekday allowing fans to connect more personally with the characters.
Before the launch of the show the guys even put out another series, Charlie the Abusive Teddy Bear, in which child actress and Acting School Academy student Laura Peterson was the star.
Then, there’s Mr. Belding aka Dennis Haskins. Haskins has popped up in a few web series before, most notably Taryn Southern’s Private High Musical.
This was a week of some terrifying truths in the web series world. Like, say, YouTube star Fred is getting his own movie. And there’s was quite the discussion both online and off about MySpace buying views for its struggling BFF web series and then claiming it has “millions of viewers.” They aren’t the only ones, and several readers have sent us other examples worth a deeper look.
Speaking of views, online studio Next New Networks which says they have never paid for views, reported that they broke the 600 million view mark since its January 2007 launch. Crackle unveiled its slim-downed fall lineup this week and as expected Electric Farm’s Woke Up Dead is the frontrunner.
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