Tubefilter News

The Sect has been here for over a month now, creeping its way into our ARG begotten lives, but the first episode of Riese the series premiered late Sunday night on Koldcast TV. That’s right, when the rest of us were busy attending parties dressed as favorite childhood storybook characters turned bloated Hollywood movie franchise and OD-ing on fun size versions of our favorite candy treats, Koldcast’s CEO David Samuels was “[closing] on distribution for RIESE”, according to an email from who was definitely excited for the team-up, closing out the email with a simple yet telling exclamation, “What a series!”

While “the [distribution] deal is non-exclusive” according to series co-creator and executive producer Ryan Copple. He says isn’t ruling out other distribution for his Steampunk opus, “We’re very happy to have teamed up with Koldcast, and hope that it’ll end up being a mutually beneficial joining.”

In the opening episode, Hunt, a wounded Riese (Christine Chatelain) is running for her life from a group of ne’er-do-wells through the forests of the troubled land Eleysia (also known as Vancouver, BC). In between scattered, grainy flashbacks of her past she fights the baddies off with the help of her sole-companion and bodyguard, a wolf named Fenrir.

Neither of the creators had worked with animals on any of their prior productions but co-producer Bonnie Judd’s “preparation and work with Tundra made him very easy to shoot with. Plus, despite his size he’s incredibly friendly and sociable,” said Copple.

With the news that WPP’s GroupM agency and Yahoo are teaming up to create some new brand-backed original web series, we were intrigued and wanted to find out a little more about the deal. GroupM after all is the parent of Mindshare Entertainment which produced the noted comedy web series turned TV pickup by ABC, In The Motherhood. That series itself was a brand-backed from the onset, with Sprint and Unilever’s Suave on board even before ABC came calling. Could this signal the start of Yahoo getting into scripted web series?

The deal itself is an ongoing one, where GroupM and Yahoo will jointly take series proposals, often just in rough synopsis form, and pitch those directly to brands to see if there’s a fit. Some of the early ideas being throw around include a 50-state reality series looking at job hunting across the country (Now Hiring: The Great American Job Search), a series about a band on tour dubbed Rock N’ Roll Jet Plane and a mom-themed scripted comedy series Tales From the Carpool Lane.

We caught up with Yahoo VP Erika Nardini, who is heading up the GroupM partnership. While most of the series are still in development, she mentioned that no new series will get greenlit for production without commitment from a brand sponsor.

Tubefilter: What can we expect from this new set of web series? We’ve heard The Rock ‘N Roll Jet Plane!, Now Hiring: The Great American Job Search are in the works.

Nardini: We are in discussions around several concepts, including Rock N’ Roll Jet Plane and Now Hiring, but will not launch a new series until we’ve partnered with a brand partner, who will play an important role in the development process.

Sometimes in sports, an event occurs that seems to be straight of a movie. A buzzer beater to win the championships, a walk off homerun for the series, or an impossible catch to keep a drive alive all qualify in this case. ESPN The Magazine has seized on the human and sometimes amazing drama of sports for their web series: NFL Writers Room.

Right from the kickoff, you must realize that this is a web series for football FANS, not just people who like one team, but people who are familiar with every game, player, coach, and throwback uniform design. You know the type: four different fantasy teams going at once, obsessively tracking player data to predict game winners, and knowing detailed data on every single major player. This is a web series for them.

Created by NY-based production team 12 Angry Mascots, the series is a behind the scenes look of the fictional NFL “writer’s room.” Each week before Sunday’s game the team previews upcoming games and the “dramatic ways” each of them could play out. For example, last Saturday’s episode featured the many different ways that the Minnesota-Green Bay game could have played, with a special focus on the Brett Favre story line. The writers debated how many touchdowns he should score and included a funny debate if Favre should go for a “Lambeau Leap”. In a funny twist, the writers also bicker about if the game’s storyline gels with the theme for the season: “despair & disparity.”

In Vinyl Addiction, Jesse Hernandez interviews designers toy artists and enthusiasts. In one episode, Hernandez spends time with Joe Hahn of Linkin Park to see his art and toy collection and tour Hahn’s store SURU. Hernandez’s work as an artist and animator helps make Vinyl Addiction a very slick insider’s look at the vinyl toy phenomenon. Each episode features bold graphics and great images of vinyl toys, art, street-wear and more. Tubefilter talked to Hernandez to learn more about the seriously fun world of designer toy art, the making of Vinyl Addiction episodes, and how the world of art toys embraces the show.

Tubefilter: Your art and toy designs combine traditional indigenous styles with urban street themes. How did you develop your style?

Jesse Hernandez: My style is always evolving. The themes have stayed the same, but as an artist you must always continue to learn.

Tubefilter: Who are some of your favorite toy artists?

JH: I have tons of artists that I am a fan of, but here’s the ones of the top of the dome: Michael Lau, Tim Tsui, Marka 27, Doze Green, Pushead, Coarsetoys, KAWS, Sket, Huck, MAD, Usugrow, Sam Flores.

Tubefilter: Do you also have your own toy collections?

KH: Of course, I have 3 display cases full of just Black and monotone pieces, and a bunch more I don’t have room to display.

Tubefilter: You have designed toys for Kidrobot, Toyqube, Kaching. What toys do you have coming out next?

JH: I just finished the signings for the Bic Buddy series with Bic Plastics and Marka 27. There was a ton of great artists on that series. Now I’m finishing up the plans for my first original toy with Bic Plastics named “Ozomahlti” which is nahuatl meaning “monkey”. I’m very excited to finally get this bad boy out. It’s been many years in the making. There will be a few exclusives to with some of my favorite stores as well. We debuted the prototype this year at San Diego Comic Con. I also have a few collaborations dropping soon.

Who knew that the debate of circumcision was so hot right now? Seriously, this is apparently a hot button issue amongst new parents and parents-to-be. So what better topic to tackle in the launch of DECA’s newest original web series, Parents Ask (above).

DECA is fast becoming to parenting what Revision3 is to gamers and techies, building up a stable of original web series around an super-focused audience. Their Target-sponsored hit Momversation recently rolled out its 100th episode and Daphne Brogdon’s Cool Mom is still going strong. Sure, they also rock World of Warcraft slugfest Project Lore and Boing Boing, but in terms of new properties it’s all about the parents.

“We know that parents are looking online for answers to the tough questions about raising their kids, so we set out to bring together a panel of the top experts in the country,” said DECA’s CEO Michael Wayne. “We created Parents Ask to directly connect parents with the most knowledgeable authorities on every parenting topic.”

The panel of experts assembled for the weekly web series and site are the leading pop experts in the parenting space—pediatricians, authors, and psychologists. Also notable is that most of this group rock some clever titles to their books like “Eat, Sleep, Poop” author Scott Cohen, MD, FAAP, “Anxiety Free Kids”

The recession really knocked the pants off this country in the past two years, but if there’s any shine on the economic turd it’s that at least Williamsburg is cool again. Sure the trust fund kids took a hit when the market tanked, but real estate got cheap again and the Yupsters thinned out. So what better time to bring back Brooklyn hipster comedy The Burg?

The indie web series from Brooklyn-based Dinosaur Diorama, the same team behind All’s Faire and Vuguru’s The All-For-Nots, is back with its first full-length episode since 2007. The 20-minute episode, “Change” (above) is also the show’s longest, starting off with a catchup of what happened since Xander’s season-ending autobiomentary .

Xander (Matt Yaeger) fills us in on his posse—Courtney (Kelli Giddish) is moving out of The Burg, heading to LA for a TV show gig and Ryan (Jeff Skowron) is losing his grip on sanity. Jed (Bob McClure) and Xander realize they live in “the coolest neighborhood of the coolest borough in the coolest city in the world,” and decide to make it their mission to set some new hipster trends—pogo sticks, Kitten Shirts, skorts. Oh, and Xander has a kid? Spring (Lindsay Broad) tries to keep Courtney from selling out her ideals for a beach house, turning to hipster savior Obama for some direction.