Tubefilter News

Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf dazzled the crowd at the sold-out Tubefilter Web TV Meetup last night in Los Angeles. Nearly 400 web series creators, talent and execs braved the rain and hail to make it out to hear from the two esteemed web video veterans. Before getting into the Q&A, they debuted the newest episode (above) of their award-winning EPIC FU before it went live online late last night.

Early reviews of the new ‘season’ of EPIC FU are positive, noting that the new, slightly shorter format (episodes are now about 5 min) made for a tighter, more focused show. But FU fans will get two more episodes per week, extending the series into a mini-network of sorts, adding “Music Mondays” and “Film Thursdays” to their weekly lineup.

The panel discussion delved into the show’s early days, when it first launched as The Jetset Show back in June of 2006. Back then it was primarily focused on getting 8 to 10 year-old kids to make web videos. It soon evolved into a more mature show tackling global issues and highlight creative people of all ages, eventually changing names to EPIC FU. “That’s the beauty of the internet,” Steve noted. “We had an idea, it wasn’t quite working and we didn’t just throw it under the bus, we iterated it.” The latest phase they are now calling the “fourth iteration” of the show.

We talked about their move from web studios Next New Networks to Revision3 and eventually back on their own as a fully independent show. In a nod to web video’s history, Zadi and Steve gave high props to vlogger Ze Frank—who was in the audience—and Rocketboom as two of their greatest inspirations for getting started and making this their careers. I asked them about how they might start today, from scratch, offering advice to newer web series creators. “Start with what you know and what you love,” said Zadi. Steve added that there is still “very little out there in terms of interactivity in new [web] shows that are being created,” pointing out an opportunity for web shows to stop trying to be like short television shows instead of really connecting with a community.

Questions from the audience, both in person and from the chat room on the live stream, ran the gamut. One attendee asked how to get past the lulls of the first few months after launching his independent web series. “You have to have a support system,” said Zadi, “knowing that’s there’s someone there that has your back is so important.”

Jokes were of course part of the night, not to mention a regular part of EPIC FU itself. When talking about shooting in their home-based ‘studio’, Steve joked, “our neighbors thought that we were making porn when we told them we were making web videos.” “No,” he said, “we don’t do porn because we’d be driving a better car.”

Web 2.0 startups are now well versed in the the so-called ‘freemium’ model of doing business. Give a basic level of your service away for free and then charge users for premium services. Everything from project management tools (Basecamp), collaborative learning (Grockit), online radio (Pandora) and business networking (LinkedIn) all have made this the core models of their businesses.

As we first noticed last year, the freemium model is now making its way into the online video business. Today comes news of two different sides of the web video platform spectrum—premium content site Hulu and live streaming site Ustream—hinting that they too are heading towards this model. The slower adoption of freemium in online video is in many ways linked to a decades old reliance on ad supported entertainment business, particularly in television. But recent moves are sending signals the industry may be on the heels of a turning point on the idea of paid content.

The LA Times today has outlines Hulu’s plans to allow users to watch the five most recent episodes of TV shows free, but then require a subscription of $4.99 a month to watch older episodes. Roll out of this could be as soon as six months from now, according to the newspaper’s sources. And Ustream just launched its Pay-Per-View service with comedian Dane Cook being the first guinea pig to try it out, charging $5 to watch his “ISolated INcident” stand-up routine on February 6.

Independent web series like Jimmy Pardo’s Never Not Funny and Tiki Bar TV have both rolled out their own freemium offerings in the past year. Loyal viewers, of which both shows have a decent amount, pay for ‘memberships’ that give them higher-quality versions of the videos, along with bonus content and early access to new episodes. The results have been mixed, and for a long-running web series like Tiki Bar TV, it’s still just one of the multiple revenue streams it relies on.

“The Tiki Bar Membership model worked relatively well,” producer Tosca Musk told us. “Unfortunately, not well enough to sustain the show, but it certainly did help. And the response from fans was enthusiastic. At the end of the day, Tiki Bar TV events and merchandise have brought in more revenue than memberships. It still seems that paying to watch a show you love, after watching it for free for years, is not as appealing as supporting through others means.”

There are not a lot of TV shows about well meaning people who do well intentioned things. I guess the theory is no one would watch them. Even Father Dowling Mysteries needed the mystery angle each week. This idea holds especially true in reality television. For instance, VH1 seems based solely on the theory that people only enjoy watching terrible people who are motivated out of terrible concerns- like a love of money (or Ray-J).

That brings us to The Buried Life, a 2006 documentary series originally on the web that got rebooted and made its network debut on MTV on Monday, January 18 at 10PM ET. The Buried Life challenges completely the nihilism promoted in VH1 styled reality. The concept is one part bucket list and the other My Name Is Earl. Four young men travel the country in a bus with a list of “100 things to do before they die.” For every item that gets accomplished they must also help a perfect stranger accomplish a goal of their own. As the press release asks, “what do YOU want to do before you die?”

That’s one hell of an existential posing, particularly in light of recent tragic events. “Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself,” wrote Jean-Paul Sartre in his book Existentialism and Human Emotions. In MTV lingo, that meant “pimp your soul.”

So how do Duncan Penn, Ben Nemtin, Jonnie Penn and Dave Lingwood, the cast of Buried Life, pimp out theirs? What do they make of themselves in this cross-country adventure? Well, lets look back at their YouTube journals from the Aughts to find out. They…uhh…open a lemonade stand. What else? One of them gets his wisdom teeth pulled for charity. Oh, and they go to the Playboy mansion. Maybe.

After much anticipation tonight is the night. We have none other than internationally popular web series EPIC FU creators Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf in the house for the relaunch of their show and the launch of some brand new original series.

Couldn’t make it in person the Tubefilter Hollywood Web Television Meetup tonight? That’s okay, once again we’ve teamed up with Stickam.com to stream the event LIVE online. (If you can’t view the player above, you can head to stickam.com/tubefilter) Join in the chat room and ask questions for Zadi and Steve that you have, our moderator will try to get as many of them read at the Meetup as we have time for.

If you’re one of the lucky ones heading to the Meetup be sure to read: 6 Ways To Rock The Tubefilter Web TV Meetup! (Without Cheating)

Event overview:

For the January edition of the Hollywood Web Television Meetup, we are proud to present a very special evening with popular internet culture show EPIC FU as they launch the new EPIC FU network. Join us as we screen the premiere of one of the web’s most revered and award-winning series, followed by an intimate discussion with its creators—Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf. The evening is sponsored by HP and Intel, who will be onhand to give away a free HP Envy laptop and a free HP DreamScreen for Meetup attendees. This is definitely a night not to be missed!

KASKADE, the music producer/remix artist (neé Ryan Raddon) is profiled in the latest episode of music doc series The Craft which came out today from husband and wife creators duo Trevor Smith and Stephanie Luciano-Smith. [KoldCast]

Vpype launched a public beta of Vpype Live Broadcaster, its live interactive video application on Facebook. Just like many of the live streaming portals (Ustream, LiveStream, Stickam), users can create scheduled or unscheduled interactive live shows, send video notes, store completed broadcasts, etc., though Vpype lives entirely within the Facebook ecosystem. [emailed release]

Yellow Line Studio announced it is premiering its first original web series on Friday, BUMP+, which follows three women facing unintended pregnancies. The thirteen-episode documentary series from creators Christopher Riley and Dominic Iocco aim to show both sides of the hot-button abortion debate. “Each woman has her own reasons for accepting a reality show producer’s invitation to chronicle the very personal journey toward a decision about her pregnancy.” (Trailer below.) [BUMP+]

Yale University released a scripted music video (below) “That’s Why I Chose Yale” from its official YouTube channel this week. The video has already racked up over 160,000 views, though sadly comments and ratings have been disabled, hinting that the Ivy League stalwart might not be ready for YouTube’s huddled masses. 2006 Yale graduate Andrew Johnson, a Yale admissions staffer created the video, which stars more than 200 Yalies singing and dancing. [Washington Post]

There’s a sort of May-December romance going on between two news outlets, and it’s kind of adorable if you’re into that sort of thing. Even the cool kids have to grow up some time, and with the recent news of the pairing between CNN and Vice, it becomes none more apparent. It happens to everyone, we get older, we all become our parents, yadda yadda yadda. But this pairing (pairing? what is this, Starbucks?) between the two makes a ton of sense for both parties. Vice is looking to branch out from just being the (self-proclaimed) hipster bible and looking to be come something a little more—how can we say— legitimate. And CNN is looking to appeal to a younger audience. I mean, Larry King, anyone? Insert dinosaur joke. That guy is old.

What’s happening is that VBS.TV, the Spike Jonze helmed internet video arm of the Vice empire, is going to be showing some of their more newsy videos on CNN.com. This is suprisingly good thinking on both of their parts: CNN has been known to be a little too self-congratulatory and Vice has been known to be a little too self-referential. Together, though, they bring the social legitimacy that both parties seem to have been aiming for the last couple of years.

YouTube debuts charging for select videos tomorrow. YouTube is testing to see if folks will pay to watch movies on its site. The Web’s most popular video sharing site will offer five films from the 2009 and 2010 Sundance Film Festival for a fee around $5. [Paid Content]

Apple’s infamous Tablet, a type of digital content reader similar to Amazon’s Kindle, is set to be unveiled next week – finally! There’s so much buzz about the name (rumors are leaning towards “iPad”) that some media outlets are offering a Name Guessing Poll. Cast your vote here: [All Things Digital: BoomTown]

Retired Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates made big news this week by simply joining Twitter and re-joining Facebook. After a few hours of tweeting and about 40 Follows later (including actor Ashton Kutcher and High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale), @BillGates had over 200k followers, which depressed many who have been on Twitter for years trying to get numbers like that. [TechCrunch]

Have a PlayStation 3? If so, you’ll be waiting a while longer for the anticipated “Wii-like” motion controller. Sony announced yesterday that it will be delayed until Fall 2010. [Wired]

Next week’s annual State of the Union Address by President Obama will be available for viewing live on the iPhone (or iPod Touch) for the first time via a new “White House App.” Yes, that’s the name of it. (Clearly there are no tech marketers on staff.) It also delivers other content from the whitehouse.gov Web site. (The White House Blog) Download the app.

Who says virtual goods can’t make a difference in the real world? Zynga’s gamers have donated more than $1.5 million in the past five days for Haitian earthquake relief. They did so by making donations directly from within Zynga’s top four games on Facebook (including FarmVille). [VentureBeat]

Say goodbye to free access to NYTimes.com starting in January 2011. Yesterday, the Times announced that they will create a “metered” pay model. Under this plan, a visitor will be allowed to view a certain number of articles free each month; but to read more, the reader must pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Details of the subscription fee and how the site will “know” how many times you personally visited remain unanswered. With ad sales tanking, all publications are seeking new streams of revenue to stay afloat. [New York Times]

Mobile text donations for Haitian earthquake relief has set fundraising records for the American Red Cross – demonstrating the charitable power of mobile devices. They’ve raised over $20 million so far thanks to the generosity of people like you! [The Washington Post]

Easy to Assemble revealed the winner of the season-long Co-Worker of the Year contest between co-stars Illeana Douglas and Justine Bateman in the debut (above) of the bonus episodes, “Flying Solo”, (aka 3-ep season finale) of the IKEA-backed comedy web series. Guest stars David Henrie, Tim Meadows, Sung Kang and more are all on board this transatlantic disco flight. [My Damn Channel]

Jennie Garth (of the old 90210) stars in a new branded web series, Garden Party, from NBC Digital Studio and Edelman’s MATTER division debuted today on iVillage.com. Garth, now a ‘celeb mom’, “meets with farmers, chefs, moms and kids to find new and exciting ways to get families to love their veggies.” Lead sponsor is Clorox Co.’s Hidden Valley® Ranch Dressing brand. [iVillage]

EPIC FU is back! Their new preview video (below) from creators Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf sets up the return from hiatus tomorrow and the launch of two new original internet culture web series, all under their flagship EPIC FU banner. And their newly renovated site will go live as a daily fresh content hub that will serve as a global online culture blog network. They will also headline the Tubefilter Web TV Meetup tomorrow night in Los Angeles, which will also be lived streamed on Stickam.com and epicfu.com/live for those that can’t make it out. [EPIC FU]

A Good Knight’s Quest won Escapist Magazine’s 2009 Film Festival, and the new web series from The Crew creator Brett Register announced a February 2010 launch of the full series on Escapist’s site. Web series standouts Craig Frank, Paula Rhodes, Douglas Sarine, Charlie Bodin, Cathy Baron and Angie Cole star in this gamer comedy. [Escapist]