Tubefilter News

SOLO: The Series, an indie sci-fi web series from creator Jonathan Nail released its teaser trailer (above), expecting to premiere the series later this year. The show will center around a lonely man, Scott Drizhal, who is chosen to go on a solo, 3 year mission to Mars as part of a reality TV series. [SOLO: The Series]

MomTV announced that they will be broadcasting a special edition of their show The Modern Mom TV Tuesday, January 19th at Noon EST, as the live, streaming broadcast web show hosted by co-creator Annie Foonberg joins the social networking site for moms. The live video streaming social TV community broadcasts over 90 interactive, hour long web shows per week. [MomTV]

IGN has launched a semi-animated new iPhone app review web series (below) from Portal A Interactive called iPWN this week—not to be confused with iPhun, Fast pasted, somewhat random but cruises through a slew of app reviews without hosts droning on about them. [IGN]

Chad, Matt & Rob, the YouTube comedy threesome behind the super-popular interactive adventure The Time Machine, came out with their latest choose-your-own adventure today called The Birthday Party. The opening video (below) tasks viewers to get Get Chad, Matt and Rob to the birthday party without dying, presumably from the underground urban militia “The Arms of Liberty.” [YouTube]

Lisa was just left by her husband…for a man. Bree struggles with emotional swings that she attempts to channel into poetry while rejecting the advances of her (much) older boss. Sam hitch hiked into town with her deadbeat boyfriend and doesn’t really care about anything but is still willing to be there for Bree and Lisa. The three women met while seeing the same therapist and have since struck up an unlikely yet rewarding friendship.

These are the three lead characters in the upcoming independent web series Blue Fiddles. Beautifully shot in Portland and Forest Grove Oregon and written by actress Nena Botto, this series skillfully interweaves the lives of three complex, quirky, and ultimately damaged women as they try to support themselves through each of their life changes. Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, they are not.

Says Botto: “The name (Blue Fiddles) is a description of the three women, and how they feel about life. Blue is a melancholy feeling and color. And a fiddle is a fun instrument. If one thinks of themselves as an instrument, then the people that come into their lives are musicians. It’s poetic, left to interpretation.” Though the series isn’t all doom and gloom, an important theme of the series is the ability to laugh through pain and to lean on those around you for support. It’s message is ultimately a hopeful one.

The real magic of the series is its ability to tap in to feelings that not only as women but, more importantly, as humans have all felt at one point or another but to explore them it in a way that is individual to each woman. When Bree turns down an opportunity for a relationship because “it would just end anyway”, we remember a time we let potential love pass us by. When Sam looks up in annoyance and desperation at the large house she is cleaning for some extra cash, we remember back to that soul-sucking job we once had to do just to get by.

The Bannen Way has now released 11 of its 16 episodes in its debut season on Crackle, and we have some more video extras from the series. Above is a behind the scenes segment from creators Mark Gantt and Jesse Warren along with producer Bailey Williams on creating the celebrated ‘Bannen Style.’ It wasn’t easy marrying Warren’s love of comics and video game action with Gantt’s more romanticized “French cinema” tastes, but somehow they managed to craft what is really a sexually charged action comic. We also hear from DP Roger Chingirian and Editor Zack Arnold, talking about the challenge of crafting the creators’ stylized vision within the limits of low budget production.

Also out this week is the latest episode (below) of hosted web series interview series The Web.Files, where host Kristyn Burtt sits down with Gantt and Warren to find out their secrets. She also asks the pair about the web chatter surrounding their decision to do a limited release of three episodes before the end of the calendar year to be eligible for the 2010 Streamy Awards. “We always intended to have it come out in 2009,” said Warren in the interview, but after Sony decided to officially release the series in 2010 for marketing reasons, they decided to push out the first three to remain eligible. “We’re just a couple of dogs trying to get a bone like everyone else,” joked Warren, alluding to the indie origins of the project before Sony came on board. Gantt added that the conversations, especially on Twitter, have been helpful in “brining [the web community] all together as a common goal.”

Landline TV honed in on unexplicably popular MTV reality TV series Jersey Shore for its latest spoof, opting for a cast of little kids to take on the roles of Pauly D, The Situation, JWOWW and the gang in Little Jersey Shore. They weren’t the only ones, as celeb Michael Cera had a little Jersey Shore makeover of his own. [Comedy.com]

The Guild comic, written by the show’s creator-star Felicia Day and illustrated by artist Jim Rugg, has had its first few images (right) leaked out on the internet today, thanks to Comic Book Resources. Issue #1 The Guild comic from Dark Horse Comics hits stores on March 24, 2010. [Comic Book Resources]

Former Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich is going to have his own late night web series. Blago’s The Late Net Show will run about 40 minutes “We’re in talks with Donald Trump, Alec Baldwin and Floyd Mayweather to be guests on the show,” according to Charlie Oliver, founder of artoftalk.tv, where the show will live. [Chicago Sun Times]

David Faustino pulled out a shotgun in an attempt (video below) to woo fans to submit his comedy series Star-ving for a Streamy Award before the deadline. Faustino’s pal and Star-ving co-star Corin Nemec has also tapped his fan army for the Awards bid. [YouTube]

Next New Networks today announced that their entire automotive web series vertical, which includes one of their most popular series, Fast Lane Daily, is moving over to AutoStream, an online auto content site. The move means that AutoStream is taking over production of all four original series that fell under NNN’s VOD Cars channel—Fast Lane Daily, FLDetours, Garage 419 and VOD Cars. The shows were averaging about 3 million views each according to NNN.

As part of the deal the four series will move over into the company’s Next New Creators program, which was officially introduced last month as a less formal relationship with web series that focuses on distribution and marketing rather than physical production. LA-based AutoStream already has four original series in its stable of auto web shows—Motorz TV, Clash Production, The Smoking Tire and Everyday Driver, some of which have sponsors like E3 Spark Plugs and Royal Purple Oils. AutoStream itself was co-founded by Emil Rensing, who was also a Next New Networks co-founder, making the transition somewhat easier. AutoStream’s Adam Bruce will head up production on the series.

“Next New Networks is committed to working with great talent and we’re thrilled to be working with AutoStream, the premiere automotive producers on the Web” said NNN’s CEO Lance Podell. “These guys are the experts in all things automotive and it only makes sense for these shows to benefit from a production team with such close ties to the automotive community.”

More video from CES last week as I had a chance to sit down with Kodak Chief Marketing Officer Jeff Hayzlett (above) and talk about their web TV strategy and where he sees the space going. He also had some new tech to show off from Kodak, including their new waterproof pocket video camera the PlaySport—they crowdsourced the name on Twitter.

Hayzlett is no stranger to some on camera work, having done a season on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice and even a cameo role playing himself on the Kodak-sponsored comedy web series Woke Up Dead this fall on Crackle. During CES, he also hosted a bit of The View-styled chat show with a number of guests on stage including Tubefilter’s Jamison Tilsner (left) talking about the Streamy Awards and what’s in store in 2010 for original web series.

Wearing his marketing expert hat, Hayzlett also shared some advice for web series creators looking to build the brands of their shows in an increasing crowded field. He talked about identifying your “brand essence” and really making sure to deliver on the promise you are making. He noted that some preliminary reflection on what you want to achieve with a project is crucial, whether it’s to make money or to just create something cool.

VIZIO believes that consumers will stop buying “dumb TV’s” and start buying smart ones that are Internet connected. We talked to Matt McRae, VP of VIZIO, at the Consumer Electronic Show (above) to learn more about their new Internet connected HDTVs, the VIZIO TV app store (yes, a TV app store!) and content partners, which include blip.tv, Revision3, CinemaNow, Showtime, CBS, CNBC, NBC and others.

Imagine watching your favorite Web TV shows streamed directly to your TV set – with no set-top boxes. Just connect your DSL cable to the back of the TV (unless you have a VIZIO XVT Series HDTV that has built-in Wi-Fi) and you’re ready to kick back and enjoy! Welcome to the new world of Internet connected TVs. A variety of these TVs started appearing in stores in 2009 and TV manufacturers from VIZIO (link: ) to Sony and Samsung are counting on Internet connectivity to appeal to audiences who want to merge their enjoyment of quality Web shows, videos and social networking applications such as Twitter, with broadcast shows through their TV sets. VIZIO’s Internet connected sets also come with a nifty Bluetooth universal remote with a cool slide out QWERTY keyboard for easy searching and interacting with Internet apps.

Back in July, we shared 4 Ways To Get The Most Out of the Tubefilter Web TV Meetup. But that was July, when 4 was all you needed. This is 2010 people and its all about 6 Ways now. (Trust us, we’ve done the research.)

Now as we count down to the January Tubefilter Hollywood Web TV Meetup on Thursday January 21—it’s all about the FU—EPIC FU that is, as creators Zadi Diaz and Steve Woolf join us to launch the EPIC FU Network! They are extending their award-winning web series brand into a network of like-minded series, all under the EPIC FU banner. And to see them first, before anyone else in the world, you’ll have to be at the Meetup.

And HP and Intel is sponsoring the evening, providing free beer and wine for Meetup attendees and giving away and HP Envy laptop and HP DreamScreen. And The Bui Brothers will be shooting some of their signature high end photography of web video’s finest, so make sure you’re looking good. Tickets are still available, though we have a good feeling they will be sold out very soon. (Remember last time we had free beer and wine?)

A Special Evening with EPIC FU
Thursday, January 21, 2010
7:30 pm – Panel / 8:45 pm – Mixer

Location:
Busby’s East (Mid Wilshire)
5364 Wilshire Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90036

So we’ve taken the four tips from last time first, updated them for 2010, and added two more that will come in handy.

1. Do Your Homework!

This time you have a lot of homework to do, since EPIC FU traces its origins to the early days of online video series in 2006. Back then the ‘hyperfast-paced pop culture newscast’ series was called JETSET, scored a deal with Next New Networks, was then poached by upstart Revision3 and eventually went off on its own once again. To get a feel for the series make sure to watch at least a half dozen episodes from throughout their history. Pay attention to how the show evolved, added new features and became the well-known (and well-watched with over 35 million views) indie web series brand that it is today.