Tubefilter News

Fox’s digital content studio 15Gigs has inked a multi-series online distribution deal with web comedy network My Damn Channel that kicks off with The Iceman Chronicles premiering today. Technically, Iceman had already rolled out YouTube and picked up some strong early reviews.

15Gigs, which came together last summer, has been Fox Television Studios’ (FTVS) measured experiment with short-form original web content. Instead of building out a destination site of its own, it took the strategy of developing series and matching them with appropriate established distribution channels. For the most part this has meant using the 15Gigs YouTube channel as their home base, a key part of their digital playbook.

Teaming up with four year-old My Damn Channel is the next play in that book, aligning themselves with a proven brand that has racked up a string of awards for its selective comedy series like You Suck at Photoshop, Wainy Days, Pilot Season and the more recent addition of Easy to Assemble.

“We’ve been huge fans of My Damn Channel and we couldn’t be more excited to get this partnership going, said Rachel Webber, Director of Digital Strategy and Development at Fox Television Studios about the deal. “It’s an honor to be standing beside the likes of Easy to Assemble, You Suck at Photoshop and Wainy Days, and we’re very happy to be bringing the talent we work with—especially Drama 3/4, creators of Iceman Chronicles—into this mix.”

My Damn Channel’s CEO Rob Barnett also revealed that new series are part of this deal too, writing in a blog post today: “Fox has chosen us as one of their premium distribution partners for original Web series they’ve produced and we plan to start developing and producing original, new series together as well.”

The first 2 episodes of Iceman are now up on My Damn Channel’s site, with new episodes released every Thursday.

you ever wondered what it would be like if Sam Raimi had directed The Exorcist, then made it a Choose Your Own Adventure tale and put it on the internet, you might have a vague understanding about what you were about to get yourself into with Spade. Created by John Johnson, CEO of Darkstone Entertainment, an independent film company based out of Charlottesville, VA, Spade opens with a stark opening credits sequence overlaid with the original 1980′s theme from V, which whoever runs the company’s YouTube account assures a concerned commenter is “actually a YouTube friendly song. And since we are not selling this in any way or making a dime, we be safe.”

What follows is three parts of introduction to the world of Spade: eye-patched Jack Spade himself, who apparently saved the world fifteen years ago and has nothing to show for it but a penchant for drinking himself into a coma, his younger, hotter, ass-kicking wife Lena, a Masonic assassin, a preacher who can hurt with the power of his mind and enjoys cursing, and an innocent fast-food waitress who apparently is the new key to saving the world…again. Follow this up with horrific visions of possessed girls who make you bleed green when they get inside you and a spectacled, well-dressed host named Mr. Lobo who greets you at the end of part 3 to give you the options for where the show can go next based on what you decide.

The series is shot very lo-fi and while the actors may not be seasoned professionals, they clearly know their roles well and have chemistry with each other. And while I’ve seen other series that have attempted to take use of the YouTube annotations as a way to do a Choose Your Own Adventure storyline, this is the first time I’ve come across the narrator used having his own distinct character with an interesting presence and personality. He almost makes you hesitate to click a choice just to see how he will chastise you (and let me assure you…he will).
What follows is three parts of introduction to the world of Spade: eye-patched Jack Spade himself, who apparently saved the world fifteen years ago and has nothing to show for it but a penchant for drinking himself into a coma, his younger, hotter, ass-kicking wife Lena, a Masonic assassin, a preacher who can hurt with the power of his mind and enjoys cursing, and an innocent fast-food waitress who apparently is the new key to saving the world…again. Follow this up with horrific visions of possessed girls who make you bleed green when they get inside you and a spectacled, well-dressed host named Mr. Lobo who greets you at the end of part 3 to give you the options for where the show can go next based on what you decide.

The series is shot very lo-fi and while the actors may not be seasoned professionals, they clearly know their roles well and have chemistry with each other. And while I’ve seen other series that have attempted to take use of the YouTube annotations as a way to do a Choose Your Own Adventure storyline, this is the first time I’ve come across the narrator used having his own distinct character with an interesting presence and personality. He almost makes you hesitate to click a choice just to see how he will chastise you (and let me assure you…he will).

Strike.TV has always been open to series tackling the subject of sexuality and gender, with Anyone But Me being included in its initial release and continuing to be one of its most popular and award-winning series to date. And with the premiere of The Real Girl’s Guide to Everything Else, Strike.TV continues its commitment to celebrating and exploring varying lifestyles and relationships.

Centering around a group of four women who are clearly very close friends, it would be simplistic to say this series is an ‘ethnic Sex in the City.’ The series itself in fact blatantly addresses this comparison within the first two minutes of the show, in a way that seems that these women (at least some of them) would actually be flattered to have the comparison made.

But the premise of the show is a bit more complicated than that: Rasha (Robin Dalea), a Lebanese lesbian and journalist is told by her agent that her book on the Afghan women’s struggle for civil rights is too political and instead encourages her to write “chick-lit”. Instead of telling her agent to f-off, Rasha’s friends convince her that in order to finance this dream project, she should first write what her agent wants and force her to go undercover as a Cosmo-drinking straight girl to research a world totally foreign to her.

Created by Carmen Elena Mitchell and directed by Heather de Michele through their Off-Chance Productions outfit, the series is also being featured on LOGO’s After Ellen. It’s delightfully pro-lesbian without the need to press an agenda. While Rasha is clearly open about her status, and is in fact about to marry her girlfriend at the start of the series, the sexuality of the three other main women is still ambiguous after episode 1. And while there is very little action in the first episode (the only time we see the girls anywhere other than sitting around a table talking is when they take Rasha shopping for “boots and booty shorts”), the actresses are engaging and, hell I’ll say it, pretty to look at no matter what your sexual preference. And most importantly, they are as advertised in the title: these women are “real.”

When HBO first threw some cash—a few million—into Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and and Chris Henchy’s web comedy upstart Funny or Die back in mid 2008, the signs of something more than Landlord re-runs and user-submitted prank videos were in store. The seedlings of a broader comedy enterprise were sown, one that attracted that unique alchemy of Silicon Valley—blue-chip VC firm Sequoia Captial is their primary investor—and the Hollywood entertainment establishment in a way no other web video startup has managed to mimic.

Now the fruit HBO deal is finally starting to appear. This Friday (February 19) at Midnight marks the debut of the 12-episode half-hour comedy series Funny or Die Presents on HBO. The series itself is a series of web series—re-shot for television—in individual segments ranging from 1 to 15 minutes a piece. Many of those segments are well known by web series junkies, with shows like Derek Waters’ Drunk History and 60Frames’ Carpet Brothers dusted off for a TV close-up.

Each episode opens with host Ed Haligan (played by Safety Geeks’ Steve Tom), the conspicuously titled “Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Funny Or Die,” welcoming viewers from a retro computer lab filled with buzzing mainframes and bombshell operators. Naturally, the show is laden with comedy celebs, many of them regulars on Funny or Die—Don Cheadle, Fred Willard, John C. Reilly, David Spade, and Between Two Ferns star Zach Galifianakis, along with up-and-comers on the comedy scene.

HBO actually let us make the show we wanted to make,” said Adam McKay about the project. The roots of the team behind this one point that it won’t just be paying lip service to what’s made waves from internet viewers. The show’s producer, Jonathan Stern, is himself a Streamy-nominated web veteran for shows like Horrible People, Wainy Days and Childrens’ Hospital, and has carved out one of the web’s most impressive track records.

Funny or Die’s CEO Dick Glover said at a recent event hosted by the The Paley Center that he really is building a multiplatform content studio, where the destination site itself (FunnyorDie.com) is just one piece. There’s even a feature film in production in the company’s pipeline, that still rests without any formal distribution deals. Glover noted at the event that they are exploring a pay-per-download system on Funny or Die where viewers can pay $5 to watch the entire film.

Plenty of terrible television programs have been conceived in a marriage of “Character-A is able to talk to non-human Character-B.” I recall one such show a while back that featured a middle-aged man who talked with a stuffed dog with the voice of Bobcat Goldthwait. It was called Unhappily Ever After, ran for 100 episodes on The WB, and looked dreadful.

How was someone convinced that such a premise could beget a program worth watching? Well, perhaps that someone was some kind of Larry Ellison-type visionary who had a brilliant idea that just couldn’t be executed because the appropriate technology didn’t exist. Or, more likely, that someone was some kind of well-connected stoner who had a zany idea and and a favor to cash in from network television. It’s too bad that someone didn’t cast Patrick Duffy nor his crustachioed friend.

Clearly it’s not easy to execute the “human talks to non-human” thing. Unhappily and Poochinski are prime examples. However, there’s something uncanny about watching Patrick Duffy calmly converse with a crab with the voice of David Leisure. Celebrities: They’re just like us! The dad from Step by Step can discuss mundane things with a crab and it’s incredibly humorous! That sentence reads heavy on the sarcasm, but I’m completely serious. Patrick Duffy talking to a crab is very funny.

What sort of charisma or appeal does Mr. Duffy possess that grants him the ability to shoot the breeze with a soft-shelled muppet and not make viewers want to disfigure themselves via the crab’s plush claws? I’m still trying to determine this. It’s a preternatural gift, as if Duffy’s stints on Dallas or The Bold and the Beautiful were all definitively leading towards the day he was to be the co-star of 90-second sketches wherein he and a crab puppet chat about modern technology or their sexual proclivities. “Surreal” would be a cliché and easy way to describe this show. The dialogue is subtle and the topics so everyday that the crab’s presence is beside the point. It would be absurd to attempt to intellectualize these videobites, as they exist on a non-rational plane.

Perhaps I’m building Patrick Duffy and the Crab up to be some epic cultural phenomenon. It isn’t. It’s just a great web series comprised of goofy vignettes shot by his son and daughter-in-law (Conor Duffy and Emily Cutler) that the guy does in his spare time when he’s not filming a soap opera. And maybe that’s part of the real reason this works.

Duffy interacts with the stuffed crab in a way that’s far more “real” than any of his interactions on daytime TV. But there I go trying to intellectualize this and sounding absurd. Just watch it. It’s good.

The sub-culture of kids’ sports is explored in Pee-Wee Football Press Conferences. In the first episode, “The Coach” must meet the press after a season opening blowout of the post-toddler team sponsored by TheFightingAccountants.com (Voted #1 All-Male accounting firm!).

“The Dinkens kid was wearing boat shoes again, a blatant equipment violation. Can we fine him this time?”
“Uh. He’s FIVE! What am I gonna fine him… a Pokemon card?”
“(disgust) Pokemon cards? Are you out of touch with today’s modern athlete?”

This seems like a one gag bit, better suited for a single Funny or Die short than a whole series. However, the filmmakers manage to build an interesting story arc as we follow the “Accountants” season. At first, there are just hardball questions on double safetys and poor offensive play calls. As the seasons progresses, the major media moguls such as “Pee-Wee Fantasy Blog” have lost interest and are replaced by angry parents. The tide turns to questions about the coaches inability to delegate a proper snack parent, his recently called off wedding ( “Is your head in the game?”) and his loathed “everyone gets to play” coaching philosophy. The footage is inter-cut with locker room and on-field interviews with the mini-gridiron not-so greats. .

The world of Pee-Wee sports is a comic gold mine. The show has ten, two minute episodes up and every show has some good chuckles. It can be a little uneven at times as the filmmakers decide on “The Coach’s” voice. He seesaws between incredulous everyman and seasoned football veteran. I would have liked to see the series take the gag a little further and explore this rich scenario deeper. That’s just my taste, whoever made this series has made a tight, funny show.

Did I just say “whoever?”

With most web series there is a strong emphasis on the credits. The industry standard seems to be that the end scroll should be almost as long as the episode. It takes a village and we all love to see our names in that 400×600 box that is glamorous YouTube fame.

These guys have gone the minimalist route. I have no idea who stars, directs or writes this series. The only hint we get is a double plug at the end of each episode. The first is for the site of “The Fighting Accounts,” a look at the “sponsors” of the team. The other is for Video Pollen. It leads you to a website that promotes Pee-Wee Football Press Conferences. Deeper in the site, we learn Video Pollen is a “New Media studio based in Los Angeles, CA “ and the principals are Dave and Brian Robel. Other than that there is no info on the series.

On December 3rd, 2009, Samsung launched the Mobile Explorers Contest, in which they asked teams of two to create a short video submission that demonstrated why they would be good Mobile Explorers at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. What exactly is a Mobile Explorer? Well, the ten finalists selected (five teams of two) were sent to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games whey they are currently bringing the Olympic experience to the web through videos, blog posts and mobile updates.

For 20 days, they will have firsthand access at the Olympic Winter Games as well as compete in challenges such as visiting Vancouver sites, collecting fan stories and discovering the Olympic spirit. Fans will vote for their favorite Mobile Explorer team on Samsung’s Facebook page and the winning team will win a Samsung product and cash prize package and a blogging gig on Samsung.com.

“Samsung recognizes the value of social media and the immense power behind direct interaction with consumers – communicating, listening and engaging,” states Jose Cardona, corporate communications manager at Samsung Electronics America. “We regularly connect with people online via Twitter (@SamsungTweets), Facebook, YouTube, Flikr and our own Samsung USA Newsroom, which is an online clearinghouse of company and product news and information. Our Samsung Mobile Explorer program is yet another example of our efforts to connect directly with consumers.”

In fact, the Samsung Mobile Explorer program extends beyond the U.S. “Samsung Mobile Explorers is a global initiative for us, with participants from the United States, Russia, China, Korea and Canada,” explained Cardona. “The program is a way for us to further our support for the Olympic Movement, giving behind-the-scenes access to everyday people – our Mobile Explorers and all of the fans that are following their journeys in Vancouver.”

Think you’re even more clever at alternate movie endings than the crew behind How It Should Have Ended? It’s a tall order to top their multi-million-view plot riffs on blockbusters like Twilight, Avatar and Transformers. The five year-old animated web series even scored a deal with Starz Digital Media back in November.

Now the series is turning to fans, and offering up $1000 cash to the winner of their HISHE contest which runs through March 26. Fans can submit their best attempt at an animated alternate ending to one of three movies—Wolverine, Twilight: New Moon, or Taken. As with most fan video contests, there is some lengthy legalese to scan through in the official rules. One thing spotted in there is that if you don’t win the cash—but come close—you could get a to-be-determined 10-pack of DVDs from Anchor Bay Entertainment. Could be worse.

Winners will be announced March 28th and aside from the cool grand, get featured on the howitshouldhaveended.com site and channel.