Tubefilter News

Back in December Hulu, along with Clear Channel, MySpace, Ford and Pepsi all signed on as sponsors and production partners for If I Can Dream, a new online docusoap Web series by reality programming mastermind Simon Fuller (American Idol). TheWrap (along with Tubefilter) covered the deal announcement, but overall, it didn’t generate much in the way of media or Web series industry buzz. But it’s time to take a closer look.

Last week’s article by Stuart Elliott of the NY Times (the advertising industry’s most influential reporter), profiled Pepsi’s new Pepsi Refresh Project campaign and mentioned the Web series production deal as the first original content deal for Hulu—calling attention to it one more time, but to a very wide and influential audience of top media and ad agency execs who are still cautiously dipping their toes into the branded entertainment space with their clients.

I’m sure fellow industry watchers are wondering, is Hulu seriously planning to enter the race to produce quality original Web series and if so, how would it impact a market that already includes producers such as Michael Eisner’s Vuguru, Sony’s Crackle, Dailymotion, Babelgum, Next New Networks, DECA and a slew of talented independents breaking new ground?

Going Where The Money Is

Branded underwriting and product placement is all the digital entertainment community talks about today (even as much as the storyline), and for good reason. They need to cover production costs and don’t have revenue assurances such as a subscription model (like cable) or pre-existing licensed distribution deals lined up in advance (like films and broadcast) that will cover costs and procure a modest profit. This upfront cash flow need is the perfect moment for a brand to have a significant (though let’s hope not oppressive) presence within the story as well as association with a certain series. The brand appeal factors include story genre, talent, and demographic reach, as well as ongoing social media engagement to build new customer relationships and retain existing ones.

With a reported 44 million users (and growing) Hulu is still dramatically smaller than YouTube’s reported 330 million users, but offers high quality curated content versus YouTube’s mix of licensed content from CBS for full shows (and official movie and TV show clips and trailers), plus a lot of mediocre user generated content not worth advertising against. Hulu’s audience is drawn to the site for recognizable entertainment franchises, but also offers a Web Originals channel with shows from a variety of independent and larger Hollywood production companies. (No doubt their future original shows will appear on this channel as well.)

“Hulu’s mission is to help people find and enjoy the world’s premium video content when, where and how they want it. As we pursue this mission, we aspire to create a service that users, advertisers, and content owners unabashedly love.”

Translating improv and theater sketches into a web show is a lot tougher than it looks. What plays in a theater will not necessarily work in sitcom. It may have something to do with how drunk the audiences are on the improv circuit and the constant reciprocated energy. The Portland-based Action/Adventure Theater is making their transition work. Their new series, Fothing, starts off as a bumpy ride but eventually becomes some entertaining Web TV. The group is responsible for the live improv show “Fall of the House,” which is currently a weekly hit.

The premise of the series, written and directed by Miranda King set around, well, a fictionalized version of the Action/Adventure theater. Tragedy hits when their financing, a friend with a trust fund, falls through. Each episode follows the twentysomething cast trying to make some quick cash to keep the lights on in their new rehearsal space. Some bits are quite funny and range from selling pot (they use Weeds for research), male stripping, and selling lunch boxes made in Israeli sweat shops. All the while they have to fend off threats from the “other” local theater company, a gang of bearded bicycle riding, kerchief wearing, artsy, pretentious toughs. Ya know, they are toughs in “a promising local theater group” kind of way.

The initial episode is entitled (Memo to Fothing: You’re better than this,) “Pilot.” While showing some potential, the episode is an under-directed, overwritten jumble. The characters are given no real introduction or backstory. There are several jokes that simply just don’t make sense. I found myself rewinding it a few times to double check if I had missed something. I hadn’t. In addition, several scenes and cutaways run too long without any real point. Do we really need 30 seconds of the cast leaving the building?

Fortunately, the subsequent episodes are tighter and funnier. So I forgave them. The ensemble cast of Noah Dunham, Jon San Nicolas, David Saffert, Greta Pauley, Devon Grammo, Aubrey Jensen, Kevin Crooks and Tamara Carroll are genuinely a likable bunch. There are still some clunky comic setups but for the most part, it works. In each episode, there is there is at least one genius absurdist moment worth waiting for. For example, the self absorbed, Kevin (Cooks), while researching and explaining his new pot dealing operation, is completely oblivious to his roommate (and male dominatrix), Devo (Grammo), servicing his boyfriend.

There’s a little bit of name collision here—which wouldn’t be a first for web series (see: Roommates and Roommates)—but take note that Revision3′s new live streaming show CO-OP Live is in fact different than theStream.tv’s COIN-OP TV Live. The news here is pretty significant for growing online network Revision3, as it is adding their first ever live streaming web series to its lineup.

The hosted gaming culture show, from the creators of the 10-season stalwart The 1Up Show, kicked off as a standard weekly series back in early March of last year on the network, before Revision3 decided it would be a good test show for the live format. The first live episode of CO-OP Live will premiere today at 4:00 PM (PT), with taped version of the weekly show appearing online the following morning.

“Video games are the ultimate live experience,” said Revision3′s CEO Jim Louderback. “We’re excited to bring the best video game show on the planet, CO-OP, to the world live. I can’t think of a better way to discover the best new games, and to hang out with the coolest gamers on the planet each week!”

The six-man hosting team of Jason Bertrand, Rob Bowen, Matt Chandronait, Ryan O’Donnell, Jay Frechette and Cesar Quintero and have a full explanation of what to expect on their production company blog at Area5.tv:

Still nothing like the big screen when web series look this good. Seriously, at the risk of selling out my 640 pixel comrades, there is something that happens when you sit back and watch some of these web series we all get excited about in their full uncompressed HD glory. And The Bannen Way, the high octane thrill ride shot on the RED One camera, is well worthy of some cinematic screen time. That and sharing the experience with a few hundred fellow vicarious adrenaline junkies.

This Friday evening Sony’s Crackle is hosting a special LA screening of the complete first season of The Bannen Way at the American Cinemateque’s Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. It’s the latest in a series of screenings at the Egyptian that show the internet some love, with previous screenings including Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, The Guild, Strike.TV and Funny or Die.

On hand for a Q&A after the screening will be Bannen stars Mark Gantt, Robert Forster, Michael Ironside, Michael Lerner and director Jesse Warren. Also on the program for the night is a sneak preview of Shane Felux’s much-awaited sci-fi drama Trenches, which recently signed on with Crackle for release later this year after hanging out in Stage 9 purgatory.

Wedding Central, a 24/7 destination for wedding-themed programming, is taking the leap into original web programming with the premiere of Bridal Breakdown, a show that pranks brides right before their wedding day by making them think they are a part of a NYC-based documentary on weddings…and then use their crew of actors to make the brides-to-be think their wedding dreams are about to be left at the aisle.

Full disclosure: I may be a little TOO excited about this series. Being a lady on the “always a bridesmaid, never a bride (and okay with that)” path, I think I may take a little too much sadistic joy out of watching how women handle obstacles purposefully thrown into the path of them achieving “the happiest day of their life”. Not ever planning on having one of your own, it’s easy to sit back and watch the trainwreck with glee.

But beyond my personal beliefs on the institute of marriage, I do believe that the core of this series has its heart in the right place. Beyond all the stress of picking out the perfect dress/venue/flowers/cake/ring/napkins/etc/etc/etc, a wedding day is supposed to be FUN. As one of the bridesmaids responsible for the prank in the first episode states, “She is a total Bridezilla. Maybe now she can just tone it down a little bit. Hopefully. After she kills me.”

On a technical note, the series isn’t very easy to find on the Wedding Central website. You will first have to click the “Videos” tab at the top of the site, which takes you to the websites “Featured Videos”. On the right side of the video player is a tab labeled “Bridal Breakdowns”, which will take you to the series.

Scotty Iseri started his one-man web series with modest goals—create something funny that would cause a few people to take notice. Scotty Got an Office Job, the low-fi production which debuted last January, consisting of just Iseri and his web cam set in an office cubicle, did in fact get some not-to-shabby attention from the likes of laughingsquid, Tubefilter and even the New York Times. While press clippings do wonders for family dinners, they still don’t exactly pay the bills. With the second season winding down, the cubicle comedy was still without any sponsors on board or major distribution deals.

But when a call came from literally the other side of the world, longtime freelancer and writer Iseri had an offer too good to pass up. Australian PR firm Klick Communications had been following Scotty’s office antics and offered to sponsor a third season of the series—to be shot entirely in Klick’s Sydney-based offices. The one year-old firm has an impressive stable of clients like Havaianas, Southern Comfort and Australian Traveller Magazine.

Iseri packed up in late October for an all-expense-paid five week relocation to Sydney, staying in Fraser Suites Sydney (one of Klick’s clients). The plan was to shoot between 12 to 15 episodes, though by the end 18 episodes were in the can. Rather than release episodes weekly as he had before, much of the shooting was done in advance allowing for a more measured rollout over several months.

“We really enjoyed seeing the new episodes each week and once joked about working in an office with him and it went from there,” said Klick Director Kim McKay who initially found out about Iseri’s series on Twitter. “We also thought he might need a job as things didn’t appear to be going so well where he was.” (Scotty was “fired” at the end of Season 2.)

“As a creator, I realized how lucky I was to work with a forward thinking company,” added Iseri. “Fortune favors the bold, and the bold things are succeeding. It’s really cheap to fail on the internet—the consequences are less than if you made a commercial for broadcast.”

The series picked up a healthy dose of local press in Australia, with Iseri himself asked to speak at Social Media Club Sydney next to rapper-turned-Twitter-star MC Hammer.

“For us, it was about partnering with a talented creator (Scotty) and really trusting him,” said McKay. “We had always been entertained by him so we know that if we put too many parameters around the series it wouldn’t be fun for him and the end result just wouldn’t be as funny. We played gags on him but it was his decision what made the series. A web series is a fun and cost effective way to build brand awareness for almost anything—just create stories that you would like to see, not the stories you think you need to tell.”

It’s not often that I get the opportunity to attend a screening of a web series and find myself greeted with fresh-baked cookies and Earl Grey tea. It’s even less common when the series I’m about to screen is a raunchy Western comedy where more than half the characters are played by plastic toys. But this is exactly what happened when I traveled to Laser Pacific Laboratories in Hollywood to get a sneak peak at The Ballad of Mary and Ernie.

Written, produced, and directed by Robert Stadd, The Ballad of Mary and Ernie is the story of a big sheriff in a small town. And that is meant literally…Ernie is about 50 feet taller than almost everyone, including his fiancee, Nan, who will do just about anything to keep her giant cowboy to herself. But then Mary Venezuala comes to town and saves Ernie from an evil gunslinger. Oh, and she’s big too, sending Ernie into confusion about his origins and who he’s given his heart to.

Stadd’s background is in visual effects, having been inspired to do the project by working on a set with a fully-built miniature town that was about to be torn down. “It just came to me”, explained Stadd. “Western. Big sheriff, little town. So I did some tests and thought, ooh, this is going to be good … and then it all started to gel: the webisodes thing, the fact that cameras are getting better. I was working on Public Enemies, I was the visual arts supervisor, and the whole time I’m thinking about this … it was just percolating in my mind. So as soon as I finished last summer, I went, okay, I’ve gotta do it. I basically just sat down last July and wrote the scripts.”

For his title roles, Stadd cast James Lane as Marshall Ernie and Vanessa Celso as Mary Venezuala. Both are seasoned actors with Lane appearing in such shows as 24, NCIS, Everyone Hates Chris, The Unit, and Celso appearing in the original web series Road to the Altar.

You really can’t script a better Super Bowl—two best-in-breed Pro Quarterbacks in Peyton Manning and Drew Brees marching their nearly-undefeated teams into the big game. Brees’ Saints are the scrappy first-timers to the dance, carrying the hopes of a wounded city galvanized by the unlikely success of this band of brothers. Then there’s the always calculating Manning, one of the only true player-coaches left in the game, himself a seasoned general on the field marching his Ring-sporting champs back into the stadium where they won it all in 2007.

But the latest episode (above) out from 12 Angry Mascots of their popular web series NFL Writers Room, thrashes all notions that this game is actually determined on the field. Atom.com picked up the latest episode, and probably the last of the season of the ESPN commissioned comedy, in a exclusive distribution deal for the Super Bowl edition. The New York based comedy crew delivers a three and half minute gem written and directed by Scott Rogowsky, who stars in the series alongside fellow mascots Emily Axford, Chris Chuang, Zach Lombardo, Tom McCaffrey, Zach Norton, Nicole Shabtai and Trevor Williams. (8 out of 12 isn’t bad for three minutes.)