Tubefilter News

Apple’s recent announcement about the re-launching and re-branding of its video on demand set-top box sent shock waves through the web series community. That is to say, the announcement would have sent shock waves, had so many involved persons not been arguing over who gets to be in the web series club. Web series and web TV are to different animals. One is a new story-telling mechanism unique to its medium; the other is a content distribution system that encompasses all original online video. The question, “What is a web series?” is an interesting one if only for academic reasons; however, it pales in comparison to the larger questions, “What makes online video unique?” and “How can it compete with existing television?” Very soon, web TV will find itself in a fight, a fight for the family living room.

The Canadians can finally stop their whining. Well, at least curb it. Sony’s Crackle is now available in Canada, Sony Pictures Television’s Senior Vice President of Digital Networks Eric Berger announced today. Canadian-based Rogers Media will be handling ad sales across its online distribution channels as the exclusive agent in Canada

Subservient Chicken first hit the internet in April 2004. Conceived by advertising agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the promortion for Burger King’s TenderCrisp chicken sandwich and the fast food chain’s “Have it Your Way” campaign depicts a guy in a chicken suit in an Ikea furnished apartment that does whatever you want him to do. It was an instant success, garnering over 20 million views in its first week online, and forever earning a place in the internet’s pantheon of viral phenomena.

Six years later, Tipp-Ex (Europe’s version of White-Out) and French advertising agency, Buzzman debuted a Subservient Chicken for the YouTube generation.

Dubbed A hunter shoots a bear, the video depicts a frantic woodsman with a rifle in hand, contemplating what exactly to do next. Tipp-Ex then demonstrates the power of its correctional fluid by whiting out the “Shoots” in the video’s title and letting you, the viewer, decide what to write in its place. Be warned before you watch, it’s a time suck. The possibilities are many and watching a guy in a bear costume get rambunctious with a guy in a raccoon wildnerness cap does not easily get old. (Feel free to try out my personal favorites, “tickles” and “pwns”.)

The interactive Tipp-Ex page is the latest example of advertisers utilizing a YouTube takeover to market their products. In recent months, The Expendables, Samsung, and Cadbury have all remixed their respect YouTube pages to great effect. It’s an appealing alternative to traditional online advertising, and the end products get play among consumers and the press. More brands should take note.

Greg & Donny have discovered Farmville. It was only a matter of time. Today the hick comedy web series returns for its second season with “Greg the Farmer,” proving that no internet phenomenon is out of reach of these knuckleheads.

Together the duo of Jeff Skowron and Matt Yeager, the creators and stars of the series, make up Puddinhead Brothers on YouTube. Skowron stars as Greg and Yeager as Donny, two Western Pennsylvania yokels discovering the wonders of the internet.

Yeager’s also part of the team at Dinosaur Diorama, which brought some of the early NY-based web comedies to national spotlight, like hipster-loving The Burg, RenFaire moc-doc All’s Faire and Vuguru’s branded indie rock road trip The All-For-Nots. Not surprisingly, fellow Burg creator Thom Woodley directs Greg & Donny.

The curse and boon of our industry is its ease of distribution. If you can produce a video, it’s up in as long as it takes for YouTube to process it.

The curse comes because with a more typical path of distribution there are people who will look at your show and consider if it really should be made. (Of course, that’s its own double-edged sword; great shows will be overlooked because an executive ate a ham sandwich instead of his usual egg salad that day.)

This is the problem I have with Starvival. From the storyline to the shooting style to the painfully obvious link baiting episode titles, this is a show of vanity and low self-esteem to the point of outright self-degradation.

The premise is like so: Danielle Barker—doing all of it off ‘cell phone and a half broken camcorder’—goes after her dreams of being a Hollywood star while resorting to the most insane odd-jobs she can find. One of these jobs is being tickled for $50, found on none other than Craigslist. Think a scarier, non-scripted version of Odd Jobs.

Today Sony’s Crackle launched the first three episodes of its sixteen-episode comedy series Held Up, written and executive produced by fraternal comedy duo the Sklar Brothers. The series, directed by Paul Blart: Mall Cop director Steve Carr, chronicles a bored bank teller’s life changing experience as two separate teams of dim-witted bank robbers try to bust the same bank simultaneously.

If Scott Robson knows three things, it’s movies, television, and online video. The current Vice President of Movie Content at MTV Networks has a resume ridden with properties and programs that brought news, gossip, and information about the silver and small screens to your computer screen.

As Editor-in-Chief at AOL Moviefone and AOL Television, Robson revitalized one of Moviefone’s flagship online video properties, Unscripted (an interactive take on blasé press junkets, where stars interview each other by way of user-submitted questions) and created a handful of his own; including The Show Girl (a fast-paced update of what’s on TV with host Maggie Furlong), The Moviephone Minute (movie news and commentary in 180 seconds or less), and Outside the Box (like Unscripted, except with a focus on television). Before that, Robson was Executive Producer at the Los Angels Times’ awards insider, The Envelope and Editor-in-Chief at E! Online.

So, when MTV was looking to develop a stand-alone website devoted to major motion pictures, they knew just who to call. Late last week, after six months on the job, Robson and his team quietly launched Next Movie. Over the phone, Robson told me how the site came to be:

“We know the MTV demo is very big into movies. We just think there’s a missed opportunity out there right now in terms of where MTV is in regards to movie fans.”

At first, that explanation doesn’t make much sense. MTV has a movie blog and a movie awards show with a multi-million dollar production budget, but Robson is quick to point out how those properties can get lost in the fray. When you’re under the same overarching MTV banner as Jersey Shore and 16 and Pregnant, your URL can be tough to find.

And NextMovie.com is worth discovering. So far, the nascent nexus for movie fans boasts a steady influx of written commentary and two original web series. Nar Williams (who the E3 and Comic Con set may recognize from his Crave web series, Fanboy Funhouse) and McKenna Maduli play host on NextMovie Daily, a frenetic newscast highlighting top stories in the entertainment industry. The Screen Saviours features the so hot right now comedy duo of Pete and Brian (whose web show, Fact Checkers Unit recently debuted on NBC.com). It’s like Siskel & Ebert, except it stars two sketch comedians and shows a complete lack of reverence towards film.

As of now, the web series on Next Movie are sponsor free, but look for that to change as ad sales and marketing for the shows (and the site) kick into full gear. Also, be on the lookout for more content.

Robson noted the “Beta” under the Next Movie logo is there for a reason. As the site finds its footing, its programming slate will grow to meet the needs of its audience. Robson told me he’s looking to make Next Movie a focal point for movie fans, a place where they can “be engaged, and find, share, and talk about the stuff they like.”

Michael Friedman is quite possibly the Sly Stallone of web series. And if that’s the case then The Super Man is his Rocky. The Philly native, an actor-writer who now calls LA home, is no stranger to the comparison, having worked a healthy adoration of the famed boxer into his self-portrayed lead character Mike, the Super of a East LA apartment building. This is something Friedman knows all too well, having been a real-life building superintendent since moving out to LA to pursue an acting career.

Over a year ago, its four-part pilot hit the web standing out as one of the better indie web comedies that year. The positive reception was enough for Friedman and his team to head back into production on a full season of the series.

The new season, which they are calling Season 2, premieres online tomorrow online with three new episodes every two weeks. It’s a notable step up in polish from the early episodes, and it recently took home the Audience Award at the Independent Television Festival (ITVFest) this summer. Bryan Beasley directed the new season which stars Friedman alongside Gregory Konow and Brendan Connor.

The festival win attracted Kapital Entertainment, Executive Producers of the new FOX series Terra Nova, to sign on to formally pitch The Super Man to television as a half-hour comedy. Comedy manager John MacDonald has also teamed up with Friedman after seeing the early pilot.