Tubefilter News

Frathouse beer maker and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series sponsor Keystone Light has launched a series of tongue-in-cheek online videos starring spokesperson Keith Stone, the personification the campaign’s tagline “always smooth.”

Shane Dawson shows he can dominate the interactive video game too with his Haunted House Party released over the weekend. Already the video has cracked 2.2 million views, with the whole 9-video “series” over 8 million views total. Directed by Totally Sketch and produced by powerhouse Black Box TV, there’s a number of YouTuber cameos we spotted: Tay Zonday, iJustine, Kristin Findley, Bree Essrig, Steve Greene, Brittani Louise Taylor, Richard Ryan and Jason Horton. [ShaneDawsonTV]

Jessica Rose is the latest web star to join Spherion’s long-running branded web comedy The Temp Life. Rose nerds it up with pal Taryn Southern to play the sister of the scene-stealing temp Nancy Roeder. Some exclusive photos from set (below) show a nerdier side of the former lonelygirl15 star. The fifth season is currently shooting and slated for release December 6th on My Damn Channel. [TheTempLife.tv]

Warner Premiere released Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic in 2008. The series of a dozen 20-minute installments brings Alan Moore’s epic superhero critique to life through the illustrations of Dave Gibbons and the voice of Tom Stechschulte. Viewers who like watching the Watchmen could originally catch the series on iTunes and later find it online or on DVD with all the shiny extras (which currently still ranks at #78 on Amazon’s Animated, Superhero, Action & Adventure Movies & TV Shows Bestseller List).

The motion comic was so successful for Warner Premiere that over the next two years the media company released seven more, bringing 2D images from properties like Batman, Peanuts, Bat Girl, and Jonah Hex to life. During that time, Warner Premiere also debuted a six-part Terminator Salvation Machinima series and an animated visual album for the four piece, British indie rock group One eskimO.

Other major motion picture studios and multi-million dollar entertainment conglomerates have seen their digital production and distribution arms come and go, but Warner Premiere’s been consistently producing quality digital programming for the past two years. That’s a fact Eva Davis, SVP and General Manager of Warner Premiere, is quick to point out.

“We’ve been committed to this space for a while,” Davis told me over the phone. “I will emphasize that over that time there’s been a lot of trial and error in the business, but we do feel confident that we have good ideas.”

Three of those good ideas are upcoming web series.

The Clique is an Alloy Entertainment production based on the teen girl’s novel of the same name. It’s centered on the exploits of a fictional middle school’s popular group of girls dubbed “The Pretty Committee.” H+ is for an older crowd. Producer Bryan Singer and writers and executive producers John Cabrera and Cosimo de Tommaso are crafting an episodic two-and-a-half hour futuristic, apocalyptic tale of technology gone wrong. Aim High tells the story of a high school assassin (part of an elite group of 64 teenagers trained by a covert government program) who has to deal with all the drama of high school in addition to executing his hits. Peter Murietta is the executive producer and McG (who’s no stranger to web series) will direct.

No distributors are attached to the projects just yet, but Davis suggests Warner Premiere will most likely release the content through viewing windows on a variety of paid and advertiser-supported platforms. No word on sponsors either, though I was told we should expect to hear announcements about advertisers in another month or two.

If H+ sounds familiar to savvy Tubefilter readers, that’s because we wrote about the series when it was first announced almost two years ago. “There’s no particular reason why it took so long,” Davis explained. “We got our feet under us starting with the animated series and H+ just took this long to come to fruition.”

That’s probably a good thing.

Warner Premiere’s had time to hone it’s digital strategy, ensuring H+ a better chance at success, both in terms of viewership and profit. Davis explained how her team has learned to ensure their “content is flexible across multiple platforms – not just digital platforms. That includes domestic and international television as well as DVD sales in the US and abroad.”

Expect to see many more digital productions from Warner Premiere in addition to The Clique, H+, and Aim High. Davis wouldn’t divulge any specifics, but the studio’s obviously amenable to working with established talent, as well as pre-existing franchises from the Warner Bros. content library.

“We have a full slate and we’ll be making announcements every couple of months,” Davis said. “We’re in this space for the long haul.”

Hey New York, get your web video project pitches ready—we’re following up the highly-popular Tubefilter Pitch Camp at Digital Hollywood Content Summit in Los Angeles last month, with a whole new one on November 10th at Digital Hollywood New York.

We had four impressive web series pitches step up with their best 5-minute presentations to our four panelists before getting some tough questions and priceless advice about how to polish their pitches. Now that we’re in New York, we’re taking a more brand and advertiser focus, hearing from content executives that both receive and give pitches every day, like CJP Digital’s Wilson Cleveland and Digitas’ Paul Kontonis.

Keynoting the opening day at the Content Summit in NYC will be Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, meaning you’ll want to get there early for the morning session. The Tubefilter Pitch Camp session will start at 1:15 PM and is a must even if you aren’t pitching your series.

Online video contest site Filmaka and ready-to-eat TV dinner maker Hungry-Man are inviting web series creators to “redefine a modern classic” with a new pitch competition.

Babelgum inked a content development and distribution deal with renowned improv powerhouse Upright Citizens Brigade in early October. Babelgum’s Comedy Publisher, Amber J. Lawson told us the partnership is a “big win” that will bring more high-quality “satirical, political smart comedy” to the site.

Last week, Babelgum scored another big win that will amp up its celebrity-driven comedy programming. The entire library of Celebrity Liar will be distributed on Bablegum’s web and mobile video content platform.

Celebrity Liar is a game show that tips its hat back to classics from the genre’s celebrity-driven days, including Match Game, What’s My Line?, and Liars Club. Here’s the premise:

The show features two celebrities telling the same story as if it happened to them, but in fact it is only true for one celebrity. The online audience decides which of the two professional liars is actually lying. In each episode, the game is played twice, with the celebrities choosing at random which stories to tell. The end of the show features a lightening round in which one celebrity tells a variety of personal statements while the other decides whether it is a truth or a lie. The celebrity with the most points at the end of the show wins.

The show is hosted by Andrew Hill Newman, features household names like Kevin Pollak, Greg Proops, Matthew Perry, and Hank Azaria, and is an original online production of live-streaming video site, The Room Live.

Babelgum is making strong efforts to become one of the go-to online destinations for celebrity-centered programming. I’d expect more announcements touting the acquisition of content with A-list talent to hit the wires soon.