by Joshua Cohen on June 25th, 2011
Crowd funding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have become an indispensable tool for filmmakers and online video creators, facilitating the exchange of hundreds of thousands of dollars across thousands of campaigns between independent producers and friends, family members, and fools who want to see the projects of those independent producers come to fruition.
The phenomenon is so prevalent it’s become ripe for satire for at least one online video savvy comedy troupe. But what makes The Vacationeers crowd funding parody (with promises of magic beans, DVDs, murder, Blu-ray, human centipedes, and true love in exchange for five, six, and seven-figure donations) so funny, is because it’s kinda true.
Wiscon-based Rob Matshushita of Claymore Productions and actor Emily Mills created the web series Chapel after conceiving of the character in a 48-hour film challenge and writing a book detailing her backstory. They shot 10 episodes, which first debuted in January 2010 and details the life of an unlucky drug dealer through bloody, violence-ridden scenes spliced with what the AV Club calls “gleeful music and goofy humor throughout.”
by Joshua Cohen on June 24th, 2011
Before Hulu gets sold, viewers of the ad-supported on demand streaming video destination for premium movies and television and web series may have to watch more ads while viewing those movies and television and web series.
Andrew Wallenstein at Variety reported earlier this week Fox and Hulu made a “handshake deal” that will renew the network television’s licensing contract with the online video service, but also increase the number of ads Hulu delivers against Fox content. Andy Fixmer at Bloomberg wrote today ABC and Hulu came to a similar agreement. The handshakes will reportedly be turned into signed contracts within the next few weeks. That means viewers should expect to see an increase in the minutes of ads they watch across shows like Family Guy and Modern Family within the couple months.
Fixmer notes in his article a “Modern Family episode on Hulu includes about 2.5 minutes of ads. On a broadcast network, commercial time totals about 8 minutes per half hour.
Hulu already delivers significantly more online video ads than any other video aggregator, destination, network, or publisher. The site streamed over 1.3 billion online video ads in the month of May alone, with an average of 47.6 ads per viewer and one video ad watched for every four minutes and 35 seconds of content.
by Joshua Cohen on June 24th, 2011
Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal are the comedy and online video duo Rhett and Link, responsible for sweet stop-motion shorts, music videos about internet culture, and local public-access-style television commercials, advertising the businesses that would otherwise not be advertised.
McLaughlin and Neal’s I Love Local Commercials original web series puts the pair in the position of a kind of pro bono Crispin Porter + Bogusky, traveling across the country to visit small local businesses the advertising industry has overlooked and make for them innovative and often times absurd online video marketing materials.
They’re great, right? IFC thinks so, too. Tonight, the cable channel debuts the season premiere of Rhett and Link: Commercial Kings. The television program is a 10-episode “docu-comedy” where cameras follow McLaughlin and Neal as they embark on their journeys to make good commercials for local business using local talent. Some of those local business include “a training facility called Make Me a Pro Wrestler, a spa for colon care called Fountain of Health, an eco-friendly burial service called Bury Me Naturally,” and Da Spot Hair Studio, a salon looking to diversify its predominantly African American clientele.
Each commercial creation story involves three distinct parts: 1) we hear the business owners vision of his or her business, 2) we see the commercial production, and 3) we witness the Move that Bus! reveal.
Jon Caramanica at the New York Times finds a few faults with the series and accuses McLaughlin and Neal of making “the commercials of their own dreams, not the client’s.” I can see his point. There’s a fine line between making fun of and celebrating an idiosyncratic individual and McLaughlin and Neal will most certainly, at times, step over it. But if their online videos are any indication, they applaud more than they mock
by Joshua Cohen on June 24th, 2011
6.28 million people watched English model, UK Pantene spokeswoman, and American television personality Cat Deeley host So You Think You Can Dance? last Wednesday night on Fox. While most of those viewers tuned in to see who special guest judge Debbie Reynolds and resident judges Nigel Lythgoe and Mary Murphy would send home (Spoiler Alert: No one!), a good portion of those viewers also tuned in to see what one of the best dressed hosts on TV would be wearing. In fact, Deeley receives so much interest from her fans about her wardrobe and overall look, she decided to make a web show about it.
Yahoo’s celebrity news and gossip destination omg! (which accounts for 32 million of the most trafficked site on the internet’s 188 million unique monthly visitors) is hosting a 20-episode twice-weekly original web series produced by the Collective Digital Studio (the online content division of the full-service entertainment management, media, and content production company The Collective) and starring Deeley and her dressing room as Cat gets ready for her hosting gig.
Each installment of In the Dressing Room features Deeley delivering fashion, beauty tips, and English-accented adjectives to describe her wardrobe, makeup, and hair, as well as an inside look at the process of how she decides what to wear and how to look.
by Joshua Cohen on June 23rd, 2011
Thursday is the 100th day of the NFL lockout. Some out-of-work footballers took time from their unpaid vacation to try a different kind of football. Others made some extra cash shooting some wonderful branded entertainment for DirecTV.
Professional NFL quarterbacks for the New York Giants and Indianapolis Colts, Eli and Peyton Manning play partners Mike Tahoe and C.J. Hunter in this new kind of buddy police drama about a new kind of cop. They’re Football Cops and they fight crime with a Bestie Boys’ Sabotage aesthetic, sports analogies, and stitched together pieces of pigskin in lieu of that suave CSI look, detective work, and handguns.
The series promotes DirecTV and the direct broadcast satellite service provider’s NFL Sunday Ticket, which allows all DirecTV subscribers to see every single NFL game of the season played on Sundays (assuming, of course, there is indeed an NFL season).
The first of three installments of Football Cops debuted this week and sets up the story. The beautiful Candi LeTrelle (Meghan Beard) is in over her head and tied up after sinking down into the depths of the city’s crime scene. The Football Cops numero uno informant, Lenny Cruise (Walker Hare) finally tells the do-gooders LeTrelle is in trouble and in too deep.
by Joshua Cohen on June 23rd, 2011
Warner Premiere, Dolphin Entertainment, and McG announced last November a teen heartthrob from Twilight would play the lead in their James-Bond-goes-to-high-school original web series. That teen heartthrob is Jackson Rathbone (who plays Jasper Hale and is on Team Edward) and that original web series is Aim High.
Rathbone takes on the role of Nick Green, a covert government operative who is one of 64 of a highly trained, elite task force of barely post-pubescent military personnel. When he’s not out completing missions for whoever is the US equivalent of M, Green is in class, getting bad grades and into trouble, and vying for the affections of a “punk” girl played by Friday Night Lights’ Aimee Teegarden. It’s kinda like Getting Away with Murder except for the Facebook generation instead of IFC. (All the old school online video viewers in the room know what I’m talkin’ ‘bout!)
And Facebook is exactly where the series will premiere on August 1. Until then, Tanner Stransky at Entertainment Weekly scored a trailer that shows what’s in store.
The series looks full of good-looking individuals navigating teenage drama and hit men!
by Joshua Cohen on June 23rd, 2011
The website Pottermore appeared online earlier this week, with a link to a Pottermore YouTube page taken over by owls and a countdown clock to an announcement that promised more things from author JK Rowling and her wizarding world of Harry Potter. At 7AM EST this morning, the owls delivered their message in the form of an unlisted YouTube video (which means its unsearchable and the only way you can view it is via the link) featuring JK sitting in a room furnished by Restoration Hardware.
Rowling is promising her fans the Harry Potter canon will not be closed after the July premiere of Deathly Hallows Part 2. Instead, the story will be told again and again via a unique reading experience on Pottermore, which will contain secrets JK has been “hoarding for years about the world of Harry Potter” and in some way, shape, or form be influenced by the readers themselves. Everyone with butterbeer mustaches is very excited about this news!
The unlisted video of JK’s announcement is still stuck at the ~300 views range, but will undoubtedly be in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions by the end of the day.
by Joshua Cohen on June 22nd, 2011
The internet and entertainment industries are all abuzz because “people familiar with the matter” told the Wall Street Journal Hulu is considering selling itself after being approached with an unsolicited offer. That unsolicited offer may or may not have come from Yahoo, but regardless of who made it, it reportedly caused Hulu’s board to do some soliciting of its own and gauge interest about a sale to a private equity firms or other large company.
Janko Roettgers at GigaOm put together a comprehensive list of possible Hulu buyers and Will Richmond at VideoNuze wrote up a great post about why Hulu can’t possibly sell to any of them. Hulu’s greatest asset is its “exclusive next-day distribution deals with its studio/broadcast TV network owners.” The value of the premium, on demand, streaming video service is in its content (and, to a certain degree, its ability to monetize the heck out of that content) and the reason Hulu gets content deals par excellence from News Corporation, Disney, and NBC is because those entertainment conglomerates have a stake in the company. If Hulu is sold, there’s no inherent incentive for its owners to continue with favorable distribution terms.
But, the fact that Hulu is owned by three separate and competing global entertainment corporations is exactly the reason the company should consider selling itself. There are too many executives sitting in the corner office with decision-making influence or power and seemingly congruent, but probably conflicting agendas.
Obviously, I’m not privy to what goes on in the Hulu board room, but from the vantage point of someone who pays attention to these things, it seems like Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has had his fair share of headaches and battles with Hulu’s investors. (Part of the reported reason Hulu recently dropped its plans for an IPO was because its owners couldn’t decide on the company’s strategy.) Despite (or maybe because of) Kilar’s difference of opinion with the Hulu powers that be, he’s been able to make the company profitable and on pace to make $500 million in revenue by the end of 2011.
