by Jenni Powell on October 6th, 2009
A group of teenagers discover an old well hidden in a derelict house. They of course take a look at what is inside…and end up disturbing something very sinister indeed. And here’s the fun part: the audience has the chance to stay a step ahead of the characters in this creepy tale.
Written by British author Melvin Burgess – dubbed ‘the godfather of young adult fiction – The Well is a four-week drama collaboration between the BBC and Conker Media created for BBC Two, bbc.co.uk and Bebo. As episodes are released on BBC Two, additional tasks and challenges will be released online designed to reveal backstory or to uncover mysteries within the show. For instance, at one point a character hides an item in the house on TV and the audience can immediately go to a 3D replica of the house online in order to solve a puzzle to uncover the hidden item.
In a press release, writer Melvin Burgess spoke about how The Well is an excellent fit for the transmedia experience: “A ghost story is perfect for this, because at the heart of every ghost story is a mystery waiting to be solved – a back story, about how the horror arose and others in the past who have brought it back to life.”
by Marc Hustvedt on July 1st, 2009
19 year-old Australian filmmaker Nicholas Carlton continues to make waves in US, with his teen drama web series OzGirl being selected for the Independent Television Festival in Los Angeles. The series caught our eye last November and later signed a distribution deal with KoldCast TV before its January launch.
Sophie Tilson stars as teenage country girl Sadie Brown who packs up and heads to the big city life of Melbourne, Australia where she tries her hand at photography and along the way meets a handful of new friends like Megan (Shanrah Wakefield) and potential love interest George (Richard Askin).
The vlog-style show seems to have struck a chord with former lonelygirl15 fans, many of which have been actively watching on Bebo and KoldCast TV while chatting the show up on web TV community forums at Anchor Cove. The OzGirl.tv site itself is also a community hub, built around social networking platform Ning.
by Pat Miller on March 31st, 2009
EQAL, the social entertainment company behind hit web series like lonelygirl15 and KateModern, announced recently that they had partnered with Nagoya-based TV and radio advertising company Shinto Tsushin to bring dubbed versions of lonelygirl15 and KateModern to Japan and to produce an original LG15 series set in Japan.
The show – and its side stories KateModern (starring the Streamy-nominated Tara Rushton), LG15: The Resistance, and Polish-speaking n1ckola – are all centered around a group of young women with rare physical properties that make them the target of a mysterious organization. It was the LG15 shows that established EQAL’s reputation for mixing TV production with social networking websites – the whole series feels kind of like an alternate reality game.
by Marc Hustvedt on December 15th, 2008
How’s your Portuguese? The US isn’t the only place that hit web series are getting called up to traditional TV, as Portugal’s hit web series Flatmates (T2 Para 3) gets the nod from RTP, the country’s leading public broadcast channel. BeActive, the indie Portuguese production studio behind Flatmates, is taking the web series into franchise territory, optioning the property to Ireland’s Campbell Ryan Productions, for a British version to premiere on Bebo in early 2009.
Flatmates follows the the story of three young college students, two girls and a boy, sharing an apartment together their first year away from home. Through Tomàs, Matilde and Patrìcia we get a little slice of real life ups and downs of these down to earth Euro teens, with what looks like a healthy dose of pop music and MTV-worthy moments of drama.
But the 170-episode web series struck a chord with Portuguese (and probably some Brazilian) viewers. Since its debut in January of 2008, Flatmates (T2 Para 3), has racked up over 5 Million views on the Portuguese site (Sapo Videos WEB TV service) not counting mobile phones through the TMN Mobile TV service. Sponsors for the series are pretty visible with Ford (Fiesta), Nestle and Harmony getting prime billing on the site.
by Lindsay Stidham on October 29th, 2008
Bebo’s The Secret World of Sam King has attracted quite a regular fan base since it’s launch in August of this year. The show has racked up over 400-thousand views, enough for Bebo to announce a second season. In addition to a second season of the music-heavy show, Bebo has committed to a launch of six new series come early 2009 under the banner of “Bebo Originals.” The success of Sam King and other Bebo shows like KateModern, and Sofia’s Diary have laid the ground work for the upcoming launch, and have started to create what seems to be a fairly teen-focused brand.
Perhaps a testament to the growing brand, Sam King’s episodes that have gone most viral across the internet included guest appearances by the likes of the Jonas Brothers, and the Pussycat Dolls.
This final episode of Sam King leaves little surprises. Audiences were briefly left to question if Sam is going to get to keep his job at Universal Records, but after upcoming, smooth crooner Nick Harrison rocks a solid concert organized by Sam, it looks like this web heart throb (who could be a Jonas from a British mother) is safe, for now. Teeny boppers everywhere can rejoice.
by Marc Hustvedt on August 24th, 2008
Fresh from wrapping up filming on season two of the hit UK web drama series Sofia’s Diary producers at Campbell Ryan Productions were tapped to create their next series, Aisling’s Diary. This time they’re heading to Ireland.
The new series, Aisling’s Diary is a teen drama set to air September on RTÉ (Ireland) along with the [...]
by Paul Goebel on August 6th, 2008
Bebo (AOL’s social networking site) is launching its newest online drama, The Secret World Of Sam King, today (August 6th.)
The series features the eager Sam King, a junior employee at Universal Records who, unbeknownst to his colleagues, secretly starts his own record label using the facilities available to him at the London office of [...]
