Tubefilter News

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.

Making and distributing web series back in 2001 wasn’t anywhere nearly as simple as today’s creators have it—this was 4 years before YouTube popped up and streaming video over the internet was neither easy or cheap. But that didn’t stop young actor-writers Sam Maccarone and Dian Bachar from showing off their skills to anyone who would watch it—online. By 2001, the pair had launched their second original web series Roommates: The Series after a successful start with their 1999 comedy series Captain Jackson, which netted them a healthy dose of press coverage and paid gigs.

Now nine years later, after moving on to film and TV projects, the duo are returning to the internet and bringing back both series with new episodes starting February 15th. Check out one of the 2001 episodes (above)—”Sam’s New Friend.” We caught up with Maccarone to ask him about what is most likely the web’s longest ever hiatus for a series and his plans for their new comedy site—TheTVFantastic.com, where the two series will live, along with other new originals.

Tubefilter: You guys were some of the earliest web series creators, what was it like back then and how did you distribute?

Sam Maccarone: Dian and I actually had a really popular web series before Roommates: the Series in 1999 called Captain Jackson, so we have definitely been making shows online for a while. We made up a site called Bongcaster and just offered them for free to the public. Back then it was streaming video and we would literally pay 30 cents every time someone watched an episode. It also looked horrible. Very blocky and pixelated. And the sound got off sync after a minute or two. It was annoying. But the show did well and we got articles about us in all kinds of magazines. Our investor finally pulled out of Captain Jackson because it was too much money. Me and Dian somehow became roommates in 2000 and by 2001, we had a new investor and began cranking out Roommates: the Series episodes. At the time, we still had to pay every time someone “streamed” our movies. The charge was for bandwidth. By 2003, we were getting so many hits that our investor again said, “no way.” Roommates the Series was dead…

Tubefilter: What made you decide to return to the web after finding some success with film and TV?

Maccarone: Around that time I sold a script to National Lampoon and went into production on TV: the Movie. That kept me busy for a year and then that turned into more movies and a few TV shows. Dian starred in everything I made. During all this, I watched youtube spring up. The whole time I was making features, I was watching these kids crank out awesome content and was actually kind of jealous!? there’s something sweet about making 2 – 5 minute movies. You have this small amount of time to try and make as big of an impact as you can. I’ve been dealing with shifty, cocky, shady film producers for 8 years now and I wanted to return to making films where we have control. I know Dian feels the same way. So it just seemed like the right thing to do. All music and visual f/x are created by Tim Montijo who did all the original Roommates. I also brought on legendary documentary filmmaker Chapin Wilson (Hands on a Hardbody) to produce. Chapin and I just finished a documentary about the Delorean Time Machine and super fans who replicate it for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Riese has inked a deal with Fireworks, a division of ContentFilms, to distribute the steampunk-infused drama web series. Fireworks is the same firm that is distributing MTV New Media’s (and Electric Farm’s) Valemont as well as Endemol UK’s sci-fi series Kirill for international television. They also released much-awaited Chapter 2 online this week (above). New cast members in this season include Ryan Robbins (Sanctuary), Emilie Ullerup (Sanctuary), Alessandro Juliani (Battlestar Gallactica) and Allison Mack (Smallville). [Riese]

Ex-Conan O’Brien staff writer Aaron Bleyaert is in fact developing his own web show with fellow axed Tonight Show staffers, but it won’t be affiliated with Conan or his former show, despite what TMZ might say. [Screenology, BAM! BAM! BAM!]

Live video streaming site UStream scored $75 million in additional capital in their latest investment round by Softbank Corp, Japan’s third-largest mobile operator. The cash will be used to grow the service internationally in mobile-heavy countries like Japan, China, Korea and India. [Bloomberg]

The Indie Soap Awards honored some online dramas when winners were announced online last night. While we’re not sure what exactly constitutes a soap anymore, there were some impressive web originals who came out with honors. Anyone But Me took down 4 awards including best writing for Susan Miller and Tina Cesa Ward. Craig Frank and Taryn O’Neill scored best acting awards for Compulsions, which also netted a total of 4 awards. BET.com’s Buppies took two awards, and Diary of a Single Mom (below) won best indie soap. Also honored: Chick, Venice, Anacostia and Seeking Simone. [We Love Soaps]

I love watching people break records. The suspense, the drama as a lone person takes on a seemingly insurmountable challenge, risking life for my entertainment. Guts for glory, all found within that little book called the Guinness Book of World Records.

The Record Collection, a comedy web series where a small group of guys gather around a single person or two to watch unusual, not-so life-endangering world records be set or broken. These feats are usually based on data held and judged by the Universal Record Database (URDB), a community-driven web site that spawned from Burning Man’s Playa Book of Records.

Okay, so it’s not the Guinness Book, but what kind of records are we talking about here? In the first episode, one of our stars, Sam Stilson, dressed in nothing but a brown, leather vest, blue jeans, and a run-of-the-mill biker scarf tries to beat the record for Most Eggs Broken in 30 Seconds Using the Head. This record was formerly held by Guinness-champion Ashrita Furman, who, according to the site, managed to break 53 eggs (we presume from a chicken, since that’s what the series uses) within the allotted time. Stilson, who also co-created, wrote and produced the series, beats that record by smashing his head on 58 eggs.

And that’s about it. The one and only official episode runs about 10 minutes long, but should probably be more like five. So far, Stilson and Craig Morrison, the other co-creator, writer and producer, have turned out a series of “extras” which are more or less records created by the team for submission into the URDB.

Snowy greetings from Park City, Utah, home of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival!

This year, in addition to introducing the world to many of the independent films we’ll be talking about for the next 12 months, Sundance embraced new media. Through official programs and partnerships as well as non-official events, the possibilities and promise of the Internets as a creative and distribution medium was the subject of much discussion.

On Friday, January 22nd, the fest kicked off with Digital Dive, an all-day, immersive event aimed at upping the digital media literacy of attending filmmakers. Jigsaw Global produced the event in tandem with the Festival. Panels were held at the New Frontier on Main (NFOM), the home venue for the New Frontier strand of the fest, which focuses on experimental work that “explores the limits of traditional aesthetics and the narrative structure of filmmaking.” In other words, the section features lots of cool, site-specific pieces that embrace everything from art installations to Google Earth to multimedia performances.

Shari Frilot, Sundance Film Festival senior programmer and curator of the NFOM exhibition, told me that Sundance decided to do the Digital Dive in response to Festival filmmakers’ queries about new media. She said that in talking with them, many were curious about taking advantage of online opportunities, but didn’t feel they had a proper understanding of the digital tools at their disposal.

Panels focused on building websites, using social media, iPhone apps and the digital development process. Lisa Osborne, founder, Jigsaw Media, was thrilled with the turnout for the event, and with Sundance’s commitment to keeping the festival relevant and modern. “A snowstorm hit the night before the workshop, so we were shocked when we opened the doors at 10:30 am the next day and there was a crowd of people waiting to get in,” says Osborne. “By the time the social media panel started at noon, we had to add more seats to the 115 that were already in the room and turn away a long line of people. So, yeah, I think that filmmakers are hungry for digital media training and advice. They want to know what works, how much it costs, and who are the best in the business. I can’t wait to do this again at another festival.”

I attended “Cross-Platform Storytelling for Filmmakers,” which showcased several innovative projects that made use of both online and real-world elements. Julia Oh and Rudy Adler from Wieden + Kennedy presented the marketing strategy for Focus Features’ Coraline; MTV’s EVP of New Media David Gale gave us a sneak peek at Season Two of the channel’s $5 Cover; and Jason Yim, President and Executive Creative Director of Trigger LA, shared the process of creating cutting-edge content for District 9 for Sony Pictures.

If you’ve been spending even a little bit of time online this week, you’ve no doubt bumped into the Grammys massive campaign for your attention, centered by what could be the largest social media roll-out ever for a televised awards show. For the 52nd Annual Grammys we’re not just talking about the standard Twitter, Facebook and YouTube approach—they have all those of course—but instead a full-on rethinking of what ’social’ actually means.

Probably the most visually compelling is the We’re All Fans site custom built around the theme of this year’s awards. Grammys tapped their agency of record, TBWA\Chiat\Day to craft an immersive hub for user-generated videos, photos and tweets surrounding their favorite artists. You have to head to the site to fully experience it, but you can get the idea in the Beyonce video below, which weaves together fans singing—often in their bedrooms—their best attempts at covering the pop star’s hits. There’s even a real-time visualizer to see which stars are getting the most UGC fan love. (As of now, Lady Gaga is in the lead with 170,976 fan posts with Beyonce close behind at 112,105).

In a possibly insane move—for those that have to staff it—GRAMMY Live! kicks off today at 2:00 PM (PT) with 72 hours of continuous live streaming coverage of the pre-awards hoopla on Grammy.com. For the live stream, the Grammys tapped Ooyala which will deliver the feed to an expected audience of “millions” over the three day period. On camera talent for the marathon of music include a number of video bloggers like CBSNews.com’s Shira Lazar, Drew Hinze from the Recording Academy and HardRockChick.com’s Jamie Harvey. For a complete run-down of the Grammys use of social media this year, check out Mashable’s in-depth look.

Social Media Reaches New, Galactic Heights. This week a NASA astronaut, with nothing better to do while circling the earth on an “important” mission, took time out of his day to send the world’s first LIVE tweet from space to the Twitterverse. Takeaway: Even astronauts need a work break. [CNET]

Get Ready To Open Your Wallet (or Purse) for Hulu Content. Rumors have been flying for months about Hulu preparing to offer a subscription model to watch shows. Not surprisingly, its owners NBC Universal, News Corp., The Walt Disney Company and private investors would like to make some money from this business. Are you willing to pay? [LA Times]

AOL Getting into a Video Groove. AOL will soon look more like YouTube as it struggles to redefine itself and regain its financial footing. The company has acquired StudioNow, an online platform for video creation and distribution for $36.5 million in cash and stock. Like YouTube, AOL is eyeing online videos, especially original programming, as a way to boost its bottom line. StudioNow will be integrated into Seed.com, an online entertainment manager and distributor for AOL’s more than 80 branded and niche websites. [Variety]

Is Apple’s New iPad a Game Changer for Content Creators? As the dust settles on yesterday’s iPad unveiling, both geeks and Hollywood are busy pondering what the potential impact of this “iPod Touch on steroids” means for consumer entertainment possibilities. [CNET, Variety]