by Marc Hustvedt on January 26th, 2010
Warner Brothers is teaming up with an old friend again—single-word director McG. Having last collaborated on the 2008 online drama Sorority Forever, today came word that Ghostfacers, a new 10-episode sci-fi comedy web series from McG’s Wonderland Sound and Vision production company and Warner’s Studio 2.0 is currently in production in Los Angeles. The series appears to be a spin-off of Warner Bros. Television’s Supernatural series which airs on The CW. They are calling this a “shortform brand extension” of the TV series, which means this is really a companion web series, instead of a purely original project.
Ghostfacers will follow a “a team of fearless and sometimes comical “professional” ghost hunters who investigate the paranormal and record their own adventures in documentary-style episodes.” That same team actually made its debut on Supernatural’s first season during the “Hell House” episode, and later resurfaced on season three. The series is planned for release online later this year—no specific dates set yet—on TheWB.com and CWTV.com.
AJ Buckley stars as the scrappy ghost hunting team’s leader with Travis Wester, Brittany Ishibashi and Austin Basis rounding things out. Guest stars will appear throughout and so far just Kelly Carlson, who is playing the ghost of a young starlet, has been announced. Trey Callaway is credited as creator of the characters of Ghostfacers, though Supernatural creator/EP Ben Edlund also had a hand.
This is the latest web series to debut on TheWB.com, which has been fairly dormant in terms of new web originals. The latest was the lightly marketed thriller Blood Cell back in October starring Jessica Rose that was licensed from the now-defunct 60Frames.
by Marc Hustvedt on January 5th, 2010
Rocketboom correspondent Ella Morton launched a new web series this week, The Elegant Guide, with light hearted style and etiquette tips from the graceful and dare we say, elegant British native. [TheElegantGuide.com]
Taryn Southern has a new live web chat show on Ustream: The Taryn Ten at 10pm EST every Tuesday. After a few experimental preview eps, the series begins 2010 tonight with guest Jaime King (Sin City, My Bloody Valentine) joining Southern. For now the series shoots via web cam in Southern’s home, but future weekly episodes will head to a 3-camera studio. [TarynSouthern.com]
The Beautiful Life, the cancelled CW show from Ashton Kutcher’s Katalyst Media that found a second life on YouTube—with new sponsor HP on board—has been doing better online than it had on TV according to new numbers reported today by CNN. 2.7 million people have watch the five episodes online so far, compared to just 2.5 million on the CW. “I want this to be the first show ever that gets more viewers on the Web than it did on terrestrial television,” said Kutcher said in a recent video on YouTube. Kutcher and company are now exploring options to keep the series alive with new episodes as an online-only show. [CNN.com]
RISE a new daily “non-boring web show for entrepreneurs and marketers” from St. Louis-based creator and host David Siteman Garland launched this week packing reviews, tips, whiteboard sessions—and sponsor shoutouts—into tightly cut three minute episodes. So far it’s content rich and living up to its tagline: “If you want fluff, go pet a bunny.” [therisetothetop.com]
Slate TV has a gem of an animated editorial cartoon from Mark Fiore that takes “an amusing look back at what we did and didn’t accomplish in 2009.” [Slate TV]
by Marc Hustvedt on December 17th, 2009
American Idol co-creator Simon Fuller is prepping a reality web/TV hybrid series with Hulu called If I Can Dream, which will follow three aspiring actors, a model and a musician trying to make it in Hollywood. Hulu will stream new episodes each week exclusively on its site when it launches in early 2010. MySpace, Pepsi and Clear Channel are also involved in the project. [THR, NewTeeVee]
Break Media, which owns popular video site Break.com along with a slew of other male-focused sites, announced a partnership with VOD platform Clearleap via the Clearleap’s Content Marketplace, making selected videos and web series available to cable and IPTV providers for their VOD offerings. [Break Media Blog]
Anyone But Me launched the much awaited second season to their web drama, with the help of promos from celebs Zachary Quinto, Liza Weil and Eric Stoltz. The season’s opening ep “The Real Thing” (below) see Vivian and friends dealing with a day of “unexpected encounters” in New York. [AnyoneButMeSeries.com]
Ashton Kutcher’s cancelled CW show The Beautiful Life: TBL has found new life online, as Katalyst has scored HP as a sponsor and released the rest of the season on YouTube. There were only five episodes done (and two aired) when it got the axe, but Katalyst plans to air all five. “What we feel like we’re doing is creating, in some ways, an industry first,” Kutcher told Reuters. “A show that couldn’t find its legs on television, we believe can find its legs on the Web.” [MTV.com]
The Legend of Neil, the gamer comedy web series from creator Sandeep Parikh and Atom.com, is making the web syndication rounds with Season 2 scoring a front page skin on Dailymotion this week as part of their Zelda movie Hero of Time promotion. [Dailymotion]
by Marc Hustvedt on August 26th, 2009
Vampires, they’re so hot right now.
As fall TV season approaches and the networks start the media buying blitzkrieg to promote their new wares, a few networks have turned to web series to stoke the fanbase fires. The CW opted for a prequel to its teenage vampire drama, The Vampire Diaries, with a 4-episode web series A Darker Truth, which leads into the series premiere of the hour-long drama on September 10.
For the production of the A Darker Truth, they tapped Retrofit Films, the same shop that created four of the Heroes spinoff web series for NBC last year. Retrofit’s Tanner Kling and Chris Hanada directed the series. Cast members for the TV series, like stars Ian Somerhalder and Nina Dobrev, are only used via clips and stills, with new web-only actors used for most of the show. Showrunner for the TV series Kevin Williamson (Scream, Dawson’s Creek) did not write the web version, instead staff co-producer Sean Raycraft did the honors.
by Marc Hustvedt on December 1st, 2008
Gossip Girl creator Josh Schwartz has made up his mind on the fate of the rumored web series spinoff of the popular Upper East Side drama, according to E! Online. Originally expected to be a prequel series to the oft-referenced backstory of Rufus (Matthew Settle) and Lily (Kelly Rutherford), that plan was apparently ditched for a new storyline centered around the Waldorf’s housekeeper Dorota (Zuzanna Szadkowski).
With the Young Rufus and Lily in Love series scratched, possibly to save costs on the talent side, Blair Waldorf’s sometime confidante will take prime billing in what might end up being called simply Dorota!, a reference to Blair’s incessant beckoning for the trusted housekeeper.
