by Jonathan Hludzinski on March 11th, 2010
From the trailer you get the idea that Tyranny is a distant relative of 70’s American thrillers, where corporations rule the world and your mind. From the three episodes I’ve screened, I was convinced it was another dystopic, post-apocalyptic thriller. Dystopia, I know, but I think timing wise, this is more pre-apocalypse. At any rate this series from creator John Beck Hofman is gripping while still competently executed for its scope.
Hofman plays Daniel McCarthy who in 1999 volunteers for a Berkley Grad student’s experiment that records his every thought and action throughout the day. Shortly thereafter he realizes he has lost memory of the last eight days and can now see the future from 2011 to 2013. And it ain’t pretty. Food shortages, bio-engineered pandemic, and picketers galore…future? Hmm, that sounds awfully similar to a certain planet I know right now. The rest of the cast is impressive, with Bond girl Olga Kurylenko starring alongside Hofman and web series standout Bitsie Tulloch from Quarterlife and lonleygirl15.
by Jenni Powell on March 10th, 2010
“Known as the last great race on the earth, the Iditarod is an 1150-mile sled dog race across the most dangerous and extreme terrain of Alaska. Fifty-eight year old Kathy Frederick is one of the oldest female rookie competitors to ever compete in this treacherous race and I, Leslie Morgan will be documenting her journey.” This is, in a nutshell, the premise for the unique documentary web series 1150 Project created by the one-woman producing dynamo Leslie Morgan. The series is literally unfolding right now, as Leslie follows Kathy currently racing in this year’s Iditarod. Tubefilter talked via e-mail (as she is currently still in Alaska working on the series) with this inspiring creator to get the inside scoop on this truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Tubefilter: What was the inspiration behind this project? How did you and Kathy meet?
I have been interested in finding a documentary project about someone living out a dream, Lemonade: The Movie and David Lynch’s The Interview Project inspired this web series. I met Kathy online after a mutual friend told me about her and her website. When I saw she needed a volunteer for three months to help her out managing her household I thought I could help her, but I also wanted to document her journey. I have been interested in producing a web based project for some time and thought rather than taking months to try and make a feature why not try to film and edit in Alaska, posting episodes as I go.
by Jenni Powell on March 9th, 2010
Included in President Obama’s commencement address at Note Dame University last year was a desire to find ways to communicate about a workable solution to the problem of unintended pregnancies. A Southern California-based independent media company called Yellow Line Studios wanted to help give that desire a voice. And so they created Bump+.
Using the device of a fictional reality show, Bump+ follows the stories of three women, all in their first four weeks of pregnancy, as they weigh the pros and cons of continuing to full term. Denise is almost a child herself, though this is her third pregnancy with signs they were results of domestic abuse, Hailey is a sorority girl who seems to care more about what being on the show can do for her than her pregnancy, and Katie is facing the tough decision of what to tell her husband when he returns from Iraq…because the father isn’t him.
Launching on the eve of the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the show has been releasing 2 episodes a week since February 1st, all the while fostering an open and honest communication with and between its audience. Though the production itself is clearly not trying to present itself as a true documentary, the comments show a sincere desire to communicate with the fictional women involved and in the end, the audience influences the final decisions of the women. Several alternate endings were shot and however the story is lead, the project intends to follow-through with it. One of the women may decide to keep their baby while another opts for abortion…one may choose an entirely different option altogether.
by Marc Hustvedt on March 9th, 2010
Illeana Douglas may be quite the name in web series circles now, especially after landing six Streamy nominations for her popular comedy Easy to Assemble, which just wrapped its second season earlier this year. It even spawned a spinoff series Sparhüsen, which nabbed its own Streamy nod. But aside from those two, the Emmy-nominated TV and film actress has yet to venture into a web series where she isn’t the one calling the shots. Looks like that’s about to change.
Douglas just wrapped shooting a two-episode guest starring arc on Spherion-sponsored office comedy The Temp Life in New York this week, playing cold hearted CEO Eve Randall. Also shooting a guest spot this week is Taryn Southern who brings back her gumpy midwest IT tech Nancy Roder for a few more episodes.
This isn’t the first we’ve written about the casting moves on The Temp Life this season, which have seen notable web series standouts like Sandeep Parikh (The Guild), Thom Woodley (The Burg) and Rachel Risen (The Hayley Project) coming on board to bolster the show’s cred and fanbase. To give an idea of numbers, it took two years for the series to reach 1 million views, while its latest season—its fourth—has just passed 2 million.
The connection between Easy to Assemble isn’t hard to piece together. Temp Life creator Wilson Cleveland—who also plays the former temp agency boss Nick ‘Trouble’ Chiapetta—heads up CJP Digital Media the web arm of Manhattan-based marketing firm CJP Communications. Easy to Assemble teamed up with CJP for its latest season with Cleveland’s team helping score a suite of new distribution deals for the show including The Hotel Network and a lucrative one with My Damn Channel.
by Jenni Powell on March 8th, 2010
This isn’t your average “I ripped Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” off YouTube (rickroll) and then mixed in some clips of Captain Picard saying “make it so” on a loop” mashup. Contagion explores a world in which Jack Bauer is investigating the murder of Bella Swan by Blade while tying to get Mulder and Scully to help him before the Resident Evil zombies attack…but they do, leaving him no choice but to go pick up the Winchester brothers from Supernatural.
And it actually looks really, really good.
Created by Canadian television director and editor Ray Holycross, the series originally began as a way for him to hone his editing skills in his spare time. He had planned to release an episode each week for 2 months, beginning in December. And just in case anyone tries to call foul on the fact that he’s using copywritten material, Holycross makes sure to post information on Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 on the series YouTube account, also stating, “I do NOT make any money on this. Copyright is to the rightful owners, and this was for fun and not to make any money or profit at all.”
Unfortunately, Holycross had to take a hiatus after episode 3. However, to make it up to those chomping at the bit for more, he recently released a teaser trailer (below) for the final three parts of the series, each running 10 minutes, slated to be released at the end of March.
by Marc Hustvedt on March 8th, 2010
The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers lit up the Oscars stage last night (above) on ABC with a medley of all of the Best Original Music nominees. Talk about a killer (and free) promo for their upcoming web series The LXD from director Jon M Chu. Check out Madd Chadd’s legendary robot skills in the UP section of the routine. [YouTube]
The Guild’s creator-star Felicia Day is going to star in a SyFy Channel Saturday Original Movie where she will portray “a werewolf-hunting descendant of Little Red Riding Hood.” “In the action-packed Red, Red (Day) brings her fiancé home, where he meets the family and learns about their business – hunting werewolves.” The movie, set to debut in 2011 on SyFy also stars Kavan Smith (Stargate Atlantis) and Stephen McHattie (Watchmen). [Bloody Disgusting]
DigiVenture is hosting a Women in Digital event tonight in Los Angeles hosted by Joanne Griffith that will feature a panel representing audio, visual and print media professionals, including: Carmen Dixon, former ABC producer and creator of the blog Allaboutrace.com, Zadi Diaz, founder of the web TV series, Epic Fu, and Shani Byard-Ngunjiri, founder of Media Message Ed. The free event will be held at Otis College of Art and Design on Monday March 8th from 7-9pm and parking is free. [DigiVenture.org]
Funny or Die tapped director Ron Howard to rope together the best SNL prexys from the past few decades in a Presidential Reunion video (below) that already broke 2.5 million views on in under a week on site. Darrell Hammond stars as Bill Clinton, Jim Carrey as Reagan, Dan Aykroyd as Dick Cheney, Fred Armisen as Barack Obama, Chevy Chase as Gerald Ford, Dana Carvey as Poppy Bush, Will Ferrell as George W. and Maya Rudolph as Michelle Obama. The video is part 1 of three in the series. [Funny or Die, MainStreetBrigade]
by Jenni Powell on March 8th, 2010
During last night’s Oscar telecast, trailers for a branded reality-based web series following Rocco DiSpirito, Marisa Tomei, and Dan Cortese as they travel through Italy exploring the unique passions of Italian cuisine were nestled between the iPad and Coca-Cola adverts (one of which featured Safety Geeks: SVI’s Tom Konkle). In addition to Dr. Horrible himself opening the show and the LXD teaming up with Debbie Allen for the Best Score performance piece, the web space was fairly well represented.
Sponsored by Italian food product company Bertolli and made specifically to help promote their new line of Italian frozen dinners, Into the Heart of Italy marks the company’s largest marketing investment ever according to an interview with Gaston Vaneri, a marketing director who oversees Unilever’s U.S. frozen foods business (Unilever owns Bertolli). Being described as “Amazing Race meets Top Chef”, the show seeks to promote its product by celebrating a country known for it’s love of all things culinary.
It will be interesting to see if the huge investment in this series; from it being completely produced in Italy, to the use of celebrities, to the chunk of change required to advertise during the Academy Awards; will have a payoff not only in views for the series itself, but the obviously larger goal of driving up sales for Bertolli products. This will be one of keep an eye on, with the first episode of the series launching March 14th.
by Marc Hustvedt on March 4th, 2010
After their pilot episode snagged the Grand Prize at the 2009 Escapist Film Festival, creator Brett Register and his producing team of Rick Rey and Paula Rhodes knew they were on to something. At that point the show was called Dorian’s Quest, but after a name change to A Good Knight’s Quest, the team set out to shoot a 24-episode gamer comedy web series that would run on The Escapist Magazine’s site in weekly installments.
“I’m a huge fan of the Escapist, I have been for years, ever since I was in college,” said Register. “I always wanted to do an 80’s style show, like my own Masters of the Universe web series—the bad movie not the cartoon TV show.” To launch the series, the team hosted a well-attended LA premiere at the Capitol City Hollywood on Monday night.
When a video game princess crosses over into the real world, a geeky gamer is thrust into an epic suburban adventure in this comedy web series featuring an all-star Web TV cast, including Craig Frank (Compulsions, The Crew), Paula Rhodes (Shuffle), Douglas Sarine (Ask A Ninja), Angie Cole (Sorority Forever), Charlie Bodin (24, Cold Case), Cathy Baron (Valley Peaks, The Eves), Brett Register (The Crew), and many more!
And as for that elusive mystery guest star? She is revealed in the exclusive new trailer (above) to be none other than Brea Grant from Heroes. Catch up with episode 1 below:
