Tubefilter News

A while back I wondered which of the inaugural lineup of Strike.TV web series will be the standout, and I think we have our answer. With the Angels, the dramatic web series from creator (and former lonelygirl15 writer) Mary Feuer, released its season finale today, wrapping up an ambitious 36 episode first season. And in that time, the series has picked up an healthy following known to debate some hefty issues, everything from faith to existentialism and Kierkegaard.

Starring Jamie Tisdale as the young small town Arkansas ingenue Taffy, the With the Angels charts her arrival in Venice, California, thrusting her into an unfamiliar world surrounded by unfamiliar people. But through her we come to watch those strangers become friends—friends of our own even—closer and realer than what we’ve come to expect out in scripted entertainment. The unfamiliar becomes the familiar.

With an ensemble cast including Carly Jones (Mallory in lonelygirl15), René Alvarado, Timothy Lee DePriest, Sean Vincent Biggins (Dr. Calvin Hart on lonelygirl15) and Kay Ostrenko, With the Angels ventures into waters that few web series have been able to pull of – character driven drama. We had the chance to chat with Feuer who was literally dealing hands-on with YouTube uploading issues before we spoke, speaking to how intimately involved her project has been for the writer turned full-on new media maven.

Today, after months of delays and strategizing, Strike.TV has finally launched.

It’s been a while since the picket lines of striking WGA writers last winter where the idea of a video portal for professional writers (read: WGA writers) could have a place to showcase their original web series while also owning the rights to all content. The idea seemed simple enough. Writers would head out and rally together resources — celebrity actor friends, camera ops, editors, etc. — calling in all the favors and waivers they could manage.

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The content was the easy part. With Hollywood on strike for two months, it seemed everyone had a little time to spare and a hand to lend. In all, some fifty web series were collected for the newly formed site, loading it up with a year’s worth of star-driven series. Here are some of the web series debuting today:

* Unknown Sender, written/directed by Steven de Souza (Die Hard), starring Timothy Dalton and Joanne Whalley
* John’s Hand, starring Garret Dillahunt (No Country For Old Men) and Kali Rocha (Grey’s Anatomy)
* Global Warming, starring Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live) and Aasif Mandvi (Jericho, The Daily Show)
* With the Angels, written by Mary Feuer (lonelygirl15)
* Daryl from OnCar, written and starring Ron Corcillo and Russ Carney of America.
* Life in General, written by Karren Harris (General Hosptial)
* Greenville General also written by Karren Harris, it’s the show-within-the-show of Life in General
* House Poor, created by The Office writer-producers Lester Lewis and Mindy Kaling
* The Challenge, starring Bob Newhart and written by sitcom veteran Lloyd Garver (Alf, Family Ties)
* 5 or Die, written/directed by horror director Tom Holland (Child’s Play, Psycho II)
* Side Effects, written/directed by Chuck Rose.
* Joe and Kate, written by and starring Joe Kelly (How I Met Your Mother, SNL) and Kate Purdy (Cold Case)

The philosophy and message were solid, that’s for sure. From our interview with Strike.TV founder Peter Hyoguchi earlier this summer:

Hyoguchi is excited about where TV on the web stands today, saying “the internet’s pre-Howdy Doody today,” referring to the 1947-debuted TV show which essentially spawned the advertising-supported television model that exists today. While he notes that there have been some early successes like lonelygirl15 and quarterlife, “we still haven’t haven’t see a true hit show yet,” the kind that reaches a true global scale. “For a show to reach that kind of mass appeal, it’s going to come from a professional team,” he notes.

Strike.TV has signed a content distribution and revenue sharing deal with YouTube and Joost, allowing the WGA writers-backed video portal to extend its reach for its more than forty original web series. Long-awaited launch now set for October 28th.

More news in about the upcoming launch of Strike.TV, the site we reported on in early July. According to our source, a “soft launch” of the site is expected to begin on Monday, August 18th. The private beta will be open to people close to the project, as well as for the first 1,000 people [...]

Tubefilter News caught up with Mary Feuer, one of the writers of the seminal web series lonelygirl15, to talk about her new web show, With The Angels, premiering next month on StrikeTV. The show brings together a slew of LG15 vets, starring Carly Jones (”Mallory” from LG15) and Sean Vincent Biggins (”Dr. Calvin Hart” from [...]