Monday, May 24, 2010
Behind the Scenes of The Web Files Buzz, Episode 4
We are buzzing along through the episodes this month and this one is chockfull of familiar faces, web series content, and a really important issue to anyone creating work over the web. Our first stop was the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank to interview Travis Wester and AJ Buckley about their show, Ghostfacers. I originally caught this show at the launch party at La Vida a few short days after the Streamys and the audience was filled with non-web series faces. It was refreshing to see a different group of people react to hilarity and the terror that ensues when the Ghostfacers are on the loose. With that in mind, I think I was expecting over the top antics with the interview. Surprisingly, AJ and Travis were pretty subdued and serious about the work they have created. Remember, these roles started out as a one episode guest star on Supernatural that turned into an entire series for the web when they pitched the idea about continuing their character on YouTube to the producers. Oh, does anyone know who the producers are? McG and his production company. Impressive. The one other comment I have.....AJ, board shorts to a board meeting? I guess it doesn't matter, does it? You got the job!
Then it's off to Digital Hollywood in Santa Monica where we nabbed Kevin Pollak and Amber J. Lawson, Comedy Publisher at Babelgum, to talk about their partnership with Vamped Out. Kevin failed miserably at describing his show in ten words or less, but it is definitely one of the funnier moments in the interview. One thing to watch in his interview is how important it is for content creators to own their work. It wouldn't be possible on a network show and he points to Conan O'Brien as an example. The characters Conan created on his late night shows are now property of NBC. Hard to imagine that, but that's the way it works with the big corporate deals. In an outtake from the episode below, check out what happens when I turn the tables on Mr. Pollak. If you watch his chat show, you know he makes everyone do an impersonation of Larry King. Well, I made him get into his Vamped Out character, Elliot Finke, and do his Larry King bit:
Rounding out the rest of the episode were Chris McCaleb of Big Fantastic and Roland Hamilton of Dailymotion. Chris pointed out the importance of net neutrality as some of you may have seen the whiteribbons adorned on everyone's chest at the Streamys. It is an issue for any content creator, so I urge you to go to Save the Internet and inform yourself on how it will affect all of us. You can also contact FCC Chairman Julius Chenachowski from the site and plead with him protect the Internet. I am pleased that several of you have already taken action after watching this episode, thank you! The one thing I couldn't get out of Chris? The launch date for Prom Queen 2. The answer was a vague "sometime in 2010." Well, we are almost halfway through the year, so I am impatiently waiting, Chris. Hey, I'm looking for a Web Files exclusive!
Be sure to check out our latest episode of The Web Files Buzz. It is all the buzz about the biz, the web
series biz:
Join us this Wednesday for another episode of The Web Files Buzz featuring on set visits with Bumps in the Night and Night of the Zombie King from the Gold the Series creators all on Blip.tv.
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I think there is a problem with the text, the paragraphs don't seem to wrap right, causing them to run past the text boundary and disappear.
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Great write-up!!
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