Post by milowent on Jun 21, 2007 7:59:44 GMT -5
we've come a long way from yousefgate, i guess.
link to article. Found via the phorum.
An Internet series becomes a digital hit
By Paula Parisi
June 20, 2007
What do you get when you combine video blogging with TV-caliber production values? If you're a bored doctor named Miles Beckett, the answer is "Lonelygirl15," the confessional, sci-fi-inflected tale of a teen on the run.
The project, which Beckett created with attorney Greg Goodfried and writer-director Mesh Flinders, launched a year ago on YouTube as a "video diary" and was revealed only later as a fictionalized account. The suspense, the execution and the adorable lead actress all add up to a case study in how to mount a successful programming rollout on the Internet.
The first "Lonelygirl" installment, uploaded in June 2006, got about 10,000 views. [Milo adds: Hmm, never knew that, I wonder over what period of time.] The third one received 50,000, and by July 4, the number had climbed to 500,000.
"Initially, we thought, what if we did this for a few months and then had (the Lonelygirl) disappear? We would then go off and create a feature film and distribute it on iTunes," Goodfried says. [iTunes?] "Then we realized that we had tapped into this new form of serial storytelling and that it would be impossible to shoot a feature while continuing to make as much video content as we wanted to for the web. So we decided to stick with the video."
New episodes are uploaded four-to-five times per week, and the "Lonelygirl" group -- which includes producer Goodfried's wife, Amanda, a former CAA agent -- is about to premiere its second original show, "KateModern," launching on bebo.com. Along with Flinders, Amanda Goodfried will be on hand at the Hollywood & Games Summit to give a presentation on "What Digital Distribution Can Do For You," June 27 at 11:50 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
"The long versus short of it is, it doesn't matter how content is distributed -- whether it's a reel delivered to a theater, a broadcast over satellite or data over the Internet," Greg Goodfried says. "The relevant issue is where you're watching. If you're watching on a 30-foot screen, it should look and feel a certain way, and if you're watching on a phone, it should look and feel a different way. We're excited about all these possibilities."
