The Legend of Neil returned this week with the premiere of its final season, and director Sandeep Parikh discusses what we can look forward to, his Comedy Central blind script and why, exactly, he might not make any money on Season 3. Read more »
Celebrity-infused comedy site Funny or Die seems to be moving away from scripted content in favor of reality stunts these days. And not just reality stunts, but reality stunts invoking 90s nostalgia. The latest example: Joshua “Pacey on Dawson’s Creek” Jackson’s assault on Comic-Con. Read more »
Did you miss the Comic-Con premiere of The Guild‘s follow-up to Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? Don’t fret — Game On, the Bollywood-inspired music video with some other moments of Asian flair (as well as an elephant) is up on Bing.com right now. Read more »
Comic-Con is a great gorgeous whale of pop culture, and if you approach the event as a microcosm of media today, then the way web content has squeezed itself into this five days of panels, exhibits, events and parties is mirrored accordingly. Read more »
Revision3 CEO Jim Louderback’s been in the digital space for over 20 years. Today, he adds a new word to our database of Buzzwords People Hate, defends Annoying Orange and addresses whether or not Rev3 will ever reach out to demographics beyond the 18-34-year-old male. Read more »
Joss Whedon didn’t quite give an answer as to the question of whether or not we can expect a Dr. Horrible sequel anytime in the near future. But he responded to the question “Have you considered doing a subscription-based web series?” by saying “Absolutely.” Read more »
Sorry to break it to you, home-bound nerds, but there’s no official live stream for events at the San Diego Comic-Con. However, there are no shortage of intrepid websites that will be pushing out video after video from the convention this weekend. Read more »
The documentary Winnebago Man, in which director Ben Steinbauer attempts to track down and connect with unwilling viral video star Jack Rebney, has finally gotten limited release in theaters. And for anyone interested in the culture of viral video, it’s a must-see. Read more »
Arizona’s strict new immigration reform bill has had no shortage of detractors since its passing. Arizona police Officer Paul Dobson, in a video interview with the Cuéntame project, is one of those speaking out — and may be facing disciplinary action as a result. Read more »
Reality TV has become an ingrained part of pop culture over the last decade, and that’s created a large population of people a touch too desperate to see their faces on television, and thus easily taken advantage of. That doesn’t mean anyone should. Read more »
Writer Diablo Cody is using her hiatus from the Showtime series United States of Tara to interview her famous friends inside a Gulf Airstream trailer. The first episodes of the web series feature Adam Brody, Chelsea Handler, Jason Bateman and a recurring Robert Pattison doll. Read more »
Director Mike Rotman is launching a new show from the “Streaming Garage” where his other live-streaming series, Stupid For Movies, shoots every week. Stripped Down Live, hosted by Tears for Fears frontman Curt Smith debuts this Wednesday at 8 PM PST. Read more »
The theatrical market for independent documentaries is pretty tough these days, which is why Pixar CTO and independent film producer Oren Jacob has turned to social media, online video creators and food banks to get the word out about Ready, Set, Bag! Read more »
Over the last three and a half years, Dan and Jennifer Baritchi have released almost 500 videos offering advice on sex, dating and romance. The series boasts impressive viewcounts and sponsorships, but little info about the Baritchis themselves — who got married in May. Read more »
Kenyatta Cheese is the producer of Rocketboom spin-off Know Your Meme, a web series and meme database which has been documenting the oddities of Internet culture since December 2007. Here, he talks about web video’s inferiority complex, championing entrepreneurs and “brand promise.” Read more »
It’s not quite accurate to call Lien on Me a black comedy; “bleak comedy” seems to apply better. But there’s something strangely engaging about this recession-inspired web series with solid production value — maybe thanks to the jokes about sex toys and suicide. Read more »
Justin Bieber’s now got the edge over Lady Gaga. Bieber’s musical collaboration with rapper Ludacris, Baby, has just passed Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance as the most-watched video of all time on YouTube. Its views are now at 246.3 million, beating out Gaga by about 600,000. Read more »
Google has put up a guide and case study regarding video sitemaps, which enable creators to index their content with the search engine via Google’s Webmaster Tools. Case studies have shown that using these sitemaps can more than double a website’s video traffic. Read more »
When Improv Everywhere released a new video this week, Gawker.TV’s coverage involved ripping the YouTube upload, editing out identifying marks, and reposting it using a Gawker.TV player. According to editor Richard Blakeley, it was “a mistake and an oversight.” Read more »
Today on the Internet: Microsoft cancels Xbox game show 1 vs. 100, PS3 to be the first and only console to get Hulu Plus this year, and Alanis Morrissette gets mortified. Read more »
On today’s investor relations call, Google CFO Patrick Pichette said that Google’s years-long legal battle with Viacom cost a total of $100 million in legal fees. And the case never even went to trial. Read more »
The Wieden + Kennedy-powered social media blitz featuring actor and former football player Isaiah Mustafa posted over 180 video responses to comments on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube and elsewhere, accumulating a total of 5.9 million views and 22,500 comments in the campaign’s 24-hour time span. Read more »
Based on recent patent applications and company acquisitions, Apple may move its media delivery systems to a cloud-based media storage system. This approach could be a key part of helping Apple push into the digital living room market. Read more »
A web series getting transferred to television should feel like an inspiring win for the online video world. And yet in this case, Childrens Hospital‘s move from TheWB.com to Turner’s Adult Swim doesn’t feel like a victory — for at least three reasons. Read more »
Attendees of the inaugural VidCon conference last weekend were largely on the young side, but watching fans interact with their favorite YouTube creators made it clear that entertainment is changing, with audiences expecting a greater level of connection with creators than ever before. Read more »
The Cheezburger Network, which never met a meme it wasn’t afraid to aggregate, has another experiment in store. Instead of captioning pictures of cats, though, the new channel tackles a genre left previously to hidden camera shows and MTV’s Jackass: reality comedy. Read more »
Snapfish by HP has acquired the video technology platform behind the personal video-sharing site Motionbox, according to an emailed release. The buy means that Snapfish.com users will be able to use the service to upload and share video in addition to still images. Read more »
$5 million sounds like a lot of money for YouTube to give away to its partners in grants. But given the success of Next New Networks’ Key of Awesome, which was an early recipient of a YouTube Partner Grant, it might be a safe bet. Read more »
Amber J. Lawson manages Babelgum Comedy and has overseen original content like Date A Human.com, The Crew and Old Friends. Today she talks about social TV, what she looks for in a prospective new project and how web video has created a renaissance of creativity. Read more »
The new sci-fi series Solo, created by Jonathan Nail, has solid performances and great production value, especially given its futuristic setting. However, its uncertain tone is a clear sign of a show that’s searching for the right note to strike, and hasn’t found it yet. Read more »
During its VidCon 2010 keynote, YouTube announced that it would enable 4096p HD streaming, promised improved with video annotations later this fall, and announced a $5 million grant program to provide to YouTube creators with exceptional views, interactivity or content. Read more »
At the San Diego Comic-Con, smaller projects have a hard time getting included in the conference programming. Thus a Celebrate the Web event, featuring over a dozen current and upcoming web series, is being planned for Saturday, July 24. Read more »
The 2009 death of Oscar Grant, who was shot on camera by Rapid Transit Officer Johannes Mehserle, has been ruled by a jury as involuntary manslaughter. When video of Grant’s shooting went viral, riots resulted — Oakland is preparing for a repeat incident tonight. Read more »
Tubefilter CEO Brady Brim-Deforest is exiting the company for a new opportunity in the digital entertainment space, leaving Marc Hustvedt, Drew Baldwin and Joshua Cohen as the company’s remaining officers while they prepares to launch a new product for the web series world. Read more »
So it appears that Primetime Emmy voters are not cord-cutters — of the six shows nominated for Best Drama this morning, only two streamed online last year. The awards appear focused on the mainstream this year, but there are some bright spots in today’s nominations. Read more »
Created by Jon M. Chu and distributed by Paramount, the highly-anticipated LXD brings together some of the world’s best dancers for a genre-bending epic tale. But being one of the world’s best dancers does not make you one of the world’s best actors. Read more »
In the online video world, there are no shortage of conferences — but they’re aimed specifically at the business of the industry, not the culture of it. Enter Vlogbrothers’ Hank Green’s VidCon, which will run from July 9-11 in Los Angeles. Read more »
Perhaps you live in a wildfire zone. Perhaps you don’t feel like leaving your house. Or perhaps you prefer experiencing the awe of technicolor pyrotechnics through the medium of YouTube. If so, then we’re happy to bring you fireworks videos! Read more »
For those seeking an alternative to the indecipherable text-based captchas that test your humanity and your patience, there’s a new video-based solution available. NuCaptcha allows sites and blogs to deflect spambots with an animated security check, with a higher success rate than the static versions. Read more »
Two weeks after the independently-produced Pioneer One‘s premiere, it’s become the most-seeded show on BitTorrent while also raising over $20,000 from fans for production of the next three episodes. But should the show’s producers seek out a steady source of funding — or stick to crowdsourcing? Read more »
