Fred Envy Pervasive at LA Conference
Here a Fred, there a Fred, everywhere a Fred-Fred. The specter of 15-year-old Lucas Cruikshank has seemed to haunt NATPE’s LA TV Fest this week, with mentions of his hit web creation, Fred Figglehorn, on many a talk or panel. Here’s our report from the conference hallways.
Whether you’re wearing a suit or jeans, everyone has the same disclaimer about Fred: “Personally, I don’t get it. Maybe I’m just too old.” But then it becomes clear that each and every one of them is in awe and fear of the Fred phenomenon. Cruikshank has created the most-subscribed channel in the history of YouTube by depicting a chipmunk-voiced 6-year-old with anger management issues.
EQAL’s Greg Goodfried displayed perhaps the most stunning case of Fred envy, talking about his guy-with-a-Flipcam-and-Final-Cut work on the new EQAL project Get Cookin’ with Paula Deen. “Literally we sit around and say, ‘Is this as good as Fred? Does it feel like Fred; is it cut like Fred?’”
Until he can hit 6 million views per episode on a regular basis like Cruikshank does, he’s got to respect Fred’s low, in-your-face production values, said Goodfried.
Other Fred comments have been similarly worshipful, though they concerned how much money exactly Cruikshank is making, and how he sets audience expectations by releasing every Thursday.
The other single anecdote that’s had new media tongues wagging like crazy at the conference came from SVP of Bravo Digital Media Lisa Hsia. On the same panel as Goodfried, she described a recent mobile series Bravo had commissioned. Bravo paid $2,500 for 14 episodes of the unspecified series.
“I’m not sure the producer made any money on it,” said Hsia, pointing out that the producer must have been OK with the deal since he or she did sign the contract. “You’re not going to make much money as a producer of webisode series for Bravo,” she said.
Online video makers in the hallways and at our meetup said they were mighty disheartened by both Goodfried and Hsia’s comments. People are still holding out hope they can create something that’s smart and innovative and make money doing it — but the reality is a pioneer of the industry is toting a Flipcam and a network exec is bragging about fleecing a video producer.
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At first, I didn’t get Fred. But after you get past the screeching chipmunk voice, there is some real story telling going on there. Instead of traditional narrative, he’s creating an alternate world. Within the SHORT episodes, he gives you just enough to have you curious about his world and the 7 (or so) characters who inhabit it. It’s exactly what Lonely Girl did before they turned it into a soap opera with a flip cam.
To create a web-series that will resonate with today’s online audience, you have to look at how we use the Internet and what makes text-based media work.
The power of the web is that everything is connected. Through linking, we can follow a blogger’s thoughts, while also exploring and learning more ourselves. The problem is that most corporate webs-series want to spoon feed their story. The Internet native wants to do a little of the work, so try to appeal to their sense of curiosity and exploration.
There are a lot of people out there, myself included, who are doing innovative things. It just takes a while to bubble up.
Keep on truckin :)
Morons. Running around trying to figure how to copy ‘Fred’. Fred is successful because he is authentic and funny. He is his own thing. You can’t copy that. I’m 43 and I get it. Fred is social satire for the teenage set. He’s a sort of Beavis and Butthead for You Tube if you have to use a showbiz analogy. If you get past the voice and listen, you’ll get it. That said, the message of Fred’s success is not ‘do what Fred is doing’. It’s ‘do your own thing and do it well’. As for the video producer who sold 14 webisodes for $2,500, he’s a…well, moron. If it’s that cheap to make, better to try and create a successful show on your own and leverage it. Morons.
I have to laugh at these producers tying to decode this mystery that is Fred.
Look at his YouTube videos where he made an appearance at Hot Topic. The majority of people there to see him were children and tween girls.
The children like him because he’s silly and kids like silly things. The tween girls like him because he’s a cute boy roughly their age that acts silly.
That’s it. I don’t understand why that’s so hard for these people to figure out.
This has to be the most depressing post I’ve ever read on NewTeeVee.
@Bill – I agree, it was a pretty depressing moment all around. Do you think the reality is different or no?
Just cant stop my self to comment on your blog. Good post.
I am a teen writer at RadicalParenting.com which is a parenting blog from the kid’s perspective there are 60 teen and tween writers run by teen author, Vanessa Van Petten. We just posted a video of a Girl version of Fred Figglehorn here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH5A9bCyJc0
and would love for you to check it out and tell us what you think or repost if you like it,
Cheers, thanks for checking it out!
Gokce and the Teen Team
http://radicalparenting.com
Fred is embarrassing. But I really find unbearable is the flood if utterly out of touch professionals that are convinced he has a formula they can copy. Actually, I’m torn between that set of idiots and the vapid, hipster morons that believe, because their parents told them they were indigo kids, they have the gift of special insight into art that the rest of us will never fully understand (see also: Chris Lynn)
Fred is massive because children like nonsense. His success is online because broadcast commissioners exist. They have standards – arguably not admirable standards, but at least they draw a line somewhere. There are thousands of similar shows on TV already. They just lack dialogue.
As deep as the rabbit hole goes – it’s mindless sub slapstick nonsense. Shows like Teletubbies get away with being completely crap by replacing narrative, plot and objectives with farts and rainbows. Fred gets away with it online because nobody exists to get fired or field complaints.
All that said. Well done to the kid for exploiting it first. But for the love of all that is good, see it for what it is. If you think you “get Fred” – you don’t. He’s a kid little girls want to marry.