YouTube's original viral star, Lonelygirl15, returned to the Internet on Thursday after a nearly eight year absence. The reincarnation comes 10 years to the day after Lonelygirl15's first video, which gained her channel hundred and thousands of followers, making it one of YouTube's earliest viral sensations. The vlogs, which followed the life of a 16-year-old girl named Bree, were ordinary in nature. Bree would discuss her home life, complaining about homework and being home-schooled. She'd gush about her friend Daniel, and goof off in front of the camera. But Lonelygirl15's popularity soon took off. Her Myspace page was flooded with follower requests.
- 6/18/2016
- by Dave Quinn, @NineDaves
- PEOPLE.com
YouTube was a strange phenomenon at its start, as many didn’t know what to do with it. Aspiring filmmakers Miles Beckett and Mesh Flinders, however, slowly realized that it was an opportunity for a rather new kind of storytelling — one that lives again today.
In a recent interview with Vocativ, Beckett said, “I thought about how I didn’t know if any of the videos on YouTube were real or not — you kind of blur the lines of reality and fiction.” With that inspiration, the pair created a YouTube channel called “Lonelygirl15” on June 16, 2006, which utilized video blogging (“vlogging”) to tell the story of Bree Avery and her family’s strange cult society, known as the Order.
Thought to be one of if not the first of its kind, the series quickly shot off the ground, getting half a million views on a video for the first time only months after it started. When it all wrapped up, the videos had garnered over 60 million views. And 10 years to the date after the first episode, Bree is back.
Read More: Experiencing ‘Girls’ Withdrawal? Here are the 14 Best Female-Centered Web Series
Miles Beckett, Jenni Powell — a producer behind the Emmy-winning “The Lizzie Bennett Diaries” — and more have teamed up to bring viewers back to the world of “Lonelygirl15.” Powell said in an email announcing the show’s return that “the hope is to not only tie up storylines for fans of the original series but to bring the show to a whole new audience while utilizing technologies that weren’t available 10 years ago to create new storytelling experiences.”
The re-entry video brings up a lot of the lore of the show, diving deep into the strange, cult elements with both dialogue and video editing. And so it might be time to catch up with what was a cultural phenomenon 10 years ago — to prepare for what may be a new phenomenon today.
Check out lonelygirl15’s return in the video below.
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Related storiesExclusive: Jessica Seinfeld Appears in New Web Series to Promote Bravo's 'Odd Mom Out' - Watch'Electra Woman and Dynagirl' Review: Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart Fly High in Female Superhero SpoofWatch: How William Friedkin Crafts Great Fiction Using Documentary Techniques...
In a recent interview with Vocativ, Beckett said, “I thought about how I didn’t know if any of the videos on YouTube were real or not — you kind of blur the lines of reality and fiction.” With that inspiration, the pair created a YouTube channel called “Lonelygirl15” on June 16, 2006, which utilized video blogging (“vlogging”) to tell the story of Bree Avery and her family’s strange cult society, known as the Order.
Thought to be one of if not the first of its kind, the series quickly shot off the ground, getting half a million views on a video for the first time only months after it started. When it all wrapped up, the videos had garnered over 60 million views. And 10 years to the date after the first episode, Bree is back.
Read More: Experiencing ‘Girls’ Withdrawal? Here are the 14 Best Female-Centered Web Series
Miles Beckett, Jenni Powell — a producer behind the Emmy-winning “The Lizzie Bennett Diaries” — and more have teamed up to bring viewers back to the world of “Lonelygirl15.” Powell said in an email announcing the show’s return that “the hope is to not only tie up storylines for fans of the original series but to bring the show to a whole new audience while utilizing technologies that weren’t available 10 years ago to create new storytelling experiences.”
The re-entry video brings up a lot of the lore of the show, diving deep into the strange, cult elements with both dialogue and video editing. And so it might be time to catch up with what was a cultural phenomenon 10 years ago — to prepare for what may be a new phenomenon today.
Check out lonelygirl15’s return in the video below.
Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Festivals newsletter here.
Related storiesExclusive: Jessica Seinfeld Appears in New Web Series to Promote Bravo's 'Odd Mom Out' - Watch'Electra Woman and Dynagirl' Review: Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart Fly High in Female Superhero SpoofWatch: How William Friedkin Crafts Great Fiction Using Documentary Techniques...
- 6/16/2016
- by Kyle Kizu
- Indiewire
When it launched on June 16, 2006, Lonelygirl15 broke the digital mold. What seemed like a run-of-the-mill vlog created by a teenage everygirl named Bree turned out to be an intricately orchestrated fictional series -- with groundbreaking interactive features and sci-fi plot twists -- that was light years ahead of the curve in terms of showcasing YouTube’s potential as a platform for scripted content.
And now, on this -- the very day 10 years ago that Bree uploaded her first vlog -- some of the minds behind the series are readying a reprisal of sorts. Lonelygirl co-creator Miles Beckett and Jenni Powell, who was a die-hard fan before being hired as a production assistant on the show, tell Tubefilter that they are teaming to create new content within the Lonelygirl universe.
“There hasn’t been new Lonelygirl content since 2008,” says Beckett, who created the series alongside Greg Goodfried, who is currently an agent at UTA, and Mesh Flinders, an associate creative director at communications company Havas. “But there’s always been interest -- the channel still gets hundreds of thousands of views, it's constantly being referenced by other YouTubers, and we’ve had a lot of fans asking for more.”
Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.
And now, on this -- the very day 10 years ago that Bree uploaded her first vlog -- some of the minds behind the series are readying a reprisal of sorts. Lonelygirl co-creator Miles Beckett and Jenni Powell, who was a die-hard fan before being hired as a production assistant on the show, tell Tubefilter that they are teaming to create new content within the Lonelygirl universe.
“There hasn’t been new Lonelygirl content since 2008,” says Beckett, who created the series alongside Greg Goodfried, who is currently an agent at UTA, and Mesh Flinders, an associate creative director at communications company Havas. “But there’s always been interest -- the channel still gets hundreds of thousands of views, it's constantly being referenced by other YouTubers, and we’ve had a lot of fans asking for more.”
Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.
- 6/16/2016
- by Geoff Weiss
- Tubefilter.com
Ifp has announced its 2013 slate of 163 films in development selected for its Project Forum at Independent Film Week, which runs September 15-19 at New York's Lincoln Center. "The event brings the international film and media community to New York City to advance new projects and support the future of storytelling by nurturing the work of both emerging and established independent artists and filmmakers," Ifp explained in a press release. "Through the Project Forum, creatives connect with the financiers, executives, influencers and decision-makers in film, television, new media and cross-platform storytelling that can help them complete their latest works and connect with audiences." Featured works at the 2013 Independent Film Week include filmmakers and content creators ranging from Academy Award winners Louie Psihoyos ("The Cove") and Cynthia Wade ("Freeheld") to web-series innovators such as Mesh Flinders ("Lonelygirl 5") and Thom Woodley ("The Burg"). “For 35...
- 7/25/2013
- by Peter Knegt
- Indiewire
Ifp, publisher of Filmmaker Magazine, announced today 163 projects in development selected for its Independent Film Week Project Forum. Projects include documentaries by such directors as Academy Award Winners Louis Psihoyos and Cynthia Wade; fiction features by documentarians Jennifer Fox and Jeremiah Zagar; fiction features by web creators Mesh Flinders and Thom Woodley; and an original web series, Awesome Asian Bad Guys, by Patrick Epino and Stephen Dypiangco. In addition, a number of projects from Filmmaker Magazine 25 New Faces have been selected, including new work from Carlen Altman, Sophia Takal, the Zellner Brothers, Alex Jablonski, Pete Ohs & Andrea …...
- 7/25/2013
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The first day at SXSW, the 4th floor. “What’s this line for?” I asked the woman standing next to me. “No idea,” she said. But it wasn’t a line for anything. The crowd was just there. And as I pushed my way through, it slowly started to dissipate. It was like one of those highway slowdowns, where the memory of congestion lingers after whatever caused it.
If you’re going to sponsor a festival, at least do something useful, like this rolling Samsung display of panel times, schedule changes and social media activity.
When you check into SXSW, you’re given three things: the catalog, your badge, and a punch card giving you one free Macallan single malt a day.
I have wished there was one of these guys — except promising Blackberry repair — at Sundance.
Lonelygirl15 creator Mesh Flinders at the Austin Convention Center. Several years later, has...
If you’re going to sponsor a festival, at least do something useful, like this rolling Samsung display of panel times, schedule changes and social media activity.
When you check into SXSW, you’re given three things: the catalog, your badge, and a punch card giving you one free Macallan single malt a day.
I have wished there was one of these guys — except promising Blackberry repair — at Sundance.
Lonelygirl15 creator Mesh Flinders at the Austin Convention Center. Several years later, has...
- 3/12/2011
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
CORRECTED 1:24 p.m. PT April 23, 2008
NEW YORK -- The studio behind Internet sensation lonelygirl15 has received funding from a group of investors including veterans of Netscape, Google and Cloudbreak Entertainment.
LG15/Telegraph Ave. Prods., which is being rebranded as EQAL, will receive a $5 million Series A round of financing led by Spark Capital. Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, Conrad Riggs of Cloudbreak, Silicon Valley venture investor Ron Conway and former Google director Georges Harik also are investing in this round.
Company CEO Miles Beckett, president and COO Greg Goodfried and Mesh Flinders launched "lonelygirl15" in June 2006, and it quickly became a viral hit on YouTube. In summer 2007, Beckett and Goodfried launched "KateModern" on Bebo, a social network popular in the U.K. that is being acquired by AOL.
Beckett and Goodfried explained that the funding isn't tied to a specific new project; they're looking to "build the corporate infrastructure" and hire programrs, developers and ad sales workers. The studio now has eight full-time employees, with "lonelygirl" and "KateModern" employing production units of 12-14 people apiece.
NEW YORK -- The studio behind Internet sensation lonelygirl15 has received funding from a group of investors including veterans of Netscape, Google and Cloudbreak Entertainment.
LG15/Telegraph Ave. Prods., which is being rebranded as EQAL, will receive a $5 million Series A round of financing led by Spark Capital. Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, Conrad Riggs of Cloudbreak, Silicon Valley venture investor Ron Conway and former Google director Georges Harik also are investing in this round.
Company CEO Miles Beckett, president and COO Greg Goodfried and Mesh Flinders launched "lonelygirl15" in June 2006, and it quickly became a viral hit on YouTube. In summer 2007, Beckett and Goodfried launched "KateModern" on Bebo, a social network popular in the U.K. that is being acquired by AOL.
Beckett and Goodfried explained that the funding isn't tied to a specific new project; they're looking to "build the corporate infrastructure" and hire programrs, developers and ad sales workers. The studio now has eight full-time employees, with "lonelygirl" and "KateModern" employing production units of 12-14 people apiece.
- 4/16/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LONDON -- Social networking Internet venture Bebo is launching its first global Internet programming venture, "Lonelygirl Presents ... KateModern," based on the Lonelygirl 15 character that gained 50 million viewers on YouTube.
Bebo has joined with the "Lonelygirl15" creators Miles Beckett, Greg Goodfried and Mesh Flinders to create a unique, original interactive programming concept that will launch within the social networking hub, allowing Bebo users exclusive updates to the plot lines as well as the ability to interact with the character, Bebo president of international Joanna Shields said.
With 31 million viewers worldwide averaging 41 minutes usage a day, audiences for the new interactive project could well exceed the numbers that tune in to cable in the U.S. and U.K., Shields added.
"This is truly a native social media entertainment form and fits perfectly within the Bebo experience," she said. "These characters become part of Bebo in a viral, multilayered way that has never been done before," she said, noting that 16- to 24-year-olds were moving away from television and looking for more innovative forms of programming.
Bebo has joined with the "Lonelygirl15" creators Miles Beckett, Greg Goodfried and Mesh Flinders to create a unique, original interactive programming concept that will launch within the social networking hub, allowing Bebo users exclusive updates to the plot lines as well as the ability to interact with the character, Bebo president of international Joanna Shields said.
With 31 million viewers worldwide averaging 41 minutes usage a day, audiences for the new interactive project could well exceed the numbers that tune in to cable in the U.S. and U.K., Shields added.
"This is truly a native social media entertainment form and fits perfectly within the Bebo experience," she said. "These characters become part of Bebo in a viral, multilayered way that has never been done before," she said, noting that 16- to 24-year-olds were moving away from television and looking for more innovative forms of programming.
- 4/16/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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