EQAL Takes lonelygirl15 Creators from YouTube to CBS
KateModern,
the British offshoot of interactive online drama lonelygirl15,
will conclude its storyline on June 28, 2008, after two season spread
over twelve months and fifty million video views. While not quite the
success of its ongoing predecessor, the series still established itself
as a significant pioneer in the online video evolution, while likewise
establishing creators Miles Beckett, Mesh Flinders and Greg Goodfried
as top pioneers of the budding industry.
Intrigued
by the rise of the Internet as a social forum, Beckett came up with
the idea in 2006 of using networking websites like MySpace and YouTube
for narrative purposes. He teamed up with Flinders and Goodfried shortly
thereafter and the three developed an interactive dramatic series about
a group of teenagers fighting against a mysterious secret society called
“The Order.” Compared by Beckett to Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, lonelygirl15 (LG15 for short) features
a scripted style that has “a little bit of comedic element, teen
angst and romance, and sci-fi drama.” Combined with interactive
devices like forums and chat rooms that allow fans to directly communicate
with the characters, as well as “live events” where fans
can even meet them, lonelygirl15 became a pop culture phenomenon.
“It
was a War-of-the-Worlds type thing,”
Beckett explained to The
London Paper last year of lonelygirl15’s
initial success. “There’s a blurring of reality, just as
radio was new then, internet video is new now. Now, with social networking,
we’re taking that a step further.” He added that the biggest
challenge “was a question of how we use the platform. We have
quizzes on the characters, blogs as part of narrative, whiteboard drawings
that become important later in the story—everything we do feeds
back into the narrative. It’s totally interactive—that’s
what people expect now.”
In 2007,
LG15 Studios—the lonelygirl15 production company created
by Beckett, Flinders and Goodfried—formed a partnership with social
media network Bebo
to produce a British version of the series, KateModern. Although
featuring different characters, as well as locations, the two dramas
shared the same basic elements of having a young female star, brand
integration, interactive live events, and fighting against “The
Order.”
After succeeding
on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in the interactive online video
genre as LG15 Studios has, where does one go next? For Beckett and Goodfried,
it was starting a new social entertainment company, EQAL,
and raising $5 million in capital funding from the likes of Spark Capital,
Ron Conway, Marc Andreessen, Georges Harik and Conrad Riggs. “We
had so many opportunities after the hugely surprising success of lonelygirl15,
but we realized pretty quickly that it was most important to stay true
to the impulse that inspired us to launch lonelygirl15 in the
first place: our desire to create new forms of entertainment,”
Beckett and Goodfried wrote on the EQAL website.
“It’s
an exciting time for online entertainment,” their blog
entry continues. “There are
a slew of independent producers, digital studios, and social media companies
sprouting up, not to mention the fact that traditional media isn’t
exactly ignoring this whole ‘internets’ thing. We’ve
always wanted to stay independent and produce interactive shows that
we could put our hearts and souls into, and sometime last fall we realized
that raising money would give us the ability to remain independent and
produce amazing shows on our terms.”
When the
announcement was first made, NewTeeVee
initially questioned the wisdom of the financial arrangement. “The
pesky thing about VCs is they pressure you for a return on their investment,”
the weblog commented while adding, “Is this really a business
opportunity?” The site also noted that one of the new investors,
Sparks Capital, had a representative at a panel discussion last November
who questioned the wisdom of investing in content. “I think most
VC shops should stay out,” Dennis Miller said
when asked about the financial viability of such investments. He went
on to explain that it was the infrastructures built around the content
that was most important as they provide the vehicle for advertising
and metric data analysis
The founders
of EQAL seem to understand this as well, for while their website promises
to establish “partnerships with independent producers, traditional
media companies, and multinational brands,” it’s the building
of online communities that lies at the center of the venture. “We
believe that the community is just as important as the content we create,”
the EQAL site states.
“With this as our blueprint, we construct interactive shows that
transform passive viewers into active participants. Our shows entertain
and enlighten, driving discussion and encouraging viewers and participants
to immerse themselves in a shared entertainment experience.”
Beckett
and Goodfried’s blog entry announcing the formation of EQAL takes
this understanding even further: “No investors would have put
a cent in this company without the passionate and amazing community
that has formed around LG15. A sea change is under way, and
you are all at the very beginning. We are so excited to take this ride
with you and see where it will lead.”
LG15 Studios
was successful in its own right by becoming one of the first companies
to realize a monetary return on internet video with its effective use
of brand integration in both lonelygirl15 and KateModern.
Beginning with the incorporation of Hershey’s Ice Breakers Sours
gum into an episode of the original series, the twin shows have blended
products from the likes of Neutrogena, Toyota and Cadbury into the narratives.
The producers were initially afraid of viewer backlash over the use
of such seemingly blatant monetization efforts, but were put at ease
when they asked for fan feedback on a LG15 forum. “Ninety-two
percent of the people said, ‘Yeah, go ahead. Do it. If I get to
see another lonelygirl video it’s fine if someone’s
chewing a piece of gum,’” Beckett said
at last year’s NewTeeVee Pier Screenings event in San Francisco.
While the
formation of EQAL and the acquisition of $5 million in capital means
that fans will see even more lonelygirl15 episodes, it has
also allowed Beckett and Goodfried to expand their social entertainment
reach. CBS announced on May 14, 2008, for instance, that it had formed
a partnership with EQAL. Although non-exclusive, the pact gives CBS
“first look” at any new shows the duo develops. Of more
significance, however, is that EQAL will work with existing CBS shows
to produce original online content, and not merely as extensions.
“Until
now, online content associated with TV shows has had virtually no real
connection to the show’s narrative experience,” Beckett
explained in the official press
release. “What CBS and EQAL
are coming together to create is groundbreaking and will be the first
time that television stories will be extended and amplified online in
a way that takes full advantage of the Internet’s capabilities
for interaction and community. The extended narratives online will give
fans and viewers the opportunity for a whole new level of engagement
both in between airings of the TV episodes and as standalone plot lines.”
CBS has
remained tight-lipped since the announcement in regards to which of
its series will be involved in the partnership, as well as the specifics
of the online content to be produced. “I can’t comment on
specific shows,” CBS Interactive President Quincy Smith told NewTeeVee.
“We’re keeping it pretty closes to the vest; we want to
remain mysterious.” He did, however allude to the ABC drama Lost
and its use of three-to-four minute online video shorts earlier this
year. Entitled Missing Pieces, the collection of thirteen webisodes
filled in the overall narrative of the show for fans on the Internet
while not diminishing the entertainment value for those who merely watched
the actual broadcast episodes.
“Let’s
say you’re watching a crime drama,” Smith offered as a possibility.
“A guy walks into the morgue and hands another guy a piece of
paper. Online there could be eight minutes of content around that piece
of paper; hopefully someone watching finds it intriguing enough to watch
the TV show.”
Despite
branching into network television, as well as the fact that KateModern
will be ending in a matter of weeks, EQAL is still committed to
lonelygirl15. On June 4, the company even announced yet another
partnership, this time with Italy-based M.A.D. Entertainment, for an
Italian expansion of the LG15 universe. “Expanding into
new languages and creating another original LG15 sister series
that appeals to an international audience is an exciting next step for
us,” Beckett said.
Whereas the KateModern British version was still closely overseen
by the creators—Beckett actually lived in London for a short time
to oversee production—EQAL will serve strictly in the executive
producers roll while having “final creative oversight” on
the project.
Another
difference will be the technological set-up of the Italian version;
while KateModern was hosted on Bebo, all future spin-offs will
be located on an EQAL-built social network. “We’ve learned
to have the heart and soul of the show on a URL that’s dedicated
to the show because you want a close-knit group of people,” Beckett
told NewTeeVee.
Beckett also said the company plans on launching two-to-three additional
shows by the end of the year.
With the
formation of a new social entertainment company, the raising of $5 million
in capital, signing a deal with CBS and both ending and beginning new
installments of the lonelygirl15 universe, Beckett and Goodfried
have certainly had a busy first half of 2008. And with as many pieces
of the larger puzzle now in place, one can expect an “EQALLY”
busy second half as well.
June 16,
2008
