Lonelygirl15
Encyclopedia
lonelygirl15 was an interactive web-based video series which began in June 2006 and ran through to August 1, 2008. Developed under the working title The Children of Anchor Cove, (by the creators of what later became EQAL
) the show gained worldwide media attention when it was outed as fictional in September 2006.
al teenage girl named Bree, whose YouTube
username was the eponym
ous "lonelygirl15". However, the show did not initially reveal its fictional nature to its audience. After the fictional status of the show was revealed in September 2006, it gradually evolved into a multi-character series including both character videoblogs
and action sequences, with a complex story universe
involving "trait positive girls" who are sought by an evil organization called "The Order".
lonelygirl15 first came to international attention ostensibly as a "real" video blogger who had achieved massive popularity on YouTube. The show was eventually proved as a hoax by suspicious viewers who identified the actress playing Bree as 19-year old American
-New Zealand
actress Jessica Rose
.
The three creators of lonelygirl15 were Mesh Flinders
, a screenwriter and filmmaker from Marin County, California
, Miles Beckett, a surgical residency dropout turned filmmaker, and Greg Goodfried, a former attorney with Mitchell, Silberberg and Knupp, LLP.
The series began on June 16, 2006, and was slated to run through August 1, 2008. New videos appeared, eventually at a clip of four to five a week, first on YouTube and lg15.com, and later on MySpace
. As of July 2008, the series had more than 110 million combined views.
lonelygirl15 has generated a number of spin-off
shows. Its first, the British-based KateModern
, ran from July 2007 through June 2008 on Bebo
, and took place in the same fictional universe.
Along with Amanda Goodfried, an attorney who worked with Creative Arts Agency (CAA), the creators of lonelygirl15 created LG15 Studios to produce original interactive content online. LG15 Studios became EQAL
in April 2008, with receipt of $5 million in venture capital to expand their offerings.
The lonelygirl15 finale took place on August 1, 2008, and included a teaser for EQAL
's next spinoff, LG15: The Resistance
, which ran through December 2008.
Since 2009, EQAL
has aired two more spinoff series which are produced by contest winners, including LG15: The Last, which started airing in January 2009, and LG15: Outbreak, which began in January 2010.
A Polish lonelygirl15 spin-off under title N1ckola started in January 2009.
It has also been announced a new series will take place in Italy
with a partnership between EQAL and CBS. Also, a Japanese series will take place with a partnership between EQAL and Shinto Tsushin.
At first discussion regarding why they thought lonelygirl15 might be a fake went on in her video comments. In early August 2006, a fan began a discussion at the previously stagnant www.lonelygirl15.com message boards and raised an all-out investigation into the who, what, and wheres behind lonelygirl15. Soon the message board became invigorated with discussion about even the tiniest details in each of her videos, everything from the quality of the lighting to the flora seen in her outdoor videos. Fans used the forum to collect, organize and share their findings, making the investigation a truly collaborative effort. Fans pointed to small inconsistencies within the videos as evidence that the story might not be genuine, wondering if Bree's posts were part of a teaser campaign for a television show or an upcoming movie (similar to the viral marketing
used to hype The Blair Witch Project
or Cloverfield
). Others thought that the blog might be part of an alternate reality game
.
Los Angeles Times
reporter Richard Rushfield was the first to provide proof of a hoax, when he wrote of Shaina Wedmedyk, Chris Patterson, and an anonymous law student, who set up a sting
on MySpace to reveal that the Creative Artists Agency was behind the videos. Eventually it was revealed that 16-year-old "Bree" was played by 19-year-old actress Jessica Rose.
Media sources seized upon the story, covering both the search process and the eventual "outing
" as a fictional series.
Afterwards, numerous news sources and talk shows featured interviews with the creators and actors of the series itself.
New York Times
reporter Virginia Heffernan
expanded on the series of revelations on September 12 out with an article which confirmed Jessica Rose's identity, and revealed the identities of her "co-conspirators", Ramesh Flinders, a screenwriter and filmmaker from Marin County, California
, and Miles Beckett, a doctor-turned-filmmaker. Software engineer Grant Steinfeld was also involved in this project, as a photographer. Amanda Solomon Goodfried assisted in their efforts to hide their identities as well as posed as "Bree"'s online alter-ego. Goodfried's father-in-law, Kenneth Goodfried, handled various legal matters. The personnel involved worked under a non-disclosure agreement
, according to Grant Steinfeld. Steinfeld has verified most of this information to the Times, and provided photographs he took of Rose on set of as proof. Also on September 12, the three main creators gave an interview to the Los Angeles Times revealing the third major partner as Greg Goodfried.
Since the fictional nature of lonelygirl15 has been revealed, the storyline continued to develop via new videos posted to both YouTube and Revver
. However due to the recent partnership with YouTube and Myspace, videos stopped being posted on lonelygirl15's Revver account, and now are only viewable via YouTube and MyspaceTV. The relationships between future LG15 properties and various online video websites, what will be shown exclusively on which services etc. is not known at this time.
campaign in 2006, to fight poverty through an online anti-poverty video. Rose portrayed the lonelygirl15 character as she sat by herself in her bedroom talking to the camera. The subject matter in the video focused on poverty relief, which breaks from the regular subject matter of the show. The video was posted on an alternate account, separate from the main channel.
On November 20, 2006, lonelygirl15.com announced that the spin-off OpAphid was the official Alternate Reality Game
of lonelygirl15. OpAphid began in late September with what many speculated was a well-produced fan effort, and this announcement merges its characters OpAphid, Tachyon, and 10033/Brother, into the series storyline and continuity. In early February 2007, it was revealed that Glenn Rubenstein
was the original Puppet Master behind the OpAphid Alternate Reality Game
and also the creator of its characters, OpAphid, Tachyon, and Brother. Due to internal issues between the Creators and Glenn, OpAphid is no longer the official ARG.
A 2006 episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent
was "inspired" by the lonelygirl15 phenomenon. The episode "Weeping Willow" featured a blogger named weepingwillow17, played by Michelle Trachtenberg
. Willow and her boyfriend were kidnapped by men in black
who demanded her fans donate money to a website to save their lives. The investigators did not know if Willow was real or fake. Various other video bloggers were also seen decrying weepingwillow as a fake, just like many did on YouTube. The site on the episode was named YouLenz.
's Big in '06 Awards.
In the "Best Series" category of the inaugural YouTube Video awards in March 2007, the series "Ask a Ninja
", "Ask a Gay Man", and "Chad Vader - Day Shift Manager
" finished first, second and third, with the lonelygirl15 series finishing fourth. The New York Times attributed Lonelygirl's finish to the YouTube community's ill will towards the series.
On August 3, 2007, Season One of lonelygirl15 celebrated its finale with an exclusive on MySpaceTV known as "12 in 12" where 12 videos were uploaded over the course of 12 hours from 8 am PST to 7 pm PST, culminating in the highest one-day viewership ever for the series. A "summary" video from the first season was offered as a part of the event, and it logged in over a million views on its own.
In another example of a product integration first, lonelygirl15 landed on the front page of Variety for the integration of a character from Neutrogena
in the storyline over the period of more than two months. Dr. Spencer Gilman became such a popular character that Neutrogena made him "Employee of the Month" and gave him his own e-mail account on the company's corporate website.
EQAL
EQAL is a media and technology company founded in 2008 by Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, two of the creators of lonelygirl15. EQAL builds influencer networks around celebrities and brands...
) the show gained worldwide media attention when it was outed as fictional in September 2006.
Overview
lonelygirl15 focused on the life of a fictionFiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al teenage girl named Bree, whose YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
username was the eponym
Eponym
An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous "lonelygirl15". However, the show did not initially reveal its fictional nature to its audience. After the fictional status of the show was revealed in September 2006, it gradually evolved into a multi-character series including both character videoblogs
Vlog
Video blogging, sometimes shortened to vlogging or vidding or vidblogging is a form of blogging for which the medium is video, and is a form of Web television. Entries often combine embedded video or a video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one take...
and action sequences, with a complex story universe
Fictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
involving "trait positive girls" who are sought by an evil organization called "The Order".
lonelygirl15 first came to international attention ostensibly as a "real" video blogger who had achieved massive popularity on YouTube. The show was eventually proved as a hoax by suspicious viewers who identified the actress playing Bree as 19-year old American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
actress Jessica Rose
Jessica Lee Rose
Jessica Lee Rose is an American-New Zealand actress who first gained popularity after playing the role of lonelygirl15....
.
The three creators of lonelygirl15 were Mesh Flinders
Mesh Flinders
Ramesh "Mesh" Flinders is a screenwriter who, along with Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, is best known for creating the groundbreaking lonelygirl15 video series which received international attention during the summer months of 2006....
, a screenwriter and filmmaker from Marin County, California
Marin County, California
Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
, Miles Beckett, a surgical residency dropout turned filmmaker, and Greg Goodfried, a former attorney with Mitchell, Silberberg and Knupp, LLP.
The series began on June 16, 2006, and was slated to run through August 1, 2008. New videos appeared, eventually at a clip of four to five a week, first on YouTube and lg15.com, and later on MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
. As of July 2008, the series had more than 110 million combined views.
lonelygirl15 has generated a number of spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
shows. Its first, the British-based KateModern
KateModern
KateModern was the sister series of lonelygirl15. The series, which was announced on July 16, 2007, began filming on July 9 and the first video, Fight and Flight, was released on July 16. The show is produced by EQAL in partnership with Bebo...
, ran from July 2007 through June 2008 on Bebo
Bebo
Bebo is a social networking website launched in July 2005. It is currently owned and operated by Criterion Capital Partners after taking over from AOL in June 2010....
, and took place in the same fictional universe.
Along with Amanda Goodfried, an attorney who worked with Creative Arts Agency (CAA), the creators of lonelygirl15 created LG15 Studios to produce original interactive content online. LG15 Studios became EQAL
EQAL
EQAL is a media and technology company founded in 2008 by Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, two of the creators of lonelygirl15. EQAL builds influencer networks around celebrities and brands...
in April 2008, with receipt of $5 million in venture capital to expand their offerings.
The lonelygirl15 finale took place on August 1, 2008, and included a teaser for EQAL
EQAL
EQAL is a media and technology company founded in 2008 by Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, two of the creators of lonelygirl15. EQAL builds influencer networks around celebrities and brands...
's next spinoff, LG15: The Resistance
LG15: The Resistance
LG15: The Resistance was a web television series produced by EQAL that took place within the LG15 Universe. The series was first announced on July 4, 2008 via the official behind-the-scenes LG15 blog, Inside...
, which ran through December 2008.
Since 2009, EQAL
EQAL
EQAL is a media and technology company founded in 2008 by Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, two of the creators of lonelygirl15. EQAL builds influencer networks around celebrities and brands...
has aired two more spinoff series which are produced by contest winners, including LG15: The Last, which started airing in January 2009, and LG15: Outbreak, which began in January 2010.
A Polish lonelygirl15 spin-off under title N1ckola started in January 2009.
It has also been announced a new series will take place in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
with a partnership between EQAL and CBS. Also, a Japanese series will take place with a partnership between EQAL and Shinto Tsushin.
Cast of characters
- Jessica Lee RoseJessica Lee RoseJessica Lee Rose is an American-New Zealand actress who first gained popularity after playing the role of lonelygirl15....
as Bree Avery (a.k.a. lonelygirl15), a bubbly teenage girl whose trait positive blood makes her the target of a dangerous cult called the Order. She gained a large following on YouTube due to her quirky video blogs. - Yousef Abu-TalebYousef Abu-TalebYousef Abu-Taleb is an American actor and producer of half-Arab, one-quarter English, and one-quarter white American heritage...
as Daniel (a.k.a. Danielbeast), Bree's best friend who only wishes to protect her, but is often distracted by romantic engagements. He can often jump to conclusions, and battles with an alcohol addiction along with his parents. - Jackson DavisJackson DavisJackson Davis is an American actor. He is best known for portraying the character "Jonas" from the lonelygirl15 videos series, its spinoff KateModern, and its sequel series, LG15: The Resistance. He was born in Gloversville, New York but was raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania where he attended...
as Jonas Wharton (a.k.a. jonastko), a boy who meets Bree online and discovers that his family has more ties to the Order than he realizes. He can be too willing to trust others, which often leads the TAAG into unfortunate situations. - Alexandra DreyfusAlexandra DreyfusAlexandra "Lexi" or "Lexie" Dreyfus on April 7, 1986 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress, singer, and video blogger. She is best known for her work portraying Sarah Genatiempo, the main character of Sarah Genatiempo in the Internet series lonelygirl15 and its spinoff LG15: The...
as Sarah Genatiempo (a.k.a. theskyisempty99), a misunderstood 19-year-old who develops a crush on Daniel and travels with TAAG. While she struggles to figure out what to do with her life, she harbors a dark and dangerous secret. - Becki Kregoski as Taylor Genatiempo (a.k.a. soccerstar4ever), Sarah's younger sister who has an impressive amount of computer hacking skills. A passionate soccer player, she has more social skills than the rest of her family and is often upset by their actions.
- Maxwell Glick as Spencer Gilman (a.k.a. LAlabrat), an employee at NeutrogenaNeutrogenaNeutrogena is an American brand of premium-priced skin care, hair care and cosmetics, that is headquartered at Los Angeles, California. According to product advertising at their website, Neutrogena products are distributed in more than 70 countries....
with connections to the Order's science division. Chosen as a good role model for Bree, he sets out to help engineer a Trait Negative Serum. - Katherine Pawlak as Emma Wharton, Jonas's trait positive younger sister. She grows up significantly during her battle for her life against the Order, and goes out of her way to try and protect her friends.
- Melanie MerkoskyMelanie MerkoskyMelanie Merkosky is an Canadian actress and Video Blogger. She is best known for her work portraying the main character of Jennie in the Internet series lonelygirl15.-Career:...
as Jennie, a former Lullaby Project employee who becomes friends with Sarah. She begins a romantic affair with Jonas and gives the TAAG an insight on how the Order's structure works. - Crystal Young as Gina Hart, Bree's trait positive older sister who was taken from her at birth and used as a lab rat most of her life. She is quiet and reserved, and feels more comfortable with art supplies than with other people.
History
lonelygirl15 debuted on YouTube posing as a real 16-year-old video blogger with the eponymous username. At first, the videos covered normal, everyday subject matter, as the title character dealt with typical teenage angst, but quickly morphed into a bizarre narrative that portrayed her dealings with secret occult practices within her family and included the mysterious disappearance of her parents after she refused to attend a "secret" ceremony prescribed by the leaders of the family's cult. In lonelygirl15's earliest videos, she posted video replies to, and dropped the names of popular YouTubers. To further the initial illusion that Bree was a real girl, a MySpace page was set up for her and she began corresponding with many of her fans.At first discussion regarding why they thought lonelygirl15 might be a fake went on in her video comments. In early August 2006, a fan began a discussion at the previously stagnant www.lonelygirl15.com message boards and raised an all-out investigation into the who, what, and wheres behind lonelygirl15. Soon the message board became invigorated with discussion about even the tiniest details in each of her videos, everything from the quality of the lighting to the flora seen in her outdoor videos. Fans used the forum to collect, organize and share their findings, making the investigation a truly collaborative effort. Fans pointed to small inconsistencies within the videos as evidence that the story might not be genuine, wondering if Bree's posts were part of a teaser campaign for a television show or an upcoming movie (similar to the viral marketing
Viral marketing
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...
used to hype The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
or Cloverfield
Cloverfield
Cloverfield is a 2008 American disaster-monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams and written by Drew Goddard.The film follows six young New Yorkers attending a going-away party on the night that a gigantic monster attacks the city...
). Others thought that the blog might be part of an alternate reality game
Alternate reality game
An alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
.
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
reporter Richard Rushfield was the first to provide proof of a hoax, when he wrote of Shaina Wedmedyk, Chris Patterson, and an anonymous law student, who set up a sting
Sting operation
In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather...
on MySpace to reveal that the Creative Artists Agency was behind the videos. Eventually it was revealed that 16-year-old "Bree" was played by 19-year-old actress Jessica Rose.
Media sources seized upon the story, covering both the search process and the eventual "outing
Outing
Outing is the act of disclosing a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person's true sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts...
" as a fictional series.
Afterwards, numerous news sources and talk shows featured interviews with the creators and actors of the series itself.
New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
reporter Virginia Heffernan
Virginia Heffernan
Virginia Heffernan is an American journalist. In March, 2011, she began to write regularly about digital and pop culture for the Opinion pages of The New York Times. She is also known as a television critic for The New York Times, and as "The Medium" columnist at The New York Times Magazine. In...
expanded on the series of revelations on September 12 out with an article which confirmed Jessica Rose's identity, and revealed the identities of her "co-conspirators", Ramesh Flinders, a screenwriter and filmmaker from Marin County, California
Marin County, California
Marin County is a county located in the North San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. As of 2010, the population was 252,409. The county seat is San Rafael and the largest employer is the county government. Marin County is well...
, and Miles Beckett, a doctor-turned-filmmaker. Software engineer Grant Steinfeld was also involved in this project, as a photographer. Amanda Solomon Goodfried assisted in their efforts to hide their identities as well as posed as "Bree"'s online alter-ego. Goodfried's father-in-law, Kenneth Goodfried, handled various legal matters. The personnel involved worked under a non-disclosure agreement
Non-disclosure agreement
A non-disclosure agreement , also known as a confidentiality agreement , confidential disclosure agreement , proprietary information agreement , or secrecy agreement, is a legal contract between at least two parties that outlines confidential material, knowledge, or information that the parties...
, according to Grant Steinfeld. Steinfeld has verified most of this information to the Times, and provided photographs he took of Rose on set of as proof. Also on September 12, the three main creators gave an interview to the Los Angeles Times revealing the third major partner as Greg Goodfried.
Since the fictional nature of lonelygirl15 has been revealed, the storyline continued to develop via new videos posted to both YouTube and Revver
Revver
Revver is a video sharing website that hosts user-generated content. Revver attaches advertising to user-submitted video clips and originally offered to share ad revenue with the video creators. Videos could be displayed, downloaded and shared across the web in either Apple QuickTime or FLV format...
. However due to the recent partnership with YouTube and Myspace, videos stopped being posted on lonelygirl15's Revver account, and now are only viewable via YouTube and MyspaceTV. The relationships between future LG15 properties and various online video websites, what will be shown exclusively on which services etc. is not known at this time.
After the hoax was discovered
Jessica Rose participated in a United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
campaign in 2006, to fight poverty through an online anti-poverty video. Rose portrayed the lonelygirl15 character as she sat by herself in her bedroom talking to the camera. The subject matter in the video focused on poverty relief, which breaks from the regular subject matter of the show. The video was posted on an alternate account, separate from the main channel.
On November 20, 2006, lonelygirl15.com announced that the spin-off OpAphid was the official Alternate Reality Game
Alternate reality game
An alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
of lonelygirl15. OpAphid began in late September with what many speculated was a well-produced fan effort, and this announcement merges its characters OpAphid, Tachyon, and 10033/Brother, into the series storyline and continuity. In early February 2007, it was revealed that Glenn Rubenstein
Glenn Rubenstein
Glenn Rubenstein is a writer, director, musician, and journalist based in Northern California.-Journalism:Glenn Rubenstein has been a columnist for the San Francisco Examiner, Sports Illustrated for Kids, CNET's GameCenter, Wizard Magazine, and many other national publications...
was the original Puppet Master behind the OpAphid Alternate Reality Game
Alternate reality game
An alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
and also the creator of its characters, OpAphid, Tachyon, and Brother. Due to internal issues between the Creators and Glenn, OpAphid is no longer the official ARG.
A 2006 episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent
Law & Order: Criminal Intent is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and produced by Dick Wolf and René Balcer, the series premiered on September 30, 2001, as the second spin-off of Wolf's successful crime drama...
was "inspired" by the lonelygirl15 phenomenon. The episode "Weeping Willow" featured a blogger named weepingwillow17, played by Michelle Trachtenberg
Michelle Trachtenberg
Michelle Christine Trachtenberg is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Dawn Summers in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and as Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl...
. Willow and her boyfriend were kidnapped by men in black
Men in Black
Men in Black , in American popular culture and in UFO conspiracy theories, are men dressed in black suits who claim to be government agents who harass or threaten UFO witnesses to keep them quiet about what they have seen. It is sometimes implied that they may be aliens themselves...
who demanded her fans donate money to a website to save their lives. The investigators did not know if Willow was real or fake. Various other video bloggers were also seen decrying weepingwillow as a fake, just like many did on YouTube. The site on the episode was named YouLenz.
Awards and recognition
The lonelygirl15 blog won Biggest Web Hit Award on VH1VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's Big in '06 Awards.
In the "Best Series" category of the inaugural YouTube Video awards in March 2007, the series "Ask a Ninja
Ask a Ninja
Ask A Ninja is a series of comedy videos about the image of ninja in popular culture available in podcast and vodcast form, as well as in mov and wmv file formats...
", "Ask a Gay Man", and "Chad Vader - Day Shift Manager
Chad Vader - Day Shift Manager
Chad Vader: Day Shift Manager is an American comedy web series created by Aaron Yonda and Matt Sloan, who are also credited as actors, directors, editors and writers of the program. The show's central character is Chad Vader, the day-shift manager at the fictional supermarket Empire Market, who...
" finished first, second and third, with the lonelygirl15 series finishing fourth. The New York Times attributed Lonelygirl's finish to the YouTube community's ill will towards the series.
On August 3, 2007, Season One of lonelygirl15 celebrated its finale with an exclusive on MySpaceTV known as "12 in 12" where 12 videos were uploaded over the course of 12 hours from 8 am PST to 7 pm PST, culminating in the highest one-day viewership ever for the series. A "summary" video from the first season was offered as a part of the event, and it logged in over a million views on its own.
- In the last episode of the Season One finale, Bree's character is killed off by the order during the ceremony in the season finale and her trait positive blood was transfused into one of the order's elders. The reason for her character's death was attributed to Rose not renewing her contract for Season Two.
Marketing
lonelygirl15 was the first Internet series to introduce product integration when the episode "Truckstop Reunion" featured the characters eating and displaying Hershey's Icebreaker's Sours Gum.In another example of a product integration first, lonelygirl15 landed on the front page of Variety for the integration of a character from Neutrogena
Neutrogena
Neutrogena is an American brand of premium-priced skin care, hair care and cosmetics, that is headquartered at Los Angeles, California. According to product advertising at their website, Neutrogena products are distributed in more than 70 countries....
in the storyline over the period of more than two months. Dr. Spencer Gilman became such a popular character that Neutrogena made him "Employee of the Month" and gave him his own e-mail account on the company's corporate website.
See also
- Jessica Rose
- EQALEQALEQAL is a media and technology company founded in 2008 by Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, two of the creators of lonelygirl15. EQAL builds influencer networks around celebrities and brands...
- KateModernKateModernKateModern was the sister series of lonelygirl15. The series, which was announced on July 16, 2007, began filming on July 9 and the first video, Fight and Flight, was released on July 16. The show is produced by EQAL in partnership with Bebo...
- LG15: The ResistanceLG15: The ResistanceLG15: The Resistance was a web television series produced by EQAL that took place within the LG15 Universe. The series was first announced on July 4, 2008 via the official behind-the-scenes LG15 blog, Inside...
- Alternate reality gameAlternate reality gameAn alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
- MumblecoreMumblecoreMumblecore is an American independent film movement that arose at the turn of the 21st century. Filmmakers associated with the movement include Andrew Bujalski, Lynn Shelton, Mark Duplass, Jay Duplass, Aaron Katz, Joe Swanberg, and Barry Jenkins....
External links
- Official Website
- n1ckola: Official Website
- YouTube: Lonelygirl15
- Revver: Lonelygirl15
- MySpace: Lonelygirl15
- MTV Interview With Jessica Rose
- Breeniverse Encyclopedia
- The Story in 300 Words
- Video interview of Lonelygirl15 creators by Zadi Diaz of EPIC FU, weekly web show that covers online pop culture (September 23, 2008)