Interviews with Digital Media Thought Leaders
Made-For-Web Video Sitcom Get’s Bought By CBS
Podcast Audio | Posted by Phil Leigh on February 16, 2008
If you would like to learn about a scripted video sitcom that originated on the Web but has recently been purchased by CBS for a television pilot, this interview is for you.
Our guests today are Angel Acevedo, Steven Tsapelas, and Brian Amyot who are the producers of a made-for-the-Web scripted video sitcom called We Need Girlfriends at weneedgirlfriends.tv. The series achieved such wide popularity on the Net that CBS purchased it as a new pilot.
A couple of years ago three new college graduates were dumped by their girlfriends. Unfortunately none were the Alpha males, like Mystery or Neil Strauss, who apparently have no problems getting new girlfriends. Instead, owing to their sensitive personalities the three characterize themselves as Beta males. They are awkward around attractive young ladies.
However, earlier all three were film students at Hofstra University. So they decided to organize a video sitcom series about the dating experiences of Beta males. Recognizing their lack of credentials, they did not even try to put the show on TV, but opted for the Web.
Over the past 18-months We Need Girlfriends became a cult hit. Surprisingly, there are slightly more females in the audience than males. We’ll see if that changes with the CBS pilot.
Phil’s Take. In an earlier interview with Friends of Duke University I was struck by the possibility that a blog might someday merit a Pulitzer Prize. Instead it looks like the first Web-to-Conventional-Media transcendence might well be We Need Girlfriends.
The episodes provide enlightening insight into how, and why, young adults compulsively use Internet-based social networking. Moreover, the techniques used to promote the show on the Web, such as constructing MySpace pages for the three fictional characters, demonstrate just how profoundly transformative the Internet shall become to those in the marketing profession.
Categories: Podcast Audio
Tags: Angel Acevedo, Brian Amyot, CBS, digital media, Internet video, MySpace, Niel Strauss, Online Video, Phil Leigh, Steven Tsapelas, We Need Girlfriends, YouTube
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CBS begining to realise the importance of new and exciting media forms, they tend to be fairly slow on the uptake but do invest big when they make the decision. Good post.