It's 3 am but I can't let this go | Lonelygirl15 is still around, but I'm not
Never check your RSS reader before bed. You'll never GET to bed.
From about 1999 to 2003, I was a Wired subscriber. Then I moved to Florida, and I let my subscription expire because I didn't have the time or inspiration to really read it anymore. Wired felt tired to me; my increasing attention to blogs rendered most of the news in there useless -- not to mention I had a backlog of two banker's boxes-full of magazines, all of them unread. Most of them are still unread. (I use Devil Ray games to catch up on my reading.)
Anyway, it's while reading Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson's blog The Long Tail (related to his excellent book of the same name) that I recognized a photo that seemed to be a non-sequitur in his post about taste and YouTube -- but no, it was completely appropriate, because it was a photo of Jessica Rose, the actress that stars in the Lonelygirl15 series which I'm sure is still going on... somewhere.
See, Wired made Lonelygirl15 their cover story this month, and have fortunately put the entire article online.
Welcome to the set of Lonelygirl15, the breakout Web hit that, in September, was unmasked by fans as a work of fiction. What nearly a million people thought was the room of a sweet, charismatic teen named Bree
I dunno if I'd call myself a fan. Devotee, perhaps. And saying that a million people were somehow hoodwinked by Lonelygirl15 is really inaccurate. The reason the majority of us were interested in the story is the very point that we knew it was fake.
Regarding the fact the show is filmed in Flinders' bedroom:
Now, three months into the project and with hundreds of thousands of regular viewers, he doesn't bother. It's too much work, even though it has blown some great opportunities for him. Last week, he spotted his neighbors – two Playboy playmates – and invited them in. They glanced at his room, got suspicious, and quickly left.
Is Flinders a loser? Click the jump to see our detailed loser-nalysis.
a) He has Playboy Playmates as neighbors -- NOT A LOSER
b) He had the sacque to invite them over -- NOT A LOSER
c) They actually did come over -- NOT A LOSER
d) HE GOT THEM INTO HIS BEDROOM -- NOT A LOSER
e) He failed to un-teenage-girl-ify his bedroom before inviting them over -- LOSER
(Seriously, this is like, the first rule of being a guy. If there is any chance at all that a girl might be coming over, you engage in the standard set of evasive bedroom decor actions. You put certain things away. You put certain things in locations of easy access. This is standard operating procedure, and you do it BEFORE you set the wheel rolling. Before! Everyone knows that. Flinders is my age. He must be a total loser ... or worse a pervert ... anyway, he's a loser, because
f) He still makes Lonelygirl15 episodes after everyone knows they're fake.
Six months ago, he was living with his 96-year-old grandmother in rural Central California.
Jesus, this guy makes me feel like a Rockefeller.
He even has business partners: a former doctor named Miles Beckett and husband-and-wife lawyers Greg and Amanda Goodfried. Together, with next to no budget, they have created a show that illuminates the future of television.
Ahh, Greg Goodfried. Remember him? That bastard claimed to have nothing to do with all this. LIAR!
Rather, he wants to be the JJ Abrams of the Internet.
JJ Abrams doesn't even want to be the JJ Abrams of the Internet. Being the JJ Abrams of the Internet is like being the Quincy Jones of the theremin -- yeah, it could be cool, but the medium doesn't really lend itself to creative production in a manner anyone might recognize as art.
"It's the producers from Law and Order," she says. "Do you want me to answer it?"
"Let it ring," Flinders tells her.
What a son of a bitch. He would be NOTHING without her, and he's going to get in the way of her making actual money (realizing that they have not yet seen a dime for their months of joblessness and lame-assed Internet playing) playing a role on a successful Friday night drama? Prick.
When he turned 14, Flinders was sent to a Catholic high school, where he was regarded as a hippy devil worshipper, beaten up, and thrown into a dumpster.
I guess that explains some things.
When he got to college, Flinders dreamed up an alter ego – an awkward, geeky homeschooled girl.
...this guy is f*cked in the head.
"Miles, it's time you quit being a doctor," he said. "We just passed 200,000 views."
Within 48 hours, the video had half a million views. Goodfried knew that to be considered a success, a cable television show needs to get between 300,000 and 500,000 viewers. "My Parents Suck …" had vaulted into that territory.
...because nobody watched it more than once. You'd think Wired would know the difference between views and viewers.
FROM THE BEGINNING, some thought Lonelygirl15 was fake. The editing was too sophisticated and the music too well integrated, and several people noted that everything in Bree's room seemed to come from Target.
You couldn't quote me directly? The New York Times managed to.
Re: Goodfried sneaking into CAA...
He began knocking on doors and was waved away by agents juggling phone calls. His time was running out – he was sure he was going to be asked to leave soon. Desperation crept in. When two young guys turned the corner, he planted himself firmly in the middle of the hallway.
"You have no idea who I am," Goodfried said, speaking fast. "But if you give me just five minutes, you won't regret it."
They were agents, and they agreed to listen for five minutes – but no more. An hour later, Goodfried was still talking. [...] Goodfried had walked into the building as a nobody and walked out as a client.
I love ballsy sh*t like that. Seriously. I love when guys swallow it down and walk into the lion's den and know they might get kicked in the junk but take that chance anyway.
Greg Goodfried is my hero.
Lonelygirl15.com, the site Beckett and Flinders maintain as the center of Bree's universe, generates about $10,000 a month in ad revenue by attaching commercials to the end of the videos they stream.
I didn't know Revver was actually sending out checks, yet. If they are, they're not going to last long. Bubble 2.0 is about to burst, and sites with zero business strategy are going to be the first to go. Revver won't find a Google Ex Machina like YouTube did.
Anyway, cool video at www.wired.com/lonelygirl15 if you care. I don't, really. Not anymore.
