By Ken Liebeskind
LOS ANGELES --First it was “Lonelygirl15,” then it was “Prom Queen” and now it’s “Roommates,” a video series from MySpace and Iron Sink Media/Los Angeles that launched Oct. 18 and is playing five new episodes a week. The series is sponsored by Ford to promote the 2008 Ford Focus.
“Prom Queen” debuted on MySpace but was not exclusive. “Roommates” is airing exclusively on MySpace, which co-produced it, which enhances the quality, according to Scott Zakarin, co-founder of Iron Sink Media. “This is a whole new level, with higher production value,” he said. “It’s shot in high definition with multiple cameras and it’s lit more like a movie. We’re taking more time with individual episodes and spending more time editing and in post.”
He also said, “We scripted it pretty thoroughly.” “Roommates” tells the story of a group of young adult women from Los Angeles who went to college together and now share an apartment. “It’s a high quality reality show telling the satirical story about smart women that plays against footage from their college years. You see how the characters changed over four years and watch them change during the show. They keep the party going, but realize adult life is different,” Zakarin said.
The show was cast with actors Zakarin worked with and others he found in auditions.
The increased production budget was also due to the growing popularity of the medium, which explains MySpace’s, which is owned by News Corp., interest in controlling the show. “If you can get cable numbers on a webisodic show, the audience will come to expect a certain production value,” Zakarin said. The first episode, “Life After College,” has received over 400,000 plays since October 18.
The Ford advertising hasn’t started yet and it’s unclear what kind of ads will play. A Ford spokesman said he doesn’t think traditional TV-style spots will run with the show. Instead, the show will be branded with a Ford nameplate that can be clicked to take viewers to a Ford website and product placement shots of the Ford Focus will appear in the series. “We’re venturing into uncharted waters in terms of these types of shows,” he said. “They’re low cost to produce and have a different kind of audience. We’ll see if it drives the traffic we think it will.”
Zakarin also said there will be integrated product placement advertising in the show, but he said it hadn’t occurred in the first seven episodes. “There are hints of things to come, which the story lines will help to introduce,” he said. “It will positively effect the story.”
“Prom Queen” used post-roll ads as well as product placement advertising. There is no indication that “Roommates” will use post-rolls yet. MySpace declined to comment for this story.
Review: Malcolm Washington Makes His Feature Directing Debut With “The Piano Lesson”
An heirloom piano takes on immense significance for one family in 1936 Pittsburgh in August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson." Generational ties also permeate the film adaptation, in which Malcolm Washington follows in his father Denzel Washington's footsteps in helping to bring the entirety of The Pittsburgh Cycle — a series of 10 plays — to the screen.
Malcolm Washington did not start from scratch in his accomplished feature filmmaking debut. He enlisted much of the cast from the recent Broadway revival with Samuel L. Jackson (Doaker Charles), his brother, John David Washington (Boy Willie), Ray Fisher (Lymon) and Michael Potts (Whining Boy). Berniece, played by Danielle Brooks in the play, is now beautifully portrayed by Danielle Deadwyler. With such rich material and a cast for whom it's second nature, it would be hard, one imagines, to go wrong. Jackson's own history with the play goes back to its original run in 1987 when he was Boy Willie.
It's not the simplest thing to make a play feel cinematic, but Malcolm Washington was up to the task. His film opens up the world of the Charles family beyond the living room. In fact, this adaptation, which Washington co-wrote with "Mudbound" screenwriter Virgil Williams, goes beyond Wilson's text and shows us the past and the origins of the intricately engraved piano that's central to all the fuss. It even opens on a big, action-filled set piece in 1911, during which the piano is stolen from a white family's home. Another fleshes out Doaker's monologue in which he explains to the uninitiated, Fisher's Lymon, and the audience, the tortured history of the thing. While it might have been nice to keep the camera on Jackson, such a great, grounding presence throughout, the good news is that he really makes... Read More