Stun Creative, a multi-award winning advertising agency and original content production company based in Los Angeles, participated in NATPE/LATV Festival’s event entitled “Dissecting the Short Form Hits.” Television Week Magazine’s New Media reporter Daisy Whitney moderated the session, which featured Stun Creative co-founders/co-presidents Mark Feldstein and Brad Roth, and which also presented a look at several hit Web series. The event was held July 30 at Studio A/B, Fourth Floor of The Highlands, the nightclub located within the Hollywood at Highland complex.
Joining Mr. Feldstein and Mr. Roth on the panel were Douglas Cheney, Creator & Executive Producer and Ryan Wise, Creator & Executive Producer, Big Fantastic; Yuri Baranovsky, Co-Creator/Co-Writer/Producer and Vlad Baranovsky, Co-Creator/Co-Writer/Producer, Break a Leg; and Sarah Lane, Director of Production, Revision3 and Host, popSiren.
Dissecting the Short Form Hits was described as follows: Creators of slickly produced, short form content, are generating the kind of industry buzz once reserved for the producers and writers of primetime network content. But, what makes a short form piece a hit? How do you take it from vain YouTube fodder to a money‑making piece of your creative portfolio? Moderated by Daisy Whitney of New Media Minute and featuring the creators of The Writer’s Room, this session deconstructs the hits and show how to effectively compete in the short‑form arena.
Stun Creative presented several clips from the company’s’ critically acclaimed original web series “The Writers Room”. The scripted10-part web comedy series stars real-life comedy writers and show runners.
The “Writers Room” is available on C-Spot, a multi-platform comedy channel distributed by Sony Pictures Television, via Crackle.com (www.crackle.com/cspot.) The series can also be seen on YouTube (www.youtube.com/cspot,) AOL Video, Hulu and Verizon Wireless’ V Cast Video service.
“The Writers Room” offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a fictional late night talk show hosted by actor Kevin Pollack, who portrays an egomaniacal version of himself. The premise behind the series is as follows: Long hours, tight quarters and lots of emotional baggage (and food allergies) are all in a day’s work for the dysfunctional office family of “The Writers Room,” as the group struggles to write jokes and survive within an environment that is a hotbed of neuroses. It’s a miracle the show ever gets written, as the eccentric bunch seem to spend more time talking about their own personal crises than they do working on the writing of sketches, comedic bits and monologues for the show.
MORE ABOUT “THE WRITERS ROOM:”
The cast members of the series are: Kevin Pollak, Bruce Kirschbaum (“Seinfeld,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “The Ben Stiller Show,) Ed Crasnick (“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Whose Line Is It Anyway,”) Evan Mann (“Jamie Kennedy Experiment,” “The Gilmore Girls,” “How I Met Your Mother,”) Gareth Reynolds (“The Real Wedding Crashers,”) Jeff Kahn (“The Ben Stiller Show,” “Larry Sanders,” “”Curb Your Enthusiasm,”) Frank Conniff (“Mystery Science Theater 3000,”) and Rose Abdoo (“Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “The Gilmore Girls,” “Strangers with Candy,” “Malcolm in the Middle.”)
ABOUT STUN CREATIVE:
Launched in 2000 by co-presidents Mark Feldstein and Brad Roth, Stun Creative is an award winning, Los Angeles-based advertising agency and production company that specializes in writing, directing and producing spots and campaigns for cable and broadcast networks as well as the major studios. Stun also boasts a motion graphics design and animation studio, Buster, that creates show opens, promo packages, and consumer brand advertising.
Stun has recently moved beyond traditional advertising into original content development. In addition to the “Writers Room”, Stun also produced the short films “The Swinger,” (starring Chris Elliott and Bob Costas) and “Karaoke Knight” (starring comedian Jeffrey Ross), both for Showtime. In addition, Stun has created “Bush Bites” for Fremantle Media – an animated comedy series, based on extracted-from-real-life oral moments in the life of President George W. Bush and set to animation.
Stun’s clients include TBS, TNT, FX, Bravo, ABC, Discovery Channel, Disney Channel, Sundance Channel, 20th Television, to name a few. The Stun most recently produced the web series “The Writers Room” for Sony Pictures Television.
Stun Creative is located at 5757 Wilshire Blvd, Suite # 600, LA, CA, 90036. The phone is 323/460-4035 and the web is www.stuncreative.com
