VH1, iFilm unspooling 'Web Junk'
VH1, iFilm unspool 'Web Junk'
Dec 28, 2005
MTV Networks' VH1 is launching the first programming initiative to result from the company's $49 million purchase of online video aggregator iFilm in October.
"Web Junk 20" is a weekly show based on clips and shorts that will be shown on VH1 and on-demand via VH1's broadband network VSpot.
Set to premiere Jan. 13, "Web Junk 20" is a countdown of the strange and humorous videos being spread virally around the Internet. Hosted by comedian Patrice O'Neal, the show is executive produced by Rick Hankey, Shelly Tatro and Michael Hirschorn.
"The Web clip is the lingua franca of the new age," said Hirschorn, executive vp programming and production at VH1. "We've always been good at pop culture humor, and this combines our sensibility with this wealth of new material. We have a clear mandate to expand from being a pure TV play to a multiplatform play, and this is our first multiplatform offering of the new year."
IFilm will research the clips used in the program and will make each one available for viewing on iFilm.com in addition to its use in the linear and broadband program.
IFilm CEO Blair Harrison said the site also is providing viewers with an easy method of uploading clips they think are worthy of including in "Web Junk 20." This is the first time iFilm has offered this capability, which will be promoted during the program and on iFilm.
"Our intention as creators and aggregators of content is to treat our audience as publishers," Harrison said. "Now that we're going to be delivering a fully automated tool, users will be able to upload whatever video they want and they'll get a chance to get on TV as well."
This democratic element is something Hirschorn said will play an increasingly important role in VH1 programming. "Six or nine months down the road, virtually everything we do will have a viewer-generated component to it," he said.
IFilm has been promoting user-generated video content since 1998, Harrison said. "Shorts disappeared from cinemas and most places, but there was still a passionate community making short films," he said. "We were the de facto place to find short films on the Internet, which is coming to the mainstream now."
"Web Junk 20" will include "celebrity material, current news material, local TV and clips like "cop shoots self in foot," an all-time classic, Hirschorn said. "The goal is to be reasonably current if something really stupid happens."
"Web Junk 20" is a weekly show based on clips and shorts that will be shown on VH1 and on-demand via VH1's broadband network VSpot.
Set to premiere Jan. 13, "Web Junk 20" is a countdown of the strange and humorous videos being spread virally around the Internet. Hosted by comedian Patrice O'Neal, the show is executive produced by Rick Hankey, Shelly Tatro and Michael Hirschorn.
"The Web clip is the lingua franca of the new age," said Hirschorn, executive vp programming and production at VH1. "We've always been good at pop culture humor, and this combines our sensibility with this wealth of new material. We have a clear mandate to expand from being a pure TV play to a multiplatform play, and this is our first multiplatform offering of the new year."
IFilm will research the clips used in the program and will make each one available for viewing on iFilm.com in addition to its use in the linear and broadband program.
IFilm CEO Blair Harrison said the site also is providing viewers with an easy method of uploading clips they think are worthy of including in "Web Junk 20." This is the first time iFilm has offered this capability, which will be promoted during the program and on iFilm.
"Our intention as creators and aggregators of content is to treat our audience as publishers," Harrison said. "Now that we're going to be delivering a fully automated tool, users will be able to upload whatever video they want and they'll get a chance to get on TV as well."
This democratic element is something Hirschorn said will play an increasingly important role in VH1 programming. "Six or nine months down the road, virtually everything we do will have a viewer-generated component to it," he said.
IFilm has been promoting user-generated video content since 1998, Harrison said. "Shorts disappeared from cinemas and most places, but there was still a passionate community making short films," he said. "We were the de facto place to find short films on the Internet, which is coming to the mainstream now."
"Web Junk 20" will include "celebrity material, current news material, local TV and clips like "cop shoots self in foot," an all-time classic, Hirschorn said. "The goal is to be reasonably current if something really stupid happens."
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