YouTube's original viral star, Lonelygirl15, returned to the Internet on Thursday after a nearly eight year absence. The reincarnation comes 10 years to the day after Lonelygirl15's first video, which gained her channel hundred and thousands of followers, making it one of YouTube's earliest viral sensations. The vlogs, which followed the life of a 16-year-old girl named Bree, were ordinary in nature. Bree would discuss her home life, complaining about homework and being home-schooled. She'd gush about her friend Daniel, and goof off in front of the camera. But Lonelygirl15's popularity soon took off. Her Myspace page was flooded with follower requests.
- 6/18/2016
- by Dave Quinn, @NineDaves
- PEOPLE.com
YouTube was a strange phenomenon at its start, as many didn’t know what to do with it. Aspiring filmmakers Miles Beckett and Mesh Flinders, however, slowly realized that it was an opportunity for a rather new kind of storytelling — one that lives again today.
In a recent interview with Vocativ, Beckett said, “I thought about how I didn’t know if any of the videos on YouTube were real or not — you kind of blur the lines of reality and fiction.” With that inspiration, the pair created a YouTube channel called “Lonelygirl15” on June 16, 2006, which utilized video blogging (“vlogging”) to tell the story of Bree Avery and her family’s strange cult society, known as the Order.
Thought to be one of if not the first of its kind, the series quickly shot off the ground, getting half a million views on a video for the first time only months after it started. When it all wrapped up, the videos had garnered over 60 million views. And 10 years to the date after the first episode, Bree is back.
Read More: Experiencing ‘Girls’ Withdrawal? Here are the 14 Best Female-Centered Web Series
Miles Beckett, Jenni Powell — a producer behind the Emmy-winning “The Lizzie Bennett Diaries” — and more have teamed up to bring viewers back to the world of “Lonelygirl15.” Powell said in an email announcing the show’s return that “the hope is to not only tie up storylines for fans of the original series but to bring the show to a whole new audience while utilizing technologies that weren’t available 10 years ago to create new storytelling experiences.”
The re-entry video brings up a lot of the lore of the show, diving deep into the strange, cult elements with both dialogue and video editing. And so it might be time to catch up with what was a cultural phenomenon 10 years ago — to prepare for what may be a new phenomenon today.
Check out lonelygirl15’s return in the video below.
Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Festivals newsletter here.
Related storiesExclusive: Jessica Seinfeld Appears in New Web Series to Promote Bravo's 'Odd Mom Out' - Watch'Electra Woman and Dynagirl' Review: Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart Fly High in Female Superhero SpoofWatch: How William Friedkin Crafts Great Fiction Using Documentary Techniques...
In a recent interview with Vocativ, Beckett said, “I thought about how I didn’t know if any of the videos on YouTube were real or not — you kind of blur the lines of reality and fiction.” With that inspiration, the pair created a YouTube channel called “Lonelygirl15” on June 16, 2006, which utilized video blogging (“vlogging”) to tell the story of Bree Avery and her family’s strange cult society, known as the Order.
Thought to be one of if not the first of its kind, the series quickly shot off the ground, getting half a million views on a video for the first time only months after it started. When it all wrapped up, the videos had garnered over 60 million views. And 10 years to the date after the first episode, Bree is back.
Read More: Experiencing ‘Girls’ Withdrawal? Here are the 14 Best Female-Centered Web Series
Miles Beckett, Jenni Powell — a producer behind the Emmy-winning “The Lizzie Bennett Diaries” — and more have teamed up to bring viewers back to the world of “Lonelygirl15.” Powell said in an email announcing the show’s return that “the hope is to not only tie up storylines for fans of the original series but to bring the show to a whole new audience while utilizing technologies that weren’t available 10 years ago to create new storytelling experiences.”
The re-entry video brings up a lot of the lore of the show, diving deep into the strange, cult elements with both dialogue and video editing. And so it might be time to catch up with what was a cultural phenomenon 10 years ago — to prepare for what may be a new phenomenon today.
Check out lonelygirl15’s return in the video below.
Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Festivals newsletter here.
Related storiesExclusive: Jessica Seinfeld Appears in New Web Series to Promote Bravo's 'Odd Mom Out' - Watch'Electra Woman and Dynagirl' Review: Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart Fly High in Female Superhero SpoofWatch: How William Friedkin Crafts Great Fiction Using Documentary Techniques...
- 6/16/2016
- by Kyle Kizu
- Indiewire
When it launched on June 16, 2006, Lonelygirl15 broke the digital mold. What seemed like a run-of-the-mill vlog created by a teenage everygirl named Bree turned out to be an intricately orchestrated fictional series -- with groundbreaking interactive features and sci-fi plot twists -- that was light years ahead of the curve in terms of showcasing YouTube’s potential as a platform for scripted content.
And now, on this -- the very day 10 years ago that Bree uploaded her first vlog -- some of the minds behind the series are readying a reprisal of sorts. Lonelygirl co-creator Miles Beckett and Jenni Powell, who was a die-hard fan before being hired as a production assistant on the show, tell Tubefilter that they are teaming to create new content within the Lonelygirl universe.
“There hasn’t been new Lonelygirl content since 2008,” says Beckett, who created the series alongside Greg Goodfried, who is currently an agent at UTA, and Mesh Flinders, an associate creative director at communications company Havas. “But there’s always been interest -- the channel still gets hundreds of thousands of views, it's constantly being referenced by other YouTubers, and we’ve had a lot of fans asking for more.”
Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.
And now, on this -- the very day 10 years ago that Bree uploaded her first vlog -- some of the minds behind the series are readying a reprisal of sorts. Lonelygirl co-creator Miles Beckett and Jenni Powell, who was a die-hard fan before being hired as a production assistant on the show, tell Tubefilter that they are teaming to create new content within the Lonelygirl universe.
“There hasn’t been new Lonelygirl content since 2008,” says Beckett, who created the series alongside Greg Goodfried, who is currently an agent at UTA, and Mesh Flinders, an associate creative director at communications company Havas. “But there’s always been interest -- the channel still gets hundreds of thousands of views, it's constantly being referenced by other YouTubers, and we’ve had a lot of fans asking for more.”
Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.
- 6/16/2016
- by Geoff Weiss
- Tubefilter.com
Robert Weiss has been named Eqal’s Chief Operating Officer by company co-founders Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried. The move comes eight months after Weiss, previously CEO of media incubator Parkwood Media Ventures, joined the digital media company as Chief Content Officer. The multi-platform Eqal network, which includes sites by Jennifer Lopez, Lauren Conrad and The Hunger Games’ Elizabeth Banks, reaches more than 60 million consumers and generates billions of content impressions every month. Weiss will oversee Eqal Media Studios as well as the company’s business operations including media branding and social media strategy.
- 5/24/2012
- by DOMINIC PATTEN
- Deadline TV
u look haute, the Original YouTube Channel from lonleygirl15 creator Eqal, launched with a bang, garnering over 275K video views and more than 35K subscribers in the first day. The channel, dedicated fashion and beauty, is part of YouTube's $100 million original content initiative. u look haute features tips, interviews, stories, and reviews shared by celebrities, experts, and everyday women. The channel's programs will include YouTube stars Elle & Blaire Fowler as well as actress, musician (and Disney favorite), Chelsea Kane. The programming slate promises "the best of traditional and online talent, programming and structure with YouTube breakouts, TV stars, designers, reality competition and more," according to Eqal's Co-Founders Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried. Since its lonelygirl15 days, the team over at Eqal has been building influencer networks around celebrities and brands, making it the perfect match for YouTube’s latest initiative catering to today’s connected viewers with the help of...
- 4/5/2012
- by Drew Baldwin
- Tubefilter.com
The New Hollywood: Building Celebrity Brands Online panel at SXSW featured a lively discussion between panelists Nathan Coyle (General Manager of Cambio), Meghan McCain (McCainBlogette and the daughter of John) and Miles Beckett (CEO of Eqal). Moderated by Digital La founder Kevin Winston, the panel shed light on how celebrities are using the internet to interact with fans and achieve greater reach. For those of you that couldn’t make it to Austin, and were lucky enough to miss the torrential downpour, here are some of the lessons attendees were lucky enough to learn and/or be told for the umpteenth time. If it wasn’t before, it’s now an absolute requirement for any public figure, or brand, to interact with their audience online. The panelists agreed while discussing how to effectively use Twitter, Facebook and other social media applications that authenticity and honesty are of the utmost importance...
- 3/12/2012
- by Chris Landa
- Tubefilter.com
There’s a secret to building a hit web series; to writing the perfect story or cultural commentary that people can’t help but share. It’s elusive and the people who accidentally stumble upon it grow fewer with each passing year. Today, the overnight viral sensations (like Shit Girls Say) tend to be intentional and cautiously developed over time (Sgs creator, Graydon Sheppard, built a 54,000 person twitter following before creating a corresponding online series). Still, idiotic, super-cute, and extreme videos keep landing in my Inbox. It may be because we humans have a difficult time turning away from spectacle. But more than that, those videos might possess the elements that web series producer and show runner, Tim Street (VP of Mobile Video at mDialog and creator of French Maid TV) frequently and publicly proclaims to be the key to engaging an audience: Activate two or more emotions at the same time.
- 2/2/2012
- by J. Sibley Law
- Tubefilter.com
Comic book legend Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and Iron Man, and former president and chairman of Marvel Comics, has partnered with Vuguru for a YouTube Original Channel. YouTube released its first wave of original channels as a part of its $100 million content initiative under the direction of Robert Kyncl, who left Netflix to to join Google as VP of TV and Film Entertainment. Lee's new channel, Stan Lee's World of Heroes, is produced by Michael Eisner's digital studio Vuguru and Pow! Entertainment, a media and entertainment company founded by Lee. The new channel is slated to launch in 2012 and will feature exclusive programming around amazing characters and extraordinary individuals. Pow! is also working with Eqal on a new branded consumer website TheRealStanLee.com to ramp up community engagement. "As a lifelong fan, it makes it that much more exciting to be in business with Stan Lee,...
- 11/17/2011
- by Drew Baldwin
- Tubefilter.com
We've been getting some exclusive insight from the producers behind the first wave of original programming coming from the YouTube Original Channels announcement. Eqal, the creator of YouTube sensation lonelygirl15, is launching u look haute, a channel dedicated to all things related to beauty, style and fashion for teenagers and young adults, as part of YouTube’s $100 million original content initiative. "We have taken everything we’ve learned about integrating the community into the content and created u look haute to be an interactive space for everyone who follows beauty, style and trends," Greg Goodfried, Eqal Founder and President, told Tubefilter. (Goodfried was one the esteemed panelsits in our last Tubefilter Meetup on Social Video). Since their days as content kings during the lonelygirl days, the team over at Eqal has been building influencer networks around celebrities and brands, making it the perfect match for YouTube's latest initiative catering to...
- 10/29/2011
- by Drew Baldwin
- Tubefilter.com
Almost four years after Bree’s death on Lonelygirl15, the creators of one of the most engaging and popular original web series endemic to the YouTube generation are no longer producing video. Eqal co-founders Miles Beckett (CEO) and Greg Goodfried (President) have long since abandoned serialized dramas in favor of building online communities around already established household brand names and entertainment properties. They devoted a portion of the $5 million in Series A funding the company raised back in 2008 to accomplish those community-building efforts (the other part of the cash was used to develop a technology platform and finance some of Eqal's last web serials). Now, Eqal is raising more cash to build more online communities even better. Based on recent SEC filings, Techcrunch reports the media company is looking to raise $3.5 million (of which, it’s raised $649,994 so far). I caught up with Beckett over e-mail to try to get...
- 5/24/2011
- by Joshua Cohen
- Tubefilter.com
YouTube: The Movie? Not really, but with all the hype around the upcoming Aaron Sorkin penned Facebook movie—The Social Network—we were bound to see a YouTube parody on the movie’s compelling trailer. This one (above) from Jeff Loveness actually makes us want to see that movie more than the Facebook one. “You like being a joke Keyboard Cat? You want to go back to that?! I made you!” [YouTube] Whitney Port, star of The City, MTV’s popular New York spinoff of The Hills, is set to star in a web series next month, according to sources of NY Magazine’s Vulture blog. The web series is Alloy Entertainment’s recently announced scripted project Hollywood Is Like High School With Money, which is set to premiere on September 14 on AlloyTV.com. Also joining the cast is Ian Harding (Liars) and Brian Hallisay (Privileged), who both had previous roles in Alloy-produced series.
- 8/5/2010
- by Marc Hustvedt
- Tubefilter.com
LG15: This Show is Yours is coming back next month as Eqal announced the winner of its fan contest to continue the original lonelygirl15 storyline in a blog post by Eqal's Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried naming LG15: Outbreak the season 2 premiering January 11. The trailer for the "8-week interactive thrill ride" is above. But it looks like the fun may have already started as a reversed clip of the same trailer has some hidden messages in it. [LG15.com] Sports and cute girls have mixed well for ages, so why stop now? Sportz Nutz returned for its second season this week starring two attractive and knowledgeable post-college sports buffs Susannah Collins and Sam Raddock breaking down the college football bowl matchups from the Army-Navy tailgate. Who knew nitrous oxide was still popular? [YouTube] Safety Geeks Svi wrapped up their first season releasing their 13-minute finale Ep. 11 "A Strange Sucking Sound" on...
- 12/30/2009
- by Marc Hustvedt
- Tubefilter.com
Fall Web TV Week is finally here! It kicks off tonight with the October edition of the Tubefilter Hollywood Web Television Meetup in Los Angeles at 7:00 Pm. The night gets under way with a special sold-out "Going Live!" panel all about live streaming web series streamed Live at 7:20 on Stickam and right here on Tubefilter. Going Live! Panel: Hailey Bright, Co-Host, Coin-Op TV Live Drew Baldwin, Producer, The Streamy Awards (and Tubefilter co-founder) Brian Gramo, Founder, theStream.tv Tyler Crowley, Exec. Producer, Mahalo Daily, This Week in Startups, Kevin Pollack's Chat Show Bismarck Lepe, Founder, Ooyala Moderator: Marc Hustvedt, Editor-in-Chief, Tubefilter News Spotted on the Meetup RSVP list... Private High Musical's Taryn Southern..The Guild's Felicia Day, Jeff Lewis, Sandeep Parikh, Sean Becker and Kim Evey...The Bannen Way creators Mark Gantt and Jesse Warren....Blip.tv founders Mike Hudack and Dina Kaplan...lonelygirl15's Jessica Rose and Yousef Abu-Taleb.
- 10/19/2009
- by Tubefilter News
- Tubefilter.com
Is mid-range web TV too risky? The middle ground of web television, somewhere in between homebrew video blogs and high-end celeb-laden studio series, appears to be murky waters. The closing of digital studios 60Frames and maniaTV stand as somber reminders that web television is still shuffling to find its business model. And it's boiling down to cost structure according to Eqal co-founder Greg Goodfried. Eqal Eqal, founded by Goodfried along with Miles Beckett, is of course the web studio that made its mark with arguably the most successful dramatic web series to date, lonelygirl15, setting themselves up for top seat in the serialized drama space. Follow-up series like LG15: The Resistance, Bebo-backed KateModern and Polish-lonelygirl spinoff n1ckola basically locked up the genre for the venture-backed studio.
- 6/12/2009
- by Marc Hustvedt
- Tubefilter.com
Today kicked off the official start of new interactive thriller web series Harper's Globe from the team at Eqal, creators of lonelygirl15 and KateModern. Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, the creative minds behind the series popularized highly interactive low-fi video blogging dramas, basically setting the bar for the genre. The online series stars former lonelygirl15 regular Melanie Merkosky, as newcomer Robin Matthews to the sleepy vacation island who is tasked with digitizing old news archives from the local paper. Her mysterious past and penchant for video presumably make her the fitting conduit to get to the bottom what's really going on around the island—that is, people getting killed off one by one.
- 3/19/2009
- by Marc Hustvedt
- Tubefilter.com
Updated on 3/1/09 Wondercon, that annual celebration of all things geeky and beautiful, was in full swing this weekend in San Francisco -- and FEARnet swung right along with it. I was at the convention all weekend long, bringing you interviews and coverage of the genre films, TV shows and comics everyone's talking about -- like A Haunting in Connecticut, Harper's Island, Terminator Salvation, Watchmen, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and many more. On Friday, I spoke with actress Virginia Madsen about her role in A Haunting in Connecticut, as well as creator Miles Beckett on his new web series Harper's Globe -- a tie-in to the upcoming TV thriller...
- 2/28/2009
- FEARnet
One of the more intriguing-sounding projects coming our way this spring is Harper's Island, a murder thriller airing on CBS for thirteen weeks, and telling a complete story within that time frame. The premise is simple: a group of friends go to a destination wedding on the titular island, off the coast of Washington State. But, one by one, people start dying. Equally intriguing-sounding is Harper's Globe, an online series that ties in with Harper's Island, and runs the same span of time, interweaving its storyline into the main thread of the series. We caught up with Harper's Globe producer/co-creator Miles Beckett (lonelygirl15, KateModern) today at...
- 2/28/2009
- FEARnet
When I met up with Eqal co-founders Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried last September, they mentioned their ambition to turn lonelygirl15 and its interconnected series of “social shows” into a ”Star Wars-type franchise.” I took that to mean developing and nurturing a mythology that’s replete with characters and images ripe for merchandising and beloved by a specific subculture but still accessible to the general public. Though that hasn’t happened (…yet), Eqal has brokered a different type of licensing deal. It’s one that (considering Jar Jar Binks exists) George Lucas would’ve been smart to adopt, as opposed to his ironclad control over all aspects of his intergalactic baby. Last week, Eqal announced a deal with Polish producers Agora and A2 Multimedia to create at new chapter in the LG15 universe, n1ckola. Though the content of the show operates inside the world established by lonelygirl15, the...
- 1/30/2009
- by Joshua Cohen
- Tilzy.tv
Busy boys Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, the brains behind Eqal and the online web phenomenon lonelygirl15, have been blowing up. Having recently launched a community-sourced web series LG15: The Show Is Yours, creators of the LG15 Universe have announced a license agreement with a Polish media company for a new story in the LG15 canon: n1ckola—all this on the heels of another announcement for a multi-platform mystery web series in partnership with CBS Interactive Harper's Globe, which will complement Jon Turtletaub's new prime time television series Harper's Island premiering on CBS in April. Harper's Globe will be launched in anticipation of Harper's Island with original show episodes that will support the on-air storyline with overlapping characters, locations, and plots. Beckett and Goodfried, who created hit online shows lonelygirl15, KateModern, and LG15: The Resistance were tapped by CBS in May...
- 1/22/2009
- by Drew Baldwin
- Tubefilter.com
CBS is making a date with the makers of "Lonelygirl15".
EQAL, the production company that created the Internet sensation, has closed a multifaceted deal with CBS that will either supplement existing Eye programs with online extensions or potentially yield new multiplatform programs.
The pact was announced Wednesday at CBS' upfront presentation in New York. One likely beneficiary of the pact is the "CSI" franchise; executive producer Anthony Zuiker told those in attendance at Carnegie Hall that his hit series would begin introducing daily webcasts in the fall as part of a "multimedia cyber experience."
The deal is a nonexclusive partnership that gives CBS a first look at any new concepts EQAL creates that could be utilized on a combination of TV, Internet and mobile. In addition, EQAL can either partner or consult with producers of CBS programs to help them build out online extensions to their series.
"This is a huge opportunity for us," EQAL CEO Miles Beckett said. "It's incredibly exciting how you can take existing TV, make it interactive and create communities around it."
CBS has made some modest investments internally in the past in original programming, including unscripted series for its short-lived Innertube site as well as scripted shortform comedies like "Clark and Michael". In EQAL, CBS turns to one of the few proven hitmakers online with the capability to take programming to viral levels.
EQAL, the production company that created the Internet sensation, has closed a multifaceted deal with CBS that will either supplement existing Eye programs with online extensions or potentially yield new multiplatform programs.
The pact was announced Wednesday at CBS' upfront presentation in New York. One likely beneficiary of the pact is the "CSI" franchise; executive producer Anthony Zuiker told those in attendance at Carnegie Hall that his hit series would begin introducing daily webcasts in the fall as part of a "multimedia cyber experience."
The deal is a nonexclusive partnership that gives CBS a first look at any new concepts EQAL creates that could be utilized on a combination of TV, Internet and mobile. In addition, EQAL can either partner or consult with producers of CBS programs to help them build out online extensions to their series.
"This is a huge opportunity for us," EQAL CEO Miles Beckett said. "It's incredibly exciting how you can take existing TV, make it interactive and create communities around it."
CBS has made some modest investments internally in the past in original programming, including unscripted series for its short-lived Innertube site as well as scripted shortform comedies like "Clark and Michael". In EQAL, CBS turns to one of the few proven hitmakers online with the capability to take programming to viral levels.
- 5/14/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
CORRECTED 1:24 p.m. PT April 23, 2008
NEW YORK -- The studio behind Internet sensation lonelygirl15 has received funding from a group of investors including veterans of Netscape, Google and Cloudbreak Entertainment.
LG15/Telegraph Ave. Prods., which is being rebranded as EQAL, will receive a $5 million Series A round of financing led by Spark Capital. Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, Conrad Riggs of Cloudbreak, Silicon Valley venture investor Ron Conway and former Google director Georges Harik also are investing in this round.
Company CEO Miles Beckett, president and COO Greg Goodfried and Mesh Flinders launched "lonelygirl15" in June 2006, and it quickly became a viral hit on YouTube. In summer 2007, Beckett and Goodfried launched "KateModern" on Bebo, a social network popular in the U.K. that is being acquired by AOL.
Beckett and Goodfried explained that the funding isn't tied to a specific new project; they're looking to "build the corporate infrastructure" and hire programrs, developers and ad sales workers. The studio now has eight full-time employees, with "lonelygirl" and "KateModern" employing production units of 12-14 people apiece.
NEW YORK -- The studio behind Internet sensation lonelygirl15 has received funding from a group of investors including veterans of Netscape, Google and Cloudbreak Entertainment.
LG15/Telegraph Ave. Prods., which is being rebranded as EQAL, will receive a $5 million Series A round of financing led by Spark Capital. Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen, Conrad Riggs of Cloudbreak, Silicon Valley venture investor Ron Conway and former Google director Georges Harik also are investing in this round.
Company CEO Miles Beckett, president and COO Greg Goodfried and Mesh Flinders launched "lonelygirl15" in June 2006, and it quickly became a viral hit on YouTube. In summer 2007, Beckett and Goodfried launched "KateModern" on Bebo, a social network popular in the U.K. that is being acquired by AOL.
Beckett and Goodfried explained that the funding isn't tied to a specific new project; they're looking to "build the corporate infrastructure" and hire programrs, developers and ad sales workers. The studio now has eight full-time employees, with "lonelygirl" and "KateModern" employing production units of 12-14 people apiece.
- 4/16/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.