Lonelygirl15

[ahhyeah]

'LonelyGirl15' Creators Admit It: She's an Actress

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213601,00.html

LOS ANGELES — The creators behind the Internet video mystery teen Lonelygirl15 have revealed themselves and want their fans to know they are not a front for a big Hollywood studio marketing some upcoming film.

Instead, the three friends launched the adventures of the doe-eyed, 16-year-old home-schooled "Bree" as an experiment in storytelling that they intend to continue on their own Web site, which was launched Tuesday.

Bree's inventors went public after fans of the two- to three-minute videos began questioning her existence and expressing disappointment that the seemingly genuine video diaries were a hoax.

The creators identified themselves to The Associated Press as Miles Beckett, 28, of Woodland Hills, Calif.; Mesh Flinders, 26, of Petaluma, Calif., and Greg Goodfried, 27, of Los Angeles.

Beckett, a self-confessed Internet geek, said he came up with the idea of using short videos as a storytelling technique while a surgical resident. Earlier this year, he met Flinders, a fledgling filmmaker, at a party.

"I saw YouTube coming about and podcasting and wanted to be a part of it," Beckett said.

Flinders said he had been developing the character of a teenage girl who was more at home relating to adults than with her peers.

The character never quite fit into any of his screenplays, but seemed a perfect fit for Beckett's idea of telling stories using video blogging.

The two joined with Goodfried, an attorney, recruited the actors to play Bree and her dorky boyfriend, Daniel, and began writing the broad outlines of an open-ended plot filled with the kind of mysteries and clues TV watchers know from the hit ABC show "Lost."

The short videos began appearing on the Web sites YouTube and MySpace in June. The creators said Tuesday that they never intended to stage a hoax or trick people into believing their characters were real.

"We never wanted to lie to people," Beckett said.

"Our job from the beginning was not to trick people. It was to create a character that was believable," Flinders said.

The trio began posting individually scripted and filmed episodes online and began incorporating changes based on reactions and suggestions from fans.

The result was part video game, where viewers exercise some measure of control over the characters, and part mystery novel, complete with hidden clues and cliffhanger chapters that left viewers wanting more.

Flinders writes scripts for each "episode" and the actress playing Bree delivers her lines with a persuasive power that still has some online viewers believing she is genuine, even after "The Creators" posted their online confession several days ago.

The three creators declined to identify the name of the actress Tuesday. But amateur Internet sleuths discovered she is Jessica Rose, a 19-year-old actress from New Zealand who recently moved to Los Angeles.

Despite suspicions that the videos were slickly produced, the creators say they use the same tools and resources available to others who regularly post videos on the Web.

The episodes are shot with a $130 Web camera and the lighting is provided by two desk lamps and a window. The sound comes from the Webcam's internal microphone.

"We're fans of this medium," Goodfried said. "It represents a shift from the content being in control of the big corporations to power being in the hands of the little guy who has a Webcam."

"We are the little guys," Beckett said.

The revelation that Bree was fake initially angered fans on YouTube, who suspected Lonelygirl15 was a slick Hollywood attempt to advertise some upcoming movie or TV show.

But since the creators revealed the fictitious nature of the show last week, the number of people subscribing to the Lonelygirl15 channel on YouTube has skyrocketed.

"Just because I know a movie isn't real isn't going to stop me from watching it," Alexandra Inman, a 17-year-old fan from St. Louis, said Tuesday. "I'm there for the entertainment."

Bree's adventures will continue on a new Web site created in conjunction with the online syndication network Revver.

The company helps video-makers profit from their efforts by attaching ads to each video, then burying a "tag" in the computer code that tracks where the video is posted. Revver then shares the ad revenue with the authors.

"The fact that creators are getting paid to make more stuff is a good thing," said Revver co-founder Steven Starr, a former Hollywood agent.

As far as what happens to Bree next or just how long "Season One" will last, the creators themselves are unsure.

The three are represented by Hollywood talent agency Creative Artists Agency, but say they have no immediate plans to make a Lonelygirl15 movie or TV show.

"We're moving forward and we want to keep doing what we've been doing," Beckett said.

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[ahhyeah]

Mysterious Girl's Online Video Diary May Be Publicity Stunt

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,213501,00.html

LOS ANGELES — A home-schooled teenager named Bree is heating up the Internet like few others today.

But is she for real? Or is she merely an actress? If so, who are the people responsible for mounting the charade?

This Internet whodunit centers on 16-year-old Bree's "Lonelygirl15" online video diaries, posted on sites such as YouTube and MySpace. They've caused a cyber-stir not seen since "The Blair Witch Project."

The mystery has fueled the popularity of the short videos that are a staple on a growing number of Web sites devoted to posting homemade entertainment.

On sites such as Revver and Guba, regular people are posting videos that range from confessional diaries to stunts involving everything from skateboards to breath mints dropped into bottles of Diet Coke.

Many feature people just sitting in front of video cameras, talking about the mundane happenings in their lives or ranting about some issue or another.

On YouTube, one of the most popular sites for amateur videos, 26,930 people are subscribed to the Lonelygirl15 "channel," meaning they regularly view videos posted there.

More than 2.3 million people have viewed Bree's videos, according to YouTube.

Lonelygirl15 started posting her dorky adventures in June, with a video that looked like so many others on the Web.

"Bree" is sitting in her typical-looking teenage room, introducing herself and making a variety of goofy faces.

In subsequent "episodes" (so far, she has posted more than 30 videos with the latest entry posted Sept. 10), Bree talks about her parents, her friend Daniel and her "religion," which includes a mysterious ritual Bree has been selected for.

The ceremony only takes place "once in a really long while" and attendance is limited to a select few.

"My parents won't even be allowed to come," Bree says.

The ceremony also involves memorization and "special exercises" that Bree's mother is going to help her with. Plus, she has to go on a diet.

"Other than that, it's basically like preparing for a bar mitzvah or a confirmation," Bree says matter of factly.

The mystery deepens. In her room is what looks like a shrine to the occult figure Aleister Crowley, leading many Bree-watchers to assume she is involved in some kind of Satanic cult.

Then, several weeks ago, rumors began to fly that Bree was not a genuine teen blogger at all, but an actress playing a part in scripted and produced drama.

The proof, it was said, is that Bree never reacts on-screen to comments posted about her, never wavers from the plot.

So far, even as media attention heats up about her authenticity, Bree has yet to react in her videos.

Fans began to speculate that the videos were part of a big marketing campaign for some movie and bristled at being manipulated by some Hollywood studio.

The most notable Web hoax related to movie publicity was for the 1999 film "The Blair Witch Project."

Footage from an alleged documentary about a mysterious video tape and missing teens created a buzz on the Web that helped boost the film's box-office success.

The marketing theory surrounding Lonelygirl15 was bolstered when amateur sleuths uncovered that the name was trademarked recently by Encino attorney Kenneth Goodfried, who did not return a call seeking comment Monday.

Web detectives also concluded that Bree's MySpace account was being controlled by someone using a computer at the Hollywood talent firm Creative Artists Agency. An agency spokesman did not immediately return a call Monday.

And then came the announcement posted on the mock fan site Lonelygirl15.com stating that Bree was indeed an actress.

"Thank you so much for enjoying our show so far," said the note, signed only "The Creators" and addressed to "our incredible fans."

The note, posted Sept. 7, continued: "Right now, the biggest mystery of Lonelygirl15 is `who is she?' We think this is an oversimplification. Lonelygirl15 is a reflection of everyone. She is no more real or fictitious than the portions of our personalities that we choose to show (or hide) when we interact with the people around us."

The "Creators," who describe themselves as filmmakers but not part of a big corporation, go on to promise a new Web site featuring interactive storytelling where "the line between 'fan' and 'star' has been removed, and dedicated fans like yourselves are paid for their efforts."

But in the strange world of Lonelygirl15, nothing can be trusted. Soon after the message was posted, the Web site could not be accessed.

It was running again over the weekend, where two new episodes were posted, but was only intermittently available on Monday.

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