lonelygirl15

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lonelygirl15
Cast BW season 3.jpg
Created by Miles Beckett, Mesh Flinders, Greg Goodfried, and Amanda Goodfried
Cast
Bree Jessica Lee Rose
Daniel Yousef Abu-Taleb
Jonas Jackson Davis
Sarah Alexandra Dreyfus
Taylor Becki Kregoski
Emma Katherine Pawlak
Jennie Melanie Merkosky
Gina Crystal Young
Spencer Maxwell Glick
Carl Craig Coyne
Production Crew
Directors Amanda Goodfried
Colin Hargraves
Glenn Rubenstein
Greg Goodfried
Jackson Davis
Jennifer Roth
Kevin Schlanser
Marcello Daciano
Mesh Flinders
Miles Beckett
Yumiko Aoyagi
Executive Producers Amanda Goodfried
Glenn Rubenstein
Greg Goodfried
Mesh Flinders
Miles Beckett
Yumiko Aoyagi
Producers Amanda Goodfried
Colin Hargraves
Glenn Rubenstein
Marcello Daciano
Mesh Flinders
Miles Beckett
Yumiko Aoyagi
Production Manager Greg Goodfried
Production Assistants Jenni Powell
Ian Schwartz
Camera Operators Amanda Goodfried
Brad Haley
Colin Hargraves
Glenn Rubenstein
Jennifer Roth
Justin Thompson
Kevin Schlanser
Mesh Flinders
Miles Beckett
Yousef Abu-Taleb
Editors Amanda Goodfried
Colin Hargraves
ElizKM86
Glenn Rubenstein
Ian Schwartz
Jennifer Roth
Justin Thompson
Kevin Schlanser
Miles Beckett
Head Writers Mary Feuer
Miles Beckett
Writers Alli Danziger
Amanda Goodfried
Colin Hargraves
Dwayne Smith
Glenn Rubenstein
Greg Goodfried
Jan Libby
Jennifer Roth
Marcello Daciano
Mary Feuer
Mesh Flinders
Miles Beckett
Ross Berger
Vanessa Roveto
Yumiko Aoyagi
Jim Campolongo
Vidplays by Amanda Goodfried
Colin Hargraves
Dwayne Smith
Glenn Rubenstein
Greg Goodfried
Jan Libby
Jennifer Roth, Marcello Daciano
Mary Feuer
Mesh Flinders
Miles Beckett
Ross Berger
Vanessa Roveto
Yousef Abu-Taleb
Yumiko Aoyagi
Music Supervisors Colin Hargraves
Darren Boling
Seth Jacobs
Animator Ian Schwartz
lonelygirl15 Portal
List of lonelygirl15 videos

lonelygirl15 (also called LG15) was a fictional webdrama produced by EQAL, which ran from May 24th, 2006 to August 1st, 2008, with a Japanese dub slated for release in 2009. It debuted on YouTube under the guise of a 16-year-old videoblogger named Bree and a group of her friends coined TAAG. The show gained popularity by posting video responses to and name-dropping other popular YouTubers.

Cast of characters

  • Jessica Lee Rose as Bree Avery, a bubbly teenage girl whose trait positive blood makes her the target of a dangerous cult called the Order.
  • Yousef Abu-Taleb as Daniel, Bree's best friend who only wishes to protect her.
  • Jackson Davis as Jonas, a boy who meets Bree online and discovers that his family has more ties to the Order than he realizes.
  • Alexandra Dreyfus as Sarah, a dishonest 19-year-old who develops a crush on Daniel and travels with TAAG.
  • Becki Kregoski as Taylor, Sarah's younger sister who has an impressive amount of computer hacking skills.
  • Katherine Pawlak as Emma, Jonas's trait positive younger sister who is very independent.
  • Melanie Merkosky as Jennie, a former Lullaby Project employee who becomes friends with Sarah and has a romantic affair with Jonas.
  • Crystal Young as Gina, Bree's trait positive older sister who was taken from her at birth.
  • Maxwell Glick as Spencer, an employee at Neutrogena who helps TAAG through rough patches.
  • Craig Coyne as Carl, a Hymn of One member whose true intentions are unknown.

Theme and plot

Main article: lonelygirl15 The Story So Far...
For a complete synopsis of the plot, see The Story So Far...

In the beginning, Bree's videos were similar to those of many other popular vloggers on YouTube, making brief videos out of her bedroom about her life, her best friend, Daniel, and her conflicts with her parents.

Bree was home schooled and lonely. Her only friend, who introduced her to YouTube and video editing, was Daniel, whom she met during a brief stint in public school two years earlier. Daniel's crush on Bree and the strictness of Bree's parents were a part of the tensions behind many of the early videos.

Eventually, it was revealed that Bree was a member of a secretive religion, originally believed to be Thelema, but later recognized as the fictional Hymn of One. Selected to perform a mysterious ceremony, she was, at first, ecstatic by the honor, but soon found herself with many unanswered questions as to the motives of the Deacons who insisted she perform it.

The show gradually abandoned its premise of being a highly-realistic story about a young vlogger, taking the story out of the bedroom and on the run, as Bree and Daniel attempted to escape the Ceremony Bree was being forced into. Finding out that The Hymn of One was nothing more than a front for the Order, a powerful society who want the Trait positive blood of young girls like Bree, propelled them further into a journey full of secret codes, evil henchmen, and dark adventure. Although their path has been littered with treachery and danger, the two were able to find unexpected help in the form of an orphan boy, two very different sisters, and a self proclaimed lab rat. Amid tragedy and manipulation, the teens vowed to continue fighting the Order by assisting the young girls desperately in need of their help. They eventually find themselves traveling across America trying to overthrow their powerful enemy and going forward to meet their shadowy future together.

Notes about the series

  • Although the series was originally posted through YouTube, in September of 2006 the Creators signed a promotional deal with Revver, another popular video sharing website. The first LG15 video seen through Revver was A Change In My Life. In late 2007 the website switched back to using YouTube to broadcast their videos.
  • lonelygirl15 won the VH1 "Big in '06" award for Biggest Download
  • The show remains the eightteenth most-subscribed channel on YouTube, with over 100,000 subscribers as of July 6, 2008.

Revelations of fictionality

Initial speculation

Although, her blogs quickly became very popular, viewers grew suspicious that lonelygirl15 was not real and began to wonder if Bree was, in fact, a real person or if the posts were part of a teaser campaign for a television show or an upcoming movie. Others felt that the blog might be part of an alternate reality game.

Fans pointed to small inconsistencies within the videos as evidence that the story might not be genuine.

  • The website lonelygirl15.com, supposedly created by a fan named Bukanator, was registered in May 2006, several weeks prior to Bree actually uploading her first video.
  • Bree had several fights with Daniel on webcam. It seemed unlikely a girl who just endured real fights with her only friend would upload those fights to YouTube.
  • The lighting, along with other cinematic elements, also seemed improbable.

Media reports of fictionality

For the full story of how fans unearthed the truth behind lonelygirl15, see The Hunt For Bree.
  • Richard Rushfield of The Los Angeles Times reported in an article dated September 8, 2006, that three lonelygirl15 fans - Shaina Wedmedyk, Chris Patterson, and an anonymous law student (these three fans are known as the Phorum 3) - set up a sting operation using IP address tracking software that showed that e-mails sent from a lonelygirl15 MySpace account were traced to the offices of Creative Artists Agency, a powerful Hollywood talent agency based in Beverly Hills.
  • Virginia Heffernan of The New York Times, on September 12, confirmed that the Creators of the series are represented by CAA and that CAA was one of several locations used by the Creators of the series to send emails from lonelygirl15 accounts. She identified Miles Beckett and Mesh Flinders as the Creators of the project. One main source for her story was Grant Steinfeld.
  • The Los Angeles Times, on September 13th, featured the first interview with the Creators of lonelygirl15, confirming the link between the Creators and the CAA. This story also identified Greg Goodfried as one of the Creators.

Other shows

Mini-series

  • Nikki Bower Report videos were posted from November 1st, 2006, until February 4th, 2008. The main character, Nikki Bower, investigated the Order and helped fight it. Nikki appeared in several videos in the parent series, as well.
  • Watchyourjack ran from November 19th, 2007, to February 10th, 2008, was a mini-series for lonelygirl15 that involved many parts of it -- including the main character Taylor. Watchyourjack's plot centered around the character of Jack. Watchyourjack was product placement for the movie "Jumper."

Spin-offs and others

  • KateModern, which ran from July 16th, 2007, to June 28th, 2008, acted as the first spin-off or "sister series" of lonelygirl15. As well as this, KateModern and lonelygirl15 characters were able to interact with each other and merge storylines in what the Creators called a crossover. KateModern and lonelygirl15 had one crossover.
  • LG15: The Resistance acted as a spin-off of lonelygirl15 and ran from September 20th, 2008, to December 12th, 2008. It built upon the derivative nature of the LG15 Universe and featured both old and new characters.
  • N1ckola, a Polish retelling of the lonelygirl15 story, premiered on January 26th, 2009.
  • Heavily promoted by lonelygirl15 is Harper's Globe, another EQAL show.

External links

EQAL Shows
Primary Projects LG15 Franchise · Harper's Globe · Level 26 · Get Cookin' · The Kind Life · Voltaggio Brothers · Real Women of Philadelphia · Paula Deen Online · Tails Pet Media Group, Inc.
Diminutive Projects Lonelygirl362436 · Jack In A Onesie