Lonelygirl15

[DreamerM]

[HyeMew]

This is rather off topic, but I don't want to create a new thread just for this.
CNN has these mini-segments on nominees for Time's person of the year, and they just showed one for YouTube (while not a person, it wouldn't be the only non-person to win... the Earth won once..). I'm mentioning this because they were showing various clips and they showed one of Bree with LONELYGIRL15 written across it. They were just showing real fast 1 second views of various things, it was followed by one of Jess's "real world" picture and then another thing with the title LONELYGIRL COMES OUT or something like that. During this point they were discussing, sure lots of stuff on YouTube is frivolous, but they had just shown all these important things like video from Iraq and how it gives soldiers a way to interact with back home.
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Check out: Funniest LG15-related episode... ever?! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ6kBdNegfs

[Lurker]

[flwright]

Hi All,

I'm visiting from Anchor Cove, but I've been around since T-Rex ate PaytotheOrderOfOf2's house. I think DreamerM's comments (except for the mean ones) are right on the button. And Trainer101 makes a spirited defense. The defense would be a little more believable if fan interaction really drove the story. The whole premise of Lonelygirl15 was to tell a convincing fiction using all the virtual devices available on the Internets.

M&M&G&A were never asking us to be Creators, only actors. At most, we were allowed to do a little impov. The best responses to Lonelygirl15 (Lonesome October, Terryfic, TWJaniak, and a few others, including the original Cassieiswatching video) don't advance the storyline, they are all jazz riffs on the melody laid down by M&M.

The melody has hit some sour notes lately, Jonas in particular.

As for Bree, it's easy to confuse nice and "cute" with lack of backbone. She's a fundamentally optimistic and positive person, her silliness helps her cope with a bad situation. Still, DreamerM is correct, Bree needs to show her smarts and her backbone (remember that she is the one that was the driving force behind the vlogging in the first place). She needs to acknowledge the loss of her parents and her situation with some concrete action.

And thank you Miles for your heartfelt post. You and Mesh and Greg and Amanda and Jess and Yousef set a very high bar with your early videos. It will always be a challenge to keep it Breal.

Later,

FLWright
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Form follow function

[JayHank]

I'm not going to reiterate all the previous points. I want this show to be good, even if it's not. I'm still rooting for it, etc. I don't begrudge your efforts to earn money.

But this seems to be where you've lost sight of 1) what your show is and 2) what we're talking about.

You seem to have forgotten that the reason LG15 was once a great show, was because it was realistic. It was something that a shy 16-year-old girl and her geeky 18-year-old friend could produce out of their bedrooms.

The reason the show is bad is not because of budget issues. I understand the strain of being tight on cash. But I don't see how the lack of cash is responsible for an outlandish plot.

You have no money, therefore you have decided that it's "realistic" for these characters to spend over a month living in hotels and on the streets. You have no money, therefore you have decided that it's realistic for The Order to control the LAPD? You have no money, therefore it's realistic for the Gemma character to have homeless friends and tell a whiny story about a bad date? You have no money, therefore it's realistic for Bree to want to go live with an internet stranger? You have no money, therefore it's realistic that the Order would spend hours and hours staging a fake ceremony to take pictures of Daniel?

Nonsense.

Fix your plot. Quit inventing new loose threads until you're confident you can tie off a couple of existing ones. It has nothing to do with money. Don't even worry about pacing for a week -- the pacing is so absurd it cannot be saved -- and focus entirely on the storyline. The storyline must start to make sense again.

You guys got famous because people thought this might be real. Only the clinically insane could think that anymore.
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"NO BREE DON'T PRESS THAT BUTTON" yelled Daniel.
"why?" Bree said, click.
WOOOOOO NUVCLEAR EXPLOSION!!!!EVEYRONE

[Luv2Skydive]

[DreamerM]

Welcome to the fray, Jayhank and thank you for not mincing words.

I'll repeat it along with you: lack of funds is no excuse for how outlandish this plot has gotten.

Miles: This is not something you can put-off dealing with. You need to pull people together, sit down and figure this out.

We feel for your financial woes, Miles, but we need you to fix your product or no one will be around to consume the lucrative stuff.

I'm not worried it'll become a commercial. The creators have enough backbone to prevent that. I have no problem with adds or product placement.

I am worried about ever getting this crazy lack-of-plot under control again.

[The Creators]

Thanks for you responses. Interestingly, lack of funding does affect the plot:

1) Cheesy as it is, time=money. Right now each of us does the job of about four people. So, none of us are full time writers on the show. Pulling people together, sitting down, etc. is literally only possible once in a great while since we are running around like crazy doing a million things each (and we need to do those things in order to build this show into something sustainable). Money will allow us to do the most important thing we are lacking: hire more people. I filmed this morning, right now I'm waiting for a video to upload, but I really need to be at a meeting that I'm missing, and I REALLY need to write. So, money will definitely solve the problem of time which in turn will solve the problem of plot.

2) Money allows us to fully express our creativity. It would allow us to use a house for Jonas where we could show the rooms. Allow us to rent cars to increase the drama in certain videos. Allow us to hire actors to play other roles either as principles or extras. Allow us to film in different locations. Although it's not necessary, it certainly helps to have this flexibility.

3) immortal1 made a statement which I find very accurate. There is no handbook for how to create an internet show. Frankly, that's what's so cool and why I love doing this but it makes it difficult. Every single movie follows a three act structure. Every single 1 hour drama and 1/2 hour comedy follows a formula... down to the number of jokes per minute and the cliffhangers before commercials. We are working out the structure as we go and are improving it little by little. I think we'll come up with something that works consistently.

DreamerM: I 100% understand the importance of maintaining quality of the core product. Frankly, LG15 would suck right now if all of us weren't working to the bone to produce a show that should require a team of 10 to 15 minimum. LG15 will continue to improve. The plot will continue to interest all of you... realize that there IS a plot unfolding and that we HAVE planned things out a lot already. We are definitely not meandering and you will definitely be rewarded.

I'm thankful for your understanding, but realize that none of my statements are excuses (I'm a former surgeon... there are no excuses . We will improve even if it means I never sleep Thanks everyone, and enjoy.

Miles

[SharpI]

[treefunk]

First off, excellent analysis SharpI. Second, Jay, I think that your beef with the story runs deep enough where it's no longer constructive criticism--it's almost irrelevant.

[Lurker]

[DreamerM]

I'm also tired of everyone being a complete bubblehead except for Daniel, and Daniel's a bit thick.

Daniel was unable to remember what Bree's play was about or much else about the religion her life is centered around besides that he thinks it's creepy. How much does he really know about her life? We know he hung around camps and functions she was in and so he should know SOMETHING.

Plus, Daniel, despite being the main force behind the events that made them hit the road to begin with, sure was quick to forget his fear once thier living conditions became uncomfortable. Then again, maybe the main reason behind his growchyness is he's as disgusted as we are with Bree's deep denial and refusal to deal with her situation. He knows she's smart, probably much smarter then him, but she'd rather talk to her stuffed animals then use those smarts to help him figure out a course of action. His fear shrinks when compaired to his frustration with her, and he just wants to go home.

I can't stand Gemma. Despite being the one person willing to take positive action once things got serious, the fact she continues to talk about her flatmates and her bad dates when her "friends" are living on the FRIGGIN' STREETS means she's shallow as well as annoying. Everything's all about her in her mind, and she needs to either wise up and say something useful or go away.

Jonas is a male Bree minus the smarts: he's cute, he's playful, and he's dumb as a post. Whoever thought he'd be a good addition to the cast was on some good drugs.

Tell me why I should care about the new people, stat, or trim them and the production will cost that much less.

And they should edit the videos differently, definately. Seen one, seen 'em all. People called Jonas on being cannon before he was announced formally simply because of the editing.

Mix it up a little. Let's get to know these people.

[Lurker]

[SharpI]

[stuart2004]