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Two years after it was acquired by Briarcliff Entertainment for North American distribution, Sovereign is premiering July 11.

In the trailer for writer/director Christian Swegal’s true crime thriller, Nick Offerman and Jacob Tremblay star as Jerry Kane and his teenage son Joseph, who follow the Sovereign Citizen belief system, a deeply anti-establishment worldview rooted in distrust of government authority.

As the pair travels across the country, delivering self-taught legal seminars and pushing back against systems they believe have failed them, their journey brings them into conflict with Police Chief Jim Bouchart (Dennis Quaid), setting off a tragic chain of events that forces a reckoning with power, principle and the limits of freedom.

“When I first heard about this crime, I was immediately hooked,” said Swegal before filming the movie in Arkansas in late 2023. “Radicalization is a familiar concept, but at a time when our democracy is strained to the breaking point,...

In February 2025, YouTube turned 20. The video site has gone through a lot over the past two decades, including an acquisition, an earnings glow-up, and multiple generations of star creators. In our 20 Years of YouTube series, we’ll examine the uploads, trends, and influencers that have defined the world’s favorite video site — one year at a time. Click here for a full archive of the series.

In retrospect, the truth about lonelygirl15 was evident from the start.

Context clues indicated that the titular character, Bree, lived in the vicinity of Los Angeles, even though she claimed to reside in the sticks. Her bedroom seemed a little too put-together for a 16-year-old girl. The facts of her life, which included religious cults and strange blood ceremonies, seemed too salacious to be real.

By the end of 2006, the brain trust behind lonelygirl15 had shown itself. The vlogger the internet knew as...

Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has set a June 20 theatrical release for its Dennis Quaid-Nick Offerman-Jacob Tremblay true-crime thriller Sovereign.

Based on real events, the pic follows a father and son (Offerman and Tremblay) who identify as Sovereign Citizens, a group of anti-government extremists, as they venture across the country and find themselves in a standoff with a chief of police (Quaid) that sets off an intense manhunt with tragic consequences.

Nick Offerman in ‘Sovereign’

Deadline first told you about Briarcliff’s pickup of the film written and directed by Christian Swegal in May 2023.

Sovereign will share the same weekend with such wide entries as Disney/Pixar’s Elio, Sony’s zombie sequel 28 Years Later and Magneta Light Studios’ Simon West-directed Bride Hard starring Rebel Wilson and Anna Camp.

Sovereign was produced by Nick Moceri under his All Night Diner banner, whose credits include Sitting In Bars With Cake...

Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired North American distribution rights to director Rob Edwards’ sneaker-themed animated movie Sneaks, voiced by Anthony Mackie, Martin Lawrence, Oscar nominee Laurence Fishburne, Chloe Bailey, and Grammy-winning producer Mustard.

Pic also features Grammy winners Roddy Ricch, Ella Mai and Macy Gray, with five-time nominee Swae Lee, Quavo and NBA star Chris Paul also joining the cast. Paul plays himself, hosting a Met Gala-like event for avid sneakerheads seen in the film.

The family movie follows a pair of one-of-a-kind, collector sneakers, Ty (Anthony Mackie), and Maxine (Chloe Bailey), stolen by ‘the Collector’ (Laurence Fishburne). In their attempt to escape, Ty ends up separated from his sister in the middle of NYC. Alone, and desperate to find her, Ty meets with Jb (Martin Lawrence), a streetwise, scuffed up sneaker with an affinity for anything shiny, learning that your best life begins when you get out of your box.

In a move that builds on Tom Ortenberg’s credentials as a provocative champion of contentious material, Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired US rights to Magazine Dreams – a film many thought might never see the light of day after star Jonathan Majors was convicted of charges related to domestic violence.

Briarcliff plans a theatrical release for Elijah Bynum’s acclaimed drama about a troubled, aspiring bodybuilder in the first quarter of 2025. CEO Ortenberg declared on Wednesday, “Jonathan Majors’ transcendent performance as Killian Maddox will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most compelling and transformative roles in recent cinema history.”

Searchlight Pictures...

“Magazine Dreams” is back in circulation: The Jonathan Majors movie has been picked up by Briarcliff Entertainment for a first-quarter 2025 U.S. theatrical release. Original distributor Searchlight Pictures dropped the indie film after Majors was convicted of assault.

The Elijah Bynum film first premiered at Sundance in 2023, where it was acquired by Searchlight. “Magazine Dreams was given a primo awards-season release, with Majors in particular being considered a Best Actor contender.

But following the December 2023 conviction of Majors on a charge of assault and harassment, Searchlight sent the film back to the open market, where it stayed in limbo for nearly a year.

Briarcliff is the same distributor giving the unauthorized Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice” a theatrical run. “The Apprentice” is another movie that struggled to find distribution, though that was due to financier Dan Snyder’s disdain for the tone of the finished product. Snyder is the very...

Exclusive: Magazine Dreams, the drama that came out of Sundance with Oscar buzz for Jonathan Majors’ intense portrayal of a troubled aspiring bodybuilder, will finally get its chance to flex on movie screens.

Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired domestic distribution rights to the critically acclaimed film, with plans to release in the first quarter of 2025. This becomes the second quality hot-potato picture taken on by Tom Ortenberg’s Briarcliff, after the distributor acquired the Donald Trump-Roy Cohn coming-of-age drama The Apprentice. Conglomerate-connected distributors shunned that film after its provocative Cannes debut, but Briarcliff will release it in the heat of election season October 11. That film shows the lessons an aspiring real estate magnate learned after being taken under the wing of the reptilian lawyer who was once the right-hand man for Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the sensationalized communist witch hunt.

Ortenberg also distributed Spotlight, about the Boston Globe exposing...

Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired domestic distribution rights to Legion M’s “My Dead Friend Zoe.” The dark comedy-drama, which won the SXSW Film Festival’s Audience Award this year, stars Sonequa Martin-Green (“The Walking Dead”), Natalie Morales (“No Hard Feelings”), Oscar nominee Ed Harris (“Apollo 13”) and Oscar winner Morgan Freeman (“Million Dollar Baby”). The supporting cast also includes Gloria Reuben (“ER“) and Utkarsh Ambudkar (“Ghosts”).

The film is the directorial debut of Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, a former U.S. Army infantry paratrooper and Iraq War Bronze Star veteran. In the film, Hausmann-Stokes examines the post-war experience and pays tribute to veterans. The story was co-written by Hausmann-Stokes with A.J. Bermudez. The film also marks the executive producer debut of NFL star Travis Kelce.

In “My Dead Friend Zoe,” Merit (Martin-Green) is a U.S. Army Afghanistan veteran who finds herself at odds with her family because of the presence of Zoe...

“Midas Man,” an upcoming drama about Brian Epstein, the visionary manager who helped turn the Beatles into the biggest thing in pop culture, has sold North American distribution rights to Briarcliff Entertainment. The company will distribute the movie in collaboration with Studio Pow and American Entertainment Investors. It stars Jacob Fortune-Lloyd of “The Queen’s Gambit” as Epstein. The film is directed by Joe Stephenson (“Doctor Jekyll”).

Briarcliff plans to release the film in more than 800 theaters nationwide in the fall. “Midas Man” is set against the backdrop of the 1960s, and explores Epstein’s genius and talent, as well as his ambition and his personal struggle for self-acceptance. Born into a family of furniture retailers, Epstein’s passion for music and ability to spot talent led him to discover the Fab Four and helped launch them into the musical stratosphere. The film’s ensemble also includes Emily Watson, Eddie Marsan,...

Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Chris Jenkins’ animated family comedy 10 Lives, in partnership with Gfm Animation. World premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the film featuring the voices of singer-songwriter Zayn Malik, Bill Nighy (Living) and more will be released wide in theaters on October 11.

The film introduces audiences to Beckett, a pampered and selfish cat who takes his life for granted until he loses his ninth life. But fate has a wild ride in store, thrusting him into a hilarious and eye-opening journey of self-realization.

Also starring Mo Gilligan (The Lateish Show), Simone Ashley (Bridgerton), Sophie Okonedo (Slow Horses), Jeremy Swift (Ted Lasso) and Dylan Lewellyn (Derry Girls), the film is produced by Guy Collins and Sean Feeney. Briarcliff CEO Tom Ortenberg will join the executive producers.

In addition to starring, Malik acted as executive music producer on the film, writing and...

Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired North American distribution rights to new musical franchise Verona’s Romeo & Juliet, in partnership with Hero Entertainment and Rainmaker Films. A modern reimagining of one of the most beloved love stories of all time, the first of the films will unspool wide on Valentine’s Day 2025, in one of Briarcliff’s biggest releases to date.

Set in 1301 at the end of Medieval times, Verona’s Romeo & Juliet finds our most famous star-crossed lovers turning the tides on the history Shakespeare based his own story on, as they reveal the truth to the very future of the Empire. But the biggest twist in this most beloved of tales is leaving the poetry of Iambic Pentameter in the past to tell the story with the help of original pop music.

With Clara Rugaard (Love Gets a Room) and Jamie Ward (His Dark Materials) in the lead as Romeo & Juliet,...

Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired domestic rights to Valiant One, a military action thriller starring Chase Stokes (Outer Banks) and Lana Condor (To All the Boys franchise), slating it for release in theaters nationwide on January 24, 2025. Check out a first-look still above.

Marking the feature directorial debut of producer Steve Barnett, the film watches as a routine mission goes awry when a U.S. army helicopter crashes deep within North Korean territory. Now, a team of non-combat tech specialists, led by Captain Edward Brockman (Stokes), must navigate the hostile terrain and fend off North Korean forces as they desperately race to escort a civilian tech specialist across the treacherous Demilitarized Zone.

A Monarch Media production written by Barnett and Eric Tipton, with counsel from former members of the U.S. Military, CIA and Department of Defense, Valiant One also stars Desmin Borges (Only Murders in the Building) and Callan Mulvey...

Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired domestic rights to the comedy Not Another Church Movie, starring Jamie Foxx, Vivica A. Fox, Kevin Daniels, Mickey Rourke and more, slating it for a wide release in theaters on May 10th.

Daniels leads the ensemble as Taylor Pherry (his P is silent), an ambitious young man given a holy mission from God Himself: to tell his family’s stories and inspire his community. What he doesn’t know is that the Devil has plans of his own. Foxx plays God, with Rourke as The Devil, in the film directed by Johnny Mack.

A Monty the Dog Production, the film was produced by James Michael Cummings and former Warner Bros executive Jim Cardwell, with Valerie McCaffrey serving as executive producer. Tisha Campbell, Jasmine Guy, Kyla Pratt and Lamorne Morris co-star.

“A huge credit to Johnny Mack, James Michael Cummings and the entire cast and crew...

Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has closed a deal for U.S. distribution rights to DogMan, the Luc Besson-directed revenge thriller that stars Caleb Landry Jones. A first quarter 2024 theatrical release is the plan for a film that made its world premiere this fall at the Venice Film Festival.

Besson wrote the script and Jones stars as an unusual man named Douglas who, having just been arrested, opens his heart to tell the moving story of his life. As a survivor of childhood trauma at the hands of a violent father who forced him to live in the family kennel, Douglas develops a bond with dogs that defies understanding. Out of this hell, he grows to discover love, theatre, and cabaret, but also the injustice and disillusionment of the human world. In a life that’s been broken a thousand times, only the love of his dogs can bring salvation. That...

Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired The Lost Weekend: A Love Story, the documentary feature in which May Pang discusses her whirlwind love affair with singer John Lennon, when she was just 23 years old and his assistant. The film, which premiered at Tribeca, is directed by Eve Brandstein, Richard Kaufman, and Stuart Samuels. The tale is told through May’s inside perspective, capturing a love affair that shaped a prolific period for Lennon post-Beatles.

Briarcliff will premiere the docu on digital and Blu-ray on October 13, 2023, the week of John Lennon’s birthday, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

A lesser known chapter in the life of the late Beatles singer Lennon, it took 50 years for Pang to tell her story on film. She recounts her 18-month relationship with John—a relationship orchestrated by Yoko Ono herself. During this period, May helped John reunite with his son Julian Lennon, and participated firsthand in his most productive period post-Beatles.

“The devil exists. God exists. And for us, as people, our very destiny hinges upon which one we elect to follow.”

In 2013, James Wan broke the box office again for horror with The Conjuring. At the time, he was riding high off the successes of Saw and Insidious, so to crack open yet another franchise for the genre was something of a coup. Yet the story of the Conjuring universe goes way, way back, involving producer Tony DeRosa-Grund and, of course, the Warrens.

It’s a complicated backstory, admittedly, and one that’s ripe for the vintage Halloweenies treatment. Fortunately for you, the gang headed to Harrisville, Rhode Island in June of 2021 and exorcised all the demons within the 2013 blockbuster, particularly the sordid history involving the Warrens that has been the franchise’s foundation for a decade now.

Yet they also discuss why this is arguably Wan’s strongest and scariest picture to date,...

Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has snapped up North American distribution rights from Concourse Media to Christian Swegal’s true crime thriller Sovereign, starring Nick Offerman, Dennis Quaid and Jacob Tremblay.

Swegal wrote and will direct later this year in Arkansas. A theatrical release during Q4 2024 is planned.

Based on real events, the story follows a father and son (Offerman and Tremblay) who identify as Sovereign Citizens, a group of anti-government extremists, as they venture across the country and find themselves in a standoff with a chief of police (Dennis Quaid) that sets off an intense manhunt with tragic consequences.

“Sovereign is a timely and captivating story and all of us at Briarcliff are looking forward to working with Christian, Nick, the Concourse team and this stellar cast on what will be a gripping ride for movie audiences,” said Tom Ortenberg, Briarcliff Entertainment CEO.

“We are beyond excited to be partnering with...

Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Christian Gudegast’s action thriller sequel, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera which stars Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. reprising their respective roles of “Big Nick” and “Donnie”. A wide theatrical release is planned for Q4 of 2024.

Gudegast also wrote the screenplay for the production which was financed by eOne and Tucker Tooley Entertainment.

In the sequel, Big Nick is back on the hunt on the mean-streets of Europe closing in on Donnie who is embroiled in the dangerous world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia, as they plot a massive heist of the world’s biggest diamond exchange. The original 2018 movie, also directed and written by Gudegast, and released by STX, made a near $45M stateside and over $80M WW.

“We are tremendous fans of Gerard Butler, who we’ve worked with numerous times, and are so...

Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired North American rights to The Hill, an inspirational true-life sports drama starring Dennis Quaid, scripted by Angelo Pizzo & Scott Marshall Smith and directed by Jeff Celentano. Quaid starred in one of the most successful fact-based sports films in recent memory with The Rookie, and Pizzo wrote two of the best true sports films in Rudy and Hoosiers. Celentano helmed Gunshy and Breaking Point.

Quaid plays James Hill, a traveling pastor who becomes an overbearing influence on Rickey Hill, his sandlot baseball phenom son. The pastor thinks he’s protecting the boy because of health concerns and fear of how others will treat the youth because of his physical disabilities. But Rickey is determined to overcome those setbacks to fulfill his dream of playing professional baseball and making his father proud. The cast includes Colin Ford, Joelle Carter and country star Randy Houser, with Bonnie Bedelia and Scott Glenn.

The 2022 edition of InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema Film Festival from NewFilmmakers LA (Nfmla) will be held from Sept. 23-24 in association with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

For the first time since 2019, the festival will be held in-person at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. The lineup consists of three short film programs showcasing a variety of genres. The festival, which is co-presented by The Mbs Group, includes screenings, filmmaker Q&a sessions, industry development programs and educational panels.

The festival features independent films from emerging talent hailing from Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Cuba, Honduras, Jamaica, Colombia, Venezuela and the United States. Two world premieres will be held at the festival, and one film will see its North American premiere.

“This program is incredibly special to the Nfmla community and to Los Angelenos,” Bojana Sandic, Nfmla programming director, and Larry Laboe, executive director and co-founder,...

Exclusive: Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired North American distribution rights to the gripping historical drama Kent State from writer, director Karen Slade. The film will star Dermot Mulroney, Clancy Brown, Aksel Hennie, Christopher Backus, Christopher Ammanuel, Andrew Ortenberg and Jacqueline Emerson.

Grandave International is handling foreign sales on the film. The pic will begin filming this November in Columbus, Ga with a US theatrical release anticipated for 2023.

Inspired by true events, the movie tells the story of how a family’s buried past coincides with the brutal truth of one of the most significant events in American history, when the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of student protestors, killing four, and injuring 7 on May 4th, 1970, at Kent State University. Told through the perspective of Will McCormack in two time periods in his life, the film asks the question of not just what happened then, but why these kinds of events continue to happen.

Exclusive: Open Road Films has acquired North American rights to Marlowe, a noir crime thriller that stars Liam Neeson atop an ensemble that includes Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Danny Huston, Alan Cumming, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ian Hart, Colm Meaney, Daniela Melchior and Francois Arnaud. Neil Jordan directed the film from script by The Departed’s William Monahan. The film will be released theatrically December 2 through Open Road/Briarcliff Entertainment.

In what is Neeson’s 100th film, the star plays detective Philip Marlowe, the protagonist from the hardboiled Raymond Chandler mysteries that included The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely and The Long Goodbye. This one is based on author John Banville’s book The Black-Eyed Blonde, an original novel authorized by the Raymond Chandler estate. The action is set in late 1930’s Bay City, centering around the brooding, down on his luck detective Marlowe. He’s hired to find the ex-lover of...

Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.”

Attention Cardi B! Kesha may be sliding into your DMs. The “Praying” singer-songwriter tells me she’d love to have the “Wap” hitmaker on her podcast “Kesha and the Creepies.” “I just love listening to her, and she makes me feel calm,” she says. “She’s like a walking rainbow for me.” No surprise, Kesha would like to make music with Cardi: “I’ll have to send her a direct message when I get home.” Kesha recently dropped the video for “Stronger,” her single with Sam Feldt. “I was a little bit paralyzed, to be honest, with just the state of affairs for a good while. It made me really nervous and scared,” she says. “And I just felt like, your music is not important right now. You just need to survive. Then after the election, I felt a little bit of a sense of ease,...

NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (Nfmla) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present the InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema Festival on Sept. 14 at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood.

The event gives the opportunity for emerging Latinx filmmakers from around the world to screen their films and network with industry luminaries. This year’s filmmakers hail from Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Spain, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Australia, Canada and the United States and will screen short films over three programs.

Nfmla executive director and co-founder Larry Laboe said the festival tends to stay away from pics dominating the film festival circuit, leaving space for those that would otherwise not be seen. “We’re serving a niche of filmmakers that are in the same caliber of what you see in the big film festivals that just may not have made it in those festivals,” he said.

The...

Shorts in the line-up come from emerging directors in Latin America, Australia, Spain, the Us and Australia.

New Filmmakers Los Angeles (Nfmla) and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are to present more than a dozen short films in their InFocus: Latinx & Hispanic Cinema Festival next month in Los Angeles.

The event, set for September 14 at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood, is being supported by industry executives including Matthew Brodlie from Disney+, Warner Bros’ Carlos Gaona, Fox Searchlight’s Jessica Rose, the Gersh Agency’s Michael Senzer, Pantelion’s Aaron Ashford and HBO’s Robert Patla.

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.

Nick Knowles has split from his wife. The 'Diy Sos' presenter, 53, has announced he and his spouse Jessica Rose Moor, 28, have gone their separate ways following three years of marriage but have vowed to stay amicable for the sake of their 18-month-old son Eddie. Releasing a joint statement to the Daily Mirror newspaper, the couple said with heavy hearts: ''It is with sadness that we announce we are separating. Our focus continues to be the happiness of our son Eddie.'' The couple tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in Rome in September 2012 after meeting three years earlier...

When Nicki Minaj’s eyebrow speaks, you’d better pay attention.

Sometimes it raises itself up — like a King Cobra — threatening to strike out at those who dare to disagree with its master. Other times it furrows comically, framing a sarcastic side-eye directed at the stream of divaness emanating from She Who Has Sold As Many Albums as Everyone Who’s Ever Come Off of Idol Combined*. (*At least that’s what Ryan Seacrest tells us.)

Occasionally, it softens, because it understands that just because a 15-year-old boy with no singing talent has the nerve to be Asian and wear...

BlackBoxTV is back and so is fan-favorite Taryn Southern who seems to be finding time outside of her new first-look deal with Break.com. Southern stars opposite Katrina Zbegner as sisters, grown apart over time and now facing unusual circumstances that forcing them closer than they have ever been. “Trust Me” is a 13-minute sci-fi edition of the series, this one penned by Creator-Director Tony Valenzuela, Southern and Streamy-winning writer Bernie Su. While most of the Bbtv episodes thus far flirted with elements of science fiction as they played with horror storylines, this is first one to squarely embrace the genre and its requisite visual effects. And to do so, that meant upping the production budget. That’s where Coca-Cola comes in, and more specifically its Paris-based Coca-Cola Content Factory headed up by Stafford Green who expressed interest after Valenzuela spoke on the interactive videos panel I led at SXSW this spring.

Online video and web series news worth clicking today… Workshop the series debuts Season 2 today on Hulu after inking a distribution deal with the network earlier this spring. Creator Nate Golon is calling it the first half-hour web comedy to premiere on the site, and looking back over our records, he may be right. “As an added bonus, we’ve also posted episode 2, since people were patient enough to wait an extra week,” said Golon on the launch. That means you’ll need to earmark about 44 minutes for this comedic look inside the world of struggling La actors. 20 minutes in, we’d have to say it’s worth it. Six episodes total are due out this season, adding up to a whopping 132 minutes of comedy. [Workshop on Hulu] ElfQuest came to life last night with the SAG screening and release of the “fan imagined” trailer for a would-be series based on the popular comic book series.

Paula Rhodes and Stephanie Thorpe, with the tacit approval of original creators Wendy and Richard Pini, have created a live-action trailer for Elfquest.

Click here to view the embedded video.

They’ll be doing a fuller premiere tonight at 6:45 Pm Pdt. You can find more at http://elfquestfantrailer.com/. And yes, if you look closely at the cast, that is lonelygirl15 Jessica Rose playing Aroree.

Obligatory search engine optimization words: elf, elves, hot elf women frolicking in nature...

Earlier this week, Taryn Southern released her latest video, Keep it in Your Pants a raucous and not-safe-for-work song about a poor girl driven to the brink of insanity by her simple desire that the men around her keep it down. The multi-hyphenated web celebrity is no stranger to raunchy comedy having found success earlier in the year costarring in a Funny or Die produced video about the secret joy of experimentation. In fact, Southern has carved out a niche for herself as the sweet-faced girl next door whose lyrics would turn the saltiest of sailors scarlet. She quickly rose to both Web and mainstream celebrity with her love song to a pants-suited Hilary Clinton during the run up to the 2008 Presidential election. Her video Hot4Hill was a success, which allowed Southern to erect a substantial Internet following. Since then she has stared in various online projects including Big Fantastic's drama,...

Shane Dawson shows he can dominate the interactive video game too with his Haunted House Party released over the weekend. Already the video has cracked 2.2 million views, with the whole 9-video “series” over 8 million views total. Directed by Totally Sketch and produced by powerhouse Black Box TV, there’s a number of YouTuber cameos we spotted: Tay Zonday, iJustine, Kristin Findley, Bree Essrig, Steve Greene, Brittani Louise Taylor, Richard Ryan and Jason Horton. [ShaneDawsonTV] Jessica Rose is the latest web star to join Spherion’s long-running branded web comedy The Temp Life. Rose nerds it up with pal Taryn Southern to play the sister of the scene-stealing temp Nancy Roeder. Some exclusive photos from set (below) show a nerdier side of the former lonelygirl15 star. The fifth season is currently shooting and slated for release December 6th on My Damn Channel. [TheTempLife.tv] Related News:Jessica Rose Joins ‘Poor Paul’ Cast Jessica Rose...

On the heaviest day of Comic-Con, one might think that having a major off-site event, to be held in the midst of some heavy hitting panels, might not be the strongest plan ever conceived. Showing up early to the event at the Bristol Hotel, I watched as some of the finishing touches were applied to the set-up. This was not the last-minute, throw-something-together-in-four-days event from this past April. Nor was it the end-all, be-all of panels. This was simply the next logical step for the web series industry, in a long road to having an entire section of the convention marked out for us. Run by Jenni Powell, Taryn O'Neill and Stephanie Thorpe, Celebrate the Web 2 came together with a different tone from the previous outing. Where the original event did so out of a need to heal some wounds, this time around the tone was stronger: “We’re here to stay,...

The Webventures of Justin & Alden might have one of the deepest casts of web series notables that we’ve seen to date. Fitting, since the new five-episode branded comedy web series from Cjp Digital Media and lead sponsor Trident Layers (disclosure: Trident is also a Streamy Awards sponsor) is all about two would-be internet-famos set to find web video glory by making “the greatest Web series Web show that’s ever been on the Web computer.” Justin Tyler and Alden Ford, both regulars at sketch comedy theater Ucb in New York, star as the hapless titular duo in this Bill and Ted’s-style (yes, there’s even some time travel) road trip. The destination of this road trip is the Streamy Awards in Los Angeles in hopes of finding the perfect web star. Guests of this year’s Streamys may have noticed these two crashing the red carpet and even...

In honor of Felicia Day’s new comic prequel to The Guild coming out today, A Comicbook Orange interviewed the creator-star-and-now-comicbook-writer on today’s show. The series also hosted an (online) charity auction announced last week with Aco fan John Fillers bidding $101.99 for a signed copy of a Penny Arcade book with an original sketch. [A Comicbook Orange] Jaleel White decided he really likes this whole web series game, and decided to follow up last year’s Road to the Altar with a new series he created and produced called Fake It Till You Make It which just wrapped shooting this week. White dishes on the labor of love that went into his indie production in a first-person day-by-day diary over on The Huffington Post today. [HuffPo] IndieCon, a one-day conference focusing on new media production is going on tomorrow evening at the Universal Hilton. Speakers include Taryn Southern, Liz Miller, Illeana Douglas, Marti Resteghini...

Harry Knowles who founded review site that can make or break a film among unlikely web 'celebrities'

A self-confessed "gargantuan geek" who calls himself "Hollywood's red-headed stepchild" and launched his movie news and reviews website from his sickbed, has made Forbes magazine's first attempt to rank the 25 most influential people on the internet.

Among the media pundits, sex bloggers, business analysts and gossip columnists who dominate the Web Celeb list, Harry Knowles, founder of Ain't It Cool News, in at 13th place, cuts a striking figure.

"In a list full of unlikely celebrities, this may be the most improbable," Forbes says, but adds: "The site quickly became and still remains one of the web's most popular destinations for entertainment news."

Knowles's biography on Wikipedia (whose co-founder, Jimmy Wales, makes the list one place higher) claims he was injured in 1994 after being run over by the cart he was pushing up a ramp at a convention,...

Warner Brothers is teaming up with an old friend again—single-word director McG. Having last collaborated on the 2008 online drama Sorority Forever, today came word that Ghostfacers, a new 10-episode sci-fi comedy web series from McG's Wonderland Sound and Vision production company and Warner's Studio 2.0 is currently in production in Los Angeles. The series appears to be a spin-off of Warner Bros. Television's Supernatural series which airs on The CW. They are calling this a "shortform brand extension" of the TV series, which means this is really a companion web series, instead of a purely original project. Ghostfacers will follow a "a team of fearless and sometimes comical “professional” ghost hunters who investigate the paranormal and record their own adventures in documentary-style episodes." That same team actually made its debut on Supernatural's first season during the "Hell House" episode, and later resurfaced on season three. The series...

Rocketboom correspondent Ella Morton launched a new web series this week, The Elegant Guide, with light hearted style and etiquette tips from the graceful and dare we say, elegant British native. [TheElegantGuide.com] Taryn Southern has a new live web chat show on Ustream: The Taryn Ten at 10pm Est every Tuesday. After a few experimental preview eps, the series begins 2010 tonight with guest Jaime King (Sin City, My Bloody Valentine) joining Southern. For now the series shoots via web cam in Southern's home, but future weekly episodes will head to a 3-camera studio. [TarynSouthern.com] The Beautiful Life, the cancelled CW show from Ashton Kutcher's Katalyst Media that found a second life on YouTube—with new sponsor Hp on board—has been doing better online than it had on TV according to new numbers reported today by CNN. 2.7 million people have watch the five episodes online so far, compared to just 2.5 million on the CW.

Lonelygirl15 She starred in what was, inarguably, the best show of the summer in 2006. And it wasn’t on TV but YouTube. Bree was a homeschooled, angsty teen who posted a weekly videoblog talking about dating, family and school. Until obsessed fans discovered her pleas to the camera were fictitious — a film school project gone viral. The actress who played Lonelygirl, Jessica Rose, went on to make some other Web series (“Sorority Forever” and “Poor Paul”) and had a short stint on...

Here's the idea: someone wakes up in a cell, doesn't know who they are or how they got there. This may not seem like a lot to go on, especially when I tell you that Cell (not to be confused with Blood Cell) just wrapped production and won't be hitting the web until 2010, but hear me out on this one. Produced by Austin, TX-based Lovable Varmint Productions, Cell is the brainchild of writer/director Mark Gardner. The film was shot entirely in Austin and Smithville, Texas, a tiny town about 40 minutes outside the city. In true indie fashion, the majority of the series takes place in one location, built out of an old Dollar Store, and the majority of props and tools used to build the set were donated by local businesses. The crew was made up of volunteers just wanting to be a part of it, some even having...

Somehow without much fanfare, all 18 episodes of Jessica Rose-starring Blood Cell snuck out this week on TheWB.com. What was once one of most anticipated (if YouTube trailer views mean anything) series cooked up at the now-defunct 60Frames, is now tucked away on TheWB. Right off the bat, this on is, well, gripping. A girl has been kidnapped and her friends Julia (Rose) Alex (Sara Sanderson) are lopped into the hunt when a late night call from their kidnapped friend Susan jolts Julia. Being a web series, the media-rich phone shows a video friend Susan—crying and scared. The kidnapper is a disturbingly grotesque thing (think Saw’s tricycle riding clown and you wouldn’t be far off), but there’s a catch: Julia can’t turn off her phone – if she does, her friend dies. A text message hits the phone moments later: “Dead Cell = Dead Friend.” Over...

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.

We knew we hadn't seen the last of the engine room on the Us Azureas when things left in a black hole cliffhanger this past spring. Sci-fi comedy web series The Crew is coming back for a second season next week after singing an exclusive deal with online video site Babelgum. For creator Brett Register, who had been using the hiatus from the show to roll out a number of short experimental web series like Craig and the Werewolf, he said he is excited to be able to pay his talent and crew this time around. "We were indeed able to pay everyone who worked on the show this season, which was amazing as the tagline when producing season one was, 'don't worry about money, we'll all get paid in season two,'" quipped Register. "Who knew that'd turn out to be true!" While it's not exactly TV-level money going around,...

When Alyson Hannigan, Emily Deschanel, Kat McPhee, Minka Kelly and Jaime King get together to star in a video entitled "The Booby Scare," you may get visions of pillow fights and wardrobe malfunctions running through your head. And while this might be what inspires you to click on "The Booby Scare", I implore you to continue watching even after you realize that (almost) all the ladies' tops are going to stay on. Because "The Booby Scare" has something very, very important to say that effects all of us. It is actually the first video in the Save a Tit campaign created by Webutante Taryn Southern and Sin City actress Jaime King. Launched in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the campaign will consist of 6 celebrity-driven videos released each month on Funny or Die, YouTube, Veoh, and a variety of other viral platforms and sponsored by Her Energy that is designed to promote breast cancer awareness,...

For avid lonelygirl15 fans, the surprise reveal that the original lonelygirl15 star Jessica Rose has joined the cast of Poor Paul, wasn't exactly shocking. (Former LG15 star Yousef Abu-Taleb is a producer of the show.) But to the casual web video junkie this catches an extra mouse click or two. Episode 32, "You're a Guy", was released today on YouTube and KoldCast with Rose playing title character Paul's (Zack Bennett) new sex-charged neighbor Beatrice. Eleven episodes into their second season, director Sean Michael Beyer, who also plays Paul's dad 'Mr. Ted' in the series, will have Rose in several more episodes this season. Rose is still one of the most universally well known web series actors out there, made famous by hundreds of close-up vlogs as lonelygirl Bree back in 2006 as YouTube was just taking off. Later she would star in WB.com's Sorority Forever, which is rumored to be prepping a second season,...

Yesterday there was a rumor that a new video was premiering on Funny or Die called Zac Efron's Pool Party, and that it starred the most random cast ever assembled. Well, it was real, it's now online (watch it below), and it stars Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Thomas Lennon, Queen Latifah, Nicole Ritchie, Carmen Electra, Justin Long, Brody Jenner, Lance Bass, Brittany Snow, Jessica Stroup, Chelsea Staub, Jessica Rose, Nicole Sullivan, Joel Madden ... and the list goes on. Granted, I'm not very familiar with some of these kids because I'm, well, sorta lame and out of touch with the hottie youth circles -- but when you bring a group like this together, I'd assume you're guaranteed to take away a few decent laughs, right?

Well ... I'll admit this ain't the funniest piece of viral action I've ever seen from Funny or Die, but it's cute and it has its...

What happens when embarrassing relatives crash Zac Efron's A-list pool party? You get a hilarious Funny or Die video! The hilarious sketch features Zac's on-and-off-screen girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens, Nicole Richie and her beau Joel Madden, Lance Bass, Justin Long, Carmen Electra, Queen Latifah, Brittney Snow, Jessica Stroup, Brody Jenner, Jessica Rose (lonelygirl15), and Zac’s 17 Again co-stars Thomas Lennon and Nicole Sullivan. In the video, Efron's "Uncle Hank" and his girlfriend, Randi, crash Zac’s pool party and try to fit in with the "cool" crowd. "A lot of people did...

Last night was special. When we wrote months ago about web television growing up this year we were serious. This isn't just a novelty or sideshow to real entertainment. Web television is entertainment. Last night was its coming out party. In front of a sold-out crowd of over 1300 guests at the Wadsworth Theatre in Los Angeles, the first ever Streamy Awards show honored 2008's best web series and the talented people behind them. Winners were selected by the International Academy of Web Television after a public submission process that saw tens of thousands of entries. The stars of web television turned out strong including Neil Patrick Harris, Joss Whedon, Felicia Day, Taryn Southern, David Faustino, Zoe Bell, Alex Albrecht, Zadi Diaz, Jessica Rose, Illeana Douglas, Rosairo Dawson, iJustine, Amber Lee Ettinger, Shira Lazar, Leah D'Emilio, The Sklar Brothers, Jeff MacPherson, Lisa Kudrow and many more. (For some photos of the...

Today as we announce the official nominees for the 1st Annual Streamy Awards, we can't help but stand in awe over what this all means. Where else can you get a heated race between Lisa Kudrow and Felicia Day, or Rosario Dawson and Jessica Rose, or how about Tay Zonday and Eva Longoria Parker? The first round of selections from the 85-member International Academy of Web Television is complete, and the nominees in 24 categories, honoring 2008's best in episodic web series, are now official.