News

Project Name: Binge

Asking For: $35,000 through Indiegogo

Amount Raised Thus Far (At Time Of Post): $19,837

Days Remaining In Campaign (At Time Of Post): 30

Description: Angela Gulner, Yuri Baranovsky, and Happy Little Guillotine Studios want to create a show that speaks to those affected by eating disorders. That creative triumvirate is behind Binge, which will intermix the bulimia of its protagonist with comedy.

In Binge, Gulner portrays Angela, whose co-ownership of a cake shop and madcap romantic life lead to conflict with her friends, acquaintances, and lovers. At the same time, she struggles with bulimia, which exacerbates her personal struggles. In the Binge pilot, released last year, she begins to seek help at a local clinic, cracking wise all the while.

With their Indiegogo campaign, Gulner, Baranovsky, and the rest of the team hope to build on their pilot with five more episodes. Through those installments, they will continue...

Yuri Baranovsky knows what it takes to make a successful web series. The writer/producer/self-described "web celebrity" has had a hand in creating winning shows such as Leap Year, Break A Leg, and LoveMakers. Baranovsky has long used his blog as a way to pass on the secrets of online video success. However, a new textbook is taking things to the next level by providing an official outlet for his thoughts. Baranovsky is one of the authors of Scriptwriting 2.0: Writing For The Digital Age, a scholastic publication now available for purchase. The textbook purports to be the first academic text aimed at new media screenwriting, and is already drawing positive reviews from various new media professors. "The important aspect of this book is...the blend of traditional story structure skills with heart, soul, conflict, and imagination residing in the discipline required to make the transformation from notions in...

It’s important for proprietors of small business to have small business insurance. Especially if that small business is a startup in possession of $500,000 in seed capital, the technological knowhow to make the kinds of holographic images that brought Tupac back to life as commonplace in internet savvy households as webcams, and a handful of cutthroat entrepreneurial enemies that thrive in the seedy underbelly of Silicon Valley. At least that’s the sentiment - and the premise - of the sophomore season of the the original branded entertainment web series Leap Year. Presented and funded by Hiscox (“the first insurer in the Us to offer small business insurance direct, online, and in real time” that sponsored the program for a second season because the first season worked”), produced by Cjp Digital Media in association with Happy Little Guillotine Films (the outfit behind Streamys nom Break A Leg), and written by Vlad and & Yuri Baranovsky,...

A half hour web show. It’s a simple premise. It makes sense. You don’t want to sit down after a long day at work and watch four minutes of something. You want to relax and engage in a passive entertainment experience that at most requires your active participation in scrolling to the next episode and hitting play once every 22 minutes. And the reason I say a 30-minute web show makes sense isn't simply intuition supported by hypothetical, anecdotal evidence. Hard facts show online video consumers seem to be ready for a half hour web show, too. Lunch time used to be web TV primetime, but in the past two years peak online video viewing hours have shifted from Noon - 3Pm to 8Pm - 11Pm. Viral videos and uber-short-form web series haven’t gone out of vogue, it’s more that a combination of technology, content quality, and...

$1 million isn’t what it used to be, but in the web series culture of “favors and waivers,” it’s a small fortune. Even Joss Whedon’s widely popular Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, with its cast of Hollywood notables, came in with budget just under $300k. To scrappy indie web series creators, Madison Avenue’s ad agencies and their branded entertainment series don’t even seem to be playing in the same league. But some of the lucky creators have embraced this new flood of ad dollars in online video, and found there’s a living to be made crafting these sponsor driven, heavily product integrated made-for-web originals. Yuri Baranovsky, creator of the 2007 hit indie comedy Break A Leg, he and his team at Happy Little Guillotine Films were one of those lucky crossovers. After pitching their concept to 7-Eleven’s ad agency with just a promo video, they were tapped to produce,...

Break a Leg is a web series about creating a television show called Groomates, which is a sitcom about three ex-grooms living with their two ex-wives. Wordplay! Brothers Yuri and Vlad Baranovsky released Break a Leg online in late 2007, and it's bizarro Hollywood stylings, murder mystery hook, Arrested Development sensibility, and excellent use of a laugh machine quickly made it one of the web's first breakout hits. Unfortunately, the Arrested Development comparision goes beyond the show's sense of humor. Despite widespread critical acclaim, Break a Leg was never able to garner big money sponsorships and its YouTube viewcounts equated to little cash. At least that's what happened when the show aired in the Us. Perhaps it'll garner good reviews and fame and fortune in Italy. Happy Little Guillotine Films, the production company behind Break a Leg, recently announced a deal with Fox Channels Italy that will bring the web series overseas.

Amid signs that the Hollywood celebrity-blockbuster model has hit a snag, Yuri Baranovsky and his team at the web series sitcom Break A Leg have signed an “odd” network deal. Is there a new entertainment model emerging? More on that soon. No news yet on what makes the deal odd, but Yuri offered this hint: “It’s Break a Leg, if Break a Leg was coked up on pasta.” This is a welcome development for a talented crew that’s been working hard since 2006. And Yuri is excited to finally be nearly kinda famous. Congrats to people who deserve to finally get paid for their hard work. And congrats to all the hard workers out there who should see this as fodder to continue creating.