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Each week, we handpick a selection of stories to give you a snapshot of trends, updates, business moves, and more from around the creator industry. This week, an A-lister is getting jiggy with streaming, a major platform is getting a makeover, and a creator group is putting the skincare game on watch.

Creator commotion

Will Smith made a surprise cameo on xQc’s stream. The Twitch ironman walked away from his monitor for a minute, and all of a sudden Will Smith was there. Luckily for xQc, this collab went a lot smoother than the last time Will Smith made a surprising move.

IanOnYouTube made videos set at his 7-11 job. So they fired him. You might think it’s bad PR to let an employee go for giving your brand free advertising on YouTube, and yes, you’re right, it is.

The NBA All-Star Game was interrupted by a MrBeast video.

For his first foray into episodic TV, director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, School of Rock) has partnered with a true original: Eccentric tour guide and historian Timothy "Speed" Levitch. Their new Hulu series Up to Speed is an unconventional travel show that follows Levitch as he explores unusual attractions across America — such as the "luckiest subway grate" in New York and the "shoe gardens" of San Francisco.

New episodes of Up To Speed, which premiered on Aug. 9, are currently available on Hulu and Hulu Plus. We asked Linklater and Levitch to tell us why we should get up to speed with Up To Speed.

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By Rachel Bennett

Television Editor & Columnist

I’ve watched a lot of television shows this summer: The Vampire Diaries, How I Met Your Mother, and The Wonder Years, to name just a few.

What’s more, I didn’t even have access to a TV.

Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and other online streaming outlets have changed the way we watch our favorite shows — and, now that they are diving into the world of original programming, are about to change it even more.

With more and more outlets buying streaming rights for broadcast network and cable content, purchasing exclusive deals is becoming much pricier, and streaming companies are finding it increasingly difficult to stand out. By creating original content, these online networks will have content they control (creatively and financially) and have exclusive use of.

Netflix and Hulu have already dipped their toes in the water, while Amazon recently announced its plans to create shows.

Apparently following in the footsteps of Netflix, the online streaming service Hulu is scheduled to release a variety of original and exclusive programming available only through the site, as well as the Hulu Plus subscription service. The plethora of new shows run the gamut from reality to sci-fi, and include two particularly promising upcoming premieres: Spoilers, a discussion forum focusing on new films, hosted by director Kevin Smith (Red State), and Up To Speed, a travel series created by director Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused).

Smith, long a contender for the unofficial title of “ultimate fanboy,” has spent his career championing all things pop-culture. In recent years, the filmmaker has parlayed his status as a comic book and cinema aficionado into a Click to continue reading Hulu to Premiere Kevin Smith’s ‘Spoilers’ & Richard Linklater’s ‘Up to Speed’...

Hulu continues to expand its original content with 10 new series this summer, the website announced in a press release. Perhaps the most anticipate of these is Kevin Smith’s cinema geek series Spoilers (pictured, right), which premieres June 4. Further shows will premiere in August, including Richard Linklater’s out-of-the-box travel show Up To Speed and guy-centric comedy We Got Next.

Hulu will premiere the second season of its sci-fi thriller The Booth at the End in July and debut shows previously unseen in America – Rev., The Yard, Pramface, Derren Brown: Inside Your Mind, The Promise, and Little Mosque on the Prairie...

Kevin Smith is getting hyped for this season's blockbusters.

Looking to capitalize on the summer, Hulu has revealed its programming for the season, which will feature the new original movie-centric series "Spoilers" with Smith, as well as two other original series and seven Hulu exclusive shows. The programs range from comedy to sci-fi, travel to reality and magic to drama.

"I have always wanted to do a show that provides an open forum for real fans to discuss real movies in real time and that's what 'Spoilers' is about. As a filmmaker and lover of movies, I understand that ultimately it's the fans who make the film. So in this show, we do not review movies, we revere them," Smith said in a statement.

"Spoilers" can be seen on Hulu on Mondays beginning June 4.

Find out more about the rest of Hulu's summer series below.

The Original Shows:

"Spoilers" is...

Kevin Smith is getting hyped for this season's blockbusters.

Looking to capitalize on the summer, Hulu has revealed its programming for the season, which will feature the new original movie-centric series "Spoilers" with Smith, as well as two other original series and seven Hulu exclusive shows. The programs range from comedy to sci-fi, travel to reality and magic to drama.

"I have always wanted to do a show that provides an open forum for real fans to discuss real movies in real time and that's what 'Spoilers' is about. As a filmmaker and lover of movies, I understand that ultimately it's the fans who make the film. So in this show, we do not review movies, we revere them," Smith said in a statement.

"Spoilers" can be seen on Hulu on Mondays beginning June 4.

Find out more about the rest of Hulu's summer series below.

The Original Shows:

"Spoilers" is...

Chicago – Hulu, in addition to being a most enjoyable word to say while jumping out of a plane (Huluuuuuu!) is also one of the most popular websites on the internet for streaming video from television’s biggest channels. Featuring content from Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS and a litany of other networks, Hulu.com has essentially replaced the re-run in eyes of the American lexicon.

Hulu, it appears, is not content with this. Hot on the heels of previous new-content initiatives such as the political drama “Battleground” and British cooking dramedy “Whites,” the powers that be behind Hulu recently announced a huge slate of new shows (and big names!) coming to the digital network.

The most interesting appears to be Richard Linklater’s Travel Show: “Up To Speed.” It’s a cross-country journey featuring some of America’s best attractions you’ve never heard of. Keeping in mind this is a...

Toronto – Online giant Hulu unveiled its summer lineup, with new shows recently unveiled at its Upfront presentation and international imports never been seen in the U.S. market. The summer slate launches with Spoilers, a half-hour movie review show hosted by Kevin Smith, to stream on Hulu and Hulu Plus on June 4. Then in August comes the travel series Up To Speed, by director Richard Linklater and starring tour guide Timothy Levitch, and the debut of We Got Next, a bromantic comedy about a pick-up basketball team co-created by Kenya Barris and Hale Rothstein. There’s

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Los Angeles (May 20, 2012) – Proving that summer doesn’t have to mean the start of rerun season, Hulu today announced a full slate of new original and exclusive TV shows that begin premiering on June 4th on Hulu and the Hulu Plus subscription service. Hulu’s summer lineup offers new TV shows for all kinds of entertainment fans, from comedy, sci-fi, travel, reality and even a little magic. For a preview of the upcoming programming, visit www.hulu.com/hulu-summer-series. The summer slate announcement kicks off with “Spoilers,” a half-hour movie “revue” for movie lovers hosted by beloved filmmaker and podcasting maven Kevin Smith (“Clerks,” “Red State”). “Spoilers” launches on Hulu and Hulu Plus on June 4th. “I have always wanted to do a show that provides an open forum for real fans to discuss real movies in real time and that’s what ‘Spoilers’ is about. As a filmmaker and lover of movies,...

Hulu kicked off the so-called digital upfronts today with presentations for its expanding stable of originals. Documentarian Morgan Spurlock, Saturday Night Live‘s Seth Meyers and Entourage‘s Adrian Grenier were on hand to schmooze with advertisers. Producers hope to lure away some of the billions of dollars that go to cable and TV networks; Vevo, Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo and Disney Interactive are expected to pitch their shows to advertisers next week. In addition to Spurlock, Meyers and Grenier, talent on hand to boost Hulu included Megan Hilty from Smash, Speed Levitch of Up To Speed, Jd Walsh and Jay Hayden from Battleground, Michael “Dooma” Wendschuh from Flow and Mayer Hawthorne with Live From The Artist’s Den. Hulu says paid subscribers for Hulu Plus surpassed 2 million during first-quarter 2012 and claims that Hulu represents 20% of the overall online video market and 40% of the premium online market. Here are the site...

Changing the Channel: The New Golden Age of TV was more of a casual chat than a SXSW panel. It brought moderator Andy Forssell (Svp of Content at Hulu) together with Hulu talent Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, A Day In The Life), Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Up To Speed) and Timothy “Speed” Levitch (Up To Speed) to discuss their current projects and the future of original online programing. After introducing the panelists and showing a sneak peak of Up To Speed and the second season of A Day in The Life, the panel touched on a number of interesting subjects. Fossell let slip that Hulu is trying to make its original programming capable of winning major television awards. While not a complete shocker, this tidbit is further indication that premium on-demand and over the internet distribution-services-turned-studios are starting to see themselves as the new HBOs. It starts to raise some interesting questions,...