These days, thanks to the prominence of Youtube, DailyMotion and countless other video sites, everybody wants to be famous – for better or worse.
Yet, what if you suddenly found yourself in a totally humiliating video which was never intended to be made public, and ended up having your seemingly humdrum life turned upside down because of it? Furthermore, what if you found yourself becoming the next big Youtube star because of that once-private video?
That hilarious and awkward situation played out in all 7 episodes of season 1 of the award winning comedy web series EVERYONE’S FAMOUS, created by Andrew Bush (now a director at the popular comedy video site FUNNY OR DIE), and produced by Walter Forsyth and Angus Swantee.
Season 2 will air later this Fall on its official Youtube and DailyMotion pages, plus on two new platforms – MyDamnChannel and on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation)’s exclusive online home for Canadian comedy, Punchline. (More on that later).
EVERYONE’S FAMOUS stars Ryan Beil (in his HollyWeb award winning role) as Donald, an ordinary guy with an ordinary job at a call center and a steady girlfriend, tries desperately to capitalize on his sudden notoriety by making even more viral videos, but only to make things even more complicated for him and his friends every time.
The series also stars Kayla Lorette (nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award as best actress for the series) as Judy, a woman who seems to be the only link between Donald’s increasingly frustrating quest to recapture the thrill of his “first time” in the viral video spotlight and the increasingly apparent reality that he may never fully duplicate – or top – his unexpected big break.
However, Donald forges on with the help of his best friend Richard (Pat Thornton, nominated for the Canadian Screen Awards, the country’s equivalent of both the Oscars and Emmys combined). Together, they try their very best to create what they hope to be the next video that everyone online will be talking about, even if they fall flat on their faces in the process.
In the midst of all the chaos, Donald’s co-worker Eric (Kyle Hickey) begins a steady friendship with Judy, but can they manage to keep it going without getting sidetracked (or seriously injured) by Donald’s latest excursion into viral video?
While Bush worked on several other comedy series prior to EVERYONE’S FAMOUS, Forsyth says that the project was a bit of a departure for the show’s creator.
“This is a series that has a real arc to it. Andrew’s last series on TV was PICNICFACE (a Canadian series featuring the popular comedy troupe of the same name) and was more sketch and less of an overall arc. This one has a story. It has comedy but also some drama. Sure, a guy in a bear suit punches an old lady in the face, but there are also some sad moments, poignant scenes that will rip your heart out and pour acid on it and cut it up and eat it.”
Viewers can also expect more of the edgy humor they’ve come to expect in EVERYONE’S FAMOUS, plus a little extra flesh to go with it. “Season two will be a lot more zany, with a lot more content that pushes the boundaries. More Youtube style comedy and less (of) what you might expect from a single camera TV comedy series. Way more nudity too, for those who like nudity. It seems to be a niche demographic but worth a shot,” he adds.
As testimony to the enormous success of EVERYONE’S FAMOUS, the series was recently picked up for distribution via Rob Barnett’s popular comedy video site MyDamnChannel and through Canada’s Punchline video network, a new CBC website dedicated to showcasing innovative and groundbreaking original comedy produced by some of Canada’s best comedic talents.
EVERYONE’S FAMOUS recently aired as an hour long special on CBC, becoming the first online offering picked up by Canada’s public broadcaster. In addition to TV series, the site also features BILL AND SONS TOWING (previously covered here) and SPACE JANITORS. The series’ first season began airing on both platforms 8 weeks ago.
As Forsyth recalls, just how EVERYONE’S FAMOUS managed to find a place on MyDamnChannel is a story that proves that connections are everything in the world of entertainment.
“Punchline actually just reached out via LinkedIn. The new head of comedy, Abby Ho loved the show and tracked me down. I met Rob Barnett, head of MyDamnChannel at a conference in LA but Andrew had reached out to him before that. We just kept talking and decided it was a fit. I actually introduced him to someone as head of Funny or Die which was embarrassing. He forgave me, I guess.”
When it finally became official that EVERYONE’S FAMOUS would be picked up by both MyDamnChannel and Punchline, Forsyth, Swantee and Bush knew that their already tough jobs as creators would end up being a lot easier.
“Both channels helped us get our second season funding, which is fantastic. Now we get to do it all over again. Partnering with channels can really help because doing it all yourself is a lot of work. Now we get to make $1.57 an hour as producers making another season of a web series. I’m not sure why we are so excited about that,” Forsyth says.
Thanks to the show’s distribution deal with MyDamnChannel, EVERYONE’S FAMOUS will have more than just a chance to reach a wider audience through each episode. As Forsyth explains, the benefits of the deal benefit both fans, the show’s creators, and even creators of other similar comedies on the network.
“We get more exposure and hopefully the audience will find more comedy they like from what is curated on those two sites. Check out You Suck at Photoshop on MyDamnChannel or Space Janitors on Punchline. As a creator there are cross promotional opportunities. Plus a bigger team to market the launch, etc. Plus, if you subscribe to all of them you will get more spam filling up your inbox distracting you from work you should really be doing,” he says.
In addition, Forsyth hopes that his partnership with Punchline will provide further opportunities to monetize EVERYONE’S FAMOUS. “We have been talking with Punchline about cross promotion with the other talent they have. They are a great support. We hope to get lots of promotion from both channels. We want them to succeed, and they want us to succeed.”
Thanks to its wacky comedy and even zanier characters, season 2 of EVERYONE’S FAMOUS proves that in this increasingly wired age, fame may be easy but the consequences of instant stardom are as sudden, and sometimes, as hilarious, as ever. As Forsyth sums up, he, Swantee and Bush have enjoyed their success thanks primarily due to the web, but the question remains: If fame was as simple as the click of a mouse, would it be worth it?
“The overall theme is that we live in a world where fame is but an upload away. But what are the costs of pursuing this? …In season two, we even look at what if you actually get some fame. Is fame all it’s cracked up to be? The irony is that we have been given money to make popular videos so we made a show about it. Tune in and find out if we succeed, hopefully before Spring. If you tune in, we might succeed. Win win.”
ON THE WEB: www.everyonesfamous.ca
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/every1sfamous
DAILYMOTION: http://www.dailymotion.com/everyonesfamous
MY DAMN CHANNEL: http://www.mydamnchannel.com/channel/everyone_s_famous_10120
PUNCHLINE: http://www.cbc.ca/punchline/stuff/tag/Everyone’s%20Famous
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/every1sfamous
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/Every1sFamous