SXSW Panels

Lonelygirl15: A Case Study

Austin Convention Center, Sunday, March 11

Those unaware of the story of homeschooled teenager Bree, her friend Daniel, and her parents of questionable religious beliefs very well might after the Lonelygirl15 film is made, something its producers say they've had in mind all along.

"We thought we'd do this for a few months, generate buzz and then create a film," said Mesh Flinders, one of the three creators of Lonelygirl15. The blog ran for four months before it was revealed that Bree was an actress (20-year-old Jessica Rose) and that her life was fiction. The response was prolific and sometimes heated. Flinders and co-creators Greg Goodfried and Miles Beckett weren't sure what to expect at their SXSW panel: an angry mob, annoyed fans, or someone representing the Order (long story short: it's related to Bree's parent's religion). What they met was an audience not as concerned with the "lie" of their project as in its creative impetus and economic backbone. All for good reason. Even after the truth was revealed, what remains is creative content that is imaginatively rich, technically resourceful, and innovative in a way that TV will find hard-pressed to compete with in a time when eyes are migrating to the computer screen among others. Interesting since the original model for LG15 was reality TV.

Several networks have since courted the team, but they decided to continue doing Internet video and see LG15 as a TV/Internet hybrid. In many respects, this hybrid is the next generation of what used to be called Interactive TV. While that earlier model was preoccupied with enabling viewers to make armchair purchases of products featured during a TV program or checking stats during a sports event, what LG15 has done is expand the interactivity to allow viewers to participate in a parallel experience. The easiest way to interact is to e-mail Bree (answered in character by Goodfried's wife). Others have responded with their own video creations (accessible at the LG15 site), assuming the identities of auxiliary characters creating parallel storylines. All of this enriches the LG15 experience, giving participants an investment in the story.

But is there money to be made with this hybrid? Without parents to borrow money from or living without a steady income, the Lonelygirl15 approach is not accessible to most. But the draw of Lonelygirl15 is telling. It's only a matter of time before another like her appears. – Belinda Acosta