New Temp Life Has 'Guild' Actor and Hilarity

From Temp Life writer (and guest temp) Yuri Baranovsky's Wild Musings of a Web Celebrity blog:

Excerpt: The Temp Life (add them on Facebook too!) has released a new episode and it’s easily my favorite. If you don’t know, the Temp Life was one of the first sponsored shows on the web, started a little after Break a Leg by Wilson Cleveland — a man who just about everyone knows and has been rufied by in the “web series business.”

Mr. Cleveland hired me to write the current season (which was really just an arc of short episodes) and apparently liked me enough to hire me for the next batch as well (Felicia Day was busy). Wilson, by the way, pays a writer better than just about anyone else — plus, he bought me lunch when I was in NY, which pretty much means I owe him my first born (who will sadly be named Wilson).

Sandeep Parikh of The Guild and The Legend of Neil guest stars in this batch (and I’ll make an appearance too — you just wait and see!) and he’s funny as per usual.

This season is being shot by Andrew Park and Jato Smith and their company, Tailslating — they created the web series, the Hayley Project, which you should also check out because you love web shows. And by you I mean the royal you. All of you. And the King (“royal you” is a bizarre turn of phrase, isn’t it?).



A Recipe for Successful Branded Web Entertainment

Susan Martin, editor of IKEAfans.com was generous enough to include a blurb about about The Temp Life in her post about IKEA/Illeana Douglas' Web comedy Easy to Assemble (FD: CJP both produces Temp Life and handles marketing/distribution for Easy to Assemble).

Excerpt: In addition to improved production factors, IKEA’s distribution model has been wildly successful, in large part due to the marketing efforts of Wilson Cleveland, founder of CJP Digital and the force behind getting “Easy To Assemble” propelled to the top position in terms of exposure for web series.

Interestingly, Cleveland may actually have single-handedly launched the category of branded entertainment web series when he created The Temp Life for Spherion Staffing Services in 2006. In its fourth year, The Temp Life is the longest running branded web series on which Cleveland writes, markets and stars as ‘Nick (Trouble) Chiapetta’.

In 2009, while working with Tubefilter on securing sponsors, speakers and studios for OnFronts, Cleveland developed a professional relationship with Douglas in hashing out the details of her presentation at the event. Says Cleveland,

I believe so strongly in what smart, creative, media-savvy producers like Illeana, Rob Barnett, Jordan Levin and Felicia Day are doing in the Web TV medium.

It seems Douglas believed in him too, because IKEA hired CJP Digital to run marketing and distribution based on Douglas’ and Executive Producer Dominik Rausch’s recommendation. Read Full Post at IKEAfans.

PR Week: How Can Companies Create Online Video to Both Engage and Inspire Consumers?

MASTER CLASS: DECEMBER, 2009 ISSUE

Full version (Subscription Required)

Wilson Cleveland, SVP and director of digital media, CJP

Corporate marketers should use online video to punctuate or extend core messages beyond what traditional media relations can.

Don't just repurpose existing press materials in your videos; if your story isn't resonating, the delivery mechanism likely isn't the problem. Web-savvy consumers tend to gravitate toward video that is entertaining, utilitarian, or both, and devoid of intrusive PR messaging. Their opinion of your brand and acceptance of your messages will be made or broken by the degree to which you've either made their lives easier or entertained them. So before development or production, be clear on what you want to accomplish with the video. 

Companies can provide a utility to key audiences by producing videos specifically focused on demonstrating or explaining their products and services, or regularly sharing advice and information that will somehow improve the viewer's professional or personal life. The edict of the modern consumer is "prove it." Utilitarian videos will allow them to see what makes you the leader in your field. 

Some corporate communicators may be hard-pressed to glean the entertainment value their employer could provide the public and eschew alternatives like branded digital entertainment for exactly that reason. But if your current storytelling efforts are missing the mark, it may be time to tell it a different way. CJP develops and produces original online entertainment properties as communications vehicles for its clients across industries like recruiting, finance, publishing, and consumer products. Company messages go down a lot smoother with fickle audiences when they are strewn subtly throughout what amounts to be a short-form TV show on the Web. 

Examine your methods. Always assume some elements of your storyline are not be-ing properly communicated either by the press or your own materials. Provide alternative methods to reach the "message averse."  Boilerplates are the enemy of nuance. Online video is ideal because it fills the deeper gaps and brings your company story to life.

Tubefilter: WGA Tries to Bridge New Media Divide

New Media, Transmedia, Web Video, Web Series, Web Television, whatever you want to call “it,” “it” is the future. Anyone reading Tubefilter, which has a mission “to grow the audience of web television,” knows this. Considering this, the traditional media complex is not going anywhere anytime soon. Too often the traditional media industry belittles internet video, which is why it is refreshing to see a media mainstay, like the Writer’s Guild East pursuing an active role in promoting new media.

The Writer’s Guild 2.0 initiative could very well help close the divide between traditional and new media. This initiative corralled a slew of new media signatories (full list below) and brought them together to form a New Media Caucus within the guild.

• CJP Digital – CJP Digital produces several web series – all live action, including The Temp Life
• Concierge: The Series – Original live action web series.
• Confirmed Bachelors – Original animated web series.
• Dinosaur Diorama TV – Production company – creator of several live action web series, The Burg.

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New TeeVee: The Web Series Universe Starts Coming Together Thanks to Too-Wacky Temp Life

CJP’s The Temp Life is one of those on-the-nose sponsored series, being as it is a comedy about the abused life of the temporary employee, sponsored by actual staffing company Spherion. But as an early adopter in that world, the series has proven that you don’t need to drop the sponsor into every scene in order to spread the message. And its fourth season, which launched this week, ups the game in terms of guest stars, while also representing a big narrative evolution for the web series world in general. 

Excerpt:

However, that one scene is hardly the sole spot of funny here, as Temp Life found a fresh way to include some web-famous guest stars in this universe. Each set of episodes released on a weekly basis includes a “video resume” from figures like Taryn Southern, Sandeep Parikh, and Gold creator David Nett. Each creator was given free reign to create a character and write/direct his or her individual short, and Southern’s installment, released this week, is just the right mix of bizarre but human — her character, Oklahoman Nancy, is clueless, sweet and eccentric, and the piece is well-paced and edited, with some great bits of well-timed comedy. A brief sample of Parikh’s contribution was made available for review, and while the effort put into the piece isn’t quite on the level of Southern’s, it still showcases his talent for putting a fresh spin on stereotypes — in this case, the USC frat boy.

Despite some missteps, Temp Life still represents a strong combination of elements, and personally I look forward to a Tommy Westphall-esque chart being possible for the web series world. (Step 1: get Southern to reprise Nancy on another series. Step 2: Repeat.)

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Tubefilter: ‘The Temp Life’ Returns, Stocked Up on Web Series Stars

Not since the Streamy Awards have we seen this many web series stars in one place. Ok not really, but with the fourth season of The Temp Life, the Spherion-backed comedy about life inside a dreadful NY temp agency kicking off today, the cast is loaded up with notable web series stars.

The casting moves are signs this four-year old web show is growing up with the medium in which it plays. Call it Web TV’s version of keiretsu. Creator Wilson Cleveland, CJP Communications’ Head of Digital Media, built the show back in 2006 for the firm’s client Spherion. Incidentally, Cleveland also stars in the The Temp Life, as Nick “Trouble” Chiapetta, the once-CEO of Commodity Staffing, the shoddy agency. This new season picks up with some major changes once Chiapetta returns to office after a 33-week AWOL.

Notable guest (web) stars:
Thom Woodley — co-creator and star of All’s Faire, The ‘Burg and Vuguru’s The All-for-Nots.
Taryn Southern — creator/star of Private High Musical, and star of Sorority Forever, Woke Up Dead and the recent Wrong Hole video with DJ Lubel
Chris Murray — co-creator/star of Hedge Fund
Rachel Risen — star of The Hayley Project
David Nett — co-creator/star of GOLD
Sandeep Parikh — star of The Guild, creator of The Legend of Neil
Angela Espinosa — co-creator/star of Groupthink
Wendy Rosoff — co-creator/star of Groupthink

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Pensions & Investments: Lots of Spice, Little Managing

As proof of just how far hedge funds have penetrated into the pop culture psyche, check out the web series “Hedge Fund” at hedgefundproductions.com.

But be sure to put your head phones on first: “Hedge Fund” would definitely receive an R rating for language, thanks to the freewheeling use of profanity by the three main characters, all “executives” of fictional hedge fund manager Claude S. Dutchy LLC. The series has some of the same feel and appeal of movies in the “guy flick” genre such as “Jackass” and “Animal House.”

In the series, fired waiter Claude Thornberry decides to create a fake hedge fund with his roommates, Dutch and Skip. They're much more interested in the mansions, private jets, Lamborghinis and other trappings that come with hedge fund manager superstardom than in actually managing any money.

“When I started writing, I didn't want to know too much about hedge funds,” Chris Murray, the series' writer and director who also portrays Dutch, said in a statement on his website.

“I wanted to take the idea of one, of that now-ubiquitous financial thing, and use the limited and peripheral knowledge I had of one to try and compose a comedy ... parodying the death of the modern-day hedge fund. The idea for the series was conceived two years ago, while the economy was strong and money was flowing. Strangely enough, however, it seems as though we couldn't have had better timing. While the financial markets are deteriorating ... rather than lament our lost 301k's, (sic) we think there is no better time to laugh,” Mr. Murray wrote.

The Wrap: Writer's Guild Signs 11 Digital Media Producers

CJP Digital Media – a leading corporate public relations firm and developer of branded content. Its web series include The Temp Life and The Fall of Kaden (www.cjpdigital.com)

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Easy to Assemble Season 2 Premieres with Sparhusen Rock

Last night’s Los Angeles premiere of Easy to Assemble season 2 was everything you would expect in a sophomore debut—bigger, brasher and beaming. For the gawkers on Hollywood Blvd. peering onto the red carpet outside the Egyptian Theater, most probably thought they were scoping out a movie premiere as stars like Keanu Reeves, Kevin Pollack, Justine Bateman and Harry Shearer casually strolled past the check-in tables with cameras flashing.

The new season of the IKEA backed web series, which kicks off today, is a classic season long face-off. Picking up essentially were things left off last season, Illeana Douglas and Justine Bateman both still work at the Burbank IKEA store, playing themselves “in between acting jobs.” The rivalry of the two celeb employees squares off around the coveted Co-worker of the Year title, the retail equivalent of queen bee. It’s a 40 year-old’s Blair vs. Serena.

For Easy to Assemble, it’s a wide release of the series, led by My Damn Channel who had signed the series for the new season earlier this summer. CJP Digital which is handling sponsor and distribution for the show, also just locked a deal with The Hotel Networks, putting the show as a VOD offering in 1.9 million hotel rooms in the US and Canada starting in January. Other distribution includes Blip.tv, which will have it pushed wide through its pacts with Verizon FiOS and Roku set-top boxes.

New episodes of Easy to Assemble come out every Thursday through December. A special finale episode will be released after viewers vote to determine who will win Co-Worker of the Year between the two ladies.

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How IKEA's Easy to Assemble Broke 1.9M Views (Without Cheating)

After some modest success of the first season, IKEA agreed to sponsor a second season, this time with an increased production budget and the addition of new cast members like Cheri Oteri, Tim Meadows and Ricki Lake. Then came news of a secret spin-off show about a fictional Swedish rock band named Sparhüsen, and the casting of film star Keanu Reeves. For the new season, Douglas teamed up with Wilson Cleveland at CJP Digital to help with marketing and distribution of the shows, whom she had met prepping for the OnFrontsNYC event in June.

Cleveland and the CJP team inked a distribution deal for both shows with online comedy network My Damn Channel, and embarked on an aggressive outreach campaign that would involve tapping into IKEA’s rabid and loyal fan base. Since launching on October 8, 2009, the two series have racked up over 1.9 million views, an impressive start for a scripted web series, with just four episodes of Easy to Assemble and two episodes of Sparhüsen released so far. 

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TV Guide: Web Hot List, Sparhusen

In the grand tradition of Spinal Tap comes the musical mockumentary “Spärhusen,” which follows the un-illustrious career of a faux Swedish ’70s band as they record übercheeky pop tunes with titles like “Apples & Fish.”

“‘Spärhusen’ is really ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ meets Ingmar Bergman,” explains star and cocreator Illeana Douglas. Bonus: The band’s producer, played by Keanu Reeves, adds his own hilarious whale noises to the music, available, along with the series, starting October 8 at mydamnchannel.com. They’re certainly not bigger than Jesus, but bigger than Swedish meatballs? We say ja. 

EW: Illeana Douglas Talks New Web Series: Sparhusen

Illeana Douglas and the Web go together about as well as the Swedish and meatballs. After all, the quirky actress has found a following online with her IKEA-set comedy series, Easy to Assemble, which starts its second season on My Damn Channel today. (Douglas plays a fictional version of herself who, fed up with showbiz, decides to work in an IKEA store.) And that’s not all: The actress is hard at work producing a spin-off Web series, Sparhusen, which follows a Swedish band that plays music for the big box store. Not only have we snagged a sneak peek of the series (premiering Oct. 8 — see exclusive video clip after the jump), but also a few minutes with its creator. Taking a break from her busy schedule, Douglas talks Assemble, her famous co-stars, and, of course, meatballs.

There is something inherently funny about IKEA.

Yeah. It’s such a fish-out-of-water experience. It’s got this Wizard of Oz quality. And then, when I heard IKEA [was interested], I thought, “Okay, now it has to be IKEA.” The ideas started organically pouring out of me. It was a complete experiment last year, and I threw everything into it that I possibly could. I got all my friends help me out and support me. And we did this thing, and it kind of took off, and we got our second season, and now we really feel like we’ve hit our stride this year, with a great story and a storyline.

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Keanu Reeves ‘Sparhusen’ Headlines My Damn Channel’s Fall Lineup

Illeana Douglas, the star and creator of Easy to Assemble, co-created Sparhusen along with fellow stars Rob Mailhouse and Todd Spahr.  CJP Digital, the same firm behind newly-renewed The Temp Life, started working with Easy to Assemble for season 2, and brought the two-pack of series to My Damn Channel who won out after a little bidding war.

The new season, “Co-Worker of the Year” adds SNL vets like Cheri Oteri, Tim Meadows to the cast. Both series will screen first at the New York Television Festival on September 23, and then premiere online October 8.  Read Full Story

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Tubefilter: Fall of Kaden Fills Sunday Night Drama Fix

Sunday night for me always means a chunk of time blocked out for HBO. It’s one of the few networks worth shelling out a couple extra bucks a month. It pretty much built its brand on groundbreaking drama—The Wire, The Sopranos, Sex and the City. And for what it’s worth, there is no HBO of web series. No one network of premium content that owns drama.

The creators of The Fall of Kaden, which premiered online this week, have said they are trying to break that mold. Matt Doubler and Adam Leiphart have a thing for drama and noticed the void of web series drama sites. Through their Tape 6 production company, Doubler and Leiphart said they are looking to stand out as a go-to shop for premium drama.

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Tubefilter: Spherion-Backed 'Temp Life' Re-Staffs for New Season

The Temp Life has kind of flown under the radar in terms of branded web series successes, but ever since it first convinced a blue-chip sponsor to back the web comedy back in mid 2006, it has trekked on steadily delivering for both its audience (over 1 million views) and its sponsor.

At first glance it portends to be quite possibly another blah-blah office comedy, but the concept is actually pretty novel, given the show’s sponsor, real-life recruiting and staffing company Spherion. Take a comical look at small off-brand temp agencies, well known to job-hopping New Yorkers, and show what could happen if you don’t end up with one of the big boys like Spherion. The fictional agency, Commodity Staffing, carves out its niche as the dredges of temp jobs—think changing crusty urinal cakes and 24/7 lifecasting of a stuck-up socialite.

So far the series has produced episodes off and on, with a total of 17 released through three seasons. Production values are arguably modest, and at this point are considerably dated in terms of newer web series. Creator Wilson Cleveland, who’s firm CJP Digital produced the series, wore most of the hats early on, serving as writer, producer and even star, playing the bungling office boss Nick “Trouble” Chiapetta. But for this newest batch of six episodes, he tells us they are stepping it up and bringing on some names we recognize from the web series scene.

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Tubefilter: ‘The Lake’ Premieres On TheWB, Jason Priestley Talks Web

It’s no coincidence that TheWB.com’s new web series is helmed by former teen heart throb Jason Priestley, this time in the director’s chair. The show is chock full of juicy rich kid/poor kid drama reminiscent of a certain Beverly Hills show, but this time it all goes down by a lake (one excellent excuse to shoot attractive people constantly dressed in bathing suits).

While The Lake is undoubtedly a sudsy Summer soap, it is unapologetic about what it’s all about, making it all the more enjoyable to escape into just like a vacation on a lake. With the first four episodes up today, each handily setting up dating and relationship drama for the next, it’s hard to click away despite the interruption of J&J’s Clean and Clear ads right in the middle (the show’s nicely captured sponsor for a show aiming to capture an O.C. and Gossip Girl type audience).

The show also seems a nice get for writer-creators Meredith Lavender and Marcie Ulin who both served as writers on the short-lived series Eight Days a Week. These gals really know how to tease and pay off juicy teen drama and gossip ala dealing with divorced parents, teen pregnancy, and summer jobs all while looking good in a bathing suit. Heather Ann Davis stars as Olivia, a newcomer to the lake scene which is complete with beach-body teens including queen bee Alexis (Samantha Cope).

It also makes sense the show production of the show was handled by Generate (the studio behind Republicrats and Pink the Series). The company has now been creating web series and other new media solidly for three years with founder Jordan Levin (former TheWB chief) remaining hands on.

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New TeeVee: 'Fall of Kaden' is New Media Winner, One Old Media Flaw

There haven’t been enough modern noir dramas in the web video world, if you ask me, and Fall of Kaden, produced by Tape 6 and CJP Digital Media, fills that slot nicely.

In the 10-episode series now running on Koldcast.tv (whose player, I have to say, has recently dramatically improved), Kaden the loan shark (Adam Leiphart) lends his last $10,000 to a gambler with a tragic past (Brian Troyan), tangling together their lives and leading the way towards an epic confrontation. Kaden doesn’t provide much in the way of mystery, but its depiction of addiction and despair creates a world in which everyone is under someone or something’s thumb — even Kaden himself.

Now on episode 4, Kaden’s benefited from some great press recently, including a mention in The New York Times, and as an example of independent web drama, it’s a solid representation of the medium’s ability to showcase original voices. The series is also extremely well-shot and produced.

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