The Castaways Teaser

Stew and I have been working on this for a while, and we're now pitching the show. We'd love comments about this teaser - does it engage? Are you hooked? If you have a pre-teen or teen, please show them ... they are our core demographic!

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REVIEW: branded entertainment goes MINI

How do you follow-up the online branded entertainment hit "The Hire" from BMW Films starring Clive Owen? Create another online episodic of course, this time with actor Bryan Callen (Scary Movie 4 and lots of TV work - 7th Heaven, NYPD Blue, Law & Order, Fat Actress) and director Todd Phillips (Old School, Starsky & Hutch) featuring the trendy, souped-up MINI (Mini-USA is owned by BMW).

The Automobile Channel reports that:

The campaign will also have a prominent place in the viral community, leveraging unique partnerships with digital media in addition to print and broadcast. Starting this month, "Hammer & Coop" will have a solid presence on popular online sites Second Life, MySpace and YouTube. The characters will be incorporated into Second Life's "online society" on March 15, the trailer and video components will be available on YouTube after February 20, and a custom profile has been created for "Hammer & Coop" on the popular social networking site MySpace. In addition, advertising content will be available on podcasts and mobile phones (through iPod Infuse and Mobile Video on Demand).

Despite this aggressive online marketing campaign, the Hammer & Coop episodes are not available for embedding in blogs so unfortunately you'll have to leave THR and visit their site. In the spirit of Starsky & Hutch, the episodes are campy, action packed, and fun (though we liked The Hire's suave, Bondlike approach to suspense and action).

REVIEW: HellHoles on AtomFilms

Clever. Entertaining. Laugh out loud funny. These are just a few of the superlatives for Efram Potelle and Kyle Rankin's dark comedy.

We'll go on a limb here: Hell Holes represents the future of online episodics. Delivered in short, tight 4 minute webisodes, Hell Holes is the story of a cheap, slightly perverted slacker who rents a rundown trailer ... which happens to be a gateway to Hell.

The show succeeds because of its strong story, clever writing, and stunning computer graphics, but instead of going on and on simply take a look for yourself. It might just be the best 4 minutes you spend online all day.