Lonelygirl15: the endgame The jig appears up for Lonelygirl15, the super-popular YouTube auteur who sparked Web-wide controversy about whether she was a) a wildly talented teenager with a Webcam and an editing-genius friend; b) a Satanist; c) a plot by YouTube and/or MySpace and/or Google to promote their services and/or further world domination (don’t ask, a law student came up with it); or d) the birth of a new interactive art form. It appears that d) is winning out. Last night, the producers of Lonelygirl’s Web site posted a reveal (the site seems to be running slowly, but suffice it to say, the whole thing seems to be a project by independent filmmakers) to the many diehard fans on the site’s 15 forums—fans who are seriously dedicated sleuths, believe me, posting at all hours of the day and night, setting Web stings to find the source of the videos. It will be interesting to see whether people will still care about the story line, which appears heading toward an ominous religious ceremony or a party where Bree gets Occultist-style revenge on those who made fun of her. The producers hope the multifaceted use of videos, blogs and community give rise to a new type of Web entertainment, which is sorely needed, as early efforts—Desperate Housewives on your computer!—look a lot like TV with poorer quality on a smaller screen. —Posted by Brian Morrissey

September 8, 2006 in Morrissey | Permalink

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According to the LATimes, CAA is behind it.
http://simonandrews.typepad.com/big_picture/2006/09/hey_there_lonel.html

Posted by: BigPicture | Sep 8, 2006 12:48:28 PM

But seriously, she's not that much fun to watch, real or not! If I was casting something, I wouldn't hire her. And now that fan club link seems to be gone, so who knows what the story is.

Posted by: David Polinchock | Sep 8, 2006 1:03:57 PM

I watched a few of her videos this morning for the first time. They seemed too polished to be amateur, what with all the editing and such.

Posted by: Smivey | Sep 8, 2006 1:11:02 PM

The scheme worked - 8 million "views" since her YouTube release. Now if whoever was behind it all wanted to keep it "real" there shouldn't have been such a slick look - they probably could've kept it quiet until the movie came out ;-)

Posted by: Arnie | Sep 8, 2006 2:26:08 PM

I'm not really sure why everyone thinks the jig is up. All we know now is what anyone in their right mind knew all along - that things are not what they seem, and it's an actress playing the part of LG15, that there's a bigger story to uncover, and some very bright people are creating fiction in an unconventional way. An anonymous posting saying "we're filmmakers" and an IP traced to a CAA server, is hardly the ultimate solution.

Did anyone really believe this was a real girl in a real bedroom? My experience in real life is that average people rarely look that good or are lit quite as well. Is there a single Art Director in the room here who doesn't look at that still above and know for sure it's a lit set?

Me? i hope LG15 turns up on the beach on Lost when the new season opens :)

Posted by: Steve Coulson | Sep 8, 2006 4:06:03 PM

I find her quite boring. What the hell is the big deal about her?

Posted by: GlazedDonut | Sep 9, 2006 8:16:38 PM

I think it's a great model.

See:

http://zennie2005.blogspot.com/2006/09/youtube-lonelygirl15-zennies-view.html

Posted by: Zenophon Abraham | Sep 10, 2006 1:50:13 PM

They gave away it was a faux because production values were too manicured. Then again, if they would have lowered production values to the average YouTube post it would have never found the large audience they got now.

Posted by: LonelyGuy35 | Sep 12, 2006 11:35:54 AM

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