My Damn Channel, which claims more than 50 million unique visitors monthly to its online video site, has awarded a development deal to the Smiley Guy Studios’ animated comedy series “View U” after a pitch competition at the recent Just For Laughs Comedy Conference. The Conference is a three-day event held during the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal.
My Damn Channel Founder/CEO Rob Barnett led a panel of four judges during a multi-platform, web series pitch session where three shows were presented before a packed crowd of comedy pros. The judges were Ben Relles (Head of Creative Development, YouTube Next Lab), Spencer Griffin (Executive Producer, College Humor), and Eric Mortensen (Senior Director of Network Programming, Blip.tv).
The session titled “Pitch Till Your Sides Split” included series pitches by Creator/Writer Matt Alden & Creator/Writer Paul Foxcroft who presented a situation comedy about magic, destiny and idiots called, “Jeff The Chosen One.” A dramatic comedy series by producers Ready, Set, Panic called “Bill and Sons Towing” was pitched by Co-Creator/Producer Charles Ketchabaw, and Co-Creator/Head Writer Mark De Angelis. Jonas Diamond, Executive Producer at Smiley Guy Studios delivered the winning pitch for an interactive, animated comedy series called “View U,” about four college friends who do anything and everything to get ten million clicks of fame.
“Our panel shared maximum respect for every creator who stood up in front of a packed room of comedy peers to pitch,” said Rob Barnett of My Damn Channel. “We felt ‘View U’ had the interactivity and the best ideas designed to capture audience and develop a successful series with My Damn Channel.”
“We’re grateful to Just For Laughs for giving us the opportunity to deliver such a high-profile pitch. We’re ecstatic with the victory for our team and ready to work with My Damn Channel to turn ‘View U’ into hit series,” said Jonas Diamond.
The video below, provided by My Damn Channel, is Bruce McCall’s “The Ascent of Man,” also produced by Smiley Guy Studios.
RBR-TVBR observation: Content is still king – and always will be – but that doesn’t mean that the main outlets for content will always be the same. Lots of original content – some of it quite good – is now being created specifically for Internet, mobile and other “new media” outlets. Broadcasters need to be aware of what’s going on and figure out how to partner with the people producing the really good stuff.
