NEWS

WIRES

OTHER

Creator Of The Up In Smoke Video Podcast Circumvents The Short Film Fesival In Her Path To Hollywood

Thousands of film school graduates borrow money each year to make a short film and hopefully launch their careers. One screenwriter sees her video podcast as the way to break in to Hollywood.

While broadcast television is looking to iTunes in order to generate publicity and revenue for its existing products, a growing number of people are creating original iTunes content with the intent of breaking into network television.

Calee M. Lee, the young writer and director of "Up in Smoke Video Podcast," saw the new medium as a way to make a name for herself. "When I graduated from NYU, my professors encouraged me to go make a short film. After seeing one with a two million dollar budget, I knew there was no way I was going to be able to compete in that world. A video podcast seemed like a good, cheap way for me to get my name out there," said Lee.

"Up in Smoke" tells the story of three people working in a cigar shop, a realm never explored on television. While it was a potentially controversial setting, Lee felt that it only added to the appeal of the podcast. "The great thing about this new medium is that viewers can explore topics that wouldn’t normally see the light of day."

Most short filmmakers hope to use their creations as calling cards. They compete for coveted slots at film festivals and dream of selling their shorts to cable channels such as IFC in an attempt to recoup production costs, which are regularly in the tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Lee states, “We’ve already had 60 thousand hits and that’s just in three months. I don’t know anyone who’s getting that kind of exposure with a traditional short film.”

Lee remembers when she decided to create a video podcast, "I had the idea to do a video podcast while listening to an episode of TWIT [This Week in Tech.] I thought, ‘If these guys can have more listeners than a cable news show, why can’t I.’"

The TWIT connection has already paid off for Lee. TWIT contributor and radio host, Leo Laporte, praised the show on his tech radio broadcast on KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles and John C. Dvorak and Steve Gibson appeared in the fourth episode.

The "Up in Smoke Video Podcast" is closer to a traditional sitcom than most of its iTunes predecessors who have focused on everything from technology training to sketch comedy. With a three-person regular cast and numerous guest stars, "Up in Smoke" adheres to a traditional sitcom model. Each episode, however, is around four minutes long.

"Up in Smoke Video Podcast" can be downloaded for free on iTunes and at www.CigarVideoPodcast.com

For more informaton e-mail mail@cigarvideopodcast.com
HTML: http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/wr/041106/14210.htm
PDF: http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/pdf/041106/14210.pdf
ONLINE NEWSROOM: http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/309254.htm
RSS NEWSROOM: http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/xml/newsrooms/309254.xml