SF-based producers score landmark web-to-TV deal

Yuri Baranovsky as David in Break a Leg.

When you look at the long list of noteworthy advances in the entertainment industry over the past forty years - the proliferation of Dolby and THX sound, the groundbreaking visuals courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic, the collaborative artistry of American Zoetrope or the cinematic perfection of Pixar – one stunning fact becomes clear: the things that are synonymous with Hollywood’s evolution have nothing to do with Hollywood at all. 

Instead, those accomplishments can be attributed to a group of individuals the Bay Area is proud to call their own: George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Andrew Stanton (Pixar), Steve Jobs, Yuri and Vlad Baranovsky …

You might be asking, Yuri and Vlad who?  But you might not be for long. 

In a 21st century marked by shrinking television margins, late night wars, the advent of ala carte cable and the lines that separate TV and the internet getting fuzzier every day, it was inevitable that shows would eventually migrate onto the internet.  But how about in the other direction?  From web to broadcast TV? 

In what is undoubtedly a first, San Francisco’s Happy Little Guillotine Films announced a deal with Fox Channels Italy to broadcast their acclaimed and popular web series Break a Leg on a variety of viewing platforms, from standard TV to online (linear and on demand) on www.floptv.tv.

Break a Leg makes internet-to-TV history.

“This is the first deal of its kind,” says co-creator and co-writer Yuri Baranovsky, “For a major network to buy, fully translate and bring an independently-made web series to its international branch is a huge step in bringing credibility to the online entertainment genre.”

Indeed, the Baranovsky brothers have long sought not only to legitimize the same platform responsible for cat pratfalls and “Leave Britney Alone,” but to accomplish the one thing that eludes most creative types with a vision: make a living doing what they love.  

Yuri, for one, realizes the potential: "This could be the future -- where TV networks can test the success of web series by putting them on their international channels first. If that's the case, we certainly hope Break a Leg will be the biggest Italian hit since the mafia."

Break a Leg was created in 2006 by HLG Films and quickly became buzzworthy and acclaimed, scoring widespread press in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Huffington Post, The Times (UK) and many, many more.  The show is widely recognized as being one of the innovators of online video. With marketing and packaging done by branded entertainment company For Your Imagination and hosted, distributed and monetized by the New York City-based online television network, Blip.tv, the first season of the show garnered over 4 million views.

"I think since my brother Vlad and I are from Kiev originally, we definitely have a more European sense of humor. It's definitely a Jewish sense of humor. Either way, we always thought that Break a Leg, with exposure, could be a big hit overseas -- in England, or, you know, sure, Italy."

But like that list of industry innovators listed above, the boys aren’t resting on their past accomplishments, but rather are using this window of exposure to launch a second series.

Yuri adds, "Lovemakers is a show about four people running a matchmaking company. It's very Ally McBeal and, I think, more sellable than Break a Leg was. It's all about love, sex, relationships but still with the rapid-fire, witty dialogue that we hope people expect from us. And by people I mean our parents and Italy."

It’s not a slam dunk, but neither was selling a web show to Fox.  "We've teamed up with a company called Kelleher International -- a matchmaking company that caters to celebrities, businessmen and people like that. They're going to provide us with advice, scenarios and help us out with marketing, advertising and hopefully getting us guest stars. It's a huge deal for us -- all we need now is to find the right person to put in the right amount of money -- and we're close."

Investors, that’s your cue.

But where major content providers bemoan the collapsing walls between TV and the internet, Baranovsky sees unlimited potential. “I've always said that internet video should be to TV what independent film is to Hollywood film. We should be competitive -- and right now, we really aren't. With Lovemakers, we hope to create a full-length TV-style show and use all the things we've learned from our experiences -- interactivity, distribution and so on -- to get it to succeed online. And, hopefully, on TV. And hopefully, in Italy. Or maybe Switzerland this time."

And as opposed to a million cat videos and slapped-together parodies, Baranovsky sees very clearly that it will be quality and not quantity that makes the difference. "We need to improve the quality of the web series for it to rise to another level. We need to stop restricting ourselves to short 6-8 minute videos and we need to stop patting ourselves on the back for making a web show. We have to be critical of one another and push each other to create content that, as I said, rivals TV."

Unlike his big-budget colleagues that create in a vacuum, Baranovsky can probably attribute a fair part of the show’s (and his) appeal to his blog, which renders the creative process transparent.  Baranovsky muses regularly about his projects and technical challenges in an accessible and entertaining style.  It’s that same type of accessibility that permeates his good-natured fictional material.

"I think the old way of doing things is definitely dying -- short videos, niche, low-quality content, et cetera -- but I think the evolution of it is what's exciting. It's a new form of entertainment -- I think we're in our, "Silent Film" stage, but I think our "Talkie"-revolution is coming.”

And the Baranovsky brothers are holding the door open.

For more info:  Dennis Willis' is the author of Flick Nation: 2010 Movie Yearbook.

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