Introducing “˜Girl Walks Into a Bar,’ the first feature-length film made to stream exclusively on YouTube
“Girl Walks Into a Bar” is the first feature-length film debuted on YouTube.
(Courtesy: Eric Kim)
By Laurie Allred
April 3, 2011 11:32 p.m.
When Jay Yun landed the opportunity to market the film “Girl Walks Into a Bar,” he didn’t know what to expect.
Little did he know that he was going to be a part of a change in social media, working on the first-ever feature-length film specifically made to stream for free on YouTube.
Yun, a fourth-year sociology student, was asked to be part of the social media team headed by Mike Cowan, his co-worker at Demand Media and a UCLA alumnus, for “Girl Walks Into a Bar.”
Although the film stars many A-list actors such as Danny DeVito, Carla Gugino, Rosario Dawson and Josh Hartnett, Yun said he still didn’t realize how big the film was.
“I thought it was going to be a very small film because (Cowan) didn’t tell us much of the details,” Yun said. “It later became this little baby we had to raise.”
The made-for-YouTube movie, directed by Sebastian Gutierrez, follows 10 people in 10 bars in Los Angeles.
Zachary Quinto plays a dentist who hires an assassin, played by Carla Gugino, to kill his wife, and they undergo a series of odd encounters throughout the night, involving strippers, ex-cons and a naked ping-pong club.
The idea to make a YouTube feature film originated with UCLA alumnus Richard Rosenblatt, current CEO of Demand Media and ex-CEO of MySpace, and Steve Bing, the producer of the movie “Polar Express.”
Because “Girl Walks Into a Bar” was made to stream online for free, Yun said it was difficult to market.
However, his knowledge of sociology, along with his familiarity with social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, gave him an advantage.
“We often use sociology as a means to see what gets people’s attention and what makes things attractive,” Yun said. “Sociology is very based on how people interact and how society functions, so we have to take that into consideration.”
Yun’s partner on the social media and marketing team was alumnus Eric Kim, whose predominant job was to use social networking sites to attract viewers. Kim said the film was meant as an experiment.
“There’s such a huge audience on YouTube, so we toyed with the idea of releasing a film that is relatively low-budget, has A-list actors … and show it entirely on YouTube,” Kim said.
To reach his goal of a million views, Kim said his strategy was to have YouTube stars help promote the movie. He asked DeStorm, a YouTube star known for his rapping, to attend the movie’s premiere and have a freestyle rap battle with Rosario Dawson.
Kim said “Girl Walks Into a Bar” provides an opportunity for YouTube and Hollywood to connect.
“I think people shun YouTube, but having a red carpet (for a YouTube film) saw a convergence of online entertainment and offline entertainment,” Kim said.
While Kim and Yun worked together to run the online media aspect of the film, Cowan was in charge of the business model and the social media marketing team.
Cowan said the only way to generate revenue with a YouTube film is through advertisements, so their expectations for the film were conservatively set. They were more focused on viewership as opposed to revenue.
“With online films, you’re not going to get that $200 million “˜Harry Potter’ movie profit,” Cowan said. “It’s important to compare this movie to indie films because those directors aren’t interested in making a lot of money. The one thing we can guarantee putting it online is that a lot of people will see it.”
However, Cowan said there is a lot of pressure for “Girl Walks Into a Bar” to be successful because it is the first feature-length film made for YouTube.
“There’s a certain element in Hollywood that didn’t want it to sell,” Cowan said. “You can’t just throw something online for free. There was pressure on the business side to make money and have a lot of people watch it. If this movie sucked, then people would think YouTube was not a place to watch films.”
But Cowan said “Girl Walks Into a Bar” proves that future films can succeed on YouTube.
“You always need that catalyst and that first one, and what this movie proves is that for a low budget, you can actually produce something really good,” Cowan said. “We want to make this a long-term thing.”
Although planning for the film was unlike anything he’s ever done, Yun said he learned several lessons from marketing “Girl Walks Into a Bar.”
“Trends still change; culture changes, so it always varies ““ you have to incorporate them in what you’re planning,” Yun said. “It is difficult, but looking back, I realized you just have to do it. You come up with an idea and push forward. If it doesn’t work, come up with a new idea and go again.”
