Lonelygirl15 Creators Debut U.K. Spin-Off

LONDON, July 31: The
creators of the online serial drama phenomenon Lonelygirl15 are helping grow the Internet storytelling genre
they pioneered with a new show, KateModern, in association with Bebo.com.

The series is commissioned
by and screened exclusively on Bebo.com, the U.K.’s largest social networking
community with 8.8 million users. The show debuted on July 24, and through the
site it is available to more than 35 million Bebo members worldwide.

Joanna Shields, the
president of international at Bebo and executive producer of KateModern, commented: "At Bebo we've developed KateModern to fill a niche in the youth entertainment, and
working alongside creators Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, we are confident
we have a hit on our hands. The series is set to become part of an ongoing
conversation with the Bebo community, offering far more than just streamed
video clips, but an evolution of a new medium in which Bebo users can interact
with the characters and shape the plot via video blogs, text messages, photo
sharing and user comments.”

Producers Michael Beckett
and Greg Goodfried are hoping to take the highly successful Loneygirl15 model they developed for YouTube and build upon it
with increased integration of social networking technology. Using the Bebo
platform, viewers are able to click profile links to further explore a
character’s personality. They can also influence the plotline through
interaction, play integrated alternate reality games, attend live events, post
messages for the characters, exchange plot ideas and upload their own videos to
the characters’ profile pages.

“Storytelling on the
Internet requires a different approach and we’ve spent the last year honing our
craft on Lonelygirl15,” said
Beckett. “KateModern is the
culmination of all that we’ve learned. Bebo’s unique social networking features
encourage interactivity beyond that of other platforms and enables us to tell a
story in a way that has never been done before.”

The series stars Alex
Weaver as Kate, Ralf Little (Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, The Royle Family) as her friend Gavin, Tara Rushton as roommate
Charlie, and Jai Rajani as her boyfriend Tariq. Together they are searching for
their personal identities when they get swept up in a dark mystery that unfolds
on the Internet and in the streets of London. The creators have already hinted
at a sinister, supernatural undercurrent similar to that found in Lonelygirl15.