Crackle
Continues Its Commitment to the Original Webseries
The
new Crackle webseries, Held Up, premiers in September 2010
and promises to be one of the Sony-owned video network’s most
ambitious projects yet. Written by Randy and Jason Sklar, creators of
Back on Topps, the comedy centers on two separate but simultaneous
robberies at the same branch bank. According to Entertainment Weekly,
Held Up originally began life as a pilot for Comedy Central
in 2008 but when the network passed, Sony decided to develop it as a
webseries instead with original creator Gene Hong passing the reigns
to the Sklar Bothers.
This is
not the first high-profile endeavor for Crackle as the site has been
producing a number of quality webseries in recent years, beginning with
2009’s Angel of Death. With reported budgets topping
the one million dollar mark, it is obvious that both Sony and Crackle
are committed to the medium. Considering that its last major webseries,
The Bannen Way, amassed 8.4 million views in February 2010
and more than 13 million by the end of March while setting online video
records along the way (according to Wikipedia), the future for both
the medium and the website certainly looks bright.
Despite
such success, however, Crackle still has plenty of cracks. As the New
York Times pointed out in its August 23, 2010, article, “Sony’s
Bet on Sticking With Web Shows,” the 4.1 million viewers that
the site attracted in July 2010 without The Bannen Way is a
fraction of the 12.6 million who clicked on CollegeHumor.com during
the same period. The article also suggests that Sony may merge its PlayStation
Network, which provides games and online content for PlayStation 3 users,
into Crackle and thus provide a much stronger presence on the Internet—as
the Times points out, the PlayStation Network currently has
fifty million registered accounts worldwide.
SEPTEMBER
1, 2010 (READ MORE)