Parody and Fun: NewTeeVee June Pier Screening Recap

Thank you all who came out to our lovely pier and enjoyed a cold beer in the glow of satirical videos and propane heat lamps. The San Franciscan summer smiled on us with a mild evening of popcorn, prizes, and parody at the June Pier Screenings Event.

The evening’s program began with a discussion with Jib Jab cofounder Gregg Spiridellis, whose “This Land” was one of the first truly “viral” videos. Spiridellis spoke about the early days of online video and the changing mediascape. “It’s getting harder to own the space,” he explained. “YouTube killed our business, in a good way. Now you have to be everywhere.”

NewTeeVee’s Jackson West emceed the evening’s festivities and introduced the three judges. Spiridellis did his best to fit into Paula Abdul’s shoes, while EFF attorney Jason Schultz attempted a Randy Jackson, and comedienne Heather Gold got our her best English accent to give it a go as Simon Cowell.

With the sun finally setting on the other side of the city, the evening’s presentation could begin. The six videos (coming soon in a SplashCast player here) were all under five minutes and were diverse group within the parody vein. After all were watched and judged the crowd whipped out there cell phone to text in their votes.

Coming in first place, and winning a featured spot on MetaCafe.com as well as Fabrik’s SimpleTech 1 terabyte external harddrive, was Sean Sahlin’s “The Real World Ikea.” In second was Randi and Jen’s “Valleyfreude,” who tell us a new video on “inappropriate Blackberry use” is coming soon. Coming in third and fourth, in a very close race, were Nicholas Quixote’s “Rabbit Bites!” and Andy Cochrane and The AV Club’s “8 1/2 Mile,” respectively.

With heat lamps, prize booty, and audience attendance on the rise, July’s Pier Screening (which isn’t too far away!) is shaping up to be a happening event, so keep your calendar’s clear.

The Flickr slideshow is courtesy of our official photographer and friend of NewTeeVee, James Yu.

A big thank you to all the sponsors which made the Pier Screening possible:

CO-HOST:

PLATINUM:

GOLD:

SILVER:

FAN: