HBO Labs Signs What the Buck? Creator
HBO Labs, the new media offshoot of the pay cable network, has signed Michael Buckley, creator of the popular What the Buck? show on YouTube, to a development deal. We learned about the new arrangement during a recent trip to HBO Labs.
Buckley declined to be interviewed for this post, but confirmed the following (scant) details: The deal is for both TV and web-related content, and it neither involves What the Buck? nor will end up being a newsy, vlogger-like show similar to the original show. Apparently HBO was more interested in developing original concepts with Buckley that featuring a fictional story arc.
Buckley’s What the Buck? show is an entertainment news show fueled almost entirely by his energetic personality. According to Buckley, the show has more than 239,000 subscribers, with episodes racking up more than 80 million views.
HBO Labs is an arm of the network that’s been tasked with creating content that can run on multiple platforms, including mobile and oldteevee. Two online HBO Labs series already up are Elevator, a comedy that takes place in a — you guessed it — elevator, and Man in the Box, an office comedy. Additionally, the Lab has produced the viral videos The Great Office War and One Semester of Spanish – Love Song.
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[...] to NewTeeVee, Buckley’s deal with HBO doesn’t include the show, but will instead see Buckley [...]
YouTube star Michael Buckley signed by HBO on September 2nd, 2008 at 8:55 pm - Permalink
This guy is really irritating… I don’t know how he get along with women because he talk more than them, and that is phenomenon. As I said, he looks like geek but not smart one because of too many speaking pointless words.
Ars on November 22nd, 2008 at 6:38 am - Permalink
Ars, he’s gay and married.
Mike on December 11th, 2008 at 10:03 am - Permalink
[...] que decía que me ha llamado la atención es un comentario de Buckley, el cuál, después de firmar un acuerdo de colaboración con HBO, dijo lo siguiente: “I feel YouTube is my home. I think the biggest mistake that any of us [...]
Youtube y los late shows del mañana - Lo dudo mucho on December 16th, 2008 at 2:01 am - Permalink
[...] coming from an ad sharing arrangement he has with YouTube. Matt is now exploring the possibility of doing a show with HBO. But he thinks that people who have cut their teeth in the online space should not abandon the [...]
Amateurs Making Money Off Youtube « Alternative marketing thinking on December 17th, 2008 at 7:19 am - Permalink
He is really annoying but good on him for getting a job off youtube.
True Blood on December 26th, 2008 at 7:14 pm - Permalink
[...] and Elevator as well as sketch comedy bits. Richman did not mention future plans for HBOlabs’ Michael Buckley development deal or the YouTube-stars-as-actors show Hooking Up, though he said all remaining HBOlabs assets had [...]
Break Acquires HBOlab on April 3rd, 2009 at 10:24 am - Permalink
[...] and Elevator as well as sketch comedy bits. Richman did not mention future plans for HBOlabs’ Michael Buckley development deal or the YouTube-stars-as-actors show Hooking Up, though he said all remaining HBOlabs assets had [...]
Geeks meme » Break Acquires HBOlab on April 3rd, 2009 at 10:31 am - Permalink
Not even funny. Good thing HBO’s True Blood Season 2 is out!
sammie on June 14th, 2009 at 11:13 pm - Permalink