High Hopes For Alloy’s New Web Series
Posted by meredith on 05-11-2009
Today’s Youth Advisory Board post is from Alyx Steadman who just finished the fifth installment of the mystery boarding school series “Private” that Alloy will be adapting into one of its new web series on Teen.com. Remember, you can communicate directly with any member of the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board by emailing them at youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com…or just leave a comment.
High Hopes For Alloy’s New Web Series
Alloy Entertainment is a marketing juggernaut in my opinion. The company is the powerhouse behind books like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Gossip Girl, and their film/TV show counterparts. Personally I see them almost unrivaled when it comes to effectively targeting teen girls. And now they are now turning their eyes onto another very popular books series of theirs — “Private.”
These books are by far my favorite series they have, easily surpassing “Gossip Girl” (which is a hard thing to do because I’m a hardcore fan of that series too). The books are about a girl, Reed Brennan, entering a very high-class boarding school. At the school they have societies almost like sororities, each building having a special name with special privileges. The most selective and amazing sorority is the Billings House. It is here that the most popular and powerful girls reside, ruling the school with a firm, well-manicured hand. The story is all about Reed’s climb up the social ladder in hopes of becoming one of the Billings Girls.
Alloy’s new project is to turn this very popular books series (that has made it onto The New York Time’s Bestseller List) into a web series of about 20 episodes. These episodes will be streamed on its video hub—Teen.com. Beforehand, Alloy is also making an online reality show, where girls compete for a part on the web series. They feel it will help build the buzz for the show and get viewers closer into the project.
Personally, I don’t care for competing to get parts in shows. That idea has been tried and failed multiple times, from the “High School Musical: Get in the Picture” competition (where the winner had about four minutes of fame during the credits when everyone was leaving the theater), to the online competition for a part in the “Clique Movie” where I’m pretty sure they didn’t even cast the winner as one of the four main girls. Overall, I disagree with the competition part of the casting, but the “Private” web series itself I think is brilliant.
The books have been excellent so I’m hoping desperately that someone doesn’t go in and screw this up. Alloy could have a big success in the previously iffy web series territory on their hands, and I have faith in them to make it work. If the result is anything like “Gossip Girl” or “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” then I’ll so be watching it with great interest. But only time will tell if this web series will be brilliant… or a bust.
About Alyx
Alyx Steadman is a freshman in high school in Montana, and loves every minute of it. He loves reading, writing, acting, singing, and being a social butterfly. In the past people have accused him of being a YouTube addict and a pop culture junkie (and sadly Alyx cannot deny these accusations). His love for teen culture has led him to many hours slaving on the computer soaking up every piece of drama Hollywood has to offer. In the future he hopes to pursue a writing career as some type of journalist. Excited doesn’t even begin to cover how he’s feeling to be in the Ypulse Advisory Board. “Today the world changes so quickly that in growing up we take leave not just of youth but of the world we were young in.”
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Categorized under: Books & Print, Youth Advisory Board