$1000 Youtube Contest Results - for real this time!

The results of the Second $1000 Hunted Youtube Contest are in! Yes, finally. Much like our last contest, this was an extremely close competition and I want to thank all of the entrants for their hard work. I also want to thank all our judges for taking the time to carefully consider all of the entries.

Once again, our judges included: Fight Coordinator Richard Ryan (Dark Knight), Comic Book Legend Len Wein (Creator of Wolverine and Swamp Thing), Writer & Executive Producer Gillian Horvath (Highlander), KSR Action Aces Agent Michelle Braverman, Swordmaster Anthony DeLongis (Fearless), and Writer / Critic Abbie Bernstein. Also in attendance at the LA screening were Associate Producer Kerry Glover (Leverage) and past Hunted winner Jason Wong ("Ultimate Weapon").

Remember that episodes were judged based on ALL criteria including acting, action, story, production value, comedy, and Youtube hits and ratings, and while there were episodes that had the best scores in a select category, it was the episodes that averaged best in all categories that made for the best overall Hunted episode!

Congrats guys!

FIRST PLACE - $1000
BLOOD SUCKER PUNCH
Brian Maris, LA

SECOND PLACE - $500
DESERT STORM
Kendall Wells, OR

THIRD PLACE - $250
INFILTRATION - PART 2
Chris Fields and Derek Conley, Tampa, FL

BEST ACTION SEQUENCE - $100
DESERT STORM
Kendall Wells, OR

HOTTEST FEMALE VAMPIRE - $100
DESERT STORM
Kendall Wells, OR

BEST EPISODE FEATURING VAMPFANGS - $100
BLOOD SUCKER PUNCH
Brian Maris, LA

BEST 30-60 SECOND VAMPFANGS COMMERCIAL - $250
BLOOD SUCKER PUNCH
Brian Maris, LA


HONORABLE MENTION

COMEDY
BALLAD OF LEROY
Brett Jones, Tampa, FL

STORY
BITE CLUB
Brian Peters, St Louis

MOST YOUTUBE HITS
EXPULSION - PILOT
(1159 views)
Ned Donovan, NY

ACTING
HUNTED? HUNTED
Kendall Wells, OR

PRODUCTION VALUE
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE
Kendall Wells, OR

BEST INTERNATIONAL
UNSEEN TRUTH
Fred Kracke, South Africa

All entries along with the winning episodes can be viewed online at
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=79E1179259CF2B08

For detailed stats, check out http://www.thehunted.tv/winners2.html

$1000 Youtube Contest Results

...aren't in yet, but just I wanted to make sure that there are no hard feelings out there when the winners are announced. We're also waiting on the last of our online judges.

Yea, sorry guys, I know it's a bit of a tease (call it dramatic tension), but you should know that there were some really awesome entries and I'm just thankful that I'm not making this decision alone. We've got 8 judges, professionals in the industry, and the winning episodes had to have a combination of all of the criteria - acting, action, story, production value, and comedy.

We had some awesome entries last year that had amazing story, production value, and action sequences, but there was no comedy. Conversely, there were some hysterically funny episodes with no action. Futhermore, Youtube hits do count, but they are weighted against all the other criteria. Yea, we've got some serious statistics crunching going on here to make sure this is completely fair.

I just want to thank everyone for being a part of this contest, and I know it's a cliche, but I dig every one of these episodes. To me, the contest is about generating buzz, gaining momentum, attracting more sponsors, and getting folks to create their own content - something that no other internet show has been able to do. The reason Youtube has become the number one watched channel in the world is because it's based on user content. You guys are part of something new and it's quite awesome to see the show develop a life of it's own on virtually no budget.

OK, enough said. The next update will be contest results - I promise!

The Hunted Contest Screening!

I just wanted to thank all of our contest entries for their submissions and their hard work. The quality of the episodes just keeps getting better all the time. We had 21 submissions - almost twice the number of episodes as the first contest.

Once again, the screening was held in Los Angeles on Saturday evening, April 17th. In attendance on the night of the screening were comic book legend Len Wein and his wife Chris, Swordmaster Anthony DeLongis and Mary, KSR Action Aces agent Michelle Braveman and her husband Jeff, and film critic Abbie Bernstein. Also stopping by were Kerry Glover (Associate Producer on Leverage), and past Hunted contest winner Jason Wong ("The Ultimate Weapon").

Together, armed with a professional screening room (thanks to New Deal Studios), an armful of popcorn and concession-type junk food (Goobers were the favorite), and a modicum of alcohol, we waded valiantly through the episodes and had a great time laughing at all the right places (and a few of the wrong ones).

We did learn an important lesson though. Just because you have a full-size projection screen theater doesn't mean you have to use the entire screen. Reality-type footage can get a bit crazy for the folks sitting in the front row (remember Cloverfield). At some point Anthony made the joke that the first place winner should get a tripod. We learned our lesson though, and resized the episodes to a more potable format.

We're hoping to announce our winners tonight, although we're still waiting for a few online votes. And even though Richard Ryan (Fight Master on Dark Knight) is working on a feature film on the other side of the world, and Gillian Horvath is currently working on her show Sanctuary somewhere in the great white north, they have both taken time out of their busy schedules to watch the episodes and send us their votes.

So what's next for the Hunted? The contests have certainly been successful in generating interest, building a fanbase, and gaining the interest of sponsors. It should be noted that any episodes produced at this point will be eligible for future contests, and the sooner the better when it comes to amassing Youtube hits.

In addition to the contests however, the show now has several affiliates who are producing their own content and the hopes are that we can get them funding to keep doing what they are doing. In lieu of sponsors, I'm planning on implementing the same microfinancing techniques used on sites like Kickstarter to raise funding for these shows.

As far as our own LA based chapter of The Hunted, the hopes are to resurrect and shoot our long-lost hour long pilot episode with funding from private investors, microfinancing, or cable networks like Spike, FX or Syfy.

Bob