Image posted by danielbeast in the lonelygirl15 forum
The LA Times has a big piece today, Mystery Fuels Huge Popularity of Web's Lonelygirl15.
No one has publicly come forward to lay claim to her work, but she is starting to look as connected in Hollywood as any starlet. Three lonelygirl15-obsessed amateur Web sleuths set up a sting using tracking software that appears to show that e-mails sent from a lonelygirl15 account came from inside the offices of the Beverly Hills-based talent agency Creative Artists Agency.
The apparent CAA link takes its place alongside other tantalizing pieces of evidence that lonelygirl15 is not who she claims to be: a copyright for the name obtained by an Encino lawyer, and a plot line that, leading speculation suggests, will turn out to be the lead-in to a horror movie's marketing campaign.
Presumably this was written before A Message From the Creators was posted yesterday at the Lonelygirl15 forum. This says "We are filmmakers" and "we aren't a big corporation. We are just like you. A few people who love good stories."
Thank you so much for enjoying our show so far. We are amazed by the overwhelmingly positive response to our videos; it has exceeded our wildest expectations. With your help we believe we are witnessing the birth of a new art form. Our intention from the outset has been to tell a story-- A story that could only be told using the medium of video blogs and the distribution power of the internet. A story that is interactive and constantly evolving with the audience.
Right now, the biggest mystery of Lonelygirl15 is "who is she?" We think this is an oversimplification. Lonelygirl15 is a reflection of everyone. She is no more real or fictitious than the portions of our personalities that we choose to show (or hide) when we interact with the people around us. Regardless, there are deeper mysteries buried within the plot, dialogue, and background of the Lonelygirl15 videos, and many of our tireless and dedicated fans have unearthed some of these. There are many more to come.
We still don't know who "they" are, but http://www.lonelygirl15.com/ has the videos before YouTube, it's not just using YouTube links.
Comment: The latest video, Poor Pluto, has had 311,356 views and 2,000 comments in two days. It's getting a big audience.
But there are at least two interesting questions. First, will knowing it's a fake turn off people who must already have believed -- or at least very strongly suspected -- it was a fake? Second, will the story be strong enough to carry an audience if there isn't a pay-off. In other words, if lonelygirl15 is only viral marketing for lonelygirl15, not for a TV show or movie or whatever, and there's nothing else to see.....
Update: The story has now appeared in Saturday's Guardian, Cult blog a fake, admit 'lonelygirl' creators
