There is little doubt that Dane Boedigheimer has created an online sensation that struck a pop cultural nerve. The Annoying Orange web videos that he?s been rolling out for the last two years have racked up more than 800 million views on YouTube, where the threshold for a runaway hit is about 50 million.
Sprint and Dole have paid to use his wisecracking cartoon creation in marketing campaigns, and Toys ?R? Us, Radio Shack and JC Penney are rolling out merchandise for the Christmas season. But TV channels and movie studios have yet to bite on Boedigheimer?s videos, which feature the kitchen adventures of an animated orange with a sinister smile and his buddies from the fruit and vegetable bins. And Boedigheimer, 31, isn?t waiting for their courtship. After receiving lukewarm responses to his informal overtures for an Annoying Orange TV show, he opted for an alternative route: He made his own pilot, financed not by a studio or network, but by the management company representing him.
?The reaction is always, ?I see why it resonates in a bite-sized way on the web, but how is this a full-blown TV show??? said Dan Weinstein, one of Boedigheimer?s managers.
Maybe it isn?t. There is certainly no guarantee that a cartoon orange can become the next SpongeBob SquarePants.
But web video was supposed to be Hollywood?s greatest laboratory ever, a place to incubate ideas cheaply and take some of the stomach-churning guesswork out of selecting concepts for shows and movies ? instead of spending millions to develop entertainment that more often than not flops straight out of the gate.
Six years after the proliferation of web video, the number of entertainment concepts that have moved from internet shorts to successful television shows are few. Hollywood still largely relies on its time-tested methods of finding hits: scripts funnelled through agencies, young comedians, books and magazine articles. ?The industry needs to continue to take risks on fresh ideas and people and, to that end, figure out how to better mine the web,? said Jeff Gaspin, former chairman of NBC Universal Television.
Boedigheimer got the idea for the Annoying Orange one night in 2009 when he was lying in bed. He started thinking about a piece of fruit that could talk and got the giggles. His dog, Cuddles, looked at him as if he were crazy, ?but I couldn?t get it out of my head,? Boedigheimer said.
The next day, he bought an orange at a Food 4 Less supermarket and went to work in his kitchen, taping a segment with a Sony video camera and using software like Final Cut Pro to make a clip for YouTube. Working with friends, Boedigheimer has since made more than 90 videos, uploading a new one on YouTube every Friday.
?People respond because it?s simple and silly,? he said. ?That, and people like to see talking food get hacked in half. Everybody needs a good kersplat once in a while.?
Even if Hollywood remains unpersuaded, the Annoying Orange is about to become ubiquitous at the mall. The Collective plans to announce on Monday that it has secured a wide-ranging merchandise deal for the fruit. Themed T-shirts will arrive at Penney?s stores nationwide in October; Toys ?R? Us will ?prominently position? talking plush Oranges and related backpack adornments, among other items, in its stores, according to Richard Barry, a vice-president of the chain.
?We think the irreverent humour is right on trend,? Barry said.