Nick Foister sent me a link to Fred and Sharon's Movies, which have become the latest viral video sensation. Fred and Sharon are a couple who claim to run a movie production business in Kelowna, Canada. But their movies are so bad they're actually funny. It takes talent to be that bad.
They have over 20 videos on youtube. If you haven't seen any of them, at least watch "Who Needs a Movie?" (below), in which they try to promote their movie production business.
Fred and Sharon also have a website. Their site was originally free and open, but the majority of it has recently been locked down so that you need to pay to see it. However, the fee is only $1, so I paid the buck. Turns out that all the "extra content" you get if you pay is simply more videos freely available on youtube. I would have felt cheated if I had paid more than $1, but since it was so little I didn't mind. They deserve it for producing some amusing content.
The question that many people are wondering is whether Fred and Sharon can possibly be for real. Or are they either a) the creations of an advertising agency, or b) comedians.
I haven't had much luck shedding light on this mystery. Though my gut feeling is that they're genuine. It's their effort to make people pay for their site that most makes me think they're genuine. An ad agency would never try to restrict access to content. But a couple like Fred and Sharon who suddenly start receiving hundreds of thousands of visitors to their site, and are faced with a huge bandwidth charge, probably would decide they need to make some money to cover the costs.
Fred and Sharon's site is registered to someone called Rob Korbynn. The only info I can find out about him is that he also seems to be the webmaster of The Ram's Horn, an Ontario-based journal about "food systems analysis." I'm guessing he's must be a guy who provides web services such as site design to clients in the Ontario area.
Even though I do think Fred and Sharon and for real, I also think they're now purposefully hamming it up for the camera. After all, they must realize they've suddenly got a huge audience.
Posted By: Alex | Date: Tue Mar 25, 2008 | Permalink |
Total Comments: 26
Category:
Photos/Videos
Comments Listed in chronological order. Newest comments at the end.Page 2 of 2 pages <12
OK....
- Peachland is its own municipality in BC
- I can't believe this was ever thought to be a hoax-- having grown up in this place, there are so many dubious small businesses and people of limited talent trying to make a buck it isn't even funny!
Posted by frewheeler in bc on Sat Mar 29, 2008 at 01:48 PM
i must watch that movie :D
Posted by Andrews in USA on Thu Apr 03, 2008 at 05:11 AM
my lord. i'm from kelowna and so embarassed that i am from the same city as these two! i've never seen or heard of them before, but i'm going to keep my eyes peeled hahahaah
Posted by Carly in Kelowna on Thu Apr 10, 2008 at 09:18 PM
JOHNNY:
Peachland is a district municipality. Kelowna is a city, Vernon is a smaller city about an hour north, and about 30 minutes south of Kelowna is the district of Peachland. It is not "a name given to the Kelowna/Vernon area of British Columbia." I see you're from Vancouver - that would be like (for example) calling Burnaby a "name given to the Vancouver/Surrey area." So, in essence, Peachland is a small town south of Kelowna.
Posted by Janice in Kelowna, BC on Thu Apr 10, 2008 at 09:25 PM
Holy Crap what an stupid idiot I is am. I'll make sure to NEVER refer to Kelowna/Vernon area as the Peachland area EVER AGAIN!!! I am really glad I am now clear on the geographical situation of the Peachland area. I mean, could you imagine if this were Jeopardy and it was a daily double and I risked it all!?! I'd have to work extremely hard at getting some money back so I'd have something to wager for Final Jeopardy! "What is the Peachland Area, Alex!?" Oh dear, the look on fellow Canadian Alex's face would really make me feel like a heel. I wonder if the Peachland area has any community service work I could do to make up for this audacious mistake!?
Posted by johnny in Vancouver on Thu Apr 10, 2008 at 10:36 PM
Wow, this is the first time I've seen these people. The video is a riot!
Posted by Steve in USA on Thu Jan 08, 2009 at 09:05 PM
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