INTERVIEW

Brownmark Films: Q&A With The Creators Of "What What (In The Butt)"

Written by Jeffrey Williams
Published May 08, 2008
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We've both been fans for a long time. Matt and Trey are incredibly smart. And Team America is a very important film.

[We think] the Butters version is great! Butters really stepped up to the plate and gave it everything he had, but let's face it: he's not as mysteriously unnerving as Samwell. Check out Samwell's smile at 1:27. But seriously, the attention to detail they put into the Butters version is very flattering. It's a full minute, shot-for-shot remake of something we put a lot of work into, by a show we respect a TON.

Samwell's pretty excited too. In his second YouTube interview, which predates the Butters version, he says he loves South Park: "I love South Park. What a BAD show. But I LOVE it!"

A big point of the South Park episode is that Internet videos don't generate any money for their creators. You created a huge Internet sensation; did you earn any money from the video? Or from the South Park licensing?

Brownmark [Films] recently became a "YouTube Partner," which means we get a portion of YouTube's advertising revenue for our videos. We became partners three months ago and so far we haven't seen a check yet, so in a way it's hilariously just like the "waiting room scene" in the South Park episode – we're waiting for our theoretical money. And since South Park never contacted us about licensing, we didn't earn any money there!

Do you feel that the YouTube and South Park fame has translated to opportunities to make money in other arenas? What did the 10 million plus page views do for you?

A lot of friends ask if the "What What" video has made us rich, but even after 10 million views we haven't really made any money from it. The cool thing, though, is that some doors have become slightly more open because of the video's exposure and popularity. For example, Elvira (Mistress of the Dark) was already a fan of the "What What" video when we approached her to do a cameo voice-over for Leslie Hall's "Zombie Killer" video. It's given us a little bit of street cred, in a weird way.

Getting something to be popular on the Internet is the new frontier, everybody's scrambling to crack the code.

Do you have crossover aspirations to television, feature films, and traditional media? Or are you committed to the Internet, and alternative distribution outlets?

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Jeffrey Williams has been a professional editor for fifteen years, and has been analyzing movies for a lot longer than that.
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Brownmark Films: Q&A With The Creators Of "What What (In The Butt)"
Published: May 08, 2008
Type: Interview
Section: Video
Filed Under: Sci/Tech: Internet, Video: Animation, Video: Comedy, Video: Film and TV Business, Video: Television
Writer: Jeffrey Williams
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