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"25 NEW FACES" PICKS THE NEISTAT BROTHERS SELL SERIES TO HBO
Casey and Van Neistat, who Filmmaker picked as part of our 2006 “25 New Faces” selections of up-and-coming talent, have had their independently produced autobiographical series bought by HBO. According to Variety, which reported the story, the series is exec produced by Tom Scott, founder of the Nantucket Nectars juice company as well as the Plum TV network. In the Filmmaker piece, Matt Ross detailed the brothers’ early career, the full text of which can be found at the link:
The Neistats began making films in 2000 with the purchase of two iMac DVs, and their early projects involved reworking home movie footage shot in the ’80s and ’90s. The piece that first got them attention was 2003’s iPod’s Dirty Secret, a three-minute video that involved, not surprisingly, sticking it to the man: as we hear a customer service representative from Apple explain to the brothers that the iPod battery will eventually die but will not be replaced by the company, Casey walks around spray-painting a warning on iPod ads that have been plastered all over New York City.
The video went viral, and the brothers kept churning out short films and videos at an astonishing rate — they now have more than 300 no-budget shorts to their credit (which have been shown at 30 film festivals and seven museums worldwide). For a recent project, The Challenge (which aired on Comedy Central), the brothers responded to a friend’s dare to make a film in one day by doing a shot-for-shot remake of the Jurassic Park trailer with items bought in a thrift store.
“25 New Faces” is an annual feature in which Filmmaker selects the rising writers, directors, actors and other filmmaking talent we believe will be shaping the independent film of the future. To view our most recent list, click here.
