Bedroom TV comes to Hollywood
First off we should say almost everything about our company is oddball. Eight TV is the bedroom shopping network. Our shows are made mainly by teenagers, nearly always in their bedrooms, selling you stuff they’re not actually gonna give you, without any puppy ears or pretty filters in sight.. The shows are goofy, real, sometimes oddball, full of insane knowledge and creativity, and we’re adding over a thousand of them every day… Getting here for a ragtag assortment of unknown and unconnected immigrants has been a bizarro journey that’s brought us to Silicon Valley via Hollywood. Somewhere along the way we told Jessica Alba we didn’t want to work with her, grabbed beers with Gary Vaynerchuk and moved next door to Youtube’s first ever office. Go figure..
Today you can watch our journey on Planet of the Apps, an amazing new show available exclusively on Apple Music that gives a shot even to outsiders like ourselves.
Our team’s DNA is in film and video, so to see Hollywood up close was something we’d have happily paid for (if we actually had any money- the day we pitched the VCs on the show we let slip that our bank account was $73 overdrawn). The experience couldn’t help but reinforce to us the immense power of the moving image at its finest, it’s ability to turn regular mortals into stars.
But bizarrely Hollywood is almost the exact opposite of everything we’re building at eight TV. Eight TV is DIY TV. Bedroom TV. Even our produced shows like The Yung Poppy Show, a 1 minute per episode sitcom with one of the country’s top young comedy stars, First Look, a fashion and Style Show shot in Manhattan with some of the biggest names in fashion, and The Mel Joy Show a look inside the closet of the most loved teen Youtuber in the country were all hustled together on a shoestring after pulling in favors and sometimes outright begging.
Seeing Hollywood close up, it’s clearer than ever that while there’ll always be a huge market for high end produced TV, the opportunity to help the next generation become the stars of their own silver screen, the one in their pocket is vaster and more exciting than ever. The most popular show on eight TV today is made by an insanely talented 14 year old from her bedroom in California, the unstoppable Fiona Frills. Her show has thousands of viewers and it’s growing every day. And there’s thousands more just like Fiona, more often than not, ambitious talented young women, building their brands and businesses through video, Emily Lee, Mel Joy, Michelle Estrada, Leigh Anne Tannar the list goes on…
But today feels like a good day to take a second to pause and say thanks to everyone involved in this incredible show. We want to thank Apple who had the vision to create it; Howard, Ben and the whole production team at Propagate for the incredible job making it; Will, Jessica and Gwyneth for genuine insights and encouragement (even after the show) and of course Gary Vaynerchuk who gave us our shot and fought for us every step of the way; and of course to Lightspeed Venture Partners who somehow always seem to find the outsiders when its 100x easier to go with the insiders. But most of all we want to thank all the creators, the oddballs, the goofs, the stars of tomorrow, in their bedrooms, bathrooms, in stores and on the street, who’ve taken a shot on eight TV. The next generation of businesswomen and businessmen and creators and experts and misfits. We know you, we watch you, we’re like you. And throughout it all there’s one thing we’ve learnt. You don’t need to be in Hollywood to be on the silver screen.
