Exclusive: UTA Signs ‘Annoying Orange’ Creator Dane Boedigheimer in All Areas
United Talent Agency has signed Dane Boedigheimer, the creator best known for his hit digital-to-television hit “Annoying Orange.” Boedigheimer, who’s YouTube moniker is “Daneboe,” has not had representation previously. Joining UTA is his first major foray into the talent agency world*, although he was a member of the Collective Digital Studios network until recently. Signed by UTA partner and head of digital media Brent Weinstein, Daneboe will be represented by the agency in all areas, with a focus first on his bread and butter — digital and linear TV projects.
“Dane is a true digital pioneer who has created a genuine franchise property with the ‘Annoying Orange’ and we are excited to help him continue to expand that brand, as well as help him launch his next big franchise,” said Weinstein.
Other digital native talent repped by UTA includes JennxPenn, Hannah Hart, Michelle Phan, Shane Dawson, Joey Graceffa, iJustine and Lele Pons.
For those not immediately familiar with the digital animator extraordinaire and his tentpole project ‘Annoying Orange,’ YouTube creator Dane Boedigheimer joined YouTube in 2006, where he posted for three years before creating the animated comedy show “Annoying Orange,” which was later packaged and sold to Cartoon Network, where it began airing in 2012. And while he would have once upon a time shrieked at the prospect of a television project, Boedigheimer is now excited to develop more projects for multiple platforms now that he’s “more familiar with the process.”
We caught up with Boedigheimer and talked to him about what joining an agency means for his future projects and got a teaser about a few we might see next on his development slate.
What was most interesting about signing with UTA?
I spoke to a number of great agencies, but when I sat down with Brent, he had a particular energy and excitement that made me excited. They work with a lot of digital talent who are doing great things, whether with movies television, live events or even books, so really it was their ability to have their hands in everything.
You’re no stranger to both digital and television. What’s the first focus — to return to your digital roots with some big projects or continue to look at television and feature films?
As of right now, I’m looking to dive into a few different areas. There are digital platforms and digital series that I’d love to produce and that we’re looking to make come to fruition. Same with TV. We have a number of different projects we’ve been working on in the background, so we’re actively exploring development.
Do you have a preference on digital versus traditional, given that the production process and timelines are quite different?
I feel like I’ve been doing this for awhile, having a web show that’s been going on for six years now that transitioned into a tv show that was also very successful. It was a huge learning experience.
After having my own show and seeing the inner workings [of TV], I learned a lot. Now I absolutely know the ins and outs of having a tv show, so before I might not have wanted to pursue TV, but knowing how it works, I’m absolutely okay with having one now. I would love to get into theatrical as well. It’s something I started off wanting to do and [I’m] working my way there, [to a] TV show and maybe a movie.
Obviously, Annoying Orange was massively popular as an animated series. Are you looking at live action and other formats?
Really, what gives me the most joy is animation — you know, scripted animation and content. Those are the bulk of what I’m pursuing now.
It seems you’ve seen the perks and the pains of the early and more developed digital video industry.
There’s been a number of things that have happened to me and all kinds of digital creators and stars. Brent was cognizant of that and he’s been around the block, so he knows how to take care of his talent and that is one of the biggest things for me, having that trust and being able to move forward fully with trust.
It’s crazy how white hot the industry is and the demand for content. A good time to be a creator!
There’s so many more players now. Not that long ago, it was only YouTube. Now, you’ve got so many different choices from Snapchat, Vine… so many places to go. It’s great because there are so many more people and more [opportunities] to reach a wide audience. Competition is a good thing, but my first love is always YouTube. I really hope the ability to sustain a biz on YouTube remains, but it is good to see some of these other platforms popping up, and ones where you’re not just creating content for free.
Can you tell us what content you’ve got on deck and what we might see living on some of those platforms in the near future?
A number of new animated shows we’re doing that we’re going to be releasing on the Annoying Orange channel starts tomorrow. Same vein of all the FX series right now. Higher production value. We’ve gota number of animated cartoons developing for traditional and digital. A couple Cartoon Network-style, but also some more adult-themed stuff that’s more like Adult Swim.
*Boedigheimer was repped by George Ruiz for a very short time during Ruiz’ days at ICM.
