BY BREE BROUWER
The Fine Bros may be best known for their short-form React series on YouTube (and soon to be on television), but the two fraternal partners are now taking their creative talents to the big screen. Benny and Rafi Fine (who boast over 13.8 million subscribers across three YouTube channels and are both repped by WME) will write, produce, and direct a currently-unnamed film in partnership with Big Block Entertainment Group (which is also repped by WME).
The upcoming movie is set to be a teen comedy filled with a premise of high school growing pains and angst. Here’s the logline from the release:
Comedic feature film that takes an over the top look at the clique filled world of high school and how the people you grew up with, and even used to be friends with, often become the same people who torment you by the time you graduate….and now it’s time for the outcasts to change all of that.
Big Block’s Tom Pelligrini (Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Hesher) and Scott Prisand (Rock of Ages, Jiro Dreams of Sushi) will produce, while the entertainment company’s founder and CEO Scott Benson (Ride) is tapped as an executive producer alongside the Fine Bros’s manager Max Benator.
“We are thrilled to be working alongside Big Block,” said the Fine brothers in the release. “We haven’t made a feature length film since we were teenagers, and we’re excited to be making one now. Consider this our spin on classics like Can’t Hardly Wait and Mean Girls, and we can’t wait to unleash this movie to our 10+ million subscribers and beyond.”
“The Fine Brothers are masters at creating great short form content and have a loyal base of fans that deserve to see a long form video presentation of their creative production,” said Benson. “We believe that this content will lead to even further growth of the Fine’s fan base and will serve as a great example of the types of movies Big Block plans to create with our slate.”
The Fine Bros join a handful of other YouTubers who have had the opportunity to participate in movie-making. As film studios become more aware of the influence and power of a prominent online video creator’s audience, they’ve worked to get deals off the ground with many digital media stars. Shane Dawson, for example, created his film Not Cool for Starz’s reality TV competition series The Chair (which he won). Additionally, Smosh just scored a movie deal with Lionsgate, DEFY Media, and AwesomenessTV.
Traditional film studios, however, aren’t the only entertainment entities transitioning online video stars over to major motion pictures. New media companies started the trend and are ardently continuing the practice. RockStream Studios helped Hannah Hart, Mamrie Hart, and Grace Helbig‘s direct-to-download Camp Takota become an undeniable hit online before its principal, MIchael Goldfine joined Fullscreen to presumably make more flicks. AwesomenessTV will release a direct-to-download film in December 2014 starring prominent Viner Cameron Dallas. And The Fine Bros’ very own Benator just recently announced his plans to fund much more long-form programming starring online video creators under the banner of Supergravity (with which, to be clear, this Fine Bros. film is not associated).
There’s no word yet on who will the star in The Fine Bros. project or how the final product will be distributed, but we’re definitely curious to see which online video creator appears next on the silver screen and how his or fans will be able to watch the action. Until then, The Fine Bros., Big Block Entertainment deal is another soon-to-be-named title in a fast growing list of feature-length projects from online video stars.
Screengrab via SoulPancake/YouTube