LGPedia - User contributions [en]

Lonelygirl15

2007-02-02T10:32:40Z

Shaina: /* Media reports of fictionality */

{{cleanup}}

{{FakeBlog2
| episode =
| name = lonelygirl15
| image = Bree.jpg
| caption = lonelygirl15, aka [[Bree]], in one of her video blogs.
| item01a = Created by
| item01b = [[Miles Beckett]], [[Mesh Flinders]] and [[Greg Goodfried]]
| category1 = Cast
| item11a = [[Bree]]
| item11b = [[Jessica Lee Rose]]
| item12a = [[Daniel]]
| item12b = [[Yousef Abu-Taleb]]
| item13a = [[Jonas]]
| item13b = [[Jackson Davis]]
| item14a = [[Gemma]]
| item14b = [[Jackie Jandrell]]
}}

'''lonelygirl15''' is a fictional [[vlog|video blog]] that came to international attention via [[YouTube]]. The central character, lonelygirl15, is a YouTube user named [[Bree]] who began posting blogs in June, 2006.

Her blogs quickly became very popular, but viewers grew suspicious that lonelygirl15 was not real. The question of whether or not she was real received a great deal of attention in the media, from late August to early September. Fans ultimately exposed lonelygirl15 as a fictitious character played by [[New Zealand]] actress [[Jessica Lee Rose]]. [[The creators]] of the series were identified as [[Miles Beckett]], [[Mesh Flinders]] and [[Greg Goodfried]].

The series is still running with new videos appearing regularly. Lonelygirl15 won the VH1 "Big in '06" award for Biggest Download, and remains the most-subscribed channel on YouTube, with over 75,000 subscribers as of Jan. 2006.

==Theme and plot==
[[Image:Vid9.jpg|left|thumb|200px|For a complete synopsis of the plot, see [[The Story So Far...]]]]

In the beginning, Bree's videos were similar to those of many other popular vloggers on YouTube. She would make brief videos out of her bedroom about her life, her best friend [[Daniel]], and her conflicts with her parents.

Bree was homeschooled and lonely. Her only friend, who introduced her to YouTube and video editing, was Daniel, whom she met during a brief stint in public school two years earlier. Daniel had a crush on Bree, but Bree's parents wouldn't let her out of the house, and these tensions were behind many of the early videos.

Eventually, it was revealed that Bree was a member of a secretive religion, originally believed to be [[Thelema]] but later recognized as the fictional [[Order of Denderah]]. Bree was selected to participate in a mysterious ceremony for the religion, but eventually ran away from home rather than participate.

Around the time Bree ran away, another character was introduced, an old friend named [[Gemma]]. Gemma made video responses to Bree's videos giving her advice, but it was eventually revealed that Gemma was working for The Order, trying to get Bree to participate in the ceremony.

Eventually, a character named [[Jonas]], a rich orphan, offered Bree and Daniel a place to stay. The characters are currently living at Jonas's house while trying to figure out what to do.

The show gradually abandoned its premise of being a highly-realistic story about a young vlogger. Many members of Bree's religion appear to be evil, going so far as to subject Bree to frequent injections of an unknown substance. Recent plot developments have included the murder of Bree's father, and the revelation that Bree was adopted.

For a complete summary of the story, see [[The Story So Far...]]

==Revelations of fictionality==

===Initial speculation===

Fans of lonelygirl15’s video posts quickly began to wonder if Bree was, in fact, a real person or if the posts were part of a teaser campaign for a television show or an upcoming movie. Others felt that the blog might be part of an [[Alternate Reality Game|alternate reality game]].

[[Image:DanielLight.gif|right|thumb|200px|Daniel attempting to light a candle underneath a picture of [[Aleister Crowley]]. For the full story of how fans unearthed the truth behind lonelygirl15, see [[Down The Rabbit Hole: The Hunt For Bree|The Hunt For Bree]].]]

Fans pointed to small inconsistencies within the videos as evidence that the story might not be genuine.

* The website [[lonelygirl15.com]], supposedly created by a fan named [[Bukanator]], was registered in May 2006, several weeks prior to Bree actually uploading her first video.

* Bree had several fights with Daniel on webcam. It seemed unlikely a girl who just endured real fights with her only friend would upload those fights to YouTube.

* The appearance of [[Aleister Crowley]] on Bree's bedroom wall seemed improbable.

===Media reports of fictionality===

* [[Richard Rushfield]] of ''The Los Angeles Times'' reported in an article dated September 8, 2006, that three lonelygirl15 fans - [[Shaina Wedmedyk]], Chris Patterson, and an anonymous law student (these three fans are known as the [[Phorum 3]]) - set up a sting operation using IP address tracking software that showed that e-mails sent from a lonelygirl15 [[MySpace]] account were traced to the offices of [[Creative Artists Agency]], a powerful Hollywood talent agency based in Beverly Hills.[http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-lonelygirl8sep08,0,5310001.story]

* On Sept. 11 a commenter on the website TMZ.com said that he recognized Bree, and posted a link to her MySpace account. At 1:41 a.m. Sept. 12, members of [[The Children of Anchor Cove]] used Google cache to discover that the account belonged to New Zealand actress [[Jessica Lee Rose]]. Several other blogs quickly uncovered cached photos of Jessica Lee Rose and took credit for her discovery.<ref name = Applause>{{cite news | url = http://screens.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=77 | title = Applause for lonelygirl15, and DVD Extras | publisher = [[New York Times]] | date = [[2006-09-12]] | accessdate = 2006-09-13 | work = Screens | author = [[Virginia Heffernan|Heffernan, Virginia]] }}</ref>

* [[Virginia Heffernan]] of ''The New York Times'', on September 12, confirmed that the creators of the series are represented by CAA and that CAA was one of several locations used by the creators of the series to send emails from lonelygirl15 accounts. She identified [[Miles Beckett]] and [[Mesh Flinders]] as the creators of the project. One main source for her story was [[Grant Steinfeld]].

* The ''Los Angeles Times'', on September 13th, featured the first interview with the creators of lonelygirl15, confirming the link between the creators and the CAA. This story also identified [[Greg Goodfried]] as one of the creators. [http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-me-lonelygirl13sep13,1,3672640.story?coll=la-headlines-entnews&track=crosspromo]

* On the evening of Sept. 14, Jessica Lee Rose appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, where she announced her name, where she was from, her actual age and that she was not lonely anymore. On Sept. 14 she also appeared in a number of interviews in front of promotional materials for [[Revver]], the site that now hosts the lonelygirl15 videos.

== After the Reveal ==

The media attention on lonelygirl15 only helped the show grow in popularity. Shortly after Sept. 13, lonelygirl15's channel on YouTube surpassed Geriatric1927 to become the most-subscribed channel on YouTube, a position it has held solidly ever since.

The creators of the series announced that they would continue producing the series. According to a story in Wired magazine, the creators talked to television executives, but were unhappy with the meetings, and decided to keep the series on the Internet, with interactivity as a major focus.

From September 9, 2006 onwards, lonelygirl15.com has served the series from [[Revver]], a service that allows video creators to make money from their videos by having ads automatically inserted after their videos. Sometimes videos have appeared on Revver significantly in advance of appearing on YouTube. Upgrades have also been made to the lonelygirl15.com Web site, including the addition of a userplane chat, and later a Flash-based chat that supported video and audio. A wiki, named the [[LGPedia]] was added to the site on Sept. 29. A store selling merchandise was also added.

The production has struggled, however, to earn enough money to cover production costs as well as salaries for cast and crew. According to Wired Magazine, the site generates about $10,000 a month in ad revenue. It is unknown how much may have been earned from [[LGPedia:Site support|donations]] or merchandise sales at the store.

The character Bree has been used in an ad campaign for the United Nations to fight poverty. The video, [[Stand Up Lonelygirl15]] was released as part of a broad campaign on YouTube to spark a buzz online about the United Nation's Millenium Goals.

==Production Techniques==
[[Image:Lighting the set.jpg]]

This picture shows what appears to be [[Miles Beckett]] lighting the set with relative simple equipment.

[[Miles Beckett]] also appears to participate in the video editing.

The video editing style uses frequent [[jump cuts]].

[[Cast]]

== Trivia ==
* The series was developed under the working title ''The Children of Anchor Cove'' [http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNjcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY5OTI4MTEmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3].

* lonelygirl15 has various signature items/props that appear in its episodes. Recurring props include a pink feather boa, a safari hat, and her beloved puppet Purple Monkey (a.k.a. "P-Monkey").

* There are references to the occultic philosophy of [[Thelema]]; on the lonelygirl15.com website, the greek letters θέλημα ("Thelema") appear at the bottom of the page, along with three unicursal hexagrams on the header bar, and the phrase "Site design by Darbyite Design" at the bottom.

* The total number of views in the lonelygirl15 series is estimated to be about 28,000,000 views.

==References==

* Richards, Jonathan; "[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2319463,00.html Worldwide fame for a lonely girl]", 2006-08-19
* Glaser, Mark; "[http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/09/lonelygirl15_outedmatt_foremsk.html Matt Foremski’s Sleuthing Leads to Jessica Rose]", 2006-09-12

==External links==

;Official sites
* [http://www.lonelygirl15.com/ Lonelygirl15.com]
* [http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=lonelygirl15 YouTube: Lonelygirl15]

;Related official sites
* [http://www.myspace.com/lonelygurl15 MySpace: Lonelygirl15]
* [http://www.myspace.com/danielbeast MySpace: Danielbeast]

;Articles

* [http://www.caffeinemarketing.com/online-marketing/lonelygirl15-hired-by-united-nations/ "LonelyGirl15 Hired By The United Nations"], ''CaffeineMarketing.com''
* [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14816502/wid/11915829&GT1=8596 "Creators of Lonelygirl15 blogs go public"], ''MSNBC.com''
* [http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/index.php?menuID=2&subID=903 Lonely Girl 15, real name Jessica Rose, exposed as fake. Published 9/12 4pm GMT]
* [http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1540910/20060914/index.jhtml?headlines=true Jessica Rose Interview (print and video) on MTV]Jessica Rose on MTV larger interview, also with "DanielBeast" (Video not available to those outside the U.S.)
* [http://www.eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=1762 "LonelyGirl15 exposes the Net's illogical sense of community"], article on the deception of the lonelygirl15 project''www.eurekastreet.com.au''

Down The Rabbit Hole: The Hunt For Bree

2007-02-02T10:30:19Z

Shaina: /* The CAA Connection */ who wrote this section having no knowledge of what really happened? I mean honestly.

[[Image:Lazyeye.jpg|thumb|200px|Who's that girl?]]

In the summer of 2006, as the Lonelygirl15 [[List of Lonelygirl15 videos|video series]] gained popularity on [[YouTube]], a growing collection of fans became obsessed with cracking the mystery of lonelygirl15. The Hunt for Bree became a major internet phenomenon that captured the attention of many YouTubers and was heavily covered in the mainstream media.

==Early Suspicions==
By the time the [[First Blog / Dorkiness Prevails|first lonelygirl15 vlog]] appeared on YouTube on June 16, [[Bree]] had already developed a large fan base. Two videos had been posted to her account, [[YouTubers Secret Language]] and [[Paytotheorderofofof vs. Dinosaur]], which included references to many popular YouTubers at the time. By friending popular users, such as Paytotheorderofofof and The Wine Kone, and subscribing to hundreds of channels, Bree instantly had a large fan base.

[[Image:Doubter.jpg|thumb|200px|The first doubt|left]]

Suspicions that Bree was something other than a 16-year-old homeschooler began almost immediately. In the comments of Bree's first video, some users already questioned whether she was really 16.

More suspicions quickly arose around lonelygirl15. The editing in her videos was distinctive. While most [[vlog|vloggers]] would record one long take and post it without much editing, Bree's videos consisted of dozens of short takes. While not outside the technical capabilities of a smart high schooler, the process seemed unnecessarily time consuming.

Others noted that Bree's video blog was unusually well-lighted. It appeared that Bree employed a technique called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fill_light fill lighting] to provide illumination on the part of her face that was in shadows. Still others cited Bree's striking good looks, flawless complexion and distinctive [[Breebrows|eyebrows]] as suspicious.

==Is That a... Story Arc?==
As the series developed, many fans noted that lonelygirl15's videos appeared to have a plot. This alleged storyboarding suggested that lonelygirl15 was working off a script. The videos were more episodic and on-point than most vloggers at the time.

*[[School Work in Summer... BLECHH!!!|School Work in Summer...]] -- establishes Bree's protective parents
*[[The Danielbeast]] -- introduces Bree's geeky editor, [[Daniel]].
*[[Grillz feat. Danielbeast, LG15, P. Monkey, and O'n| Grillz]] -- shows the two having fun together.
*[[My Parents Suck...]] -- introduces the conflict between parents and Daniel.
*[[Daniel Responds]] -- a soliloquy from Daniel.
*[[Daniel Returns, and More Interesting Factoids (Yay!)|Daniel Returns]] -- the story arc resolves.

Throughout the series, similar sequences of events have unfolded. The technique was described by [[Brian Flemming]] as a video adaptation of the Epistolary Novel.

==Enter Bukanator: An Over-Eager Fan==
Amid the comments of Bree's very first video, a YouTube user named [[Bukanator]] commented, "This is wonderful." Bukanator responded favorably to every early video Bree posted, at times defending Bree from critical comments. Bukanator was supposedly a 38-year-old software engineer from San Francisco.

After less than a month of videos, on July 16th, Bukanator announced in the comments of YouTube that he had created a fan site for Bree at [[lonelygirl15.com]]. As Bukanator was supposedly a 38-year-old man, this struck many people as very strange and inappropriate behavior. The site contained a blog of all the videos as well as a [[phorum|forum]] for discussion, which seemed unnecessary since lonelygirl15 had posted relatively few videos at this point. On July 19, the blog Liquid Generation reported that YouTube users looked up the site registration of lonelygirl15.com.

A search in a WHOIS directory revealed that the site had been registered on May 12, 2006, along with lonelygirl15.org and lonelygirl15.net. Since Bree had not posted her first video until May 24 and her first vlog until June 16, it was impossible for a random fan to have registered the site that early. The site had been registered through DomainsByProxy, the default proxy registration site of [http://www.godaddy.com/ GoDaddy.com].

When confronted about this discrepancy, Bukanator claimed that Daniel had registered the site. Daniel then claimed in YouTube comments that he had been teasing Bree about how she was going to be a famous vlogger, and he registered the site as a joke. He further claimed that Bukanator had e-mailed him about starting a fan site and so he let him use lonelygirl15.com.

Virtually nobody believed the story. On July 20th, YouTube user [[gohepcat]] became the first to post a video listing arguments that lonelygirl15 was fake, citing the fan site registration, the story arc, the use of fill-lighting and the odd fact that Daniel is allowed in Bree's bedroom with the door closed.

==Crowley: An Unlikely Icon==
[[Image:Crowleyshrine.jpg|thumb|200px|Thelemite? Seriously?]]

In the video, [[What Did Daniel and Dad Talk About?]], posted on YouTube on August 6, 2006, Daniel begins lighting candles around Bree's room. When he walks to Bree's bookshelf, the image above the candles is briefly, but clearly shown on camera. Bree scolds Daniel when he attempts to light the candles. Viewers of the video on YouTube quickly identified the image as [[Aleister Crowley]].

Bree had mentioned in previous videos that her parent's were strictly [[Bree's religion|religious]]. In the comments to her videos on YouTube she went so far as to identify her religion as non-Christian, but claimed reluctance to share more information as she suspected viewers would not be kind. Only a very small number of viewers had seen the YouTube comment that Bree was not Christian, so the Crowley picture was extremely surprising.

Within days, a video called [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K66l7DRUHBE Lonelygirl15 is a Satanist] appeared on YouTube inaccurately linking Crowley to Satanism and Adolf Hitler. The video went on to claim that lonelygirl15 was a promotion for museumofhoaxes.com, the first of many wildly inaccurate theories on the production.

A thread on Bree's religion became the first active thread at lonelygirl15.com's phorum. Over the course of the next few weeks hundreds of fans registered at the forum and the frenzied posting and media storm which eventually led to Bree's outing began.

==In the Eye of the Media Storm==
With the appearance of Aleister Crowley, the suspicion about the Web site, and the growing amount of media attention, beginning with [[Virginia Heffernan]]'s late July blog, the search for lonelygirl reached a frenzy in mid-August. Beginning with [[HyeMew]] on Aug. 7, first dozens and soon hundreds of fans registered at the phorum and began attempts to solve the mystery.

Fans were led astray by a number of red-herring theories. For a long-period of time, many believed that film-maker [[Brian Flemming]] who had written about LG in his blog was the main suspect, and that the videos were part of an upcoming movie. Many suspected that the project was viral-marketing for a Hollywood film, such as an upcoming film [[Pattern Recognition]] based on a novel that has similarities to the lonelygirl15 production. Upcoming horror movies were also suspects, such as The Grudge II.

As new theories surfaced, journalists like [[Jon Fine]], [[Richard Rushfield]] and [[Virginia Heffernan]] raced to get denials from accused parties. A number of actresses were falsely identified as Bree, despite sometimes bearing only the vaguest resemblance, including several actresses known to Brian Flemming, several small-time actresses on MySpace, and even the well-known British actress Jodi Albert. Users such as [[T]] and Bree's top on MySpace, also caused diversions.

Despite the abundance of false theories, information about the videos was slowly discovered:
*On August 28, poster Flwright, an architect, opined from the appearance of the rooms that the videos were filmed in apartment buildings instead of detached single family housing, suggesting that the videos were an amateur production.
*On August 29 a report of a botanist that the [[My Parents... Let Us Go Hiking!!!|Hiking video]] had likely taken place in central to southern California was posted. This was the first concrete evidentiary link to California.
*On August 30, a mysterious poster known as Curious Botanist also linked the flora in the new [[Swimming!|Swimming video]] to southern California.
*On September 1, poster scdgoofy uncovered that [[Kenneth Goodfried]], an attorney in Encino, California, had filed to register lonelygirl15 as a trademark on August 21, 2006.

Users also discovered that in several videos Daniel was holding contemporary magazines, and that the calendar in Bree's room, which was widely available at Target, displayed the correct month, establishing that the videos were likely filmed in real time. [[Purple Monkey]], [[Owen]], and much of the contents of Bree's room were also found to be available at Target.

Journalists and bloggers wrote about each discovery, and as the phenomenon grew, the phorum became increasingly unreadable. Members of the phorum and the media, many who were spending their entire days trying to unearth clues became increasingly frustrated.

==The Rise of the Phorum 3==
Toward the end of August, a group of users decided that the phorum was compromised and that further attempts to discover Bree's identity would require plotting outside of the phorum. A group of 6 phorum members exchanged Instant Messenger contacts and developed a plot to capture Bree's IP address. The group eventually became known as the [[Phorum 3]] as their numbers dwindled.

One member of the original 6 immediately notified Bree and Daniel of the trap, which he felt went too far on the off-chance that these were real teenagers. Another member refused to participate, feeling that the IP trapping crossed a line. The Phorum 3, led by a poster named [[Jessica]] nevertheless acquired an IP address they believed to be Bree's. By utilizing [[SharpDressedMan]]'s trace-route software from various parts of the world, the Phorum 3 believed they had located Bree. But the IP they had caught was resolved to AOL, and the actual location of the internet user posing as Bree could have been anywhere in California, with root servers in Mountain View.

On an Aug. 31 post, Jessica said that the IP address pointed to Mountain View, California, which she incorrectly believed was the same as San Mateo. Jessica suggested that the most likely explanation for Bree's videos was that they were created by [[YouTube]] itself, which is based in San Mateo.

Although her theory was completely incorrect, it was cited in several media outlets as likely. Also on Aug. 31, [[Jon Fine]] of Business Week, [http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/FineOnMedia/archives/2006/08/lonelygirl15_co.html published his theory] that lonelygirl15 was "created by a small coterie of creative types." Fine's article used only anonymous sources, and it is unknown how much he actually knew. The noise generated from the Phorum 3's false theory, nevertheless drowned out Fine's correct theory.

The phorum descended into chaos as users argued about the accusations made against YouTube. Starting on Sept. 4, posters began to abandon the phorum and relocated to a new fan site known as [[The Children of Anchor Cove|Alissa's Lonelygirl phorum]]. Within a few days, the phorum was empty, and was soon replaced by a new PHPbb supported forum.

==The CAA Connection==
As the YouTube theory unraveled, Phorum 3 member [[Shaina Wedmedyk]] secretly set-up a new trap, using a newly created MySpace page. This was the tactic that had been used before, but undisclosed on the forums so as to not alert Bree et al. to their ways. On the MySpace page she layed a tracker which would record the IP address of anyone who visited. Claiming to be a 17-year-old boy named Seth, she sent a message to Bree's MySpace account enticing her to visit the profile. Within a couple days, Bree sent a message in reply. The only person who had visited the page within hours of that message being sent had an IP address tracing to the [[Creative Artists Agency]] in Beverly Hills, one of the biggest talent agencies in Hollywood.

The Phorum 3, having previously spoken with Richard Rushfield because of their findings of Mountain View, went to the LA Times with their discovery. [[Shaina Wedmedyk]] reportedly spent the early morning hours of Sept. 3rd explaining her clear-cut findings to Rushfield during her first week of college. Rushfield presumably e-mailed lonelygirl15 for comment. Nobody replied to Rushfield, but on the evening of Sept. 7, [[A Message From The Creators]] appeared on the now-abandoned lonelygirl15.com Web site. The message included little information, beyond saying that lonelygirl15 was a small production. Presumably they had been tipped off that the story was ready to break, and decided to come clean. A few hours later, Rushfield's story appeared on the LA Times Web site, linking the production to the Creative Artists Agency. The story was quickly spread by other media outlets, many fans were unhappy with the Creators message, and some early fans lost interest. But the uproar attracted a new generation of fans to the series, and the hunt for Bree, who remained unidentified, continued.

==The Final Nail==
The [[A Message From The Creators|Message From The Creators]], which was supposed to have drawn fans away from their hunt for Bree's true identity, only intensified the search. Pictures of Bree appeared in newspapers and blogs across the world. The final nail in the coffin, came from a Sept. 9 post on the blog TMZ.com, [http://www.tmz.com/2006/09/09/lonelygirl15-aint-so-lonely-anymore lonelygirl15 aint so lonely anymore]. TMZ claimed to know the hilarious secret behind the series, but never explained what that secret was.

The celebrity-obsessed crowd at TMZ was not interested in anything except drunken actors like Mel Gibson or Paris Hilton. On Sept. 10, at approximately 1:30 a.m., a user named Jeremy made the following post on TMZ.com:

<pre>
31. wow i cant believe tmz would put this on the front page, thats PUKE!.. i think ive seen
this chick before on myspace through a friend heres her link
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=21355632

although its set on private... AH YEAH! = (

Posted at 1:31AM on Sep 10th 2006 by Jeremy
</pre>

The link provided linked to the MySpace profile of "[[Jessica Lee Rose|Jess Rose]]", but the profile was set on private, and the profile picture was only of someone's mouth.

At 1:16 a.m. Eastern Time, on Sept. 12, a poster at [[The Children of Anchor Cove]] fan site known only as Ennovi, used Google Cache to find an old version of the MySpace profile which included the information that Jessica Rose was a 19-year-old aspiring actress from New Zealand, who had set her profile private shortly before the lonelygirl15 series began. Throughout the day, more pictures of Jessica Rose were discovered.

Later that day the Silicon Valley Watcher blog discovered pictures of Jess Rose on Google that linked to the Clyne Management agency in New Zealand. YouTube user mgpapas, discovered a cached version of Jess Rose's photobucket account and quickly posted a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU8iYeAzL1U montage of the pictures] on YouTube. Both mgpapas and Silicon Valley Watcher claimed full-credit for discovering Bree's identity, even though what they really found were simply additional pictures.

By the evening of Sept. 12, Virginia Heffernan had published photos of Bree, and fleshed out details of the story received from an interview with [[Grant Steinfeld]]. [[Richard Rushfield]] at the Los Angeles Times, also published the first interview with [[The Creators]] where they revealed themselves as [[Miles Beckett]], [[Mesh Flinders]], and [[Greg Goodfried]]. For the next several days, the cast and crew appeared in numerous television interviews.

By Sept. 13, [[Yousef Abu-Taleb]] was also identified and appeared in a number of television interviews.

While some fans who were only interested in the mystery lost interest, a new generation of fans found the lonelygirl15 story and fell for Bree, became entangled in the mysteries fans twists, such as [[Cassieiswatching]], and joined the community at the lonelygirl15.com Web site.

Throughout the hunt, the [[Breeniverse]] was relatively undisturbed by the developing news. Later in the day on Sept. 13 the video [[In The Park]] appeared. The secret was out. The hunt for Bree was over, but the story of Bree continued.

==References==

[[Category:Behind the scenes]]

Down The Rabbit Hole: The Hunt For Bree

2007-02-02T10:23:07Z

Shaina: /* The Rise of the Phorum 3 */ adding AOL IP info

[[Image:Lazyeye.jpg|thumb|200px|Who's that girl?]]

In the summer of 2006, as the Lonelygirl15 [[List of Lonelygirl15 videos|video series]] gained popularity on [[YouTube]], a growing collection of fans became obsessed with cracking the mystery of lonelygirl15. The Hunt for Bree became a major internet phenomenon that captured the attention of many YouTubers and was heavily covered in the mainstream media.

==Early Suspicions==
By the time the [[First Blog / Dorkiness Prevails|first lonelygirl15 vlog]] appeared on YouTube on June 16, [[Bree]] had already developed a large fan base. Two videos had been posted to her account, [[YouTubers Secret Language]] and [[Paytotheorderofofof vs. Dinosaur]], which included references to many popular YouTubers at the time. By friending popular users, such as Paytotheorderofofof and The Wine Kone, and subscribing to hundreds of channels, Bree instantly had a large fan base.

[[Image:Doubter.jpg|thumb|200px|The first doubt|left]]

Suspicions that Bree was something other than a 16-year-old homeschooler began almost immediately. In the comments of Bree's first video, some users already questioned whether she was really 16.

More suspicions quickly arose around lonelygirl15. The editing in her videos was distinctive. While most [[vlog|vloggers]] would record one long take and post it without much editing, Bree's videos consisted of dozens of short takes. While not outside the technical capabilities of a smart high schooler, the process seemed unnecessarily time consuming.

Others noted that Bree's video blog was unusually well-lighted. It appeared that Bree employed a technique called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fill_light fill lighting] to provide illumination on the part of her face that was in shadows. Still others cited Bree's striking good looks, flawless complexion and distinctive [[Breebrows|eyebrows]] as suspicious.

==Is That a... Story Arc?==
As the series developed, many fans noted that lonelygirl15's videos appeared to have a plot. This alleged storyboarding suggested that lonelygirl15 was working off a script. The videos were more episodic and on-point than most vloggers at the time.

*[[School Work in Summer... BLECHH!!!|School Work in Summer...]] -- establishes Bree's protective parents
*[[The Danielbeast]] -- introduces Bree's geeky editor, [[Daniel]].
*[[Grillz feat. Danielbeast, LG15, P. Monkey, and O'n| Grillz]] -- shows the two having fun together.
*[[My Parents Suck...]] -- introduces the conflict between parents and Daniel.
*[[Daniel Responds]] -- a soliloquy from Daniel.
*[[Daniel Returns, and More Interesting Factoids (Yay!)|Daniel Returns]] -- the story arc resolves.

Throughout the series, similar sequences of events have unfolded. The technique was described by [[Brian Flemming]] as a video adaptation of the Epistolary Novel.

==Enter Bukanator: An Over-Eager Fan==
Amid the comments of Bree's very first video, a YouTube user named [[Bukanator]] commented, "This is wonderful." Bukanator responded favorably to every early video Bree posted, at times defending Bree from critical comments. Bukanator was supposedly a 38-year-old software engineer from San Francisco.

After less than a month of videos, on July 16th, Bukanator announced in the comments of YouTube that he had created a fan site for Bree at [[lonelygirl15.com]]. As Bukanator was supposedly a 38-year-old man, this struck many people as very strange and inappropriate behavior. The site contained a blog of all the videos as well as a [[phorum|forum]] for discussion, which seemed unnecessary since lonelygirl15 had posted relatively few videos at this point. On July 19, the blog Liquid Generation reported that YouTube users looked up the site registration of lonelygirl15.com.

A search in a WHOIS directory revealed that the site had been registered on May 12, 2006, along with lonelygirl15.org and lonelygirl15.net. Since Bree had not posted her first video until May 24 and her first vlog until June 16, it was impossible for a random fan to have registered the site that early. The site had been registered through DomainsByProxy, the default proxy registration site of [http://www.godaddy.com/ GoDaddy.com].

When confronted about this discrepancy, Bukanator claimed that Daniel had registered the site. Daniel then claimed in YouTube comments that he had been teasing Bree about how she was going to be a famous vlogger, and he registered the site as a joke. He further claimed that Bukanator had e-mailed him about starting a fan site and so he let him use lonelygirl15.com.

Virtually nobody believed the story. On July 20th, YouTube user [[gohepcat]] became the first to post a video listing arguments that lonelygirl15 was fake, citing the fan site registration, the story arc, the use of fill-lighting and the odd fact that Daniel is allowed in Bree's bedroom with the door closed.

==Crowley: An Unlikely Icon==
[[Image:Crowleyshrine.jpg|thumb|200px|Thelemite? Seriously?]]

In the video, [[What Did Daniel and Dad Talk About?]], posted on YouTube on August 6, 2006, Daniel begins lighting candles around Bree's room. When he walks to Bree's bookshelf, the image above the candles is briefly, but clearly shown on camera. Bree scolds Daniel when he attempts to light the candles. Viewers of the video on YouTube quickly identified the image as [[Aleister Crowley]].

Bree had mentioned in previous videos that her parent's were strictly [[Bree's religion|religious]]. In the comments to her videos on YouTube she went so far as to identify her religion as non-Christian, but claimed reluctance to share more information as she suspected viewers would not be kind. Only a very small number of viewers had seen the YouTube comment that Bree was not Christian, so the Crowley picture was extremely surprising.

Within days, a video called [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K66l7DRUHBE Lonelygirl15 is a Satanist] appeared on YouTube inaccurately linking Crowley to Satanism and Adolf Hitler. The video went on to claim that lonelygirl15 was a promotion for museumofhoaxes.com, the first of many wildly inaccurate theories on the production.

A thread on Bree's religion became the first active thread at lonelygirl15.com's phorum. Over the course of the next few weeks hundreds of fans registered at the forum and the frenzied posting and media storm which eventually led to Bree's outing began.

==In the Eye of the Media Storm==
With the appearance of Aleister Crowley, the suspicion about the Web site, and the growing amount of media attention, beginning with [[Virginia Heffernan]]'s late July blog, the search for lonelygirl reached a frenzy in mid-August. Beginning with [[HyeMew]] on Aug. 7, first dozens and soon hundreds of fans registered at the phorum and began attempts to solve the mystery.

Fans were led astray by a number of red-herring theories. For a long-period of time, many believed that film-maker [[Brian Flemming]] who had written about LG in his blog was the main suspect, and that the videos were part of an upcoming movie. Many suspected that the project was viral-marketing for a Hollywood film, such as an upcoming film [[Pattern Recognition]] based on a novel that has similarities to the lonelygirl15 production. Upcoming horror movies were also suspects, such as The Grudge II.

As new theories surfaced, journalists like [[Jon Fine]], [[Richard Rushfield]] and [[Virginia Heffernan]] raced to get denials from accused parties. A number of actresses were falsely identified as Bree, despite sometimes bearing only the vaguest resemblance, including several actresses known to Brian Flemming, several small-time actresses on MySpace, and even the well-known British actress Jodi Albert. Users such as [[T]] and Bree's top on MySpace, also caused diversions.

Despite the abundance of false theories, information about the videos was slowly discovered:
*On August 28, poster Flwright, an architect, opined from the appearance of the rooms that the videos were filmed in apartment buildings instead of detached single family housing, suggesting that the videos were an amateur production.
*On August 29 a report of a botanist that the [[My Parents... Let Us Go Hiking!!!|Hiking video]] had likely taken place in central to southern California was posted. This was the first concrete evidentiary link to California.
*On August 30, a mysterious poster known as Curious Botanist also linked the flora in the new [[Swimming!|Swimming video]] to southern California.
*On September 1, poster scdgoofy uncovered that [[Kenneth Goodfried]], an attorney in Encino, California, had filed to register lonelygirl15 as a trademark on August 21, 2006.

Users also discovered that in several videos Daniel was holding contemporary magazines, and that the calendar in Bree's room, which was widely available at Target, displayed the correct month, establishing that the videos were likely filmed in real time. [[Purple Monkey]], [[Owen]], and much of the contents of Bree's room were also found to be available at Target.

Journalists and bloggers wrote about each discovery, and as the phenomenon grew, the phorum became increasingly unreadable. Members of the phorum and the media, many who were spending their entire days trying to unearth clues became increasingly frustrated.

==The Rise of the Phorum 3==
Toward the end of August, a group of users decided that the phorum was compromised and that further attempts to discover Bree's identity would require plotting outside of the phorum. A group of 6 phorum members exchanged Instant Messenger contacts and developed a plot to capture Bree's IP address. The group eventually became known as the [[Phorum 3]] as their numbers dwindled.

One member of the original 6 immediately notified Bree and Daniel of the trap, which he felt went too far on the off-chance that these were real teenagers. Another member refused to participate, feeling that the IP trapping crossed a line. The Phorum 3, led by a poster named [[Jessica]] nevertheless acquired an IP address they believed to be Bree's. By utilizing [[SharpDressedMan]]'s trace-route software from various parts of the world, the Phorum 3 believed they had located Bree. But the IP they had caught was resolved to AOL, and the actual location of the internet user posing as Bree could have been anywhere in California, with root servers in Mountain View.

On an Aug. 31 post, Jessica said that the IP address pointed to Mountain View, California, which she incorrectly believed was the same as San Mateo. Jessica suggested that the most likely explanation for Bree's videos was that they were created by [[YouTube]] itself, which is based in San Mateo.

Although her theory was completely incorrect, it was cited in several media outlets as likely. Also on Aug. 31, [[Jon Fine]] of Business Week, [http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/FineOnMedia/archives/2006/08/lonelygirl15_co.html published his theory] that lonelygirl15 was "created by a small coterie of creative types." Fine's article used only anonymous sources, and it is unknown how much he actually knew. The noise generated from the Phorum 3's false theory, nevertheless drowned out Fine's correct theory.

The phorum descended into chaos as users argued about the accusations made against YouTube. Starting on Sept. 4, posters began to abandon the phorum and relocated to a new fan site known as [[The Children of Anchor Cove|Alissa's Lonelygirl phorum]]. Within a few days, the phorum was empty, and was soon replaced by a new PHPbb supported forum.

==The CAA Connection==
As the YouTube theory unraveled, the Phorum 3 secretly set-up a new trap, using a newly created MySpace page. On the MySpace page they layed a bug, which would record the IP address of anyone who visited. Claiming to be a 14-year-old boy, they sent a message to Bree's MySpace account. Within a couple of hours, Bree sent a message in reply. Only one person had ever visited the newly created MySpace page -- and their IP address traced to the [[Creative Artists Agency]], one of the biggest Hollywood talent agencies.

The Phorum 3 went to Richard Rushfield of the LA Times with their discovery. Rushfield presumably e-mailed lonelygirl15 for comment. Nobody replied to Rushfield, but on the evening of Sept. 7, [[A Message From The Creators]] appeared on the now-abandoned lonelygirl15.com Web site. The message included little information, beyond saying that lonelygirl15 was a small production. A few hours later, Rushfield's story appeared on the LA Times Web site, linking the production to the Creative Artists Agency. The story was quickly spread by other media outlets, many fans were unhappy with the Creators message, and some early fans lost interest. But the uproar attracted a new generation of fans to the series, and the hunt for Bree, who remained unidentified, continued.

==The Final Nail==
The [[A Message From The Creators|Message From The Creators]], which was supposed to have drawn fans away from their hunt for Bree's true identity, only intensified the search. Pictures of Bree appeared in newspapers and blogs across the world. The final nail in the coffin, came from a Sept. 9 post on the blog TMZ.com, [http://www.tmz.com/2006/09/09/lonelygirl15-aint-so-lonely-anymore lonelygirl15 aint so lonely anymore]. TMZ claimed to know the hilarious secret behind the series, but never explained what that secret was.

The celebrity-obsessed crowd at TMZ was not interested in anything except drunken actors like Mel Gibson or Paris Hilton. On Sept. 10, at approximately 1:30 a.m., a user named Jeremy made the following post on TMZ.com:

<pre>
31. wow i cant believe tmz would put this on the front page, thats PUKE!.. i think ive seen
this chick before on myspace through a friend heres her link
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=21355632

although its set on private... AH YEAH! = (

Posted at 1:31AM on Sep 10th 2006 by Jeremy
</pre>

The link provided linked to the MySpace profile of "[[Jessica Lee Rose|Jess Rose]]", but the profile was set on private, and the profile picture was only of someone's mouth.

At 1:16 a.m. Eastern Time, on Sept. 12, a poster at [[The Children of Anchor Cove]] fan site known only as Ennovi, used Google Cache to find an old version of the MySpace profile which included the information that Jessica Rose was a 19-year-old aspiring actress from New Zealand, who had set her profile private shortly before the lonelygirl15 series began. Throughout the day, more pictures of Jessica Rose were discovered.

Later that day the Silicon Valley Watcher blog discovered pictures of Jess Rose on Google that linked to the Clyne Management agency in New Zealand. YouTube user mgpapas, discovered a cached version of Jess Rose's photobucket account and quickly posted a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU8iYeAzL1U montage of the pictures] on YouTube. Both mgpapas and Silicon Valley Watcher claimed full-credit for discovering Bree's identity, even though what they really found were simply additional pictures.

By the evening of Sept. 12, Virginia Heffernan had published photos of Bree, and fleshed out details of the story received from an interview with [[Grant Steinfeld]]. [[Richard Rushfield]] at the Los Angeles Times, also published the first interview with [[The Creators]] where they revealed themselves as [[Miles Beckett]], [[Mesh Flinders]], and [[Greg Goodfried]]. For the next several days, the cast and crew appeared in numerous television interviews.

By Sept. 13, [[Yousef Abu-Taleb]] was also identified and appeared in a number of television interviews.

While some fans who were only interested in the mystery lost interest, a new generation of fans found the lonelygirl15 story and fell for Bree, became entangled in the mysteries fans twists, such as [[Cassieiswatching]], and joined the community at the lonelygirl15.com Web site.

Throughout the hunt, the [[Breeniverse]] was relatively undisturbed by the developing news. Later in the day on Sept. 13 the video [[In The Park]] appeared. The secret was out. The hunt for Bree was over, but the story of Bree continued.

==References==

[[Category:Behind the scenes]]

Creative Artists Agency

2007-02-02T10:13:25Z

Shaina:

The '''Creative Artists Agency''' is one of the largest talent agencies in the United States entertainment industry. Founded in 1975 by employees who left the rival William Morris Agency, it was long headed by Michael Ovitz, who left to become president of the Walt Disney Company.

During [[Down The Rabbit Hole: The Hunt For Bree|the hunt for Bree]], the IP address that lonelygirl15 used was traced to the private servers of the Creative Artists Agency by the [[Phorum 3]]. [[Richard Rushfield]] of the LATimes called the CAA, who declined to comment. The revelation that the CAA was involved led to [[The Creators]] coming forward and revealing that they are now represented by the Creative Artists Agency.

[[Amanda Goodfried]], the wife of [[Greg Goodfried]], is a former employee of the Creative Artists Agency. When users sent e-mails to Bree, it was Amanda who would respond, sometimes from her computer at work, which led to the IP address being traced to the CAA.

==External Links==
*[http://www.caa.com Offical web site for Creative Artists Agency (CAA)]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Artists_Agency CAA on Wikipedia]

[[Category:Behind the scenes]]

Shaina Wedmedyk

2007-02-02T10:07:29Z

Shaina:

Member of the [[Phorum3]] who set up a MySpace tracker on her fake profile. She sent repeated messages to Bree's MySpace requesting she check out the her musical interests. Shaina almost missed the one hit she got, logged within seconds of Bree replying to one of her messages, that led directly to the [[Creative Artists Agency]] in Beverly Hills.

She writes, "I'll never forget the night I spent up on the phone with Richard Rushfield during my orientation week at college. It was the most surreal experience of my life."

Phorum 3

2007-02-02T10:06:01Z

Shaina:

The '''Phorum 3''', as they are sometimes called, were three members of the original Lonelygirl15.com [[Phorum]] message board who decided to [[Down The Rabbit Hole: The Hunt For Bree|track down the creators]] behind the project by capturing their IP addresses. The plan was hatched on or about August 28, 2006 and led by phorum member "[[Jessica]]". Originally consisting of six phorum members, the group quickly narrowed to [[Jessica]] (The Networker), [[SharpDressedMan]] (The Techie), and Oberlin College student [[Shaina Wedmedyk]] (The Brain).

The preliminary results of their search resulted in a long post from Jessica at the phorum on August 30, 2006 titled "All Roads (Don't) Lead to Rome" which pointed to "San Mateo - Mountain View" California as Bree's likely location through an AOL IP tracked on Myspace. It was suggested that YouTube, which is based in San Mateo, was responsible. While the Silicon Valley hypothesis later turned out to be incorrect, the California link lined up with prior posts on the phorum suggesting that fauna in the [[My Parents... Let Us Go Hiking!!!|Hiking]] and [[Swimming!|Swimming]] videos pointed to California as the filming location.

The Phorum3, convinced they had their match in San Mateo, laid off. But [[Shaina Wedmedyk]] set up a secondary sting, wary of the ambiguity of the original theories based on the traced AOL IP. Shaina contacted [[Richard Rushfield]] at the LATimes with her new findings, an IP which hit her fake myspace profile within the minute that "Bree" had sent her a message. This IP traced directly to the private server of the [[Creative Artists Agency]] (CAA) in Beverly Hills, California. On the evening of September 7, 2006, the LATimes published these findings, and CAA did not deny a link to LG15, but seemed to make moves to a full-scale admittance that the videos were a farce. The story was published widely and picked up by the Associated Press.

Once Bree was identifed as [[Jessica Lee Rose]] in articles first published in the LATimes and NYTimes on the evening of September 12, 2006, the story finally broke. Speculation ran rampant on the phorum that Jessica of the Phorum3, whose full identify was never disclosed by Rushfield, was actually Jessica Lee Rose. They are not the same person.

==References==
[http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-lonelygirl8sep08,0,5310001.story?page=1&coll=la-home-headlines Richard Rushfield, LA Times]

[[Category:Fan groups]]

Shaina Wedmedyk

2007-02-02T10:04:54Z

Shaina: yeah so what that I wrote my own entry

Member of the [[Phorum3]] who set up a MySpace tracker on her fake profile, sending repeated messages to Bree's Myspace requesting she check out the her musical interests. Shaina almost missed the one hit she got, logged within seconds of Bree replying to one of her messages, that led directly to the [[Creative Artists Agency]] in Beverly Hills.

She writes, "I'll never forget the night I spent up on the phone with Richard Rushfield during my orientation week at college. It was the most surreal experience of my life."

Phorum 3

2007-02-02T09:57:22Z

Shaina: Facts added by a Phorum3 member herself

The '''Phorum 3''', as they are sometimes called, were three members of the original Lonelygirl15.com [[Phorum]] message board who decided to [[Down The Rabbit Hole: The Hunt For Bree|track down the creators]] behind the project by capturing their IP addresses. The plan was hatched on or about August 28, 2006 and led by phorum member "[[Jessica]]". Originally consisting of six phorum members, the group quickly narrowed to [[Jessica]], [[SharpDressedMan]], and Oberlin College student [[Shaina Wedmedyk]].

The preliminary results of their search resulted in a long post from Jessica at the phorum on August 30, 2006 titled "All Roads (Don't) Lead to Rome" which pointed to "San Mateo - Mountain View" California as Bree's likely location through an AOL IP tracked on Myspace. It was suggested that YouTube, which is based in San Mateo, was responsible. While the Silicon Valley hypothesis later turned out to be incorrect, the California link lined up with prior posts on the phorum suggesting that fauna in the [[My Parents... Let Us Go Hiking!!!|Hiking]] and [[Swimming!|Swimming]] videos pointed to California as the filming location.

The Phorum3, convinced they had their match in San Mateo, laid off. But [[Shaina Wedmedyk]] set up a secondary sting, wary of the ambiguity of the original theories based on the traced AOL IP. Shaina contacted [[Richard Rushfield]] at the LATimes with her new findings, an IP which hit her fake myspace profile within the minute that "Bree" had sent her a message. This IP traced directly to the private server of the [[Creative Artists Agency]] (CAA) in Beverly Hills, California. On the evening of September 7, 2006, the LATimes published these findings, and CAA did not deny a link to LG15, but seemed to make moves to a full-scale admittance that the videos were a farce. The story was published widely and picked up by the Associated Press.

Once Bree was identifed as [[Jessica Lee Rose]] in articles first published in the LATimes and NYTimes on the evening of September 12, 2006, the story finally broke. Speculation ran rampant on the phorum that Jessica of the Phorum3, whose full identify was never disclosed by Rushfield, was actually Jessica Lee Rose. They are not the same person.

==References==
[http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-lonelygirl8sep08,0,5310001.story?page=1&coll=la-home-headlines Richard Rushfield, LA Times]

[[Category:Fan groups]]