Vuguru is an American independent multi-platform studio founded by

Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film st ...

The Tornante Company The Tornante Company, LLC is an American privately held investment firm founded in 2005 and owned by former Paramount Pictures and The Walt Disney Company CEO Michael Eisner. Tornante invests in, acquires, and operates media and entertainment c ...

in March 2006. The company has produced content including the web series ''

Prom Queen A promenade dance, commonly called a prom, is a dance party for high school students. It may be offered in semi-formal black tie or informal suit for boys, and evening gowns for girls. This event is typically held near the end of the school year ...

'', ''

The Booth at the End ''The Booth at the End'' is a psychological thriller series created by Christopher Kubasik and starring Xander Berkeley, and was produced by Vuguru. The series premiered on August 27, 2010 on the Canadian network City. Two seasons were produced ...

'', ''Little Women Big Cars'', '' The All-for-Nots'', and ''Back on Topps''. The company has signed content deals with

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017� ...

HDNet AXS TV is an American cable television channel. Majority-owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment, it is devoted primarily to music-related programming (such as concert films, documentaries, and reality series involving musicians) and combat sport ...

Yahoo! Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Man ...

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Stan Lee Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Publications which ...

POW! Entertainment POW! Entertainment Inc. is an American media production company formed in 2001 by Gill Champion, Arthur Lieberman and former Marvel Comics editor and publisher Stan Lee. POW! is made up of two companies: POW! Entertainment, Inc. (POW! Inc.), a ...

, and

FremantleMedia Fremantle (; formerly FremantleMedia) is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. Fremantle takes its name from Fremantle International, acquired by predecessor company All American Television in ...

. Its shows are distributed in over forty countries, on the Internet, mobile phones, and linear television platforms.

Corporate overview

Vuguru properties are distributed internationally in over forty countries. The company produces web television series for distribution on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, portable media devices, television, and

cellphone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

s. The name of the company was developed from the French word "''vous''" and the English word "guru", and combining the words creates a synthetic term that refers to "you are the guru viewing" according to company founder

. Eisner also stated that the purpose of the firm was to produce "story-driven content for the Internet that up until now could only be found in movie theaters or on television". In October 2009, Vuguru was spun off as a separate LLC with funding from

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of mobile phone operator, wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet access, Intern ...

, one of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

's largest communications companies. In November 2010, Vuguru signed an agreement with

to produce a minimum of six scripted series over the next year, each a series of roughly 90-minute episodes, for distribution by AOL. Vuguru also signed a distribution and first-look deal with Content Film in 2010 for regions outside of North America. In 2012 Eisner signed a distribution deal with

Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

, which he stated is a step towards film development for both Vuguru produced projects and other properties. Vuguru signed an additional content creation pact with

, in addition to its deals with

and

. In 2013

will become the main international distributor for Vuguru, distributing its products outside of the US and Canada.

Multi-platform content

Early Vuguru multi-platform series included ''

SamHas7Friends ''Sam Has 7 Friends'' was a 2006 series drama created, produced, and funded by the production company Big Fantastic and subsequently bought and distributed by the studio Vuguru. The series appeared on YouTube, Revver, iTunes and its own web site. ...

'' (which Vuguru acquired in 2007) and ''

Foreign Body A foreign body (FB) is any object originating outside the body of an organism. In machinery, it can mean any unwanted intruding object. Most references to foreign bodies involve propulsion through natural orifices into hollow organs. Foreign bo ...

'', a prequel to the novel by

Robin Cook Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook (28 February 19466 August 2005) was a British Labour politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001 whe ...

, shot primarily on location in New Delhi, India. In 2010 Vuguru targeted the production of ten to fifteen new series for Internet distribution. In 2011 Vuguru partnered with comic book guru

's company

to produce additional content. New Vuguru web series have included ''Don't Ask, Don't Tell'', ''Little Women Big Cars'', ''The Millionaire Tour'', ''Nuclear Family'', ''Off Season'', ''Fetching'', ''Crawlspace'', and ''Pretty Tough''.

''Prom Queen''

The studio's first project, ''

'', consisted of 90-second shorts in 80 episodes and was distributed online, beginning in April 2007. The cost of each 90-second episode was approximately $3000. The project was well reviewed online and attracted over twenty millions viewers. The second season was entitled ''Prom Queen: Summer Heat'', and the third season ''Prom Queen: Homecoming'' was released on the CW network platforms.

''The All-for-Nots''

The Vuguru web series '' The All-for-Nots'' was distributed online by

. The show has been described as modern version of ''

The Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conc ...

'' or '' Spinal Tap'', as it features a made-for-the-web

indie band Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...

with the same name as the title of the show. The web series follows the All-for-Nots, a band originating in Williamsburg,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, on a fictional national tour across the US. It was released in 24 seven-minute episodes, in addition to 30 shorter web clips that provide background on the band and its members. The show was nominated for three

Streamy Awards The YouTube Streamy Awards, also known as the Streamy Awards or Streamys, are presented annually by Dick Clark Productions and Tubefilter to recognize excellence in online video, including directing, acting, producing, and writing. The formal ...

in 2009, including Best Cinematography in a Web Series, Best Original Music in a Web Series, and Best Ad Integration in a Web Series, which it lost to fellow Vuguru web series ''Back on Topps''.

''Back on Topps''

Vuguru produced two seasons of the sports comedy web series ''Back on Topps''. The show was nominated for a

Sports Emmy Award The Sports Emmy Awards, or Sports Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), the Sports ...

for Outstanding New Approaches in Sports Programming: Short Format in 2009. That year the show also won a 2009 Streamy Award for Best Ad Integration in a Web Series. In 2010 it was the winner of the Streamy Award for Best Branded Entertainment Web Series and nominee for the 2010 Streamy Awards for Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series, Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series, and Best Guest Star in a Web Series. Eisner's investment company is the owner of the

Topps The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures chewing gum, candy, and collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of American Football Card, American football, Baseball card, baseb ...

merchandise company, from which the series gets its name. The comedy was played on '' FoxSports.com'', and was described in its first season as a seventeen episode

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

''The Booth at the End''

'', a psychological thriller in 23-minute installments, made its debut in 2010 in Canada on the website of

CityTV Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...

. The content is also available in 62 separate two-minute online episodes, and on FX. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' said of the quality of the series that, "There is more talent and effort poured into one 120-second nugget, demanding a corresponding surge in effort and engagement from the viewer, than there is in almost any hour of TV elsewhere that you care to name." The show centers around individuals who encounter a man named Xander Berkeley. Berkeley sits in a diner booth silently looking out the window, waiting for a stranger to approach him with friendly banter. When they do, their journey begins. Tasks have included the robbing of a bank for exactly $101,043 in exchange for beauty or setting off a bomb in a cafe in order for a woman's husband to be cured of Alzheimer's.

Executives

The Chairman and founder of Vuguru is Michael Eisner. In 2009 Vuguru hired

Larry Tanz Larry Tanz is an American entertainment industry executive. He has held executive positions with AOL Time Warner, and previously served as president and CEO of LivePlanet, as well as the president and CEO of Vuguru. He is currently the VP of Glob ...

as the company's first President, after having previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of

LivePlanet LivePlanet was a production company founded in 2000, and was known for television and new media platforms. History It was created by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Chris Moore and Sean Bailey. Affleck and Damon ended their film production deal in late ...

. They also hired David Shall as their head of business operations, now COO, who was formerly a business affairs executive at

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

. In 2010 the company hired Kristin Jones as its Chief Creative Officer, a former senior vice-president of production, international development, and acquisitions with

Miramax Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a leadi ...

. Jones left Vuguru in August, 2013. Tanz was promoted to CEO in February 2012. Eisner stated of Tanz that, "Under his leadership, the company has expanded its production slate, created valuable partnerships and increased profitability."

References

External links

Official site
{{Streamy Awards Winners CSS Discontinued Private equity portfolio companies Streaming television Rogers Communications Michael Eisner