From The Industry Standard (print and web edition: http://www.thestandard.com)
August 15, 2000

And You Thought Dot-Commers Couldn't Get Any Younger
Where does an online entertainment company go for its fall lineup? Nibblebox went to college, and found ideas and talent for 11 new shows.

By Lessley Anderson

 The company could easily attract a more experienced staff. Its founders include a hit indie film director and a former chief of NBC Studios. But Nibblebox thinks college students best understand the potential of online entertainment – and they work cheap, too.

Nibblebox is paying just $500 per episode to the creators of Virtual Rob, an interactive sitcom slated to debut online this fall. The cash is gravy to the show's undergraduate staff, who can't believe their good fortune in working with Swingers director Doug Liman and ex-NBC exec David Bartis. Other big-name directors who've signed on to act as mentors for Nibblebox staff include Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies and Videotape) and Wim Wenders (Buena Vista Social Club). Liman and Bartis discovered Virtual Rob while recruiting at the University of Southern California. After making their usual presentation, they were cornered by the show's creators, who persuaded them to watch a laptop demo.


Virtual Rob is the type of hard-to-describe wackiness found only on the Net. Virtual Rob himself is student Rob Kerkovitch, who is filmed by roommate Kevin Roache as he moves about their apartment. That wouldn't be entertaining except that fellow roomie Nick Howard has inserted technology that lets viewers click around the screen to launch Virtual Rob into bits of slapstick. "Click on his crotch, Dave! Click on his crotch!" urged Liman during the initial demonstration. Bartis clicked, and Virtual Rob reached into his pants to produce what turned out to be a golf club. Schwing! They were hooked. A few weeks later, the Virtual Rob team had a deal to produce six episodes.


Nibblebox was itself founded by three college buddies: Liman, Bartis and telecom entrepreneur Liz Hamburg. As students at Brown University during the 1980s, they started a national nonprofit organization of college broadcasters. Now Bartis and Hamburg have ditched their day jobs to scour college campuses for Internet talent.


Nibblebox plans to make money primarily by spinning its series into TV and movie deals. Hollywood agents are already salivating at the chance to represent the company's young finds. "We're very interested in the students behind Virtual Rob," says Nancy Jacobsen, president of talent agency ICM.


That's no guarantee of future fame. But this much is sure: Three guys in Los Angeles have one helluva summer job.