Today we’d like to introduce you to Brian Firenzi.
Brian, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
We uploaded 5-second jokes on YouTube for years, then Kickstarted a horror comedy feature.
Seeking to capitalize on a market for micro-content, we launched a website in 2008 that told jokes in 5 seconds. Some were weird, some were sad, others dark, but there was always, always a new one every weekday for five years straight. Around the time Vine came out, we knew we had to change gears and do what we always wanted to do, which was make a movie together. And so we pulled out all the stops to crowdfund our goofy horror movie, which has gone on to become a cult success, streaming on Shudder and Showtime.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Nothing is smooth on the internet. If it was, they’d call it the smoothernet.
The single biggest struggle has been securing the bag. Making money. YouTube doesn’t put ads on anything as blisteringly short as our content, so apart from compilation videos, behind-the-scenes extras, and fan interaction clips, we were just uploading videos for the sake of building a fanbase. We couldn’t very well change our name to “At Least 120 Second Films” and continue on with our level of consistent productivity. But we did build that fanbase, and we did it in part because we were having fun – and it looked like we were having fun, on camera.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
5-Second Films was the first comedy destination to offer up jokes at lightning-fast speed (all exactly 5 seconds long) and the most reliable uploader in the history of YouTube comedy from 2008-2013. We’ve screened all over the world, spoken at Pixar, and played at festivals from Comi-Con to SxSW – always making sure to play the 5SF where the guy is late for work and screams one single sustained profanity throughout the day, and the one where the guy is missing his stapler and can’t staple up his Missing Stapler fliers. One time we took the stage at Vidcon to the dulcet sounds of Saliva’s “Click Click Boom” and just rolled with it because we’re professionals. We are also the filmmakers behind “Dude Bro Party Massacre III,” which is the only movie in history to kill Larry King with a javelin.
What were you like growing up?
It should surprise no one that I was a weird kid who gravitated toward anything with a skewed take on society and comedy. Kubrick, Mystery Science Theater 3000, Lynch and horror movies were my salvation from school. As soon as I got my hands on a camera – my parents’ old JVC camcorder that had to be plugged into a VCR to record footage onto a blank VHS tape – I started making parodies of all the boring videos we’d watch in class, and for some reason no authority figure strangled me.
Contact Info:
- Website: youtube.com/5secondfilms
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/5sf
- Facebook: facebook.com/5secondfilms
- Twitter: twitter.com/5sf
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