Meet John Holland of GreenbenchTV in Valley

Today we’d like to introduce you to John Holland.

John, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Back in 2004, we were just a large group of friends who hung out. Like people would always wonder, “why do you’ll roll so deep?” Never had a good answer, though most of the time you saw us all together was because we were playing football in our free time. One day, I (John Holland) handwrote a script in my calculus class, because at that point, I had decided I was changing my major and tuned out. I had spent my four years in high school studying TV and somehow, I was talked into majoring in business. No more. Once the script was written, I decided to take it a step further. I had used my graduation money to buy a small video camera, and we had shot some things just messing around. I got my friends together, told them about my idea, showed them the script which nobody read, but it didn’t matter cause I could feed them lines, and we shot a skit called “The Blocker”. It was black and white, 1950’s horror style, about a guy who pops up and blocks his friends just as they were about to seal the deal. Sophomore college problems, I know.

We shot the video, and I edited it on some bootleg software (sorry Adobe, I eventually went legit) and we watched it and laughed and showed friends who came over it. And then it sat there on my computer for months. It wasn’t until Facebook had opened up for our school (remember this is 2004) so I asked a friend to upload it to his website so I could share it with some of my TV peers from high school. From there, it spread like wildfire and within days, we had our first viral video. People on campus we didn’t know would come up and tell us how much they laughed and random people on Facebook started friends requesting and messaging us the same thing. So we figured: might as well make another! And another, and another! From there, we just kept shooting and releasing sketches. This is all happening before YouTube even launched.

Fast forward to 2008, networks began reaching out to us, as they were becoming more and more aggressive with their search for online talent. A great executive by the name of Walter Newman reached out to us from Comedy Central that year and honestly, he helped us in so many ways become more polished and knowledgeable about the industry. Not only did he push hard for us at his company and all his industry contacts, but he helped me strengthen our writing. We moved to LA the next year and it was the roughest patch we had ever faced. This is a financial crisis. We’re only 24 years old, no work anywhere, and on top of that, it was five of us living in a studio apartment no bigger than whatever room you’re currently reading this in. No joke. We have footage lol. We lived there for a year while we adjusted to LA. There were days we had to put our money together to buy food. But through that we eventually created our web series called Paid Time Off. It was a black Sunny in Philadelphia essentially.

The executive from Comedy Central had moved to Adult Swim, and when he showed his people there our web series, we landed our first TV deal in 2011. We ended up shooting two TV pilots for Adult Swim called Green Bench: The American DayDream. Unfortunately, they weren’t picked up (I still wish I could go back and change some things that I think would have given us that nudge to series), but that accomplishment alone was enough to start getting invites to writer’s rooms and meetings with an agent. We continued developing shows while working behind the scenes for a lot of the up and coming YouTubers and eventually IG and Vine talent. About once a year, we’ll go into a pitch meeting for various networks. Funny story, we’ve almost sold a show to BET 3 times now, but right when the momentum picks up and, it looks like we’re about to ink a deal, the network cleans house of executives, and we get lost in the shuffle. Starting to think we’re bad luck for BET, lol.

Looking back, I never thought about how we were a part of the foundation of “influencers”. There was no blueprint for internet fame, there was no monetization, and they’re certainly wasn’t a group of young black people doing it until later on when the very talented Dormtainment came along (who we love working with and get the great motivation to keep going from).

Has it been a smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been. The move to LA is the best decision we ever made but the biggest setback. It took so long to adjust to living across the country that for a while, we didn’t put out any content because we were struggling so hard to survive. As you know, content is king and it has to be consistent. Keeping each other motivated that it’s worth the long haul is the toughest part.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the GreenbenchTV story. Tell us more about your work.
We’re a comedy group but also a production company. They worked for hand in hand. The people who came for jokes would see the music videos and commercials I produced and directed and that help grow the business. And the people who came for the music videos and commercials saw the comedy skits and became fans lol. We’re most proud of the Adult Swim TV deal. It’s hard to even just get a foot in the network door, so I always appreciate how far we got with that. Everybody doesn’t get a TV pilot made, let alone two.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Good question. I remember back in college, right as we were releasing our skits, thinking “online networks will be a thing one day”. Of course, that was because at the time, I had no connections to TV networks and I figured I could one day start an online network since the content would be on-demand and wouldn’t require you to be a captive audience.

Moving forward, I believe the streaming business will continue to grow and I think the audiences will have more power over what shows are on. For decades, there was a formula for what went on air and we had no say. Now with people able to wield large audiences online with their own platforms, the conventional approach to Hollywood is breaking down. People with outside thinking, different appearances, personalities, etc. now all have a shot.

Contact Info:

• Email: greenbenchproductions@gmail.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/GreenbenchTV
• Facebook: Facebook.com/GreenbenchTV
• Twitter: Twitter.com/GreenbenchTV
• Other: Youtube.com/GreenbenchTV

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