''Prom Queen'' is the first
web series
A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...
produced by former
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...
CEO
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 ...
's new production company
Vuguru and veteran production company
Big Fantastic, the creators of ''
Sam Has 7 Friends''. The series, consisting of 80 episodes of 90 seconds each, is one of the best-funded entrants into the world of original programming designed exclusively for online video.
The show generated revenue through sponsorships, by selling some of the clothing worn by the characters, and by carrying advertising for ''
Hairspray''.
The series premiered April 1, 2007, on
MySpace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
, and supplemental scenes can be seen on MySpace as each of the characters has a MySpace page that includes
blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
s,
Vlogs, and comments between the characters. According to the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...
'', it marks MySpace's boldest push into original video content. The series was also distributed on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
,
Veoh, and on an original Prom Queen website.
The first season ended on June 20, 2007, with over 15 million views of the episodes during the original 12-week run, and has been viewed by over 40 million people to date.
A 15-episode spinoff series, ''
Prom Queen: Summer Heat'', debuted on August 27, 2007. On May 7, 2008, a Japanese remake of the series, titled ''Tokyo Prom Queen'', began airing in a similar format.
On October 20, 2008, Michael Eisner confirmed that a third season of "Prom Queen" would be produced.
A DVD of the series was released on October 8, 2008; it included behind-the-scenes footage and audio commentaries from the cast and creators of the series.
In July 2009 it was announced that a follow-up series was being filmed, entitled ''Prom Queen: The Homecoming''. Starting July 4, 2010, 'Homecoming' began to air on
Citytv
Citytv (sometimes shortened to City, which was the network's official branding from 2012 to 2018) is a Television in Canada, Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The network consis ...
, a Canada-based television website. Four episodes were released each Monday. "Homecoming" connected 'Sam Has 7 friends' with 'Prom Queen' and primarily focused on the character, Sadie Simmons. 'Homecoming' ended with a cliffhanger, suggesting another season would appear.
In October 2012, "Homecoming" debuted in the United States (along with the original "Prom Queen" and "Sam Has 7 Friends") on
The CW
The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...
's website.
As of November 2014, the first season can be seen for free on
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
, at the channel promqueentv. The episodes contain their original edits, without being pasted together as they had been on THE CW website.
On April 13, 2019, actor Sean Hankinson posted a video to Instagram portraying his character, Ben. The video appeared to be simply for fun, not some kind of announcement.
Plot
The core plot of ''Prom Queen'' revolves around a text message sent to Ben, saying, "U R going 2 kill the prom queen." This occurs as the prom approaches, and the drama begins to unfold.
Main characters
*Ben - the witty student who receives a cryptic message.
*Sadie - Ben's quiet sister, who writes for the school newspaper. She says she hates the idea of prom, but secretly wants to attend.
*Chad - the school jock, who carries a pink phone that receives a call from one person only. Who could it be?
*Nikki - Chad's girlfriend. She's stuck-up and wants to be the prom queen. However, she has a terrible self-image and has a secret.
*Lauren - Nikki's friend who has a bad relationship with her mother. She loves Josh, but does he love her?
*Curtis - Sadie's quirky best friend with possible other agendas.
*Jill - Lauren's mother, who was Prom Queen at her prom. Jill is mentally unhealthy and seems to be obsessed with Ben.
*Danica - a British exchange student, staying with Lauren; she has a video camera which she uses daily, to capture her American experience.
*Courtney - the girl whom Ben likes. They are doing a school play together, but it seems she has a second life, of sorts.
*Josh - Ben's friend, who keeps to himself and is even a mystery to Ben.
Cast
*
Sean Hankinson - Ben
*
Katy Stoll - Sadie
*David Loren - Chad
*Laura Howard - Danica
*Alexandra French - Nikki
*Jake Shideler - Josh
*Haley Mancini - Lauren
*John Shires - Nolan
*Mills Allison - Curtis
*Andre Boyer - Brett
*
Sheila Vand - Courtney
*Kateland Carr - Michele
*Amy Kay Raymond - Jill
Music
James McKeever wrote the musical score for the series.
References
External links
promqueen.tv- official site
*
Official Prom Queen accounton
MySpace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
Prom Queen profileon
imeem
The online service imeem was a social media website where users interacted with each other by streaming, uploading and sharing music and music videos. It operated from 2003 until 2009 when it was shut down after being acquired by MySpace.
The co ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prom Queen (Web Series)
2007 web series debuts
American drama web series
Fiction about proms