''I'm Poppy'' is a surreal comedy pilot starring American singer

Poppy A poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants, often grown for their colourful flowers. One species of poppy, '' Papaver somniferum'', is the source of the narcotic drug ...

. It premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

on January 23, 2018, and is available exclusively on YouTube Premium. At the time, the producer expected further episodes. Originally planned as web-series, the idea was eventually scrapped.

Premise

The official Sundance Institute synopsis for the first episode states, "Join internet sensation Poppy as she enters the real world for the very first time and quickly realizes that fame and fortune come at a price, with secret societies, dangerous fanatics, and a very envious mannequin named Charlotte."

Cast and characters

Main

as herself * Samm Levine as Johnny * Dan Hildebrand as Ivan Kross * Brad Carter as Able Abraham * Kofi Boakye as God and Satan * Madison Lawlor as Pop Star

Guests

* Brian Dare as Benton * Paige Annette as Crew Member #1 * Sierra Santana as Crew Member #2 * Dan Fleming as Crew Member #3 * Israel Wright as Cult Member * Irena Murphy as Reporter

Production

Development

On December 4, 2017, director and writer of the series, Titanic Sinclair, officially announced the show on his

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account for the first time, describing it as "easily the most ambitious and exciting thing I’ve ever been a part of". This was followed by an announcement of the dates it would be airing through during the festival: January 23, 24, and 26. On January 16, 2018, tickets to the show at the festival went on sale to the public. The series premiered on YouTube Red on January 25, 2018. Poppy has described the series as being "based on real experiences" and that the producers are "just telling what it’s like to be in Hollywood."

Marketing

On January 22, 2018, a trailer for the series was uploaded to

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 ...

account.

Reception

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' critic Daniel Fienberg said he found the pilot episode "inspired and distinctive", but couldn't imagine the series "holding up for another episode". ''

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''s Adi Robertson said it didn't have the same hypnotic and ambiguous simplicity that many of the Poppy's videos do and that the episode was not "weird enough". Julia Alexander from '' Polygon'' said it was the proof that YouTube Red could be great, characterizing the series as "enjoyable" and "authentically YouTube".

References

External links

Pilot episode preview
* {{Poppy, state=expanded YouTube Premium original series Poppy (singer) Television pilots not picked up as a series