YouTube rocker Bo Burnham is hoping to star in a movie by geek filmmaker Judd Apatow. He has a better chance than most other Hollywood wannabes of landing such a coveted role -- he's writing the script.
"I'm writing the main character as named
Bo, so that's a not-so-subtle hint I want to be in it," said Burnham, an 18-year-old singing comedian who got his start videotaping himself strumming satirical songs and uploading them to YouTube.
"I don't know who else would perform my songs [in the movie]," Burnham said coyly.
Burnham's burgeoning Hollywood career demonstrates the growing power of YouTube as an incubator for talent.
Burnham is the latest in a string of YouTubers who have used the video site as a launch pad into mainstream media. Others include What the Buck? creator Michael Buckley, who landed a deal with HBO, and vlogger Lucas Cruikshank, who parlayed his hyperactive vlogging persona "Fred" into a partnership with 20th Century Fox.
The chance to develop a script for Hollywood hitmaker Apatow -- possibly the hottest comedy director and producer currently working in Tinseltown -- is a big deal for Burnham, who has built a cult following on YouTube over the past year, with several of his songs tallying views in the millions.
He described the comedic screenplay he's working on with co-writer Luke Liacos as an anti-High School Musical, although he insists it won't be a parody of the Disney franchise.
"It would just be more like my version of high school," said Burnham, known for his R-rated YouTube ditties like "My Whole Family Thinks I'm Gay."
Burnham, who describes his popular videos as "pubescent musical comedy," recently released a six-song EP through Comedy Central and filmed a special for the cable channel.
Although Apatow was away filming his next project and unable to comment, his PR agency confirmed that the director and Burnham are involved in a working relationship. Since the project is still in its infancy, it's far too early to say if the YouTube songwriter will star as the anti-Zac Efron in Apatow's movie.
For Burnham, who met the director during Montreal's Just for Laughs comedy fest in July, the timing couldn't be better.
"I'd been running into problems with censors and had realized my stuff wasn't going to fly that well on TV," said Burnham. "It would work much better in a 90-minute format."
It's not the first time Apatow has put his faith in a a young writer. In 2000, he hired Seth Rogen (Freaks and Geeks, Pineapple Express), who was 18 at the time, to co-write several episodes of college sitcom Undeclared.
*Photo: Josh Stansfield
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[h/t to Jossip]____
See also:
- YouTube Star Bo Burnham Readies Debut EP, Bo Fo Sho
- *What the Buck? *Creator Inks Deal With HBO
- Hyperactive Vlogger 'Fred' Scores Hollywood Deal
- Sick of Griefers, YouTubers Start a Members-Only Site
- Hitler Remixes are Big -- on YouTube
*Underwire 2.0: Jenna Wortham's Google Reader, FriendFeed**, Twitter; The Underwire on Twitter and *Facebook.
