Jaleel White is known best for his role as Steve Urkel in “Family Matters”. But Jaleel has been one biggest guy over the last few years going from “Dancing with the Stars” to hosting his own reality series on Syfy “Total Blackout” to guest starring on “CSI” this past January. His latest gig is a absolutely riot called “BPOV”, which stands for Broke People on Vine. It is a new web series that airs on YouTube weekly. Media Mikes had a chance to chat with Jaleel about the show. the craze of Vine and what we can expect.
Mike Gencarelli: Tell us how you got involved with Urban Hombre Media?
Jaleel White: I am a partner in the company along with Andres Izquieta, who is the CEO of Five Four Clothing. Five Four is an online based men’s club clothing brand. They put their clothes on everybody. So rather than have me be a brand ambassador for them, Andres reached out to me about branching out into production on the internet. The internet is something that we cannot ignore these days. It is bigger than just tweeting stuff. You need actual content on the internet. But this is a fun company and we are going to have a lot of good things coming up.
MG: I love the title for the show, “BPOV” (aka Broke People on Vine).
JW: Some people have said why call it “BPOV”. I really like the acronym because it is about a point of view of broke people because rich people on Vine ain’t funny [laughs]. Our director whipped up the logo, with a “South Park” version of me, which is cool. It is a great collaboration and we come up with the ideas collectively. So we are just keeping it real and having fun and we are going to keep pumping them out.
MG: So what is it about Vine that has people so hooked?
JW: A lot of my friends and people that I am familiar with are on Vine. I find myself at night just watching Vine on my phone like it is TV show. It is crazy really. After a long day, you are just lying around checking texts and emails and then you skip over to Vine and get stuck there for a half hour. By the time you are done, you aren’t going to watch TV; you are going to do to bed. Sometimes my daughter will come in the room and I will find something that is kid appropriate and we will then sit there and watch the same Vine like 15 times in a row [laughs].
MG: How many times did you have to watch these videos during shooting?
JW: What is really cool about the show is that I actually don’t get to see the Vines beforehand. Even if I like one and submit it for consideration, when the guys put together the top 10 reel I have no idea which ones are in there. If you watch you will see my eyes glance down sometimes because they want me to respond and react in real time. I am watching them for the first time right there. So even if it is one that I submitted, you are still getting an immediate and unknown reaction within the flow of the shot. When we did “Worst Job Interviews” episode and they guy was just hired at Krispy Kreme and does the back flip, that was an honest reaction from me and that was the first time I have ever saw that. We wanted my reaction to be the same reaction that you are viewers will experience. So that makes it fun.
MG: I love how the episodes run three minutes each; quick, tight and effective.
JW: It really channels to people’s attention spans right now. I don’t watch a half hour TV show every night before I go to bed as I would back when I was young kid. I will spend some time on Vine and that is it.
MG: How often can we expect new episodes?
JW: We are looking to keep putting them out, I think every Monday. Then down the line, we are looking to expand and putting them out even more. We will do some year-end stuff as well. It is just one of those things that it out there, it is what I do and I am big fan of Vine. I prefer to cover it then do my own Vines. To get to share these with people is just funnier for me personally. So that is the show man! Check it out and spread the word to your friends!
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