Caitlin Hill
Template:Infobox Internet celebrity Caitlin Hill (born September 8, 1988) is a YouTube personality under the name TheHill88. She produces, edits and uploads her videos from her home in New York City.[1]
Dubbed "the goofy princess of cyberspace" by 60 Minutes, Hill maintains one of the most subscribed channels on YouTube, with a regular audience of over 65,000.[2][3] Her videos have a cumulative view count of over 18 million.[1]
YouTube
Hill submitted her first video to YouTube August 16, 2006, as a fan response to popular web serial lonelygirl15.[4] A day later, Hill began to assemble fans of her own upon uploading Re: LonelyGirl: Lazydork is Better Than You (posted August 17, 2006), a video response to YouTube comedian Richard Stern.[5] Described by The Age as "cheesy rap", YouTube featured the video; and it went on to receive over 4,000,000 views.[6]
She has credited Zach Braff, Brooke Brodack and Bree, a lonelygirl15 character played by Jessica Rose, for inspiring her to join the YouTube community.[7][8][9]
After sustaining a sizable viewership on YouTube for nearly a year, Hill became one of the first twenty to thirty YouTube users to join the YouTube partnership program in May 2007.[10] This status lets her take advantage of "promotional opportunities" and advertiser based revenue sharing.[11][12]
In September 2007, Hill announced on her MySpace blog that 2007 will be her last year in the partnership program, stating:
I'll try really hard to make 2007 my last year of YouTube. Sure I'll keep TheHill88 up, but I wont force myself to make videos. I'll only ever do them when I want to and ONLY when I have a really good idea. So I suppose it's not my last year...but its my last committed year. I'll have to end the partnership and everything....for now, I need to focus all my attention on the REAL WORLD and my goals.[13]
As of October 2007, YouTube no longer lists Hill as a revenue sharing partner.[10]
In addition to her own output, Hill plays a recurring role in Choose Your Own Tube, a YouTube serial produced and directed by Remi Broadway.
In July 2007 she featured in 'Disgrace', a music-video created by the band Coldstone.
Also in July 2007, Hill played herself in Lisa Donovan's comedy sketch LisaNova Does Youtube, in which she and other popular video bloggers are kidnapped by Donovan and made to comment on thousands of YouTube user profiles.[14]
Off YouTube
Hill plays an unpaid but central part in the upcoming independent horror movie Plan 9, directed by John Johnson [5] featuring Conrad Brooks, among others.
She plies her YouTube fame to The Darfur Wall, earning the nonprofit website hundreds of hits in a period of two weeks.[15] Her fansite ranks #2 in advocacy points.
In February 2007, Hill visited California to take part in the "As One" YouTube gathering in San Francisco.[8] She appeared on Tom Green Live with "Weird Al" Yankovic and Mike Vallely during her stay.
Over the course of repeated travels to the United States, Hill has auditioned for roles in several big-budget Hollywood movies.[1]
In 2008, Caitlin Hill announced in multiple videos that she moved to New York City, New York.
See also
References
- ^ a b c Swanwick, Tristan "Local talent goes global" The Courier Mail, July 28, 2007
- ^ Transcript: "Lights! Camera! Whatever...", 60 Minutes, October 15, 2006
- ^ Official YouTube Most Subscribed List, youtube.com as of July 31, 2007
- ^ Re: I Probably Shouldn't Post This...
- ^ a b Hutcheon, Stephen "Caitlin raps her way to YouTube success" theage.com.au, September 4, 2006 Cite error: The named reference "Age1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ Re: LonelyGirl: Lazydork is Better Than You
- ^ "TheHill88 and Crossmack On TheStream.TV" YouTube channel of Valpocade, thehill88.com webmaster, retrieved May 17, 2007
- ^ a b Sandoval, Greg "Top YouTube videographers descend on San Francisco" cnet.com, February 17, 2007"I saw one girl who I thought was real and who could do so much with the world," said Hill, referring to Lonelygirl15, the blogger who became a rage before it was discovered that she was an actress and her character was part of a dramatic role. After seeing the blog, Hill said "I wonder what I can do...I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it, but I think I'll get there." Cite error: The named reference "CNET1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ CC licensed video interview with Caitlin Hill, by Irina Slutsky of GETV on Blip.tv, retrieved August 16, 2007
- ^ a b YouTube Partners, as of October 15, 2007
- ^ YouTube Elevates Most Popular Users to Partners, The YouTube Blog May 3, 2007
- ^ Miguel Helft (2007-05-05). "Contributors on YouTube May Share Advertising Revenue". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
- ^ "Fading away...2007 will be my last year on YouTube." Caitlin Hill's blog on MySpace September 21, 2007
- ^ Behrens, Zach "LisaNova Kidnaps Perez Hilton" LAist.com, the Los Angeles version of the Gothamist July 11, 2007
- ^ The Darfur Wall Introduces Advocates Program, Darfur Wall press release February 2, 2007
External links
