From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Caitlin Alexandra Hill (born 8 September 1988) is an Australian YouTube personality under the name TheHill88. She produces, edits and uploads her videos from her home in New York City.
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.[1] Her videos have a cumulative view count of over 17 million.[2] [3]
In addition to maintaining a channel on YouTube, Hill is the Chief Creative Officer of Hitviews, a website and new media business venture, which she co-founded with Walter Sabo.[4] The site allows marketers direct access to internet celebrities such as Kevin Nalty and Cory Williams. Bob Weinstein is among the site's investors.[2]
YouTube fame
Hill submitted her first video to YouTube 16 August 2006, as a fan response to popular web serial lonelygirl15.[5] A day later, Hill began to assemble fans of her own upon uploading Re: LonelyGirl: Lazydork is Better Than You (posted 17 August 2006), a video response to YouTube comedian Richard Stern, received over 1.000.000 views before September 2006. Described by The Age as "cheesy rap", YouTube featured the video and her 14 short videos collectively received over 4,000,000 views.[6][7]
She has credited Zach Braff, Brooke Brodack and Bree, a lonelygirl15 character played by Jessica Rose, for inspiring her to join the YouTube community.[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 gives the user "the ability to share in ad revenue".[11]
In September 2007, Hill announced on her MySpace blog that 2007 would 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.[12] |
” |
By October 2007, YouTube no longer listed Hill as a revenue sharing partner.
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.[13]
In July 2007, she featured in 'Disgrace', a music-video created by the band Coldstone.[14]
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.[15]
Off YouTube
Hill plays an unpaid but central part in the upcoming independent horror movie The Girl in the Red Dress,[6] featuring Remi Broadway, among others.
She plies her YouTube fame to The Darfur Wall, earning the nonprofit website hundreds of hits in a period of two weeks.[16] Her fansite ranks #2 in advocacy points.[17]
In February 2007, Hill visited California to take part in the "As One" YouTube gathering in San Francisco.[18] She appeared on Tom Green Live with "Weird Al" Yankovic and Mike Vallely during her stay.
Over the course of repeated travels from Australia to the United States, Hill has auditioned for roles in several big-budget Hollywood movies.[19]
Hill has been cast for the role of Lucy Grimm in the remake of Plan 9 from Outer Space, whose teaser trailer was released on September 9, 2009 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the original.[20]
In 2008, Caitlin Hill announced in multiple videos that she moved to New York City, New York.
On December 8, 2008, Hill became the youngest recipient of the National Arts Club Medal of Honor.[21]
On April 20, 2009, Hill became the new host of the vlog Rocketboom, replacing the outgoing Joanne Colan. However, Rocketboom producer Andrew Baron claims they were unable to reach agreement with Hitviews, meaning Rocketboom has to look for new anchors. Baron has stated that he still hopes to reach a deal that suits all parties to bring Hill back onto the Rocketboom staff.[22]
See also
References
- ^ YouTube Top100 Most Subscribed List
- ^ a b Myers, Jack "YouTube's Biggest Viral Video Stars Sign With Hitviews to Tap Into Marketers' Budgets" The Huffington Post, 25 November 2008
- ^ YouTube Most Viewed List
- ^ "Hitviews Offers Brands a New, Proven Way to Deliver Message Inside the Most Popular Online Videos", 1 December 2008
- ^ Re: I Probably Shouldn't Post This...
- ^ a b Hutcheon, Stephen (2006-09-04). "Caitlin raps her way to YouTube success - web - Technology - theage.com.au". The Age. Archived from the original on 2010-03-09. http://www.webcitation.org/5o6PeAl6O. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
- ^ Re: LonelyGirl: Lazydork is Better Than You
- ^ CC licensed video interview with Caitlin Hill, by Irina Slutsky of GETV on Blip.tv. Retrieved 16 August 2007.
- ^ "Unexpected: Episode 100 - TheHill88 & Ian Crossland" on TheStream.TV
- ^ Video interview with Caitlin Hill, by Abbie Santiago of BusinessBoomer
- ^ "The YouTube Partner Programme". http://www.youtube.com/partners. Retrieved 2008-10-16.
- ^ "Fading away...2007 will be my last year on YouTube." Caitlin Hill's blog on MySpace 21 September 2007
- ^ ChooseYourOwnTube.com
- ^ coldstonemusic.com
- ^ Behrens, Zach "LisaNova Kidnaps Perez Hilton" LAist.com, the Los Angeles version of the Gothamist 11 July 2007
- ^ The Darfur Wall Introduces Advocates Program, Darfur Wall press release 2 February 2007
- ^ Advocate Profile on darfurwall.org
- ^ Sandoval, Greg "Top YouTube videographers descend on San Francisco" cnet.com, 17 February 2007
- ^ Swanwick, Tristan "Local talent goes global" The Courier Mail, 28 July 2007
- ^ Woerner, Meredith Plan 9 remake is cast io9, 29 September 2008
- ^ Seccombe, Andy (December 9, 2008). "Caitlin Hill: Web star Wins Medal of Honor". New York Press. http://www.nypress.com/blog-3033-caitlin-hill-web-star-wins-medal-of-honor.html. Retrieved 2008-12-11.
- ^ "ROCKETBOOM INTERNATIONAL TALENT SEARCH". 2009-06-03. http://blog.rocketboom.com/post/117531981/rocketboom-international-talent-search. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
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