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Cory Williams
Cory Williams at Thousand Oaks, California.
Background information
Born	August 5, 1981 (1981-08-05) (age 28) Merced, California, United States
Web alias(es)	Mr. Safety of SMP Films, smpfilms, Simple Minded People Films
Period active	March 2005-present[1]
Host service(s)	YouTube
Genre(s)	Variety
Notable work(s)	"The Mean Kitty Song"
Signature phrase	"My videos are a parody of my real life."
Official site	www.smpfilms.com

Cory Williams (born August 5, 1981), also known as "Mr. Safety" from SMP Films, is an actor and YouTube personality who lives in Thousand Oaks, California.

Biography

Cory, Stephanie Williams and their two cats, Sparta and Loki live in Thousand Oaks, CA. Cory is a very well-known Youtube filmmaker who currently has two live channels, one called "SMPfilms"^[2] and the other being "TheMeanKitty".^[3] Stephanie also created her own channel in April 19, 2006 called "SMPlady".^[4] She has only made 4 videos, unlike Cory who has a collection of 309 videos. Cory proposed to Stephanie via YouTube in March 31 but was posted on April 1, 2007.^[5] They got married two years later on September 6, 2009, their marriage was filmed live directly into a website called SMPwedding.com exclusively dedicated to broadcasting their marriage.[1] Cory isn't only known on YouTube. He also has a Facebook and MySpace page, and regularly posts messages on Twitter^[6] and occasionally posts videos on Vimeo.

In early January 2009, it was announced that Cory's cat Sparta ("The Mean Kitty") had feline leukemia. Loki, his other cat, showed negative results at tests but is being pretreated.

Professional Idiot (1999-2006)

Williams' videos began in 1999 with a video called "STOPMAN." It was his first work, which was posted six years later on YouTube. Williams' "Professional Idiot" persona ended in 2006 when he became popular on YouTube.

Cory "Mr. Safety" (2006-present)

After ending the "Professional Idiot" persona, Williams began a new, more mature one called "Cory Mr. Safety". His most well known video was "The Mean Kitty Song" and was viewed more than 30 million times.

Acting career

In early October 2007, Williams starred in his first feature film role as the character "Hunter" in the movie Faded Memories, which opened in theaters on November 14, 2008.^[7] The first trailer to the movie was released on YouTube, August 3, 2008. This will mark the first known occasion in which a YouTube user, without an agent, has made a direct transition to film acting. Naathan Phan (aka SungHero), who was cast for a featured role in Superbad, was the first known YouTube user to transition with the aid of an agent. Brandon Hardesty would be the third YouTube user to transition into feature films for his role in the upcoming movie Bart Got A Room. Williams also has a cameo in the song "Uhn Tiss Uhn Tiss Uhn Tiss" by Bloodhound Gang and also "White People For Peace" by Against Me!.

Internet history

Williams started streaming online video in March 2005 on Newgrounds. He then developed a following by posting original music tracks to his MySpace profile, leading MySpace to sponsor him on a cross-country tour.^[1] In September 2005, Golden Palace Casino sponsored Williams, making him one of the first video bloggers to receive corporate sponsorship.^[8] Williams is the creator of SMP Films, which was named after his friends in his home town of Turlock, California. The "SMP" stands for "Simple Minded People".

Williams has made all of his newer videos available to view and download in 720p HD on Vimeo, another video-sharing website that obtained high-definition capabilities before YouTube added "high quality" and "HD" features.

YouTube

Williams' video output includes music, sketch comedy and community building. As of September 2009, Williams' YouTube channel, "smpfilms", had acquired over 323,000 subscribers and over 115 million video views. He is also one of the first 30 users to be chosen to for YouTube's revenue sharing "partner" program.^[9]

"The Mean Kitty Song" (or "Hey Little Sparta"), based on his cat with the same name, is Williams' most popular video to date. It has attracted over 29.5 million views.^[10] In one year, it became the top 21 of YouTube's list of all-time favorite videos, top 39 of YouTube's list of all-time most discussed videos, number 1 all-time most discussed Pets & Animals video, number 4 all-time most viewed Pets & Animals video, and is the No. 1 all-time favorite video in the Pets & Animals section. The video was also aired by CBS' The Early Show and a few other television shows as well.^[11]

On October 9, 2008, he announced that he will no longer be focusing on himself as the only main character of his videos. Instead he will be focusing on directing and promoting lesser known YouTube users with talent.^[12]

On December 10, 2008, Williams was mentioned on the front page of The New York Times as being one of YouTube's top earners. "Half of the profits come from YouTube’s advertisements, and the other half come from sponsorships and product placements within his videos".^[13]

"Interactive" YouTube Games

Williams periodically creates "interactive" videos, which are large/small groups of videos stringed together by in-video annotation links. Along with the notable examples below, Williams has also created others including a fortune teller with a magic crystal ball and holding your breath.

"Choose Your Path"

On Wednesday, May 28, 2008, Williams uploaded 64 videos at once. The videos were a part of a Choose Your Own Adventure-style game on YouTube. The project was titled CHOOSE YOUR PATH - The game where YOU control my fate! and the game's goal was to find his missing cat somewhere in his apartment. Within days of the project's release, 24 of YouTube's 50 most viewed new videos were from this series.^[14] On August 20, 2008, he posted a smaller mini video "series" called "Choose Your Fortune" where the viewer spins their mouse around a crystal ball and then when 9 annotations pop up, wherever said mouse landed, they click on that annotation. Then they are led to a video with their fortune and a short comedic sketch. The video was later featured on YouTube's main page on September 16, 2008.

Fortune Teller

Interactive Improv

The Interactive Telephone Game

On November 26, 2008, Williams uploaded an eleven-minute video of him saying things on the telephone.^[15] The idea was for other users to download the video and use clips from it to generate videos of themselves appearing to have a phone conversation with Williams. Williams has recognized two users, AngryAussie and Cyr1216, who have used this video. This video also brought about a 'spin off' of sorts. The user 'Theroachyjay' used the video to introduce her character Sling. Sling, portatyed by Roachy, was a mysterious man with no objections of speaking his mind, no matter how badly he should not have. He is later made into the main character of Theroachyjay's 'Sling Files' which reveals more and more about this mysterious leader each episode. A user named "theroachyjay" created a 'spin off' to the telephone game using Sling as the caller/receiver. While not as well received or popular as Williams' version, it is still notable.

Horror Interactive Game

In late December 2008, Cory Williams announced that he would be uploading a horror interactive game. He then later cancelled the project.

TheMeanKitty channel

On June 18, 2008, Cory Williams opened a second YouTube channel which concentrated on his cats Sparta and Loki due to popular demand.^[16] As of September 12, 2009, Sparta's new YouTube channel obtained over 175,000 subscribers and over 25 million video views.

Inappropriate Films

As of May 14, 2009, Williams made a new YouTube channel by the name of "Inappropriate Films". Williams posted a video on his 'smpfilms' channel about Inappropriate Films, in his video he said "This one is dedicated to the films that you wouldn't necessarily call family friendly". This channel was shut down by Williams after only one month due to flagging. Williams claims YouTube was flagging him unfairly to censor his use of language on the channel.

Television

In November 2006, Williams became the host of the first national TV show to spawn from video bloggers, called The FIZZ^[17] on DirecTV channel 101 in the United States.^[8] The show features other popular video bloggers such as thewinekone, boh3m3, TheHill88, Kevin Nalty, Kassem G and many other notable YouTube users. It aired daily on DirecTV channel 101 until the show was canceled in June 2008. This marks the first time in which a YouTube user has transitioned into a television role without the aid of an agent. Williams was also named as one of the "Who's Who on YouTube" by G4TV's Attack of the Show on July 31, 2008 and also made a guest appearance on Tom Green's House Tonight on The Comedy Network in Canada.

Williams has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and MTV Scarred.^[1], although it should be noted that his appearances on these shows were unrelated to his success on YouTube.

Outside of YouTube, Williams works for a viral video project called "I Got Shotgun" (which was created by General Motors) where he interviews celebrities on the red carpet about their personal opinions on the future of new media.

On September 18, 2008, Williams was featured on The Tyra Show for his music video "The Mean Kitty Song". In the episode titled "YouTube Made Me Famous", Tyra Banks announced that Williams makes a monthly income of $20,000 (US). Williams' response to Tyra's comment about his income was, "The money I make each month isn't from YouTube alone but through sponsorship, consulting, and acting gigs."

On September 17, 2009, Williams was a guest on The Bonnie Hunt Show. This was also the first time his cats Sparta and Loki had been taped for television in front of a live studio audience. The topic focused on Cory's ability to comfort animals in extreme situations in which let him to perform "comfort tricks" with Sparta.

"As One"

Williams is the founder and West Coast American Event Coordinator of the international gathering of YouTube users dubbed "As One".^[18] The first "As One" gathering was held in January 2007 in Hollywood, California; Williams's associated video went on to receive over 1.3 million views. The second gathering, held at Pier 39 in San Francisco, California,^[19] managed to attract many of YouTube's highest viewed users, YouTube employees,^[20] and attention in the mainstream press.^[21] Notable YouTubers who attended include Caitlin Hill, Ben Going, Smosh, and Paul Robinett, Yousef Abu-Taleb and Jackson Davis, the actors who play DanielBeast and jonastko in the YouTube series lonelygirl15.^[22] Another "As One" gathering was held on July 7, 2007 in New York City and one other gathering also took place on December 1, 2007 in Melbourne, Australia.^[23]

See also

• The FIZZ
• YouTube celebrities

References

External links

• SMP Films YouTube
• Mr. Safety's Myspace
• SMP Films website
• Official "As One" YouTube gathering website
• The FIZZ on DirecTV 101 website
• Cory Williams at the Internet Movie Database
• Sparta and Loki's YouTube
• Stephanie's YouTube