College students go from Internet to NBC
Usually fame comes when one doesn’t expect it.
That’s what happened to Luke Barats and Joe Bereta, two college graduates from Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.
Less than a year after they starting posting homemade videos on the Internet, Barats and Bereta signed a one-year, six-figure contract with NBC.
Barats, 22, and Bereta, 23, started out as a comedy duo in 2003, working clubs together in the Spokane area.
The two decided to put some of their antics on tape when Bereta, a broadcasting major, needed to produce some content for their campus TV station.
Writing, filming and editing everything with the help of their friends, Barats and Bereta made the jump to online video posting through the free video-sharing Web site, YouTube.com. They didn’t do it for the fame or the glory, but merely so their friends and family could see what they had done.
In 2005, Barats and Bereta competed in the Spokane First Night Film Festival and took first place with their video “Just Wonderful.”
The entire video was written, created and edited in just 48 hours.
The rules of the contest were that each team had to incorporate a given theme, prop and a specific line of dialogue into a three to five minute film.
A mere nine months after first posting on the Internet, and more than one million views on YouTube alone, the duo got a call from NBC to write and produce a pilot for a TV show.
Barats and Bereta are currently writing and brainstorming for their pilot.
“ It’ll take 50 percent hard work and 50 percent luck to make it to the top,” the duo said.
Besides relying solely on YouTube posts for their videos, Barats and Bereta created their own Web site, www.baratsandbereta.com.
The Web site allowed Barats and Bereta to not only post their videos, but to post biographies, artwork and links to affiliate Web sites as well. They also list Web sites of some of their friends who helped create the mini-films.
They also talk about what devices and programs they use for nearly every aspect of the videos, from the cameras to the editing software, as well as recommendations for other up-and-coming filmmakers.
All of this further helped to establish the comedic pair as legitimate entertainers.
In a matter of months, the duo could go from Internet fame to national television stars.