"Smosh" looks to reach a new audience with their full-length movie "Smosh: The Movie."
As established YouTube creators, Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla have 5 YouTube channels with more than 7 billion views. Now with director Alex Winter they move on to the movie platform, but they will not abandon their loyal followers.
“Normally we shoot a out to six minute long sketch so it was interesting to work on something that had true character arc and with a three act structure,” Hecox said.
Going from sketches on YouTube to developing big story and characters in a film was a big step for the YouTube stars. It gave them a chance to do more and include some of the YouTube stars that they enjoy as well.
“Alot of the people that we had in the movie, we love their stuff,” Hecox said. “Jenna Marbles, Harley (Morenstein) is great, Grace (Helbig) is really funny…so alot of those guys, the reason we brought them on the movie, was not only cause we were friends with them, but we are also big fans of their content."
"Smosh" started as a hobby for the two friends, who have known each other since sixth grade. They said that they were among one of the first 10 YouTube channels to start making money with their videos.
With the movie, they were given the opportunity to ask some of their favorite YouTubers to appear in the film. In doing so, the YouTubers were able to add some of what has made them stars on their channels.
“The whole movie relied on the authenticity of making fun of ourselves, Smosh making fun of their own image and other people from YouTube – like Harley or Jenna Marbles or Grace coming in and making fun of their image,” Winter said. “Everything had to be authentic to that world. It wouldn’t have been funny or worked if we had to make up fake names."
The 18-day shoot for the movie was tight, but still some improv was allowed so that what worked best is what they did.
“One thing that we wanted was for Smosh fans that already watched our videos would enjoy the movie, but at the same time people who never even heard of us would be able to enjoy it,” Padilla said.
Most recently Hecox and Padilla were on Mickey Bolts' YouTube channel showing their improv skills and support for Bolts.
“Turns out that he was from pretty much the same area as us.” Hecox said. “Really funny guy."
From the sketches on YouTube to the movie, Hecox and Padilla finds ways to make people laugh, get followers and manage to have fun doing it.
Hecox said, “A lot of people see YouTube as a starting off point, a way to make it into movies or TV. The way we see it is that movies or TV is just another outlet. It’s just another place for Smosh to go. So we are not looking to leave YouTube or the internet."
"Smosh: The Movie" is out on July 24.
