On the Industry
Nothing Mediocre About Greg
By Tommy Garrett
Apr 20, 2008 - 9:05:14 PM

Photo courtesy of Greg Benson.

If anyone has been online searching the film short category on Google, you’ve heard of Greg Benson. His official site: www.mediocrefilms.com is one of the busiest sites on the net, both with traffic from viewers and also because Benson never tires of working. He does most of his own producing, directing and editing - the sign of a real genius. I had been a fan of Greg’s for many years, but recently a mutual friend, Jeff Dean, in Melbourne, Australia suggested that I write about this man. Jeff often says, “He’s a genius, a smart man, really personable and I get a big laugh from his films.” Greg’s motto has always been, put a microphone in a person’s face and watch how they react. The always well dressed practical joker never fails to embarrass and entertain others.

When writing about people, it’s always fascinating to me, the interviewer, and to my readers to find out what made someone get involved in what they specialize in doing. Benson quickly answered, “I started writing and directing shorts in 2005. I didn't know what I was doing, but wanted to learn, so I got a DV camera and a Mac with Final Cut Pro, taught myself how to use them and committed to making one short per month. This is how I learned how to shoot and edit. I started by putting them up at my website www.mediocrefilms.com, which caught on pretty quickly. Then the following year my amazingly smart wife Kim urged me to release them to YouTube. YouTube featured one of my videos a month after I joined, and that really helped new fans find my stuff. I've been lucky enough to have several videos featured there since, and I was one of the first video producers to be invited into their revenue sharing program.” That wife Kim is none other than actress Kim Evey, also a prolific artist like her husband. Evey was last seen on “Journeyman” and “The Apostles.” She encourages her husband to do his zany filmmaking.

Greg is a fascinating guy to talk to, and he enjoys people, which is what makes him so entertaining to his niche audience on the internet. On a recent trip, Benson said, “For my ‘Greg Hits Hollywood’ man-on-the-street videos, I'm always amazed at what people will put up with just because they want to be on TV, or even just YouTube. I went out to Grauman's Chinese Theatre one day to see people's reactions if I were to smack them in the face with a microphone repeatedly during an otherwise straight interview. The results were pretty hilarious, so I released it online. Now over a million viewers have seen that video at various websites.”

Benson isn’t just some ordinary computer head; he is involved in many projects online that relate to entertainment. Benson adds, “I currently direct three very popular web series, and I love them all—and they're all very different. ‘Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show’ is a spoof of Japanese TV shows, written and created by my unbelievably hilarious wife, Kim Evey. ‘Retarded Policeman’ is a simple premise about a ‘special’ cop played by a very funny Down Syndrome actor friend named Josh Perry, and it's about as politically incorrect as you can get. And ‘The Guild’ is just a great series about a group of online World of Warcraft gamers, created by Felicia Day. All three shows are ‘million sellers’—meaning they each have been viewed millions of times at YouTube. ‘Gorgeous Tiny’ is now being distributed by Sony, and ‘The Guild’ is currently fielding offers after it won best series of 2007 in the YouTube and Yahoo video awards.

It’s always interesting to see why someone continues doing what they love in the entertainment industry, so I asked Greg - why? He had a smart and quick answer. “Well, the motivation there is just the need for steady employment. Commercials have been paying my bills for well over a decade, and they've been very good to me. Now that I've appeared in so many, the next logical step is to direct them. So I've recently signed with commercial production house Shadowcorp (www.shadowcorp.tv) to do just that!” Benson adds, “I'm extremely fortunate that I've been able to find great actors and crew members who are willing to put in the time to make my ridiculous videos, often for little to no pay. But it thrills me to no end that I'm now being hired to direct projects and can offer real work to the people who have been so supportive over the years. Some of my favorite recent writing/directing gigs include online ads for Hitachi and International Trucks, and comedy Christmas Card videos for 20th Century Fox. My ‘24’ Christmas spoof—called ‘24^th’ — is definitely worth checking out.” Everything Greg Benson does is worth checking out.

Benson can be seen on You Tube, on other sites on the web or his official website, Mediocre Films. But mediocre this man is not.