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From the 9th Annual Shorty Awards

You’re the Worst: Erotic Novels

Entered in Comedy Video

Objectives


Everyone loves a classic love story… "You're the Worst" is not one of them. By the end of season 2, fans relished in the fact that our (anti) heroes are a much needed antidote to the cheesy, over-the-top romantic gestures of the genre.

To help launch Season 3, FXX embraced the show's defiant take on modern romance with a tawdry video series designed to delight its fanbase. The show's lead Chris Geere provided a series of dramatic readings of his character's very own erotic novel. Our goal was to create a humorous custom series that teases the new season, while also creating a transformative behind-the-scenes look at Jimmy's novel that fans could not find anywhere else. What better way to service fans than to personally seduce them?

Strategy and Execution

To achieve this goal, FX worked with the production team to design a custom shoot for a reading of Jimmy's erotic novel "The Width of a Peach." We wanted production design to mirror Masterpiece Theatre for a classic, stylized look. On a large plush chair, author Jimmy reads excerpts from his very own erotic musings. The titillating stories he recites to camera—in his sensual, brooding voice—are, how you say, "not safe for work." YTW creator Stephen Falk worked directly with the FX social team to write custom erotic excerpts used for the series of comedic videos. The excerpts were filmed and created in post by Ludomade, where accompanying music and effects were added.

A total of three videos were created and posted across Facebook, where they could be (appropriately) age-gated…since the sexy tales were for mature audiences only.

Results

The custom video series received over 35k views on Facebook and garnered plenty of enthusiastic responses from fans. Many pleaded that the book actually be published while others insisted they would buy it if it existed. We accomplished our goal in creating pieces that would compliment the YTW story line, while still giving fans the unapologetic humor they craved.

The videos, paired directly with Jimmy's storyline to write the novel in the show, created so much positive chatter that Stephen Falk publically said he is considering actually writing "The Width of a Peach." In this case, it looks like art really does imitate reality.


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