The phenomenon is partly driven by technology – Lonelygirl15 wouldn't exist
without the explosion of broadband and the advent of YouTube – and partly by the
appeal of a hybrid form of storytelling. Lonelygirl15 is a mashup of homemade
video diary, soap opera, and mysterious, hint-laden narrative like
Lost. It's all the more engrossing because viewers can correspond
with the characters and even affect the plot. For Flinders, it's a thrillingly
uncharted creative landscape, and he has no interest in abandoning it for the
tired conventions of film or television. Rather, he wants to be the JJ Abrams of
the Internet.