The clip, which was viewed nearly 2 million times in two weeks,

And there they are, in the bedrooms and dorms and cubicles of the world, uploading their asses off, more than 65,000 times a day on YouTube alone.

It's enough to keep the operation afloat until they can find a way to take serialized online entertainment to the next level.

Welcome to the set of Lonelygirl15, the breakout Web hit that, in September, was unmasked by fans as a work of fiction.

But there was an important difference: A Hollywood movie is understood to be fictional. Vlogging on YouTube is not. Plus, to fully harness the medium, they intended to carry on email correspondences with YouTubers while posing as Bree.

Now Beckett and Flinders had made her sign a nondisclosure agreement and, clearly pleased with themselves, told her that they wanted her to play the lead in what they billed as the future of entertainment.

The title of the video was "My Parents Suck …," and she explained that her religion prevented her from doing things that other kids did. Still, she felt that her parents had gone too far when they said she couldn't go on a hike with Daniel. It was the first time Bree was emotional on camera.

That couldn't have happened on television. A conventional TV episode airs once at a certain time; even if it's great, it can only serve to attract viewers to future episodes. On YouTube, a video can be streamed at any time.