Over the course of three seasons, the lesbian vampire YouTube series Carmilla has earned more than 250,000 subscribers and over 50 million views, playing to an audience that is 82% female, with almost two thirds of those female fans being between the ages of 18 and 24. So I guess it's not very surprising that I had never heard of the show before. I'm a bit outside the primary demographic.
Sponsored by the feminine hygiene brand Kimberly-Clark's U by Kotex, Carmilla has done so well for its producers at Shaftesbury's Smokebomb Entertainment that they have announced the show's third season will be followed by the production of a feature film.
Inspired by the classic Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu 1871/'72 novella, the series is set
at a fictional modern-day university. The story starts when college student Laura discovers that her original roommate has disappeared — replaced by the mysterious Carmilla, who turns out to be a vampire.
According to Jay Bennett, the senior VP of creative and innovation at Smokebomb, Laura and Carmilla's relationship gradually becomes a complicated love story, a love story that plays out amidst Veronica Mars-style investigations.
Series stars Elise Bauman and Natasha Negovanlis, who play Laura and Carmilla, will remain in those roles for the CARMILLA feature, which picks up five years after the events of season three. Says Bennett, "It's about the band getting back together, and them going on a fun, cool, sexy Scooby Doo adventure."
CARMILLA is being written by Alex Acoba and series co-creator Jordan Hall, and while talks for distribution and co-production deals are still underway, the movie is already available for pre-order on VHX.tv.