| Runtime: | 90 seconds |
| Creator: | Big Fantastic (Doug Cheney, Chris Hampel, Chris McCaleb, Ryan Wise) |
| Producer: | Vuguru |
| Director: | Doug Cheney, Chris Hampel, Chris McCaleb, Ryan Wise |
| Country: | United States |
| Network: | MySpace YouTube Veoh |
| Related: | SamHas7Friends |
| Last Aired: | present |
| Num Episodes: | 80 |
Prom Queen is the first web series produced by former Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner's new production company Vuguru and veteran production company Big Fantastic, the creators of Sam Has 7 Friends. The series, consisting of 80 episodes of 90 seconds each, is one of the best-funded entrants into the world of original programming designed exclusively for online video.[1]
The show generated revenue through sponsorships, by selling some of the clothing worn by the characters, and by carrying advertising for Hairspray.[2]
The series premiered April 1, 2007, on MySpace, and supplemental scenes can be seen on MySpace as each of the characters has a MySpace page that includes blogs, Vlogs, and comments between the characters. According to the Financial Times, it marks MySpace's boldest push into original video content. The series was also distributed on YouTube, Veoh, and on an original Prom Queen website.[3]
The first season ended on June 20, 2007, with over 15 million views of the episodes during the original 12-week run,[4] and has been viewed by over 40 million people to date.[5]
A 15-episode spinoff series, , debuted on August 27, 2007. On May 7, 2008, a Japanese remake of the series, titled Tokyo Prom Queen, began airing in a similar format.
On October 20, 2008, Michael Eisner confirmed that a third season of "Prom Queen" would be produced.[6]
A DVD of the series was released on October 8, 2008; it included behind-the-scenes footage and audio commentaries from the cast and creators of the series.
In July 2009 it was announced that a follow-up series was being filmed, entitled Prom Queen: The Homecoming. Starting July 4, 2010, 'Homecoming' began to air on Citytv, a Canada-based television website. Four episodes were released each Monday. "Homecoming" connected 'Sam Has 7 friends' with 'Prom Queen' and primarily focused on the character, Sadie Simmons. 'Homecoming' ended with a cliffhanger, suggesting another season would appear.
In October 2012, "Homecoming" debuted in the United States (along with the original "Prom Queen" and "Sam Has 7 Friends") on The CW's website.[7]
As of November 2014, the first season can be seen for free on YouTube, at the channel promqueentv. The episodes contain their original edits, without being pasted together as they had been on THE CW website.
On April 13, 2019, actor Sean Hankinson posted a video to Instagram portraying his character, Ben. The video appeared to be simply for fun, not some kind of announcement.[8]
The core plot of Prom Queen revolves around a text message sent to Ben, saying, "U R going 2 kill the prom queen." This occurs as the prom approaches, and the drama begins to unfold.
James McKeever wrote the musical score for the series.