Escape the Night explained

Genre:
Creator:Joey Graceffa
Director:Adam Lawson
Opentheme:"Evil House"
by George Shaw
Composer:George Shaw
Country:United States
Language:English
Num Seasons:4
Num Episodes:40
Executive Producer:
  • Adam Lawson
  • Ari Weiner
  • Brian Graden
  • LB Horschler
  • Catherine Keithley
  • Nancy Tamayo
  • Petar Mandich
Producer:
  • Joey Graceffa
  • Daniel Preda
  • Chris Grannon
Cinematography:Cypress Sterling
Editor:Steve Grubel
Camera:Multi-camera
Runtime:19–41 Minutes
Company:Brian Graden Media
Network:

Escape the Night is an American reality television series created, hosted, produced, and owned by Joey Graceffa. The series follows fantasy plots based on horror and murder mystery aesthetics. The series premiered on June 22, 2016, through YouTube Red. The series concluded its fourth season on September 4, 2019, making the longest-running series on YouTube Premium until 2020. After the cancellation of the series, the creator announced an upcoming film and set up a fundraiser.

Synopsis

The series follows The Savant (Joey Graceffa) as he finds himself in an estate in a past era, where he invites a number of guests to a party and requires them to act and dress as various personas from that era. Once there, they are isolated from the outside world, and tasked with surviving the night and escaping the estate. To achieve this, the guests team up with him to participate in challenges and escape room puzzles, competing with each other to escape from the historical era by solving and completing the challenges. At the end of each episode, two guests are voted into a challenge to compete against each other, where the losing guest is eliminated via a fictional death until one or more guests ultimately win and are sent back to the modern world.

Production

Conception

In October 2015, the subscription service formerly known as YouTube Red, revealed upcoming projects including an untitled Joey Graceffa project that involves a murder mystery.[1] A year later, the subscription service teased clips of their upcoming murder mystery series.[2] Graceffa revealed in a Teen Vogue interview that "the idea for the project has been in the works for two years, and that he most looked forward to collaborating" with other YouTubers.[3] The creator also said the series was inspired by a murder mystery episode of television series Lizzie McGuire, and was also closely related to the American film Clue (1985).[4]

Filming

The creator described filming season one as "super-intense" from starting production at 10PM and wrapping up filming at 6AM. This took five consecutive nights from filming "two episodes each night" at Los Angeles, California.[5]

Distribution

Two episodes of the first season premiered on June 22, 2016, through YouTube Red.[6] The premiere season gained success, was renewed for a second season in October 2016, and premiered on June 22, 2017.[7] Graceffa confirmed that a third season was renewed in May 2018. The third season premiered on June 21, 2018. With the fourth season renewed, it made the longest-running original series on YouTube.[8] The fourth season premiered simultaneously at VidCon during a panel conference with Graceffa and was also available to watch for free on YouTube, on July 11, 2019.[9]

Post-production

Gabbie Hanna controversy

On June 27, 2021, former contestant Gabbie Hanna released "an exposé video" that aimed at producer Daniel Preda, creator Joey Graceffa, and their creative team. In the video, her eating disorder was triggered by "alleged mistreatment on set" and her dietary meal requests were denied by production.[10] Daniel Preda denied Hanna's allegations and personally received her meal options. Preda also mentions that Hanna has "missed or delayed production obligations" and was "verbally abusive" to staff.[11] Various season four cast members sided with the creator and writers of the series, with one of them mentioning it "paints an untruthful picture of what happened."[12]

Cancellation and sequel

After a year from its fourth season premiere, YouTube Premium confirmed and declined to renew the series for a fifth season. In the summer of 2021, Graceffa stated in a vlog that the streaming service will no longer fund and distribute further seasons of the series, but has stated that he has full ownership of the intellectual property.[13]

In October 2023, Graceffa released a couple of teasers for an upcoming project through the series' social media platforms. Later on, the creator announced an upcoming film for the series; a fundraiser was set up through Indiegogo.[14] In November 2023, Joey had five previous cast members compete to be in the movie: Manny Mua, GloZell Green, Tyler Oakley, Teala Dunn, and Rosanna Pansino. Rosanna ended up winning.[15]

Other media

Attraction

With the release of the fourth season, an immersive escape room was set up for a limited event that ran exclusively from August 9 to August 27, 2019, in Beverly Hills, California. The escape room had multiple rooms to venture through, with surprise guest appearances from Joey Graceffa, Jack O'Connor as Mortimer, and Eva Augustina Sinotte as The Sorceress.[16]

Board game

In June 2020, Graceffa announced that due to COVID-19's impact on Hollywood and television, their fifth installment was postponed indefinitely, but teased a new interactive fan version. Fans of the series subscribed to a newsletter email list in order to receive updates about the new project. A Kickstarter campaign was started to fund a board game based on the series; their goal of $30,000 was achieved in just three hours. It was formally announced the next day.[17]

Awards and nominations

AwardYearCategoryRecipient(s) and nominee(s)Result
Streamy Awards2016Best Costume DesignOlivia Hines[18]
Best Ensemble CastEscape the Night
2018Best Comedy SeriesEscape the Night[19]
Best Costume DesignOlivia Hines
Best Ensemble CastEscape the Night
Show of the Year
Shorty Awards2018Best Website SeriesEscape the Night[20]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Jarvey . Natalie . YouTube to launch subscription Service with original series from Fine Brothers, PewDiePie . October 21, 2015 . October 24, 2023 . . . November 9, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231109045312/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/youtube-launch-subscription-service-original-833576/ . bot: unknown .
  2. Web site: Weiss . Geoff . YouTube teases 'Red' series from CollegeHumor, The Game Theorists, Joey Graceffa in latest trailer . May 5, 2016 . July 5, 2016 . . July 16, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160716091551/http://www.tubefilter.com/2016/05/05/youtube-red-teases-series-from-collegehumor-the-game-theorists-joey-graceffa/ . bot: unknown .
  3. Cerón . Ella . Watch all your favorite social media stars play an epic game of murder mystery . June 21, 2016 . October 24, 2023 . . . November 9, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231109045313/https://www.teenvogue.com/story/escape-the-night-joey-graceffa-clip . bot: unknown .
  4. Web site: Hamedy . Saba . Watch Joey Graceffa bring YouTubers together for 'a dinner party to die for' . June 21, 2016 . July 6, 2016 . . . June 24, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160624063824/http://mashable.com/2016/06/21/youtube-red-joey-graceffa-escape-the-night/? . bot: unknown .
  5. Hiramine . Brie . Exclusive: Joey Graceffa reveals behind-the-scenes secrets from 'Escape the Night' . June 21, 2016 . April 25, 2024 . . . April 10, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210410110736/https://www.j-14.com/posts/joey-graceffa-escape-the-night-secrets-revealed-exclusive-105909/ . live .
  6. Agard . Chancellor . Joey Graceffa, Escape the Night cast perform seance in YouTube Red series — exclusive . June 23, 2016 . March 10, 2020 . . . March 10, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200310162338/https://ew.com/article/2016/06/23/escape-night-joey-graceffa-seance-clip/ . bot: unknown .
  7. Web site: Weiss . Geoff . Liza Koshy, Tyler Oakley, Jesse Wellens to star in season 2 of YouTube Red's 'Escape The Night' . May 25, 2017 . November 6, 2023 . . June 1, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230601050051/https://www.tubefilter.com/2017/05/25/liza-koshy-tyler-oakley-jesse-welle-season-2-youtube-red-escape-the-night/ . bot: unknown .
  8. Hoggatt . Aja . The 'Escape the Night' season 3 trailer is finally here . June 1, 2018 . November 9, 2023 . . . November 9, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231109045310/https://ew.com/tv/2018/06/01/the-escape-the-night-season-3-trailer/ . bot: unknown .
  9. Web site: Ramos . Dino-Ray . YouTube fantasy competition series 'Escape The Night' to return for fourth season . June 12, 2019 . November 9, 2023 . . . July 9, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230709224132/https://deadline.com/2019/06/youtube-escape-the-night-fourth-season-joey-graceffa-1202631754/ . bot: unknown .
  10. Web site: Tenbarge . Kat . Joey Graceffa says Gabbie Hanna was a 'nightmare' on the set of 'Escape the Night' . June 28, 2021 . November 9, 2023 . . .
  11. Web site: Tenbarge . Kat . Gabbie Hanna called a production assistant a 'dumb f---ing c---,' 'Escape the Night' producer says . June 29, 2021 . November 9, 2023 . . .
  12. Web site: Winkie . Luke . The Gabbie Hanna and Escape the Night drama, explained . June 30, 2021 . April 24, 2024 . . . December 25, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221225034029/https://www.vulture.com/2021/06/gabbie-hanna-escape-the-night-drama-explained.html . live .
  13. Web site: Spangler . Todd . YouTube cancels 'Escape the Night' but host Joey Graceffa has something else in store for fans . June 25, 2020 . July 11, 2020 . . . July 8, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200708022726/https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/youtube-cancels-escape-the-night-joey-graceffa-1234684869/ . bot: unknown .
  14. Web site: Gutelle . Sam . YouTuber Joey Graceffa seeks $250,000 for film adaptation of mystery series 'Escape The Night' . November 2, 2023 . November 9, 2023 . . November 9, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231109045312/https://www.tubefilter.com/2023/11/02/joey-graceffa-escape-the-night-indiegogo-crowdfunding-film-campaign/ . bot: unknown .
  15. Web site: Graceffa . Joey . Joey Graceffa . Escape The Night cast compete for a movie role . November 30, 2023 . . en . November 30, 2023 . December 2, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231202002159/https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=Dc7_i9l6Qvdt44lf&v=M4eaUDe-EI8 . live .
  16. Web site: Weiss . Geoff . Joey Graceffa's 'Escape The Night' spawns actual escape room in Los Angeles this August . July 12, 2019 . April 25, 2024 . . June 10, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230610110732/https://www.tubefilter.com/2019/07/12/joey-graceffa-escape-the-night-escape-room/ . live .
  17. Web site: Spangler . Todd . Joey Graceffa launches 'Escape the Night' horror board game on Kickstarter . July 7, 2020 . November 9, 2023 . . . November 10, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231110013322/https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/joey-graceffa-escape-the-night-board-game-1234700043/ . bot: unknown .
  18. Robinson . Will . October 4, 2016 . Streamy Awards 2016: Full Winners List . March 9, 2020 . . . March 9, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200309065742/https://ew.com/article/2016/10/04/streamy-awards-2016-winners-list/ . bot: unknown .
  19. Web site: Schaffstall . Katherine . October 22, 2018 . Streamy Awards 2018: Winners List . November 8, 2023 . . . December 4, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231204123710/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/streamy-awards-2018-winners-list-1146664/ . bot: unknown .
  20. Web site: Ramos . Dino-Ray . Shorty Awards Nominees: Tiffany Haddish, Lena Waithe among those recognized for Social Media Excellence . January 16, 2018 . March 9, 2020 . . . March 9, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200309165629/https://deadline.com/2018/01/shorty-awards-tiffany-hadish-lena-waithe-tracee-ellis-ross-cardi-b-lebron-james-1202243565/ . bot: unknown .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Escape the Night".

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