YouTube: 'The Hillywood Show'

The Hillywood Show is a self-made parody production on YouTube by sisters Hannah and Hilly Hindi. In regard to where they would like to see their production in the future, the Hindi sisters commented, “Our goal is to have The Hillywood Show picked up by a television network and have it as a Saturday Night Live for teens.” With over 36,000,000 million video views, The Hillywood Show has come a far away in the short span of a few years.

In 2006, Hilly, now co-creator of The Hillywood Show entered AOL’s “Be a Red Star” contest. Her teen web show idea consisted of mixing movie characters together from Johnny Depp’s movies. With Hannah armed with her camera, she filmed the show and from roughly 100,000 entries submitted they placed third. Although disappointed, it didn’t deter the two sisters from continuing on with their hobby. “We had fans writing us emails telling us to continue with the show idea because they loved it so much. So we did,” Hilly Hindi stated. Fifteen webisodes and twelve film parodies later on YouTube, The Hillywood Show has become a phenomenon of humor, talent and popularity.

By 2008 things were not going well for the duo. The two sisters begun to realize their audience was not growing. After two years as an internet show, Hannah and Hilly decided The Hillywood Show had reached the end. “Twilight” parody was set to be their last parody, but then a miracle happened to the two. Overnight “Twilight” parody spread across YouTube gathering over 10,000 views. Without the success of that parody Hannah and Hilly would be pursuing dancing once again or maybe even auditioning for roles in Los Angeles. Today, “Twilight” parody is The Hillywood Show’s most popular video with over 6 million views.

The real uniqueness of The Hillywood Show are the stars of the show—Hannah and Hilly. Since The Hillywood Show is self-produced, money for a production is taken from their personal income. Ten-percent of proceeds from fans go towards helping sick children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

One thing that makes The Hillywood Show stand out from other parody channels is the uncanny likeness to what they spoof. The setting, characters, and costumes are carefully planned to resemble the real deal. Together they create the perfect atmosphere giving the sense of an authentic production rather than what they are—parodies. Hilly believes The Hillywood Show’s difference is, “We just have fun with what we do and when we create productions we are thinking of what the fans would like to see.” Another way this production stands out is through the acting. Each character being portrayed is a dead on impersonation. Mastering a character can take Hilly and Hannah anywhere from a few days to a week.

Recently, The Hillywood Show has expanded beyond the viral video world. Of March 2012 they were Creation Entertainment’s Official Twilight Convention Tour hosts at Chicago, Illinois. Also, in Chicago, Hannah and Hilly hosted The Official Vampire Diaries Convention in April.

The one thing the Hindi sisters wish their viewers take away from the show is, “A big smile, a lot of laughs and a happy heart.”