Spill.com is a movie review, news, coverage and discussion website based out of Austin, Texas. The website is light and humorous in tone and features real audio from its five resident film critics animated with cartoon versions of themselves; the animation being done by lead critic and administrator of the site, Korey Coleman. Spill currently has over 23,000 members from all over the planet but mainly in the USA and Great Britain.
There are also over 14,000 videos, 40,000 photos and 1,000 groups. The website is an offshoot of a previous Austin-based cable-access television show called The Reel Deal. Previously owned by MIVA, the site is now owned by Hollywood.com.
Originally launched by Coleman and a friend as an excuse to see free movies, The Reel Deal ran for 10 years, considered an impressive streak given the highly ephemeral nature of cable-access television. When his friend quit, Coleman continued the show with a rotating cast, finally settling after five years on the current group. Using each week's new releases as a focal point, the group, seated in a roundtable setting, offered its views on movies, life, and one another in an irreverent, humorous style.
Airing live and unrehearsed in front of a studio audience, the crew often worked original skits in between the reviews and usually spun off into amusing tangents. Upon ending the original show, Coleman experimented with an animated version of The Reel Deal delivered in short, Internet-digestible chunks. After seeing the new episodes on YouTube, MIVA, a business marketing services company, approached Coleman to finance his idea.
Coleman worked out a deal, informing the others only afterward. "It's the way I've always done things. One person has to say, 'Hey, let's move.'" Since MIVA owns the animated character names and likenesses, the cast decided to adopt pseudonyms for the site – all save Coleman, who decided to use his real name.
As he puts it, "I'm kinda screwed, but I work [directly] for them, so what can I do?"