Red Letter Media
Red Letter Media, LLC is an American film and video production company operated by independent filmmakers Mike Stoklasa, Jay Bauman, and Rich Evans.Stoklasa believed his own voice sounded "too boring" for the review and adopted the persona of Harry S. Plinkett, a character he had previously used in several short films (originally portrayed by Rich Evans).[4] Despite a long run-time of 70 minutes, Stoklasa's review of The Phantom Menace went viral, receiving over a million views in the first four months of its release[3] and being shared on social media by Simon Pegg and Damon Lindelof.Episodes typically feature a panel of four recapping and analyzing three cult films and subsequently voting on which of the three is the "Best of the Worst", generally defined as most entertaining that night for any reason, while viewing material that is deemed to be insulting, offensive, or especially poor is sometimes destroyed.[24] Previously Recorded was a video game oriented channel run by Rich Evans and frequent Red Letter Media collaborator Jack Packard.[28] Alongside the auction, the group released a video documenting the practice of grading previously otherwise disposable media items, such as VHS tapes, to create a form of desired rarity.[39] Literary and cultural critic Benjamin Kirbach argues that Plinkett enacts a kind of détournement by recontextualizing images that would otherwise serve as Star Wars marketing material (such as behind-the-scenes footage and interviews), and that Stoklasa uses this tactic to construct a subversive narrative that frames George Lucas as "a lazy, out-of-touch, and thoroughly unchallenged filmmaker".