Brian Flemming

Brian Flemming is a film-director, best-known for the film, "Nothing So Strange," a faux-documentary about the assassination of Bill Gates. After writing an entry on his blog about lonelygirl15, Flemming briefly became the lead suspect as the puppetmaster of the project.

Jumping the shark
In an August 21 entry on his blog, Flemming wrote that lonelygirl15 had jumped the shark. Flemming pointed to the video What Did Daniel and Dad Talk About? and I Probably Shouldn't Post This... as the episodes where the series fell apart. While he said the picture of Aleister Crowley that was clearly shown in Bree's room was an interesting plot twist, it was unrealistic for Bree's character to upload a video that showed something she was trying to keep secret.

But it was the fight between Bree and Daniel that Flemming felt went too far. The fight, Flemming said, "breaks a cardinal rule of serious mock-doc shooting: Never show a scene that would not plausibly be shot." Flemming also suggested that the video-quality was too high for a Web cam, that the lighting pointed to professionals, that the videos were not shot in real time, and that the lonelygirl15.com fan site was registered before the videos began. While he was correct about the lighting and Web site, the Creators claim that the videos are shot with a $130 Orbitech Web cam and were filmed in real time.

At the end of his blog entry, Flemming wrote: "Brian Flemming"

- Too bad this one flamed out so early.

Adapting the epistolary novel form to YouTube still has some promise, however. I'm certainly ready to be fooled by another one. Or perhaps to perpetrate one.

Unless I really did perpetrate this one and I'm just trying to distance myself from it because it's now failing.

Just kidding.

You know me. I'd never try to fool anybody like that.

Flemming becomes suspect
An anonymous fan, known as xanaxbarz, began posting a trove of evidence connecting Flemming to lonelygirl15 at the phorum, on Virginia Heffernan's blog, on Wikipedia and on other forums. Since Flemming had created faux documentaries before, it seemed possible that he would produce a series on YouTube.

But xanaxbarz also pointed out that Flemming was working on a movie called Danielle (The Beast) about a young girl who discovers that there is no Jesus. The similarities between "Danielle, The Beast" and Danielbeast seemed too great. Xanaxbarz also claimed that a woman in the film "The God Who Wasn't There" resembled Bree. When others pointed out that the woman in the film looked nothing like Bree, Xanaxbarz backed away from the claim, but said that with Mrs. Doubtfire-style make-up anything was possible.

On Aug. 26, Virginia Heffernan asked in her blog if Flemming's analysis was too excellent. This prompted Flemming to completely deny responsibility to Heffernan, to Jon Fine of Business Week, and on his blog.

A friend of Flemming's, actress Annie Kehoe, was for some time suspected to play Bree. But Flemming pointed out that the actresses do not look alike and that Kehoe is nearly six-feet tall, while Bree is rather petite.

Despite Flemming's fierce denial, doubts persisted. Users on the forums pointed out that Flemming could be lying. On Sept. 5, Virginia Heffernan mentioned in her blog that she still suspected Flemming.

Flemming eventually softened some of his initial criticisms, saying that if the show were produced by amateur film-makers it was an excellent debut, despite its many flaws. When the Creators were finally outed, and Flemming cleared, he claimed to have contacted the Creative Artists Agency to express interest in having Jessica Lee Rose audition to star in his movie Danielle.