PWN (Channel)

PWN, also known as PaulWesNick, is a YouTube channel started in 2014 by Nick Geoghegan and Paul Gaurano. The channel serves as the official YouTube channel for Kidsmakemovies2, and its sibsidary, PWN Studios. The channel is home to many videos, most notably the PWN show, a movie table talk show after which the channel is named.

History

The history of the PWN channel can be traced back as far as 2008, however the majority of its important events begin in 2013, with the begining of seventh grade for many future PWN members.

Early Days

Pre-2013

The Kidsmakemovies2 Studio was founded in 2010 by Nick Geoghegan, along with Chris Smith, Kyle Smith, and a few others.

The creation of Paul and Nick

Nick met Paul Gaurano through his biology class in 2013, and the two quickly became friends. It was soon discovered they had a shares love of not just movies, but in filmmaking. Around the time of their meeting, the social media app Vine was quiet popular. They created a plan to make and publish comedic Vines, though this idea never came to fruition.

The idea for a YouTube channel arose later into the year. Chris, Nick, and Paul were taking a speech class, for which they were required to make a short video project. Chris’ worked with Braiden Hook to write Dare, which Nick agreed to direct and edit. The project was his first true video project since fifth grade. Paul’s project was self-edited. The teacher was so impressed with Paul’s project, that she used it as an example for Nick’s period.

Nick paired up with his friend Nik Hoffman to write and direct Dancing Bad, which was posted on June 10, 2014, on a channel initially called “Nick Geo”, then immediately changed to “Paul and Nick”.

Near the end of the year, the two began writing a short film titled “Alone”, which would have revolved around a group of teenagers living in a world without adults. The project would have starred Braiden, Chris, Kyle, Paul, Quentin DeVeirman, and Jeffery Leibfried. A single scene was shot. The project was soon rejected for being too bad.

In its place, Paul suggested a film called “The Sequence”, which would revolve around a teenager who gains the power to control time from a fallen meteorite. At the same time, Nick met Wesley Davies, with whom he also shared an interest in film. Wesley had no relation to Paul at that time.

Becoming PaulWesNick

Nick and Paul planned to create new videos over the summer, though never did. Nick did create a series of five videos with his younger brothers as practice for future projects, two of which were posted. On October 14, 2014, Dare and Dare Trailer were posted to Paul and Nick. The following day, The Game was posted, featuring Nick and his brother Jack. On the 18th, The Pikachu was posted, with Jack and Will.

In eightj grade, Nick shared a P.E. class with both Wes and Paul, as well as Ford Fairon. Nick’s friendship lead to a quick connection between Wes and Paul, who also shared a history class together the period after. While they were in history, Nick was in math class with Ari Froehlich, a football player who was friends with Wes. Wesley became interested in The Sequence, and recommended that the group attempt to make it.

One day, while walking through the school with Wes and Nick, Paul pointed out that together, their initials spelled “PWN”, which he believed would be a good name for a film podcast. Nick expanded on the idea, suggesting a webshow over a podcast. Thus, PWN was born. The first ever episode of PWN was filmed after school from 3:00 to 4:00 on October 10, 2014, at what would later be called Location One. The video features the Trio watching and discussing a then recent trailer for the film Interstellar.

On October 25, 2014, at 8:55 AM, Interstellar: PWN #1 went up on the newly renamed PaulWesNick channel.

Content

PaulWesNick content is heavily varied, though it tends to trend on comedic sketches and shorts. The humor of PWN is very unique, with a tendency for puns, film references, callbacks and inside jokes, and absurdist humor.

PWN (Show)

Main article: PWN

The longest running and most popular series, a semi-unscripted film talk show featuring the Trio. Early episodes tended to focus more on content, whereas more recent episodes have been working towards a balance between content and comedy.

Every episode of PWN has been edited at least in some part by Nick, though Ari and Wes occasionally help.

Many episodes revolve around the discussion of recent Hollywood films, with Nick often complaining about the worsening quality of such films.

Occasionally, other PWN members will be featured on PWN. Kiersten Muse appears as a guest star in The Star Wars Holiday Special: PWN #11, while Lucan Stargiorti guest stars in The Last Jedi Review - PWN #17. Joey Cianfrani guest stars in the unaired Our Fandoms: PWN #4.

Sketches

The vast majority of PaulWesNick content outside of the PWN show are short, comedic, often partially improvised sketches or skits. These tend to differentiate themselves from shorts by their lack of an overarching story, and instead focusing on a single joke or punchline. This is not always the case, however, as with Wine Not?.

The humor in the sketches is often exaggerated, and sometimes absurd, as in videos such as Pepsi or The Handshake. Other videos derive comedy from a certain level self-awareness, such as Star Wars Abridged or Deadly Choices.

Shorts

PWN shorts are a broad category of loosely related videos, ranging from short narrative films to school projects.

School projects make up the largest portion of this style of video, though the rational for posting such videos publicly on the channel comes from a prioritization of entertainment over education. Examples would include An Egg-Celent Cake! or The Chem Office, which have a clear distinction between factual content and comedy. Others, such as Tudor TV and APHG: Political Organization resemble a loose collection of educational skits.

There are very few non-school shorts. Dancing Bad, despite being made for school, is not an educational project, but a narrative story. The Hostage and Press Triangle to Continue are also examples of a shorter narrative story. Though shorts may be comedic, they are generally more cinematic and less self-aware than sketches are.

Other series

Cancelled Series

Wes and Tyler

A very shortlived series, which would have featured a series of brief absurdist sketches written and performed by Wes and Tyler Hollander. The only such released sketch is That Jump, though at least one other was filmed.

TGS with Ford Fairon

TGS, or “That Gaming Segment”, was a planned gaming series that would have been initially uploaded to PWN, before transitioning to its own separate channel later on. The series would have featured Ford, edited by Nick. Two episodes were recorded, then subsequently scrapped for undisclosed reasons. The short video “The Hostage” was intended as a sort of trailer for the series.

Members

See also: List of PWN actors

PWN has an exceedingly long catalogue of actors at its disposal, though recently only a select few have been making repeat appearances.

Primary Members

Several primary cast members have only had two or three appearances on the channel. The distinguishing factor between primary and recurring is the involvement of a particular member in behind the scenes production or in the history of PWN.

”The Trio”

• Wesley Davies - An original member of PWN, one of the earliest member. In addition to acting and writing, he also occasionally edits, directs, and or composes PWN videos.
• Ari Froehlich - Replaced Ford in 2016 as the third member of PWN. Holds acting, writing, and editing duties.
• Nick Geoghegan - Original founder of Kidsmakemovies2 Studios, and co-creator of the PaulWesNick channel with Paul. Primarily writes and directs, and edits the majority of videos on the channel.

Other principle members

• Joey Cianfrani - Joined PWN through The Sequence. Serves now as a writer and actor.
• Kiersten Muse - Acts as the PR Manager for PWN, and was the first permanent female member.
• Lucan Stargiotti - Became involved with PWN in ninth grade, proved instrumental in A Hot Lead. Now writes and acts.
• Chris Smith - An original co-founder of Kidsmakemovies2. Has acted with Nick since 2010. Currently serves as the primary makeup artist, and often acts as Nick’s assistant director on big shoots.
• Kyle Smith - A co-founder of Kidsmakemovies2. Now a writer and actor, often in strange and over-exaggerated roles.

Recurring Cast and Crew

• Christopher Cruttenden - Often appears in small cameo roles, a devoted supporter of PWN.
• Mikey Davis - A sort of quartermaster of props and locations for PWNs, providing multiple important sets for A Hot Lead.
• Jack Geoghegan - Appears in some of Nick’s earliest videos, as well as several PWN productions.
• Will Geoghegan - Accompanies his brother in early productions, and has small roles in current productions.
• Tyler Hollander - Co-starred with Wes in the canceled Wes and Tyler Series. Makes occasional cameos on PWN.
• Justin Le - A friend of Wesley and a casual actor in smaller PWN productions.
• Leyla Rakshani - Aspiring playwright, served as an assistant director in A Hot Lead.
• Stephen Weinstock - Makes occasional cameos on PWN.
• Blake Weise - A veteran of drama class, and Cappie nominee. Participated in A Hot Lead, and makes small cameos in other productions.

Former Members

• Jacob Colaccino - Acted with Kidsmakemovies2 prior to PWN. Makes an appearance in “An Egg-Celent Cake!”
• Quentin DeVeirman - Retired member. An actor and occasional cameo in early videos.
• Ford Fairon - Filmed with Kidsmakemovies2 in its early days. Rejoined Nick in 2014 to star in one video and briefly replace Paul in the Trio. Unofficially retired.
• Paul Gaurano - Co-creator of the PaulWesNick channel, served as a writer, actor, and editor. Despite making few appearances on the channel, he is an invaluable part of PWN history. Informally quit the channel in January of 2015.
• Nik Hoffman - Helped make Dancing Bad, and provided ideas for initial PWN videos. Never formally quit, though he moved on from the channel early on.
• Tamara Kabab - Participated in the channel somewhat reluctantly for the first half of 2017. Had a supporting role in A Hot Lead before leaving the channel.
• Jeffery Leibfried - Participated in the filming of Paul’s PWNs, and in the making of The Sequence. Informally retired.
• Payton Thompson - Served briefly with PWN in 2017, acting in A Hot Lead alongside Tamara.

See Also

Related Channels:

• PWN 2

External Links:

• PWN on SocialBlade