IMDB · X (Twitter)

Actor · Writer

1983-01-04 · Arkansas · Male

1 series in the catalog

Screen Junkies is an online movie magazine and YouTube channel, owned and operated by Fandom, that focuses primarily on movies and television. Screen Junkies produce numerous shows now spread across two YouTube channels, including The Screen Junkies Show (hosted by Hal Rudnick; discussions and programs about the entertainment industry and films, and the occasional press junket), Movie Fights! (a competition series that is currently usually hosted by Hal Rudnick and features players from the channel and across the web; debates about film, TV, and the industry), Honest Trailers (a series of comedic trailers, narrated previously by Ptolemy Slocum and Gannon Nickell and currently by Jon Bailey; satires of various films and television programs), Honest Trailer Commentary (a behind-the-scenes look at Honest Trailers with deleted footage and explanations by the program's creators, now usually some combination of Spencer J. Gilbert, Danielle Radford, and Lon Harris), Screen Junkies Universe (SJU) (featuring guests from the channel and across the web; discussions about industry news, the media, and fan questions), Movie Reviews, CRAM IT (a series to catch viewers up on popular franchises), and others.

On October 21, 2016, the ClevverMovies channel announced that it would be rebranding into Screen Junkies News on November 1, 2016. Roth Cornet was chosen to serve as editor-in-chief. Screen Junkies News focuses primarily on news-related programming, but also includes non news-related programs like answering fan questions at least once a week. On July 2, 2018, it was announced Defy Media sold ScreenJunkies to Fandom, a site similarly focused on hard-core entertainment buffs. On April 15, 2019, the Screen Junkies News channel was renamed "Fandom Entertainment." Most of its programming, including the flagship show, Screen Junkies Universe (SJU), remains unchanged.

As of April 2021, Screen Junkies has over 6.75 million subscribers and over 2.6 billion video views over its two channels.

Honest Trailers

Honest Trailers is a web series of parody trailers of films and television series that are made to satirize them. The videos are narrated by Jon Bailey.

Originally co-created by Andy Signore and Brett Weiner, and shepherded by Break Media's Head of Programming Mitch Rotter, Honest Trailers debuted in February 2012 and by June 2014 had become the source of over 300 million views on the Screen Junkies YouTube channel. The series started when the creators saw that Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was being re-released in 3D and decided to make a parody trailer for it, continuing the series as a result of the positive reception the videos received. The series received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series at the 68th, 69th, 70th, and 71st Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

The series' videos take approximately one week to assemble, and used to be created by around four people. The creators watch the movie a number of times before writing the script as a group. Subjects are chosen by a combination of current popular movies and suggestions from viewers, with an aim of making the videos go viral. Though some would like to cover more television shows, they haven't done many due to the increased time commitment as the team have to watch every episode of the series versus a film.

As of August 2019, the series has skewered the following TV series: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Doctor Who ("Classic" & "Modern"), The Walking Dead (in 2 volumes), Game of Thrones (in 3 volumes), Entourage, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (up to halfway through season 3), X-Men: The Animated Series, The Flash (up to season 3), Sherlock, Friends, and The Last of Us. The series has also done "mini-trailers" for the 2016 Primetime Emmys, and a parody trailer of the 1964 TV movie Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

The series was first narrated by comedian Ptolemy Slocum who narrated only the first video. The next dozen were narrated by Gannon Nickell (with the exception of the one for Avatar, which was narrated by Dough Medlock), before he enlisted in the military and Jon Bailey replaced him. Despite starting as a direct copy of typical movie trailer voiceovers, Bailey's narration voice has become more of a parody over time, using different styles for the various genres satirized.

In May 2016, Ryan Reynolds co-narrated the Honest Trailer for Deadpool in character as the film's titular character, who is known for breaking the fourth wall. Reynolds reprised his role as Deadpool for the Honest Trailer for Logan, the series' 200th video, and the Honest Trailer for Deadpool 2.

The series' creators often bring in external help for particularly complex shows, like the cross-over episode of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and the musical episodes of Moana, Frozen, Mary Poppins, The Greatest Showman, The Lion King (feat. AVbyte) (1994), Aladdin (1992), The Little Mermaid (feat. AVbyte) (1989), Les Miserables (2012), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (feat. Michael Bolton), A Star is Born (2018), and La La Land (shared with Moonlight).

The series' 100th video, for Fifty Shades of Grey, was released in May 2015, the 200th, for Logan (feat. Deadpool), was released on May 23, 2017, and the 300th, for the MCU (pre-Endgame), was released on June 18, 2019. As of August 2019, the Honest Trailer for Titanic is the most viewed at over 41.5 million views, with Game of Thrones Vol. 1 slightly behind at just under 42.3 million.

Not all videos speak negatively about their films. For the 2014 superhero film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, contrary to typical style, the creators found it difficult to raise negative points and conceded that the film was good. As the show's writers often say, they have to be honest, not necessarily critical. Co-director Joe Russo said that he had the series in mind when creating the film, and aimed to make the movie "Honest Trailer-proof".

The head writer of Honest Trailers is Spencer J. Gilbert, who also appears on Movie Fights. Other writers include Dan Murrell (which ultimately left after the Honest Trailer for Cats), Joe Starr, Danielle Radford, and Lon Harris.

A spin-off of Honest Trailers focused on video games, Honest Game Trailers, was also created, originally by GameFront (at that time, also owned by Break Media), then rebooted in partnership with the Smosh Games YouTube channel (at the time, also owned by Defy Media), before relocating to the Fandom Games channel upon Screen Junkies' acquisition by Fandom. Honest Game Trailers was initially narrated on GameFront by James Heaney, then also narrated by Jon Bailey when it moved to Smosh Games, before being replaced by Brad Venable, only for Bailey to return to the series after Venable's death in 2021.

The Screen Junkies Show

The Screen Junkies Show covers a variety of topics in film and television. Some episodes include interviews with actors, "supercuts" (compilations), and information and updates on movies. The Screen Junkies Show is hosted by Hal Rudnick.

Movie Fights

"Movie Fights", typically hosted by Rudnick (originally Andy Signore), features debates between three other people within or outside of Screen Junkies, such as other YouTube reviewers, on various movie-related questions. This segment lasts for about an hour and a half, with the first five rounds being a roundtable debate, and the last round being a "Speed Round". Each round would begin with a question, and each contestant would have to make an argument for why their answer is best. The speed round consists of five questions, and each contestant has fifteen seconds to make a claim for their answer and ten seconds to give their rebuttal against their opponent. When a contestant wins a round or speed run question, they win a point and the person who finishes the game with the most points wins. In the match titled "Ultimate Game of Thrones Spin-off Movie?" posted on April…