I’m already starting to feel a bit Lonelygirl15ed out, but had to comment on this set of quotes from the filmmakers:

The creators said Tuesday that they never intended to stage a hoax or trick people into believing their characters were real.”We never wanted to lie to people,” Beckett said.

“Our job from the beginning was not to trick people. It was to create a character that was believable,” Flinders said.

The trio began posting individually scripted and filmed episodes online and began incorporating changes based on reactions and suggestions from fans.

The result is part video game, where viewers exercise some measure of control over the characters, and part mystery novel, complete with hidden clues and cliffhanger chapters that left viewers wanting more.

Flinders writes scripts for each episode and the actress playing Bree delivers her lines with a persuasive power that still has some online viewers believing she is genuine, even after her creators posted their online confession several days ago.

Excuse me, guys, but when you have profiles posted on social networking sites and someone sending emails to the New York Times and signing them “Bree” when you know darn well the person you’re sending them to is questioning Bree’s existence, you are trying to trick people. There’s nothing wrong with fiction, and it’s great if they’ve got more viewers now that we know it’s fiction, but when you try to make a character so real that people believe she exists, you’re trying to trick them, don’t pretend otherwise.

I like the idea of a video series that encourages fan involvement, think it’s a great use of YouTube and MySpace, and am somewhat relieved to hear that this turns out to be indie guys and not, oh, Disney, but I just don’t like deception. Maybe I’m funny that way.