Netflix orders series from YouTube comic

Streaming service Netflix has for the first time ordered a series from talent that started out on YouTube.

Haters Back Off will be an eight-part comedy starring Miranda Sings, a character YouTube comedian Colleen Ballinger-Evans created.

The series will follow the family life of Sings, an incredibly untalented wannabe star who manages to continually fail upwards thanks to her enormous self-belief.

The Sings character debuted on YouTube in 2008, and has starred in more than 500 videos since. These have garnered a combined 1.3 billion views.

Balinger-Evans co-developed the series with her brother, Chris Ballinger, and Wizards of Waverly Place duo Perry Rein and Georgia McCreery, whom also act as showrunners.

The foursome executive produce alongside Jeff Kwatinetz and Josh Barry from Santa Monica-based talent and production group The Firm. Brightlight Pictures is producing for Netflix, which yesterday announced a coproduction with UK youth-skewed network E4.

Here’s a video of Ballinger-Evans announcing the show via the Miranda Sings YouTube channel