Lonelygirl15 Creators Launch Social Entertainment CompanyLonelygirl15 Creators Launch Social Entertainment Company

The group behind Lonelygirl15 -- a fictitious video blog that drew millions of viewers who bought into the story -- announced a "social entertainment" production company.

Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried announced through a blog that they received venture capital funding to produce shows that spawn Internet communities and online interaction. The company, Eqal, is said to have drawn $5 million in Series A venture funding through Spark Capital, according to an article in The Washington Post. Investors include Ron Conway and Marc Andreessen.

Eqal said it wants to create new forms of entertainment and interactive shows.

"There are a slew of independent producers, digital studios, and social media companies sprouting up, not to mention the fact that traditional media isn't exactly ignoring this whole 'internets' thing," the pair explained in their blog. "We've always wanted to stay independent and produce interactive shows that we could put our hearts and souls into, and sometime last fall we realized that raising money would give us the ability to remain independent and produce amazing shows on our terms."

They credited Internet fans, including those who boosted Lonelygirl15's popularity on MySpace and YouTube, with helping form a community around their fictitious character, Bree. Fans' obsession with figuring the show out helped the creators make a name for themselves. Fans began to suspect that Bree wasn't real, and their investigation created the buzz that landed Lonelygirl15 in mainstream media outlets like The New York Times.

They are banking on more community support as they prepare for a new online video announcement next week.