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DeathstarPR reaches 200k followers; creates web-series aimed as branded content

A parody Twitter account created by an Australian teacher and featuring the public relations team on the Death Star has hit more than 200,000 followers. The team behind Death Star PR has now branched out into video content and is seeking sponsors.

The account was created by Robbie Boland, a English and History teacher at high school who has no connection to the real PR world.

The series follows three colleagues, Wilson Wilson the III, Sharp and Green, working in the PR department of the Death Star, spinning catastrophes and carries the tagline, “Behind every great hero is a great PR team.”

The 6×8 minute episodes, written by Boland have been filmed with producers Carolyn Mee and Matt Ford with Tim Nicholls directing.

Mee, who previously produced series such as Seven’s The Mole and Ten’s Personal Best, is shopping the series around as branded content.

Mee said: “We’re an interesting test case in the whole online community moving to create content, as we already have an audience of 200,000.”

A recent one-off video posted on DeathstarPR’s YouTube channel called Shit StormTroopers Say pulled 50,000 views, which Mee suggests equates to a 25% conversion rate from the Twitter audience.

Twitter account Shit My Dad Says was turned into a comedy series in 2010 starring William Shatner.

The DeathstarPR account has been featured in numerous ‘best of Twitter’ lists including  Mashable.com’s Top 10 Must-Follow Fictional Twitter Accounts.

Boland also tweets as @JerkSuperman with nearly 30,500 followers and was included in Time’s 140 Best Twitter Feeds.

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