It's not a comedy. It's not a reality show. It's not a sitcom and it's not a drama. It's definitely not news.

The only way to figure out what the region's homegrown filmmakers are up to now will be to tune into HBO early next year and see for yourself.

Brothers Van and Casey Neistat, who grew up in Ledyard and left for the Big Apple seven years ago to seek fame and fortune in the world of short films, have sold an idea to HBO.

”It doesn't fit into any boxes,'' said Casey Neistat. Eight episodes of “The Neistat Brothers” will debut in the first quarter of 2009 on HBO, according to the two men.

”It's short stories about our lives, told by us,” said Casey. “Van and I write, star, edit, produce and executive produce the show.”

There are no paid actors in the films, only the Neistats and their friends. Four episodes were filmed in New London. Casey says the only restrictions HBO put on the creative team was that each episode had to be 22 to 26½ minutes long.

The brothers have been making short videos for years and posting them on their Web site, www.neistat.com. They re-worked home movies from their childhood and videotaped a 17-foot jump off the back deck of their dad's coffee shop into a snowbank. How no one was hurt doing that, I'll never know. They enlist friends, use household items and small animals. A 3-minute-and-25-second film called “Goldfish” involves a kitchen baster, a can of Mountain Dew and a battery - vintage Neistat.

”I don't get it,'' says their proud dad, Barry Neistat, owner of Muddy Waters coffee shop in New London who has been featured in a number of videos. “But people love it.''

The duo became famous with “iPod's Dirty Secret'' in which they taped an Apple employee saying the company would not replace failing batteries in the then-new iPods. They also created a genius-level remake of the trailer of Jurassic Park using thrift store items. It was done in one day on a dare. It aired on Comedy Central.

In between filming wacky videos, the brothers have been busy making connections.

Three years ago they met Tom Scott, the guy who became rich when he sold his startup business Nantucket Nectars. He now runs Plum TV, which is an online site that features crisp videos about things to do in resort areas. Casey said Scott told him he would finance them for a year.

“He'd say, 'I don't understand what you're talking about, but I want to do something big,' '' Casey said.

With eight shows complete, the brothers and Scott went looking for a buyer. HBO picked up the series.

Soon everyone will know how to pronounced Neistat correctly. There's an instructional video on their Web site if you want to be ahead of the curve.

This Is The Opinion Of Kathleen Edgecomb.

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