Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, the two partners who created the 2006 online video sensation Lonelygirl15, have received $5 million from venture capitalists to create an independent online studio, reports BusinessWeek.

Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen and Spark Capital were among the investors.

BusinessWeek reports that Beckett and Goodfried turned down money from major media companies to build an independent studio, EQAL, that will let them have creative control and create what they are calling a “social entertainment” company that will be equal parts TV studio and social networking site.