AUSTRALIAN-BASED FREMANTLEMEDIA PITCHES ITS WEB SHOW ATOMIC WEDGIE TO US TV NETWORKS
December 18th 2007 02:49
Australian-based FremantleMedia’s US division, FremantleMedia North America, producer of American Idol is pitching a new pilot to broadcast and cable networks based on its web property Atomic Wedgie, an online and mobile comedy channel that earned nearly 3 million views on MySpace during the last three months.
According to TV Week in the US, Fremantle hasn’t inked a deal yet for the improv-style comedy show, but executives expect to have pitched it to six networks by the end of this week.
TV Week says that by positioning the new show as improv rather than a scripted series could help bypass the Writers Guild of America strike.
Steve Tao, senior vice president of scripted development at Fremantle said, “It has always been planned as borrowing stuff from the internet show, so strike or no strike, we were going to pitch it as improv.”
Fremantle launched Atomic Wedgie as a mobile channel in 2006, featuring a collection of short series such as Stupid Bar Tricks and Secret Girlfriend. When the MySpace channel debuted this fall and quickly rocketed up in views, Fremantle executives were confident they had a crossover property on their hands.
Secret Girlfriend is the most popular of the Atomic Wedgie series with more than one-third of the online views, and Fremantle has taken the concept of the short show—a girl talks directly to the camera as if she is speaking to her boyfriend—and expanded it into a 22-minute comedy.
TV Week said that American TV executives are increasingly interested in web properties, and reported, “ Earlier this month Bravo ordered a reality pilot featuring William Sledd, host of web series Ask a Gay Man, which runs on Bravo-owned OutZoneTV. Sledd started on YouTube. Newsmagazine Extra features two segments a week from online entertainment network No Good TV.
“Also, in November, NBC picked up the Marshall Herskovitz/Ed Zwick internet drama Quarterlife as a midseason replacement.
Incidentally, the following link provides the contract or agreement Fremantle signed for American Idol: Really Long Link
- From MediaBlab
According to TV Week in the US, Fremantle hasn’t inked a deal yet for the improv-style comedy show, but executives expect to have pitched it to six networks by the end of this week.
TV Week says that by positioning the new show as improv rather than a scripted series could help bypass the Writers Guild of America strike.
Fremantle launched Atomic Wedgie as a mobile channel in 2006, featuring a collection of short series such as Stupid Bar Tricks and Secret Girlfriend. When the MySpace channel debuted this fall and quickly rocketed up in views, Fremantle executives were confident they had a crossover property on their hands.
Secret Girlfriend is the most popular of the Atomic Wedgie series with more than one-third of the online views, and Fremantle has taken the concept of the short show—a girl talks directly to the camera as if she is speaking to her boyfriend—and expanded it into a 22-minute comedy.
TV Week said that American TV executives are increasingly interested in web properties, and reported, “ Earlier this month Bravo ordered a reality pilot featuring William Sledd, host of web series Ask a Gay Man, which runs on Bravo-owned OutZoneTV. Sledd started on YouTube. Newsmagazine Extra features two segments a week from online entertainment network No Good TV.
Incidentally, the following link provides the contract or agreement Fremantle signed for American Idol: Really Long Link
- From MediaBlab
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