Condé Nast Launches Filmmaker Incubator Programs, Announces Comcast Distribution Deal – Newfront
Conde Nast Entertainment is launching three new incubator programs aimed at discovering and developing the next generation of digital video storytellers, it announced at its Newfront presentation today in New York.
In addition, the company said it has renewed 62% of its digital series franchises for the 2016-17 season, and it announced a distribution partnership with Comcast. CNE also released the second iteration of its premium digital platform, The Scene, as a mobile-first video network, featuring social capabilities and a new mobile app. The Scene is adding the NBA and CNN’s Great Big Story as new content partners, in addition to its 17 existing partners. The NBA will co-create multiple new lifestyle series, including one that gives audiences a rare look inside the lives of some of today’s most popular NBA players.
“We’ve been at the forefront of the digital video revolution since the beginning, and are pleased to announce the expansion of our network with significant developments in content, distribution, data capabilities and measurement,” said Dawn Ostroff, president, Condé Nast Entertainment.
The first two incubators, which were previously launched, are in partnership with Indigenous Media and filmmakers Jon Avnet, Rodrigo Garcia and Jake Avnet. Project: Her focuses exclusively on female filmmakers and their mentors, who will include Lesli Linka Glatter (Homeland), Mimi Leder (The Leftovers), Betty Thomas (Private Parts), Sarah Treem (The Leftovers) and Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou). The program will follow their journeys together through social videos and culminate in the finished project premiering on CNÉ’s digital video network. The second program, Big Script, also in partnership with Indigenous Media, actor/producer Josh Hutcherson (Hunger Games) and Michelle Hutcherson’s Turkeyfoot Productions, is a film incubator that pairs young filmmakers with the industry’s hottest scripts and scales them down into short films, also to be distributed on CNÉ’s network. One of the first projects will be directed by Hutcherson. The third incubator is a Creators in Residence program aimed at today’s millennial filmmakers.
CNE also announced a partnership with Simple Reach on a new dashboard that will analyze the performance of branded content video across all distribution platforms. It’s scheduled to launch in early fall.
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