Hollywood Dealmaker To Bring Scripted Shows To Microsoft Xbox This Fall

Hollywood producer and talent agent Peter Safran’s deal with Microsoft to bring digital entertainment to the Xbox Live system represents a major expansion for both. In Microsoft’s case, the arrangement provides a significant shot in the arm to its two-year-old MSN Originals online content production system.The Safran Company’s first programs should be available by the fall. The shows will be aimed at Xbox’s core audience of males aged 14 to 34, with an emphasis on comedy and horror, and average roughly 10 minutes in length. And because Safran is mostly interested in featuring his clients, who have included Sean Combs, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, and Brooke Shields, among others, scripted fare will take precedence over reality shows. Safran tells the NYT that this is the first of many such digital production and distribution deals the company has in the works. The company chose Microsoft Xbox for its first big step into digital programming because the system “operates at a level outside of what we generally consider web entertainment” - a reference to Xbox’s success as a video game platform, though Microsoft also has arrangements with a dozen large movie studios and TV producers including Paramount, Disney, Warner Bros. and Turner Broadcasting, CBS, and MTV Networks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/business/media/31xbox-web.html?_r=2&ex=1364616000&en=479404b8cb370b17&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-hollywood-dealmaker-safran-to-bring-scripted-shows-to-microsoft-xbox-th/