Fox Digital stakes out Web territory with ‘Wolfpack’
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Fox Digital Entertainment has joined the growing pack of companies creating high-quality content for the Internet. The 2-year-old unit of 20th Century Fox movie studio this week released its first made-for-the-Web series called ‘Wolfpack of Reseda.’
The 12-minute inaugural episode revolves around Ben March, a hapless car insurance salesman (played by Tate Ellington), whose life is transformed when he thinks he had been bitten by a werewolf at a San Fernando Valley park. The show, which consists of eight episodes with a new one released each Thursday, is something of a dark comedy.
‘The key challenge in this space is the storytelling,’ said Matt Glotzer, senior vice president at Fox Digital Entertainment. ‘And then the challenge becomes about breaking the show. How do you make sure people see it?’
Fox Digital turned to Myspace, which is trying to transform itself, as its primary distributor. Myspace plans to create its own content, acquire other series and become something of a digital ‘farm system’ to find new talent.
Kia Motors America is sponsoring the series. Tim Chaney, Kia’s director of marketing communications, said the car company was attracted by the show’s transformational theme. The story line felt like a good fit for its funky Kia Soul vehicle, he said.
The emergence of Fox Digital Entertainment and ‘Wolfpack of Reseda,’ highlights the trend of major media players stepping up their game when it comes to creating Web content. Online video has become the fastest-growing advertising segment, according to eMarketer Digital Intelligence.
‘Marketing and advertising is about going to where the eyeballs are, and increasingly those eyeballs are online,’ said Rebecca Lieb, media analyst with the Altimeter Group.
Read the full story in the Los Angeles Times.
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-- Meg James
