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Tuesday, May 8, 2012

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Fox Digital Studio has released its first web series, Wolfpack of Reseda, which tells the story of a young car insurance salesman who has been bitten by a werewolf. The series has been described as Office Space meets True Blood and is targeted toward viewers who typically watch movies on their laptops and mobile devices.

In 2009, News Corp. transformed the fledgling Fox Atomic into Fox Digital Studio. At that time, their mission wasn't merely to create quality streaming video, but actually to inject branded advertisers like Kia and Taco Bell into the stories. The idea seems to be an old one, harkening back to the days of Mercury Theatre and other programming from radio and the early days of television. Essentially, it's encasing entertainment in a brand instead of selling airtime to the highest bidder.

Despite a bevy of brands eager to jump into the web-series game, success has been elusive. The ability to replicate the success of series television has alluded most who have tried. Perhaps the most shining example has been Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, staring Neil Patrick Harris, which delivered more than a million views as soon as it went live.

The magic combination: a seasoned, talented writer/director/producer in Whedon and an equally talented cast and crew. Although not easily replicated, Fox Digital Studio stands poised to duplicate this success with assets that include its parent company's diverse digital portfolio, including Myspace, Fox.com and a one-third stake in Hulu.

Now, in 2012, Fox Digital Studio has released its first web series, Wolfpack of Reseda. Wolfpack tells the story of Ben March, a 20-something seller of car insurance, whose mundane life is turned upside down when he's convinced he has been bitten by a werewolf. This synthesis of Office Space and True Blood is directed squarely at young consumers who live in a virtual world via their laptops, iPads and smartphones rather than the TV. Perhaps more interesting than the transformation of a werewolf is the transformation of Internet advertising that analysts predict will breach three billion dollars this year.

Wolfpack of Reseda is the first project of a major media outlet like Fox to use the web merely as a means to cross-promote movies and television, and create content solely for the Internet. The result is a third form of distribution that's just as significant as television and features. To helm their first effort, Fox Digital Studio turned to filmmaker Christopher Leone who directed the Syfy mini-series The Lost Room, as well as a plethora of shorts and commercials. Leone's path to directing is as winding as the development of web video itself.

Initially a visual-effects artist, Leone began screenwriting for the sole purpose of having content to produce. "I like making things," he says. "I never wanted to be a writer just to write or sell scripts. I wanted to be a writer to direct my own projects and to see them through. That's why effects were always much more interesting to me because we were making something."

Although both writing and postproduction are full-time jobs in their own right, Leone made it work due to the inconsistent nature of production work. "Usually when we're in a crunch on a post schedule, there's no time to write," he says, "but because I was always freelance, I might work on a job for a few months, then be off for a couple weeks. I was able to juggle."

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