Eisner’s Vuguru Releases New Series on V CAST
14 March 2008Verizon Wireless and Michael Eisner’s independent new media studio Vuguru said the other day that “The All-For-Nots” series will air on Verizon Wireless’ V CAST Video service this week. This is part of an ongoing triple-play strategy by Michael Eisner.
“The All-For-Nots,” Vuguru’s second original series, will debut on V CAST in the Music and Showcase categories on V CAST Video-enabled phones.
Verizon Wireless is the exclusive wireless provider of “The All-For-Nots” video.
Eisner’s Vuguru and others started producing professionally done videos for distribution over the Net and mobile phone networks last year. Most of it is in short form such as Vuguru’s “Prom Queen.”
In keeping with the concept of the new media, “Prom Queen” came in episodes of 80-90 seconds in length, rolled out over 80 days and ran on multiple Internet and mobile Web sites including vuguru.com, ellegirl.com, YouTube.com, Veoh Networks (a DVD-quality site in which Eisner owns shares and is a board member) and on wireless and handheld video devices. Ads appeared at the beginning and end of each episode.
Eisner paid only $200,000 for the rights to the teen drama “Prom Queen,” according to BusinessWeek in its article “Michael Eisner 2.0 Will See You Now.”
He also acquired Topps, the sports trading card company that also owns the rights for trading cards and stickers to characters in “Star Wars,” “The Lord of the Rings” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.” Eisner’s Tornante and buyout firm Madison Dearborn Partners agreed in March 2007 to take Topps private for $385.4 million after a majority of the company’s board voted for the deal.
The BusinessWeek article points out that Web portal Veoh.com could be Eisner’s ABC TV network and that his Team Baby Entertainment, which produces sports videos for kids, could be the media moghul’s Disney studio.
It seems Eisner is succeeding in his triple-play endeavor but he has yet to break into quadruple-play (i.e. the Flash-less iPhone).
No one knows the format that mobile/fixed broadband entertainment will be best accepted in but Eisner’s outfit is trying. While his last production “Prom Queen” was 80 some odd episodes of about two minutes each, the new effort hits the broadband content triple play - simultaneously on mobile, pay-TV and broadband.
Eisner’s Vuguru studio signed up Dinosaur Diorama Productions last year to produce “The All-For-Nots.”
“The All-For-Nots” program, created by Thom Woodley and Kathleen Grace of Dinosaur Diorama, is an original Internet comedy series that follows a documentary crew filming a fictional indie rock band called “The All-For-Nots” as they travel through the US on an under-funded and poorly planned tour.
“The All- For-Nots” will visit 24 cities on the band’s US tour during each of the seven- to 10-minute episodes in the series.
“Verizon Wireless’ V CAST service is a clear leader in the mobile video space and partnering with them for the second time on an original Web series was an objective from the very start of this production,” said Eisner. “Short-form video is a popular source of entertainment for young, early adopters of new media, and that feature of ‘The All-For-Nots’ makes it perfect for viewing on a mobile platform.”
Weekly episodes of “The All-For-Nots” series will be available on V CAST Video through August 2008, and include documentary-style narratives, concert footage from the band and interviews with fans and special guests.
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