Vox Media Is Developing a New TV Project
October 20 2016 - 02:30PM
Dow Jones News
Vox Media has plans to bring one of its web video stars to
television.
The digital publisher is in advanced talks with a cable
entertainment network for a TV special next year starring Liz
Plank, who joined Vox.com earlier this year to launch comedic
election web series "2016ish," according to people familiar with
the matter.
Vox Media, which owns sites such as Vox.com, the Verge, SB
Nation and Eater, last year secured a secured a $200 million
investment from NBCUniversal. However, the network that is in talks
for Ms. Plank's program is not in the Comcast-owned TV giant's
portfolio of cable channels, the people said.
Vox is on the hunt for an executive producer/showrunner to
launch a digital series starring Ms. Plank, 29, who is a regular
presence on MSNBC and previously worked at millennial-geared
publisher Mic. While it's unclear just how linked the web series
will be with the TV project, the showrunner will also lead creative
development on a television pilot with a "major cable network,"
according to a job posting.
Vox is hoping that the digital series and TV special will build
up more interest among TV networks for a permanent show hosted by
Ms. Plank, according to a person familiar with the plans.
The move comes as more internet publishers, from Vice to
BuzzFeed to Refinery29, link up with traditional media companies to
push into television.
The yet-to-be-named digital show and TV special may experiment
with different formats, but one person described the effort as a
"feminist 'Chappelle's Show'" involving socially-conscious sketch
comedy.
Ms. Plank's "2016ish" series has accumulated more than 77
million views on Facebook, according to Vox. On a recent episode,
she and comedian Casey Jost don varsity jackets and joke about
Donald Trump's "locker-room talk." After Mr. Trump called Hillary
Clinton "a nasty woman" during the third presidential debate
Wednesday night, Vox on Thursday posted a video where Ms. Plank
stars in a black-and-white mock advertisement for "Nasty Woman"
perfume.
"Because a woman's place is in the kitchen…of a restaurant that
she independently owns and operates," Ms. Plank says in a
voice-over. "Get what you want: maternity leave." (It is from the
makers of Bad Hombre for men, the video says.)
"We find really talented folks and try to build a platform for
them to do the best work possible, no matter what platform that's
on," said Melissa Bell, publisher at Vox Media.
The company's TV ambitions are still in the early stages. In
May, Vox announced a new show on A&E Networks-owned FYI called
"Prefabulous" in collaboration with its real estate site,
Curbed.
Since the investment, Vox and NBCU have teamed up on a joint
advertising sales initiative called Concert, and reporters at the
Verge and Recode, tech sites owned by Vox Media, make regular
appearances on CNBC. Vox's SB Nation also created a blog focused on
NBC's "American Ninja Warrior."
Write to Steven Perlberg at steven.perlberg@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 20, 2016 14:15 ET (18:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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