MySpace Completes Deal for New Show on Internet

Social networking site MySpace may have yielded headline space to competitors in recent times, but do not count it out yet. The social networking site, whose parent company is media and entertainment bigwig News Corp., is using its Hollywood connections to create another splash.

MySpace has in its kitty the rights for an Internet drama called Quarterlife that Hollywood producers Ed Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz are currently working on. The two producers have already delivered such hit TV offerings like My So-Called Life and Thirtysomething.

Quarterlife is about the lives of a bunch of people in their twenties as seen by a young girl who had a video-blog. Episodes of the show, or webisodes, as they are referred to, will make their first appearance on MySpace, after which they will feature in the website for Quarterlife, Quarterlife.com.

Officials at MySpace have high ratings to give the show. General Manager of MySpace Jeff Berman says the quality of content on the show was really high, almost the same levels as hit TV serials like 24 or Prison Break. He said getting the show on to MySpace would be a landmark occasion for the social networking site.

TV-show like serials on the Internet is the next in thing, and there have been quite a few such shows already. One such show, Lonelygirl15, can be seen on MySpaceTV. Another popular show that aired on MySpace recently was Prom Queen, a series created by the company formed by ex-Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner.

The Internet had been abuzz for a while now with rumors of Zwick and Herskovitz coming up with something for the Internet. The rumors started off after a leaked report that talked of production staff and scriptwriters for TV working on a series called Quarterlife.

The first webisode of Quarterlife is slated to hit MySpaceTV on November 11 this year, Berman said in an announcement regarding the series. The terms of the deal MySpace has worked out with Zwick and Herskovitz let a webisode of Quarterlife appear exclusively on MySpace for the first 24 hours.

After the 24-hour period elapses, the webisode will appear on the website of the show as well. Both the MySpace website for the show as well as the show’s own website will be interactive. MySpace will give viewers a slight edge, allowing them to interact with the cast of the series through their own MySpace pages.

There is speculation about the possibility of a mobile component being added on to the new show. Berman, however, refused to divulge any further details about the show, asking everyone instead to ‘stay tuned’. He said this was not the only offering MySpace was coming up with, and there would be other such projects from them as well.