Branded Entertainment News
Google Acquires FameBit To Help YouTubers Cozy Up To Brands
Google announced that it has acquired FameBit, an “influencer marketing platform for branded content.” (VER)
Top Deals
ABC and Mattel Announce ‘The Toy Box,’ Bringing Amateur Toy Inventors Face-to-Face With Their Ultimate Judges: Kids
ABC and Mattel Creations, the content creation and distribution division of Mattel, Inc., have partnered to launch a primetime television series that brings to life the toy invention process in a competition format that will entertain viewers of all ages. (FC)
The UPS Store Launches YouTube Miniseries ‘The Elevator Pitch’ With Marcus Lemonis
The Elevator Pitch is a three-part reality TV miniseries where contestants ride the Chicago Tribune Tower elevator and deliver a business pitch to Marcus Lemonis, the billionaire host of CNBC’s The Profit. (AA)
Cruise Industry Gets PR Boost With Big Part In ‘Transparent’ Episode
The last episode of the third season of the Emmy-winning Amazon series Transparent took place on the Norwegian Jewel Cruise Ship. (AA)
Vampire Web Series ‘Carmilla,’ Funded By Kotex, Is Getting A Movie
The two Shaftesbury subsidiaries behind Carmilla, Smokebomb Entertainment and shift2, have announced their plan to turn the series into a feature film that will premiere in the fall of 2017. (TF)
Google To Distribute VR Couch Gag With ‘The Simpsons’
For the upcoming Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons’s 28th season, Google Spotlight Stories will distribute a VR couch gag on iOS and Android devices. (TF)
Hot Projects
Claws
TNT gave a pilot order to this drama from writer Eliot Laurence and executive producers Rashida Jones & Will McCormack of Le Train Train Productions, and Janine Sherman-Barrois who will serve as showrunner. Niecy Nash will star and Warner Horizon Television will produce the project. (SE)
Seven Seconds
Netflix gave a series order to this drama from writer Veena Sud and director Bennett Miller who will both executive produce alongside Lawrence Bender, Kevin Brown and Alex Reznik. Fox 21 will produce the project. (SE)