ESPN's Cross-Platform Game Plan
Originals Unit Looks for Ideas With a Shelf Life
By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 11/26/2006 7:00:00 PM
Former ESPN executive vice president of programming and production Mark Shapiro wanted ESPN Original Entertainment to become the sports behemoth's Hollywood studio that produced high-profile original scripted series and movies.
Thirteen months after Shapiro left to head up private-investment company Red Zone LLC, ESPN executive vice president of content John Skipper views EOE as a more of a “development studio” for original, sports-related documentaries and movies like Ruffian, which can live across multiple digital platforms.
What's not on EOE's docket, at least in the near term, is scripted-series fare. Instead, Skipper said the network will focus on miniseries like next year's The Bronx Is Burning, a chronicle of the volatile New York Yankees teams of the late 1970s, that can exist as evergreen content for the various ESPN networks.
“We'd like our projects to be cross-platform, if possible, meaning that we're trying not to just create things that can live for an hour on television, but rather things that can live online, in [ESPN] magazine, and on wireless,” said Skipper. “EOE is complementary to our sports programming and I'd like it to be profitable.”
By that he means content than can garner DVD sales, as well as populate the network's ESPN360 broadband site, ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Radio and ESPN Mobile platforms.
As an example, he pointed to the network's upcoming eight-part history of NASCAR special that will begin airing July 5. He said the show will most likely air in front of ESPN's NASCAR coverage, supporting the network's recently acquired eight-year, $2.1 billion TV rights deal for the stock car circuit.
“I can also make a DVD out of it; I can cut it up into a 100 greatest moments of NASCAR offering and make a book out of it. I can make archival footage available from it for ESPN 360 – so it's satisfying all that criteria,” he said.
Other EOE projects under development include Ruffian, an original telefilm airing next June about the legendary race filly; and Ali Rap, a unique documentary based on the book of the same name debuting Dec. 9 that puts the famous quotes of boxing great Muhammad Ali to hip-hop music.
Also in development is EOE's much-talked about eight-part miniseries Bronx Is Burning — chronicling the Yankees' 1977 World Series season —which Skipper says is EOE's most ambitious effort to date. Skipper says the miniseries is the closest EOE will get to creating original scripted series fare.
On Shapiro's watch, the network developed Playmakers and Tilt, neither of which were renewed after their freshman runs. Playmakers, the chronicle of a fictitious pro football team, was cancelled after the National Football League complained about the show's negative portrayal of gridiron players. Tilt, a take on professional poker, was dropped due to poor ratings.
“I think some people make the assumption that because we moved from Playmakers that we don't want to be in [original productions],” he said. “We want to be in that genre, and The Bronx is Burning is an example of a scripted miniseries that can be a long-term asset for us.”
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