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What does Jack Bauer do for an encore after saving the world for eight seasons? Save the Web, of course.
Actor Kiefer Sutherland has partnered with the Web production firm/video network Digital Broadcasting Group (DGB) to create an original Web series called The Confession, slated to premiere on Hulu this March. The 10-episode drama features Sutherland as a hit man confessing his sins to a priest (British actor John Hurt) on Christmas Eve. The five- to seven-minute episodes will feature flashbacks, which reveal more about both men’s past—including Sutherland’s character’s plans to kill again that night unless the priest can stop him.
Clearly, Sutherland and DBG are aiming high with this project—particularly considering the dearth of successful episodic, serialized content on the Internet. “This is a watershed moment for the medium,” said DBG president Danny Fishman. “It’s very much a sign of things to come.”
Up until now, when it comes to original content the Web has been populated mostly by short-form comedy series and one-off clips. Shows like lonelygirl15 and Vuguru’s Prom Queen have been the exception, as viewers have been slow to become habitual content viewers. And few actors of Sutherland’s clout have jumped into Web projects.
But that is rapidly changing, argues CEO Chris Young. “From a macro level, beyond genres, what is driving this is convergence,” he said. “With the iPad and Hulu Plus and Netflix streaming, I think convergence is upon us. Now that the medium is there…it just makes sense to produce content that is very much in line with TV quality.”
Young said it is likely that episodes of The Confession will premiere first on Hulu and will then be rolled out across DBG’s network as well as on a “yet-to-be disclosed gaming platform” (our guess is the Xbox 360). The shows first two episodes will be posted first, with new episodes premiering weekly.
DBG has yet to sell The Confession to advertisers, but the plan is to sell pre-roll spots to brands, much in the same way that TV spots would be sold. Yet Fishman cautioned against seeing The Confession as a TV vehicle in training.
“It could end up on TV at some point, but that is by no means the goal,” he said. “The Web has been a springboard medium or a repurposed-content medium for too long. This medium is an end to itself.”
