News

Vice lines up short-form scripted

Thomas Benski

Vice Media has ordered a slate of short-form scripted content from New York-based digital studio Blackpills.

Pulse Films, which Vice acquired last year, will also produce additional content associated with the pact.

The Blackpills shows will be distributed on a new video-focused Vice digital site, video.vice.com in the US.

Productions from Luc Besson, Zoe Cassavettes and Bryan Singer will feature, with Pulse producing two series, Pillowtalk and Twiz and Tuck.

Besson has created Playground, about a teen girl who joins a school for assassins and uncovers the mystery of her parents’ deaths. Cassavettes is producing Junior, which is about a teenage girl trapped in an unexpected love triangle with her mother.

Other shows are All Wrong, from Chris Marquette and Brittany Furlan; Maniac, from Kjetil Ingredard, and Skinford, from Josh Brennan.

“From the first time we saw the content from Blackpills, we knew that we wanted to give the Blackpills channel its home on Vice,” said Vice global general manager Hosi Simon. “The content, creators and people at Blackpills and Pulse have an ambition and vision that we value at Vice, so we couldn’t be more excited to partner with them.”

Pulse CEO Thomas Benski brokered the deal. “Pulse Films focuses on the art of storytelling,” he said. “Producing high quality short form content with leading talent is a natural progression for our multi disciplinary studio. This partnership has allowed us create compelling content that can rival top tier episodic TV and we’re excited to finally share our digital-first vision with audiences worldwide with our new partner Blackpills – via our exclusive premiere on Vice.”