Comedy Central, MTV mark World Pride with short-form series

Viacom Digital Studios International (VDSI) has produced a range of short-form content for Comedy Central and MTV’s digital and social platforms to mark World Pride.

The short-form content covers LGBTQ+ topics, from mental health and misconceptions to drag queens and coming out.

Comedy Central International’s digital and social platforms are running Dragony Aunts, a 6 x 5-minute series starring Candy Warhol and Crystal Rasmussen, two drag queens who provide outrageous advice, solutions and reality checks to a range of problems.

Dragony Aunts launches on the Comedy Central UK Facebook and YouTube pages on 5 July. The series is being localised by VDSI into 10 languages for 13 of Comedy Central’s markets around the world. Dragony Aunts is directed by Tom Levinge, exec produced by Rebecca Hewett and produced by Emerald Paston.

Meanwhile, MTV International has ordered five short-form series from VDSI: 

Sexpectations: A five-part short-form series in which young, diverse LGBTQ+ people discuss sex, coming out, mental health, gender and religion from a queer perspective, framed around their personal experiences – specifically what they learned in school, what they learned in the real world, and what they think should be taught in schools for future generations. Sexpectations will go live across MTV International’s Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Snapchat, and is being localised into eight languages by VDSI. Sexpectations is created by Jordan Platt, executive produced by Matt Risley and Jonathan Pascoe and produced by Georgie Wright and Tyrell Charles.

Courtney Reacts: Courtney Act watches back her MTV digital series Courtney Act On… that became a viral hit, giving funny and insightful commentary on the comments left by viewers. This will be published on MTV International’s Facebook and YouTube. Courtney Reacts is produced by Georgie Wright and Ellie Ireland.

LGBTQ+ Music Artists Owning Their Truth RN: Four social videos championing a different LGBTQ+ artist – Hayley Kiyoko, Troye Sivan (pictured), Olly Alexander, and Halsey. This will be localised into six languages by VDSI and published on MTV International’s Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. LGBTQ+ Music Artists Owning Their Truth RN is produced by Claire Rowden, Mike Pell, and Rachel Davies-Day.

World’s First Pride Flight: An inside look at Virgin’s inaugural ‘Pride Flight’. This will be translated into eight languages by VDSI and live on MTV International’s Facebook and Instagram. World’s First Pride Flight is produced by Matt Risley and James Fenn.

WTF Is Pride Still Important?: Celebrities and artists including Adam Lambert, Munroe Bergdorf, Courtney Act, Gia Gunn, and Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall, talk about the importance of Pride, championing Trans rights, and why the new BAME Pride flag is needed. This will be published on MTV International’s Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat. WTF Is Pride Still Important? is produced by Matt Risley, AJ Yere, Georgie Wright and Tyrell Charles.

Brendan Yam, SVP of Viacom Digital Studios International, said: “Viacom remains committed to representation of all audiences, on all screens, and this new content is an extension of that.”