Mobilizedtv

Playboy Set to Launch Made-for-Mobile Series

Jon, Ashley and Charlie are real interns at Playboy in New York City. They’re also the “stars” of Playboy’s first made-for-mobile series, “Interns,” which has a lot more in common with “Real World” than the steamy fare you might expect from the Hefner empire. (Well, there is that scene in a tanning salon with an intern and a Playboy bunny, but indecent body parts are covered by the Playboy logo. Oh, and there’s that bit about recruiting the next Playboy Cyber Girl.)

It’s all about the demographic. Playboy rightly assesses that it’s the 18 to 24 year old group that’s watching content on the mobile platform (and, to a large extent, online as well). That coincides quite nicely with the media empire’s goal in general. “One of the missions of the digital media group is to expand the brand,” says Playboy’s Don McGuire. “Things like this are building blocks to building the brand. We’re looking at the 18 to 24 target audience with a male/female split, and we think “Interns” hits that sweet spot well.”

I attended a “test screening” for students at USC, who watched Episodes 1 to 3. (An earlier screening targeted students at NYU). The students then filled out a form asking them for their opinions of the episodes. Those opinions will be grist for the editing mill at Swan Haus Media, the company that has produced and directed “Interns.” Company co-founder Tripp Swanhaus said that Swan Haus would deliver 90-second versions of each of the episodes we saw, which were approximately 4 minutes in length each. Season 1 is made up of six episodes.

Swanhaus said the focus for mobile was to keep the content light and entertaining. “From a technical standpoint, you don’t want to do a lot of pans, not too much cutting, because sometimes the delivery system is slower,” he said. Each episode is self-contained, which means you can jump around the episodes nonlinearly without losing the story thread.

The series was shot in the Playboy offices in NYC, where the need for additional lighting was minimal. One episode shot in Central Park and episodes 4 to 6 (which I didn’t see) also apparently leave the Playboy building. The show was shot in Standard Definition with two Sony DVX-100 camera. “HD was discussed but we decided that it wasn’t necessary,” said Swanhaus.

As an unscripted show, Swansea said they set up situations every day, let the camera roll and then created the script in the edit room, as reality TV is produced.”That’s why we’re constantly re-working it in editing,” he said.

McGuire pointed out that the series is a “unique opportunity for advertisers,” with plenty of opportunities for product placement and cross-promotions. In one episode, the characters wore Playboy-branded clothing. Episodes 4 and 5 are sponsored by a hair gel company, and involves a storyline in which the interns had to hand out the product on the street.

Playboy is still sitting on certain bits of information: who the mobile carriers are that will handle “Interns” and the comprehensive marketing campaign they plan to roll out in support of the series, which will debut on November 18. (MobilizedTV will provide an update at that point.)

For up-to-date information on the series, text “Interns” to 75629.

Tags: Cyber Girl, digital series, Interns, made-for-mobile series, Playboy, Playboy Digital Media, reality TV, Swan Haus Media

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 7:19 pm and is filed under Content.