HBO offshoot launches Web video series

By Andrew Wallenstein

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - HBOlab, an experimental offshoot of the cable powerhouse focused on online programming, is launching a Web video series featuring a cast of the Internet's most popular entertainers.

Jessica Rose, star of the Web sensation "lonelygirl15," will be joined with top YouTube talent, including video bloggers known as sxePhil and KevJumba, for the scripted comedy "Hooking Up." Set to premiere October 1, the 10-episode series will be distributed on top video portals including YouTube and MySpace as well as a destination site, hookingupshow.com (www.hookingupshow.com).

"Hooking" could prove groundbreaking for the nascent webisode genre by amassing a sizable viewership, given its aggregation of Internet personalities who can promote the production to their devoted audiences of millions of young viewers.

For HBOlab, "Hooking" is an opportunity to take to the next level the knowledge the unit has gleaned regarding Internet video distribution.

"I think we're going to see a lot more hits than had we cast a bunch of funny people you didn't know," said Fran Shea, head of HBOlab.

YouTube content partnerships manager George Strompolos likened the genesis of "Hooking" to an organic strategy employed occasionally by his site's stars, who pop up in one another's videos to cross-pollinate their audiences.

"It has happened before, but there hasn't been a real production company with this level of support orchestrating everything," he said. "That will be the extra push it will need to get out there in a smart, fun way."

"Hooking" puts its Internet all-stars to work acting as students at a fictional university where the populace spends most of its time e-mailing, instant-messaging and Twittering, but always seems to be miscommunicating.