New Epitome production foreshadows new blended television/music model

Epitome Pictures has responded to an American broadcaster’s request for content with a television drama that will take on its own reality in the on- and offline worlds and could spark a new model for the blending of music and broadcast content. Pending Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund and Telefilm Canada Canada New Media Fund approval, Epitome’s new show Instant Star could be as much about finding a new distribution channel for pop music as about the travails of its young lead character. Epitome partner Stephen Stohn tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that the show, a drama revolving around a young woman who finds stardom as a singer and songwriter, was created at the request of MTV-affiliate Noggin in the U.S. The broadcaster has been airing Epitome production Degrassi: The Next Generation since April 2002 and has been very pleased with the well-known show. As the lead character of Instant Star pens and produces songs, they will be released as singles for purchase on the web and on physical CDs as part of an arrangement with Universal Music label Orange Records. In addition, depending on funding, the show will also have a rich companion site built by SNAP Media with all the usual bells and whistles that the new media producer’s web engines provide. Instant Star’s 13 episodes are slated to go to air in January 2005. To create the songs, Epitome has rounded up a stable of 10 well-known songwriters including Christopher Ward and James Robertson, who recently created the first dozen tracks. Stohn describes the music as being accessible and relevant, and says he’s like "a kid in a candy store" as the first album is produced. The songs will be available online through a white label agreement with the Moontaxi Media Inc. service Puretracks.com. Stohn says Epitome is also in discussions with m-Qube to offer ringtones and other mobile content and applications. The show will also be carried on CTV on Monday nights. Both Noggin and CTV are supporting the web site with licensing cash. Stohn says he believes the music sales could be important to the show’s success, depending on whether the TV drama is a hit. But, he notes, Epitome isn’t counting on track and CD sales to make or break Instant Star. He says the music is an exercise in branding that generates greater audiences. He notes that he has a five-year plan in mind, with music being released on a regular basis. Asked how the momentum can be maintained past the first season, Stohn says the show will hearken back to earlier times in the pop music industry when singles drove sales and there was a constant flow of music to the fans. The music on the show, he says, will be suited to a television audience, in the vein of Shania Twain or Sheryl Crow. "You need to have more accessible music on television. Harder rock and punk doesn’t work as well," he notes. Stohn, who has a long history in the music industry as a lawyer and as a songwriter, says the idea for the show came to him and partner/wife Linda Schuyler at a recent taping of the Groundbreaker-funded Canadian Idol series. He says he’s watched the lives of those youngsters transformed by the experience of being on the show, which was the genesis of this new property. Instant Star, he says, will likely appeal to the same ‘tweener demographic currently watching Degrassi, though he expects it will have a strong following of young adults 18-34 as well. Pending funding approval, SNAP head Raja Khanna isn’t discussing the details of the interactive web site, but does write that one potential component might be an online and wireless talent contest. It is a safe bet that the site will make extensive use of SNAP’s SnapSITE engine, the growing collection of turnkey web and SMS components that the company launched last fall (CNM, Sept. 26/03).

New Epitome production foreshadows new blended television/music model

News | 06/09/2004 4:00 am EDT

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