[img src="" caption="" credit="" alt=""]Disney is officially launching Stage 9 Digital Media today, with the release of a new series called Squeegees. This made-for-web production studio is specializing in the short-form content that teenagers seem to appreciate when it comes to online video consumption. Instead of pouring a million dollars into a new series for broadcast television, ABC is releasing a slew of online video series that are far more economical to produce.
In fact, Stage 9 has been in the works for some time, but Disney has been keeping tight-lipped about the production studio in order to make a bigger impact once it had content that was ready for release. It appears that the company was delayed in actually releasing some of its content, which could have had something to do with the writers strike, according to a Hollywood Reporter article, but it looks like everything is back on track for regular broadcast television and made-for-web series as well.
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The new series that rolls out today, called Squeegees, is comprised of 4 main characters that run a heavily malfunctioning window-washing company. The show is marginally funny, though I found the most amusing part of the first episode to be the appearance of Jo De La Rosa from "The Real Housewives of Orange County." However, it may please you to know that Disney is trying to go all new media on this one. The actors that play in Squeegees are actually a team called Handsome Donkey, which had been cultivating its own fame thanks to online distribution, according to a report in The L.A. Times.
This isn't the first time Disney has looked to the Internet in order to find worthwhile talent, as we've seen with the short stint that Amanda Cogdon had at ABC. So it's interesting that ABC is hoping to use video shorts to obtain commercial rewards and possibly move the content onto the television screen. I think that's where this whole plan just might fall apart.
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