MTV is set to launch MTV Studios which will be focused largely on developing and producing reboots, revivals, and spin-offs of series from MTV’s library of more than 200 young adult titles in addition to new shows, predominantly unscripted.
MTV Studios’ initial lineup includes animated comedy Daria & Jodie, a reimagining of MTV’s 1990s feminist series Daria, from writer Grace Edwards (Inside Amy Schumer); an update of the Emmy-winning coming-of-age unscripted series Made as well as recently reported live-action remake of MTV’s animated sci-fi series Aeon Flux, from Teen Wolf creator Jeff Davis; and a return of the network’s groundbreaking reality series The Real World with Bunim/Murray Productions.
The new concept will also feature original programming which includes two new shows, The Valley (working title), a timely coming-of-age docuseries in the spirit of The Hills and Siesta Key which follows a group of young friends growing up in the Valley town of Nogales, Arizona, a city split in half, with one side in the United States and the other in Mexico. The other is MTV’s Straight Up Ghosted, which follows young people trying to reconnect with lost friends, lovers, and family members and confront them about why they have been ghosted.
Daria & Jodie, The Real World and Aeon Flux all are being pitched to streaming platforms like Hulu, Netflix, and Apple. While MTV president Chris McCarthy noted that the network is “thriving” on a cable platform, “it is a little bit more limiting than it used to be, so the story that we tell on traditional cable are going to be very different than the stories that we would tell in SVOD.”
MTV did consider rebooting The Real World for the network before opting to go to SVOD. Chris McCarthy had this to say about the decision:
“We love the franchise, but what is so special about it is the purity of it. It didn’t have gimmicks, it didn’t have tricks, it didn’t have all the extra bells and whistles that the days unscripted required to work on cable. You have a whole different generation of young people that are growing up that didn’t experience cable in the way you and I did. And so we’re able to go and actually retell that story, updated of course, with new characters, new tensions, new real-life issues, but still stay totally pure to the clean idea of what Real World was without having to basterdize it in order to make it work for traditional cable.”
For now, all SVOD-bound shows will be shopped to outside platforms though Viacom CEO Bob Bakish has indicated that there are plans for Viacom-branded direct-to-consumer services down the road. MTV Studios will start with a stronger focus on series based on “the iconic IP because quite often that’s where the demand is; re-inventions and re-imaginations are fueling so many different peoples growth,” McCarthy said. “I think it’ll eventually shift to a more of a 50-50 and hopefully to a 40-60. But, I think in the beginning, just based on demand, we’ll be a little bit more in the iconic.”
loved Teen Wolf!
I want Teen Wolf and Scream back.