CollegeHumor picks UTA to guide growth
Sept 19, 2007
NEW YORK -- InterActive Corp.'s CollegeHumor.com has signed with UTA, the company is due to announce todayWednesday, as it continues its work on a movie for MTV Films.
CollegeHumor was founded in 1999 as a comedy site for the college-age crowd and has grown steadily into a highly trafficked and profitable destination. The company is working on a movie as well as several shortform films each week, projects that make representation by UTA a necessary move.
"We're in New York, and we know about the Internet world," said Ricky Van Veen, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the site. "We don't have eyes and ears in Los Angeles. Partnering with UTA is a way to bridge that gap."
The untitled movie, which was announced last year and was to be released by Paramount before moving over to MTV Films, will be about college but it won't take place in a dorm, Van Veen said.
Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky of NBC's "The Office" are writing the script, and Van Veen said a new draft should be coming soon.
CollegeHumor was founded in 1999 as a comedy site for the college-age crowd and has grown steadily into a highly trafficked and profitable destination. The company is working on a movie as well as several shortform films each week, projects that make representation by UTA a necessary move.
"We're in New York, and we know about the Internet world," said Ricky Van Veen, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the site. "We don't have eyes and ears in Los Angeles. Partnering with UTA is a way to bridge that gap."
The untitled movie, which was announced last year and was to be released by Paramount before moving over to MTV Films, will be about college but it won't take place in a dorm, Van Veen said.
Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky of NBC's "The Office" are writing the script, and Van Veen said a new draft should be coming soon.
The company has a long-term goal to release the movie, which has yet to be cast, by Christmas 2008. Van Veen, however, said that the deadline was far from a certainty.
CollegeHumor also has had success with short films on its site. The site runs a series featuring Michael Showalter ("Wet Hot American Summer") interviewing comedic actors and the short "Prank Wars" has been getting national attention.
"We can take something like that to UTA and ask, 'What can we do with this in the television and film world?' " Van Veen said.
CollegeHumor was purchased by Barry Diller's IAC in August 2006; Van Veen said that the media mogul has been supportive of the group and gives them feedback on their projects.
"Barry has a lot on his plate," Van Veen said. "But he's a content guy and he still has a soft spot for looking at our projects and short films."
