Hulu taps Spurlock for first long-form show

Afp
Wednesday 03 August 2011 19:00 EDT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

US online video site Hulu announced plans Wednesday to produce its first original long-form show, a documentary series by "Super Size Me" director Morgan Spurlock.

"A Day in the Life" will consist of six half-hour episodes focusing on 24 hours in the lives of "fascinating people," Hulu said in a statement.

Among those to be profiled are British entrepreneur Richard Branson, rapper and songwriter will.i.am, comedian Russell Peters and musician Girl Talk, Hulu said.

The shows will begin airing on August 17.

Besides "Super Size Me," which chronicled a month of only eating McDonald's food, Spurlock has also directed the "Greatest Movie Ever Sold" and "30 Days."

"As a filmmaker, I am always looking for new and exciting ways to reach an audience and to tell stories," Spurlock said. "When the opportunity to create an original doc series with Hulu presented itself, I jumped at the chance."

Andy Forssell, a Hulu senior vice president, said the company is being "extremely deliberate and precise in targeting original content that would not find a natural home on traditional distribution outlets.

"'A Day in the Life' is a great example of the kind of content we will be providing as part of our original programming on Hulu," he added.

In a blog post, Charlotte Koh of Hulu's original content development team said "A Day in the Life" kicks off a "new Hulu initiative designed to support creatively and financially the work of independent storytellers like Spurlock."

"We look forward to bringing our users more unique stories in the future," she added.

Hulu, which was founded in 2007, is a joint venture between NBC Universal, News Corp. and The Walt Disney Company. It is currently only available in the United States and generally streams re-runs of popular shows.

Hulu's original programming foray comes about four months after video streaming giant Netflix announced it is backing an original series called "House of Cards" starring Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey as an ambitious US politician.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in