Saturn on Board New CBS Web Series

LOS ANGELES/SAN FRANCISCO,
October 23: Jonathan Prince, the creator of A&E’s The Cleaner, is set to debut a new web series for CBS
Interactive called Novel Adventures,
sponsored by car brand Saturn, a division of General Motors.

Prince, who also worked on
last year’s Cane, has a
first-look deal with CBS Paramount Network Television. The eight-episode series
will premiere on November 3 with Daphne Zuniga (One Tree Hill), Paola Turbay (Cane), Ashley Williams (How I Met Your Mother) and Jolie Jenkins (Desperate Housewives). Each episode will be presented exclusively for a
48-hour window on CBS.com, TheInsider.com and TV.com, and then will roll out
across the CBS Audience Network and on iTunes. The show will be promoted across
CBS Interactive platforms and in prime time on the CBS network.

Set in various locations
throughout Los Angeles and shot in high definition, Novel Adventures is the story of four women from different
backgrounds and at different stages in their lives who join a book club.

“This is a new-media model
that makes creative and financial sense for Saturn and CBS Interactive—a
high-quality, high-concept scripted series that is fully sponsored, widely
distributed and backed by the promotional power of a major media company,
including its broadcast network," said Prince, who was asked by Saturn to
create the series and then brought it to CBS. "We get to tell great
stories with an A+ cast and crew, Saturn gets creative and seamless promotion
for its new line of cars, and CBS Interactive offers its flagship websites and
Audience Network high-production-value content."

"We’re excited about
this property because we’ve created a way to extend the show’s Saturn content
in an engaging manner—amongst a very targeted audience,” added Dino
Bernacchi, General Motors’ director of branded entertainment. “And we’re
ensuring that the interaction with this audience will not be a passive
experience, but an active one. Novel Adventures was born from sharing our needs with Jonathan
Prince, who has proven to find impactful ways integrating brands into
entertainment. Together, we agreed that the media partner who had the vision,
capabilities and creative collaboration to help make this big and successful
was CBS."

Anthony Soohoo, the senior
VP and general manager of the CBS Interactive Entertainment, noted: “Novel Adventures offers the complete package—network-quality
storytelling from a top producer working within the confines of online, plus
best-of-breed online distribution, and promotion across relevant web properties
and network television to drive awareness. All while creating an entertainment
experience where the audience can more genuinely connect to the show, it
characters and the brands, such as Saturn, portrayed in the webisodes."

—By Mansha Daswani