Avatar Experience Set for Select Stephen J. Cannell Programs

PASADENA, September 24:
Stephen J. Cannell Productions is offering up vignettes from classic shows,
including The A-Team and The
Greatest American Hero, on
BigStage.com, where users can create their own 3-D avatar to place themselves in
the role of key characters.

Using three snapshots
taken with a standard digital camera, cutting-edge technology developed by Big
Stage Entertainment creates a life-like 3-D replica of users, called an @ctor.
The animated version can then be styled with a number of accessories and
projected into television clips, still images and virtual worlds surrounding
the series.

“The television audience
has evolved dramatically over the past ten years due to the disruptive and
positive force of the Internet,” said Stephen J. Cannell Productions’
president, Mike Dubelko. “Innovation is clearly needed, and our partnership
with Big Stage is a great way to repurpose our library of programming while
helping to foster an entirely new engagement model for personalized entertainment.”

“It’s exciting to partner
with one of the most prolific and successful television executives in
Hollywood,” added Big Stage’s president and CEO, Phil Ressler. “Throughout his
30-year career, Stephen J. Cannell has been a true entertainment innovator,
with more than 40 television shows to his credit, including The Rockford
Files, The A-Team, Wiseguy, 21 Jump Street,
Hunter and Silk Stockings. OK, so I’m also a fan…It is no surprise that he
is among the first to embrace Big Stage technology and explore innovative way
for fans to engage with entertainment.”

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski