New Studio Secures $6 Million in First Round of Financing

LOS ANGELES, March 5: Generate,
an independent multiplatform production and management studio co-founded by
former WB Network CEO Jordan Levin, has secured $6 million in its first round
of financing.

The first round of
financing was co-led by Velocity Interactive Group, the digital-media
investment firm headed by former News Corporation and AOL executives Ross
Levinsohn and Jonathan Miller, respectively; and MK Capital, spearheaded by
Mark Terbeek. Generate was privately funded prior to closing this first round
of venture capital.

As part of the financing,
Levin will become the CEO of Generate. Founding partners Dave Rath and Kara
Welker will continue to run the management arm of the company, along with
partner Jared Hoffman, who joined Generate last January from Creative Artists
Agency (CAA). Founding partner Pete Aronson will serve as the head of creative
affairs responsible for the company's development and production activity
across all distribution platforms. Partner Ivana Ma, whose technology and
digital media venture-capital background contributed to securing this round of
financing, will serve as the head of new media, overseeing all digital
activities. Matt Winslow serves as VP of marketing at Generate, while Anne Hong
has been promoted to manager.

Generate aims to create
professional, quality content that can migrate from broadband to television,
film, publishing and beyond as well as develop creative concepts to integrate
into the advertising, technology and entertainment communities. Generate has
unveiled an initial digital production slate that includes the next installment
of Pink—The Series, a web
series about a female assassin shot as a live-action graphic novel that has
notched up more than 4 million views since its launch in September 2007. In
addition to the acquisition of Pink,
Generate is producing two web comedies: LaQuisha, based on the character created by Ralph Garman
and featured on KROQ's Kevin and Bean show, and Knockers,
from sketch comedy group Good Neighbor.

Generate's slate of
original web series includes the comedy Home Purchasing Club for VH1's Vspot and TV series like The Andy
Milonakis Show and Wonder
Showzen. The company is currently
prepping the first season of Somebodies, BET's first original
scripted series. Generate's
comedy talent roster includes the Blame Society, Clark Duke, Trevor Moore,
Improv Everywhere, Stuckey & Murray, Jon Daly, Katherine Grace and Good
Neighbor. Additionally, Generate has mounted a number of live comedy franchises
including The Comedians of Comedy and SF Sketchfest. Generate is currently
working with FremantleMedia and Ogilvy & Mather to develop branded
entertainment properties.

"The opportunity to
partner with digital media visionaries like Ross, Jon and Mark will be
invaluable as Generate continues to push the boundaries of professional digital
content through the development of targeted franchise properties attractive to
advertisers that will live on multiple platforms," said Levin. "The
investment will enable us to grow beyond our initial vision and execute on our
plan to offer creators the opportunity to use the web as a cost-effective place
to develop, test and incubate ideas that have potential for other revenue
generating platforms."

—By Irene Lew