Disney Channel Rolls Out Original Shorts on Digital Platforms

BURBANK: Free Period, a collection of original short-form movies, has launched exclusively on Disney Channel digital platforms.

Free Period movies will roll out daily on the Disney Channel YouTube page through August 18. The 12 original short-form movies are also available on the Disney Channel app for mobile and connected TV devices. The movies cover a range of genres, from comedy to mystery adventure. They will feature Leo Howard (Kickin’ It) and Teen Beach Movie alums Garrett Clayton, Chrissie Fit, John Deluca and Mollee Gray, among others.

The movies were created by actor Kent Boyd, choreographer Christopher Scott, and Imagen Award-winning director Francisco Lorite and producing partner Freddy Rodriguez. Additional creators include Jonathan Langager (Josephine and the Roach), Joe Swanson (Zombo), Camille Stochitch (Interstate), Ryan Landels (Jem and the Holograms), John Swetnam (Step Up All In, Into the Storm), comedienne Dahéli Hall (MADtv), Viet Nguyen (iZombie) and stunt coordinator Mitchell Gould (Kickin’ It, Gamer’s Guide to Pretty Much Everything, K.C. Undercover), among others.

Among the shorts featured in the collection is Abby Normal, which tells the story of the titular character and her cousin Zoe as they set out on a secret mission to investigate their strange neighbor. Arcanum, meanwhile, looks on as a teen searches for a mystical artifact to save the world from an ancient evil. In Exchange, a teenage girl suggests that she and her classmates spend a week at each other’s houses when their study-abroad program is canceled.

The short Free Period follows Kent, who allows his imagination to run wild with outrageous acts of randomness during his free period at school. In Hamburger High, Lisa Pizza, a slice of pepperoni pizza, navigates her way through high school. After a teen and her family move into a new house, she discovers it’s full of ghosts who love to dance in How to Catch a Ghost. Nelson Bixby Takes On the Whole Wide World follows the titular 11-year-old as he gets unexpected assistance from the ghost of a famous Mexican wrestler named El Niño.

Other shorts slated to debut as part of Free Period are Nu Skool Records, about a group of teens who launch their own record label on campus; Parker and the Crew, which sees kids band together to stop the neighborhood bullies from ruining their summer; Penelope in the Treehouse, about a girl who uses magic fertilizer on her treehouse and winds up among the clouds; Trunk, which follows two brothers who discover a trunk that transforms toys into real people; and Virtual High, about kids who attend school in a virtual world.