Xbox Lines Up Original Programming

REDMOND: Xbox Entertainment Studios is working on a range of dramas, comedies, docs, unscripted shows and more under the Xbox Originals banner, including projects from Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott.

The award-winning Halo franchise is moving forward as a series, with Spielberg attached to executive produce the live-action series. Also on the slate is Every Street United, an unscripted series featuring the legendary soccer players Thierry Henry and Edgar Davids that focuses on the search for undiscovered sports talent.

Xbox owners will have the chance to experience the 13th annual Bonnaroo music and arts festival with a live concert destination on Xbox Live.

Xbox is creating a new six-film documentary series, Signals to Noise (working title), with Simon Chinn (Searching for Sugar Man, Man on Wire) and Jonathan Chinn (30 Days, American High). The first installment, Atari: Game Over (working title), explores the fabled Atari mystery, dubbed “The Great Video Game Burial of 1983.”

Humans is a new drama co-produced with Channel 4 in the U.K. Kudos (The Hour, Broadchurch) will produce the 8×1-hour series, which will share a premiere broadcast window on the Xbox platform and Channel 4 in 2015.

343 Industries and Scott Free Productions are creating a Halo digital feature to be released later this year. The project will be executive produced by Ridley Scott and David Zucker.

There are also a number of projects in development, including Deadlands, based on the pen-and-paper role-playing game, and Extraordinary Believers (working title), a hybrid stop-motion show with Stoopid Buddy Stoodios (creators of Robot Chicken). Also in development is Fearless (working title), an unscripted series starring Paul de Gelder, an Australian Navy bomb clearance diver who is on a quest to aid individuals who risk their lives to make the world a better place. Xbox Entertainment Studios acquired the rights for Gun Machine, a detective thriller based on the New York Times best-selling novel by Warren Ellis.

There is an untitled comedy/variety project with JASH, a comedy collective founded by Sarah Silverman, Michael Cera, Tim and Eric and Reggie Watts. Xbox Entertainment Studios and IDW Entertainment are co-developing a limited event live-action series, Winterland, based on Chuck Dixon and artist Jorge Zaffino's graphic novel series.

“We are developing premium, original content for the Xbox community which is an audience we are incredibly respectful of,” said Nancy Tellem, the president of Xbox Entertainment Studios. “We believe Xbox Originals should embrace the way our fans think about traditional TV.”

“Microsoft has a long and rich legacy in the content business,” said Jordan Levin, the executive VP of Xbox Entertainment Studios. “Games have been part of our DNA for at least the last 15 years, and creating original TV content is a logical next step in our evolution.”

“I know full well from my years spent at traditional TV networks that creating a lineup of hit shows isn’t easy. It's the beginning of a long journey, but we’re incredibly excited to be on our way,” Tellem added.