US video-on-demand service Hulu has made its first ever TV network-style programming presentation to US advertisers, unveiling original commissions from Morgan Spurlock, Entourage's Adrian Grenier and the creator of the popular video game franchise Assassin's Creed.
Hulu, the joint venture with partners including News Corporation, Disney and NBC Universal, has built its video streaming service on buying rights to exisiting TV shows but a 60% rise in revenue to $420m in 2011 has seen the company look to invest in its own content.
In its first appearance at the hugely important US upfronts season, when TV broadcasters present new shows in New York and lock down billions of dollars in advertising deals, Hulu unveiled four new original commissions.
"We want you to think of us as a cable TV network, or a slice of the prime time," Hulu sales chief JP Colaco, told to media buyers attending its event, according to Ad Age.
The new shows include Don't Quit Your Daydream, a new series produced by Entourage star Grenier based on a documentary he made of the same name, about a cast of famous musicians travelling across America to give "could-have-beens" another chance.
Michael Wendschuh, the creator of the Electronic Arts franchise Assassin's Creed, will work with David Belle, the inventor of extreme running sport parkour, to create an urban fantasy show called Flow.
Saturday Night Live star Seth Meyers and Late Night Wwith Jimmy Fallon producer Michael Shoemaker will make a series about comically flawed superheroes called The Awesomes that will air in 2013.
The series We Got Next will be about "four unlikely friends who butt heads on basketball court and on the sidelines of everyday life", from Danny Leiner, a writer on the US version of The Office.
Hulu also gave more information on previously announced original commissions including Richard Linklater's Up to Speed and Morgan Spurlock's A Day in the Life, which will air in the summer.
The VoD service launched its first original scripted series in February with the 13-part political comedy called Batleground, following the campaign trail of a third-place candidate in Wisconsin angling for a seat in the US senate. The latest commissions brings Hulu's total slate of original commissions to seven.
"With Hulu we have the opportunity to do to TV what Sundance did for film," said Andy Forssell, head of programming at Hulu, explaining how the company could open a market for shows that might not make the big US TV networks.
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