The Stars Of New Form’s Diverse New Incubator Series Range From Melissa Fumero To Alexa Losey

By 05/05/2017
The Stars Of New Form’s Diverse New Incubator Series Range From Melissa Fumero To Alexa Losey

New Form has made a new for itself by teaming with top online video creators on high-quality pilots, many of which ultimately receive full series orders. The production company tends to arrange its pilots in showcases it refers to as “incubators,” and its latest batch is now here. Seven projects make up the incubator series known as Gold Mine, and this time, New Form has made a point to stress diversity and inclusion.

The projects New Form works on often give digital-native creators the opportunity to appear alongside film and TV talent, and the Gold Mine series (named as such by the creators featured within it) is no exception. Social media standout Eric Ochoa, for example, co-stars with Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Melissa Fumero in a comedy called Mourners Inc. Elsewhere in the slate, Friends’ Lisa Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky (who previously teamed up for the hit digital series Web Therapy) have co-created Campus Catwalk, which co-stars YouTuber Alexa Losey.

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The stars of Gold Mine are diverse not just in terms of their respective entertainment backgrounds but also in the literal sense. New Form ensured that each Gold Mine project features a woman in a creative or leading role, and resulting shows often discuss race and other topical issues.

“Something I often hear in the marketplace is surprise about the kinds of pilots that we greenlight; the odd, the risky, the black sheep,” said New Form CEO Kathleen Grace in a press release. “But we do this because we have the audaciousness to believe in people and different kinds of stories, that’s what Incubator is all about. We regularly engage with creators who represent all perspectives and could not be more thrilled to share this with our audiences.”

Now that these pilots have been released, New Form will shop them around to potential takers. The studio has typically worked with digital distributors like YouTube Red and Vimeo On Demand, but it has also brought a project to TV thanks to a deal with TBS for the animated comedy Final Space. At a recent presentation timed to coincide with the NewFronts, New Form stressed that it is not exclusively targeting online video platforms anymore, hence why it made the decision to drop the word “Digital” from its name. “Studios like New Form need to be flexible,” said New Form COO JC Cangilla at the presentation. “We’re building for all formats, and we’re building for all genres.”

Here, via a press release, are details about the projects in the Gold Mine incubator series:

MOURNERS INC.

Created by: Cristina Gomez & Luke Eve

Starring: Melissa Fumero and Eric Ochoa

Former child-star, Monica, is now broke and barely clinging to her sobriety when the father, who abandoned her fifteen years ago, dies and leaves her the Latino family business. She inherits Mourners Inc, a company that supplies à la carte mourners for wakes and funerals (think escorts, but more death). But, there’s a catch– to take ownership of the biz, Monica must deliver a shiny, loving eulogy at her father’s funeral, a man she barely knew.

CAMPUS CATWALK

Created by: Lisa Kudrow, Dan Bucatinsky and Louise Rozett

Starring: Nisalda Gonzales and Alexa Losey

Tally Lopez is a blue-state girl who just doesn’t fit in at her red-state college. When this undocumented Valor College freshman is bullied online after wearing a traditional Mexican dress to a political rally, she starts an Instagram feed to champion self-expression through fashion. Her mission? To celebrate the personal style of everyone—friend and foe—on campus.

KATE OF THE DAMNED

Created by: Nerdist’s Andrew Bowser, Ben Mekler, & Jason Nguyen

Starring: Megan Amram, Jim O’Heir, Shannon Woodward and Lucas Neff

When 30-year old burnout Kate is bitten on the neck by a mysterious figure, she wakes up to find that she is now a vampire. Even worse, she is now Queen of the Vampires. This new title apparently comes with an entourage of minions who expect Kate to reign over them– not to mention end a centuries old war between her kind and the werewolves. The only problem, Kate could not give less of a shit.

ANTI-SOCIAL

Created by: Manon Mathews and Jason Zumwalt

Starring: Manon Mathews

Brielle, a model famous for her Instagram, good looks and sexy snaps, loses her famous boyfriend and most of her followers when the world discovers she’s a high school dropout. To get back the guy (and the fame), she re-enters as a Freshman at Chandler High. When she is finally forced to put down her phone, she just might learn that it’s not how the world looks at her that’s important, but how she looks at the world.

BOY TOYS

Created by: Sunny Tripathy

Starring: Cody Co

A group of attractive, charming millennial guys attempt to woo wealthy women in the hopes of changing their own misfortune. Their leader (and perpetual man-boy) Kyle, is always looking for shortcuts in life and he must stay competitive in order to win the affection (and lifestyle) of LA’s most prominent women. But the game of playing people, comes at a price. And for Kyle, that includes losing the love of his life.

GOOD FACE

Created by: Helen Kriger and Lina Suh

Clara, a young Korean-American doctor’s assistant with dreams of being an artist, has a secret that would shame her strict, traditional parents: she has a white boyfriend…and she’s living with him. When one fateful night brings the different pieces of her life into conflict, she must confront her unsettled identity to have any hope of reconciling herself and her two lives.

@THEREALASSISTANT

Created by: New Form

Starring: Madeleine Byrne

This vertically shot, frantic buddy-comedy follows Christiana, an ambitious yet naive young woman who scores an assistant job to a high profile, wrecking-ball of a social media star: SMASHLEY. Week in and week out she finds herself thrown into a proverbial wood chipper–one insane request after another.

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