Hollywood Royalty Releases 'Celebutantes'

So we were just praising old and new media mogul, Michael Eisner and publisher, G.P. Putnam’s ingenuity after their announcement to produce a dramatic web series in promotion of a new book release. It is a novel idea, but they weren’t the only ones to think of it.

The pop fiction Celebutantes is hitting shelves in 10 days. The book’s MySpace page (yes, the book has a MySpage page, and yes, that should be revealing as to its target demo) oh-so-cutely describes the story as such:

“Lola Santisi is a 26 year-old member of Hollywood Royalty (Papa’s vying for Best Director Oscar #2 and Mom’s a fixture at The Ivy). Without a kingdom–or even a condo–to call her own, she suffers from twin afflictions: Actorholism (a fatal addiction to dating hunky actors) and CDD (Career Deficit Disorder, an epidemic among children of Hollywood Royalty)…”

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It sounds like a young Sophia Coppola farce with an exaggerated Entourage and/or Californication aesthetic. But I won’t know for sure because I’m probably never going to turn a page (one critic describes its redeeming qualities as, “People magazine devotees should enjoy the fast pace, famous names, and designer everything”).

I will, however, be watching the four-part Celebutantes web series – created to drum up publicity and promotion for its hardcover counterpart – whose first episode launched today:

Click To Play

Pretty slick, eh? Here’s why.

The series is directed by McG, the film and television producer and director of both Charlie’s Angels

How’d a promo for a book wrangle such a cast and crew? Co-authors Amanda Goldberg and Ruthanna Khalighi Hopper are members of Hollywood Royalty themselves. Amanda is the 30-something daughter of television producer Leonard Goldberg, and Ruthanna is the 30-something daughter of Dennis Hopper. You write what you know.

We’re well aware that Hollywood is getting more involved with the online video scene, but we weren’t expecting it to play out through book promotions. It’s an interesting and so far pleasant surprise. Regardless, the series is a sweet, self-indulgent slice of the glitz of the movie biz, and should drum up some book sales, in addition to views.