MTV Ponies Up '$5 Cover' For 'Hustle & Flow' Director Craig Brewer

Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow; Black Snake Moan) has been tapped by MTV to direct $5 Cover a new music-themed web series set in working-class Memphis. This of course follows Brewer’s track record of featuring his home city and a gripping immersion into the eclectic Memphis music scene. The plan is for 15 episodes of the series, running about 8-min each. The budget of around $350,000 for the first batch works out to about $23,000 an episode or $3000 a minute, right in line with most of the studio-backed web projects.

David Gale, EVP at MTV New Media, MTV’s newly-minted online arm, actually signed Brewer to a production deal over a year ago while Gale was still heading up MTV Films. This will be Brewer’s first leap into the web telelvison scene, after intially pitching the project as a feature. Shooting for the project is just wrapping up this week and no set release date has been announced for the series. We’ll keep you posted as we find out more.