MTV Orders Up 'Private High Musical'

MTV has ordered up a half hour pilot of raunchy comedy web series Private High Musical which debuted last fall, marking the latest of the network’s web to TV pickups. Creator and star Taryn Southern will produce the new pilot, which is still in pre-production.

60Frames‘ offshoot label Red Band Industries distributed the series, and within a few weeks of its October release, MTV came calling. The racy spoof of Disney’s High School Musical franchise starred Southern as Sandra Smith, a shy but intrepid transfer student whose only goal for the year is to lose her virginity. Southern’s longtime love of musicals helped her craft the numerous original musical numbers that break out throughout the episodes. (See above).

As part of the deal, MTV acquires the rights to the series, though Southern will remain a producer and actor in the show. Southern originally cast a talented group of actors she’d worked with before, including Lauren Mayhew and fellow Sorority Forever star Angie Cole, The Crew‘s Craig Frank, even her new producing partner and web star Jessica Rose made a cameo. Some of the original cast are expected to return, though no word yet on whether Mr. Belding himself, Dennis Haskins, who played Mr. Johnson in the series, will be making his the trip back to primetime.

MTV has been hip to the web game for a little while now, having recently developed CollegeHumor‘s web video antics into a standalone half-hour comedy The CollegeHumor Show. Two out of the five pilots announced by MTV today are pulled directly from web series, with Crackle’s Long Distance Relationship from creator-star Dan Levy also getting the nod.