Alloy’s First Digital Slate: ‘First Day’, ‘Hollywood’, ‘Talent’

Bank & Reed sounds like a soldered old New York law firm, but in this case it’s the twosome of Josh Bank and Tripp Reed, the two Alloy Entertainment execs overseeing their newly formed digital division and its first official digital slate of three new original web series coming this summer and fall.

The three series will release back-to-back, with the first up being, First Day, an original comedy series written by Alyssa Embree and Jessica Koosed Etting and starring Tracey Fairaway (Make It or Break It) and Elizabeth McLaughlin (The Clique) that “follows a seventeen-year-old girl who relives her first day at a new school over and over.” Well, original in that 1993’s Groundhog Day pre-dates most of the actors in this one. First Day is set to launch in late August with an 8-episode first season.

Following First Day is the mid-September release of Hollywood is like High School With Money, a web series adaptation of Zoey Dean’s New York Times bestselling novel of the same name. The 10-episode series centers on an “eager but naïve assistant who gets lessons on how to survive the cutthroat world of Hollywood politics from her boss’ queen bee teen daughter.”

The third is a hybrid between a scripted series and a music talent search reality show, dubbed Talent, which will launch its first of three phases later this fall. The narrative portion is another adaptation of a Zoey Dean story, this one about ” a young woman whose dreams of becoming a singer are dashed and rises from that disappointment by helping an unlikely girl become a superstar.” The goal for this one is fairly ambitious, and despite few details about its scale, Alloy says it aims to “discover the next pop music star.”

“This first wave of the AE digital slate appeals to the sweet spot that has made Alloy Entertainment a success – teen and twenty-something fans who are spending increasing hours online and who we expect will equally embrace our digital entertainment,” said Bank, who serves as Alloy Entertainment’s East Coast President.

Much like Alloy’s earlier exploits, like Private, into scripted web series, the new slate will make use of Alloy’s well established teen-heavy distribution footprint, driven mainly through AlloyTV, its premium, multi-platform digital entertainment network.

Alloy has been on tear with a recent string of hit teen-minded TV dramas like Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars, but can that success translate into digital dollars for these new shows that as of now are without any major sponsors attached. It’s likely however by launch time that some brand partners will come on board, as Neutrogena and Johnson & Johnson did with Private.