Anthony E. Zuiker Debuts Original Series on BlackBoxTV

Today CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker, in collaboration with director Tony E. Valenzuela and Collective Digital Studio, launched BlackBoxTV, the highly anticipated premium YouTube original channel dedicated to horror.

Appropriately launching on Friday the 13th, BlackBoxTV will present the best in horror, thriller and sci-fi online programming, building upon Valenzuela’s BlackBoxTV anthology started in 2010.

The relaunched channel has been attracting an impressive stable of talent, including Bill Bellamy (How To Be A Player, Lottery Ticket and Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday), Goran Visnjic (‘ER,’ Pan Am, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Drake Bell (Nickelodeon’s Drake & Josh, Superhero Movie), Justin Deeley (90210), Yvonne Zima (Daisy Carter in The Young and the Restless), Rene Auberjonois (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Boston Legal, Saving Grace), and Jordan Hinson (A Very Harold & Kumar 3-D Christmas), who have signed on to be a part of the upcoming programming.

“Online is not a new medium, it’s a movement and without a doubt, the future of storytelling,” said Zuiker. “With their new channels, YouTube is giving content creators more than just a platform, they are giving us the creative freedom—a playground—to do all of the things we have been yearning to do. Because of this, we are excited about the opportunity to create premium programming that features great talent and breaks new ground for a YouTube channel.”

Zuiker has been getting his hands dirty in online video since 2009 with Level 26, a digi-novel series distributed in partnership with EQAL, and most recently Cybergeddon, a new series with Yahoo.

Valenzuela first caught our eye

in 2008 with 2009: A True Story (a Streamy Award nominee), and at Tubefilter’s panel at SXSW last spring, he discussed the BlackBoxTV concept and its dependence on a strong base of fellow YouTube producers, including Philip DeFranco, Shane Dawson,iJustine, Toby Turner, Joe Nation, Onision, to name a few.

Here’s the lineup:

• BlackBoxTV — Tony E. Valenzuela’s original BlackBoxTV: Silverwood series returns – re-imagined and expanded with true spine-tingling stories that offer a mixture of self-contained horror, suspense and psychological thrills, often ending with an unexpected twist. Each 12-15 minute episode will take fans to the chilling town of Silverwood for pulse-pounding adventures. “The Door” will kick off the BlackBox TV channel at 10:00 AM Pacific on April 13^th.

• Anthony E. Zuiker Presents — This anthology series will feature 10-15 minute episodes developed from the mastermind behind theCSI: franchise. One episode will be released each month. Production was recently completed on “Execution Style,” a story about three highly-skilled assassins who clash over which of them took down a five million dollar target. The episode was directed by Lexi Alexander (Punisher: War Zone).

• Black Friday — Entertainment Tonight meets Attack of the Show for the horror/sci-fi set.  Hosted by three rotating correspondents, this broadcast magazine format series will explore genre pop culture (TV, film, music, etc). New episodes will debut each Friday starting in the month of April.

• True Stories — A thrilling reality series focused on the scary and supernatural, including sleepovers in real haunted houses and exploring frightening places.

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