Refinery29 Unveils Series From Willow Smith, Zosia Mamet, Evan Rachel Wood

At a NewFronts presentation that also served as a rallying cry for female creators, Refinery29 announced production partnerships with a who’s-who of buzzy Hollywood starlets, including Willow Smith, Girls star Zosia Mamet, Rashida Jones, and Evan Rachel Wood.

The 12-year-old female-leaning media company, which boasts a global audience of 500 million, also announced deeper forays into the live events space. In Soundscape, for instance, executive produced by 16-year-old Smith, female filmmakers will team with rising musicians to produce visual mixtapes, which they will then showcase on a nationwide tour. Other events on tap include: Empathy Lab, a series of experiments conducted alongside Columbia University to help magnify the role of empathy in society; RIOT Writer’s Lab, a two-day comedy lab in partnership with TBS (parent company Turner led a $45 million funding round in Refinery last August); and the third season of 29Rooms, an interactive funhouse of style, culture, and tech.

Refinery has only been in the video business for two years, though the company has had six films and series showcased at prestigious festivals, including Sundance and Cannes. Total monthly streams this year amounted to roughly 300 million, representing 600% year-over-year growth, the company said.

This year’s long-form slate includes: Fabled, a modern fairytale anthology produced and starring Mamet; a docu-series called Girly executive produced by Jones that celebrates activists within various communities; and I’m An Anomaly, another docu-series featuring women who don’t fit into prescribed categories, such as a highly religious stripper.

Check out the full slate of Refinery29’s new content brands, series, and returning projects below:

• RSVP: A new content brand launch that serves up a new go-to-guide for all things food, drink, and home. Based on the runaway success of R29’s beauty video series, Short Cuts, which today has eclipsed 500 million views, RSVP will feature snackable, aesthetically addictive tips and tools that break down the art of everyday living.

• The Mention: This content brand upends the predictable mainstream celebrity coverage and offers a fresh and unfiltered celebration of entertainment subcultures. Featuring a plethora of R29 faces, The Mention will include a Facebook channel, newsletter, and weekly live video series, expanding way beyond just what celebs are wearing.

• Strong Opinions Loosely Held: Following the success of the Top-10 iTunes podcast of the same name, R29 is expanding this brand to include a Facebook channel and op-ed personal essay series penned by some of today’s most prolific female thought leaders.

• UnStyled Fashion Films: Based off the popular Instagram hashtag-turned-newsletter and podcast, Refinery29 will now debut UnStyled Fashion Films. Created by co-founder and global EIC Christene Barberich, this Instagram-first short film series will use hyper-elevated visuals and next-level styling to explore themes of confidence, perspective, and identity. Chloe x Halle, the newest stars to embody the spirit of #UnStyled, are the latest style pioneers slated to be featured in the franchise.

• Beauty With Mi: This unscripted video series created by and starring Refinery29’s beauty writer, Mi-Anne Chan, chronicles the craziest trends, most cutting-edge treatments, and strangest cult obsessions in the beauty world. The Beauty With Mi series lives on R29’s YouTube and Snapchat Discover channels.

• Power Faces: Based on the success of Short Cuts, this episodic series captures first-person narratives of real women who see makeup as their source of power, creating an intimate beauty portrait that redefines the term “signature look.”

• 60 Second Cities: The hugely popular insider’s guide to the must-see cities you’ve never seen, consumed in just 60 seconds, returns for Season 2. Each episode takes the format of a hyper-shareable tour of a lesser-known travel destination that you need to know about now. Hosted by R29’s fashion editor at large Annie Georgia Greenberg, 60 Second Cities delivers the ultimate high-speed cheat-sheet for your next great getaway.

• Try Living with Lucie: The second season of this unscripted video series follows Lucie Fink as she dives headfirst into social experiments, five days at a time. Lucie not only stars in this video series on Refinery29’s YouTube channel and Snapchat Discover Channel, but viewers can also find her living out her everyday adventures on Instagram stories.

• The Drop: A new series that exclusively “drops” music videos from female artists to showcase their sounds and discover fresh new voices. The first video to premiere on The Drop comes courtesy of Evan Rachel Wood and her band, Rebel And A Basketcase, for their song Today, which they also performed live at the NewFronts presentation.