Generate Press

From Generate, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based produced firm launched by former WB CEO Jordan Levin. Aug 19, 2008 -By Mike Shields

Microsoft’s MSN on Aug. 19 will premiere Republicrats, a new 25 episode comedy series centered around a fictional presidential candidate who will place much of his campaign’s strategy in the hands of Web viewers. The short form show, which will unfold over the last few months of the 2008 presidential campaign, has been produced by Generate, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based produced firm launched by former WB CEO Jordan Levin. The show features creator Sean Masterson as voter who’s disenchanted with both political parties and decides to run for office as a Republicrat, i.e. a candidate who stands for nothing in particular.
“His idea is to create a do-it-yourself party,” said Levin, Generate’s CEO. “His thinking is ‘Let America decide. I have no opinion on anything. How can it go wrong?’”
Thus, the series, which Levin said began shooting roughly three weeks ago, will aim to be highly topical—as episodes will reflect current goings on in the campaigns as much as possible—and also highly interactive.
“It’s soft-scripted,” explained Levin. “We tried to shoot a loose set of episodes that are self contained.” However, frequently, the plan is for the show to invite users to decide who should join Masterson’s staff, including who his vice presidential candidate should be, and what particular policies he should support, all of which will featured in episodes. Users can also submit videos of themselves asking the candidate questions.
The format of the show will vary, ranging from mock campaign speeches to man on the street interviews. Plus, Republicrats will strive to satirize both presumptive Democratic candidate Senator Obama and presumptive Republican candidate Sen. McCain.
“We’re going to try to respond to real candidate gaffes as soon as we can,” said Omer Khan, director of MSN Video, who used the examples of Hillary Clinton’s famous tear filled remarks earlier this year in New Hampshire or Sen. Obama denouncing Rev. Jeremiah Wright as the sort of moments ripe for Masterson–the brains behind VH1’s recent Web spoof series Home Purchasing Club–to mock.
To start, Republicrats will be distributed exclusively on MSN Video, but the plan is to eventually expand distribution—such as on mobile platforms or Facebook, according to officials. Khan said he expects to use MSN’s home page to promote the series, while also featuring links to the show alongside news stories about the campaign. “We think there are going to be lots of ways to cross promote,” he said.
At launch, MSN and Generate have yet to land any advertisers (Generate, which has previously worked with BET and Comedy Central on various projects financed the show independently). However, Levin offered that several major brands have expressed serious interest and that a sponsor is likely to come on board “within the first couple of weeks.”
But in the meantime, any business that wants to can pitch Masterson—free of charge—to plug their brand or messaging in the show. “It’ll be something like NASCAR,” said Kahn. “Masterson is an empty vessel who tries to appeal to everyone.”
While Republicrats may not appeal to everyone, give the heavy interest in this year’s campaign, if executed well, MSN believes the show may hold breakout potential. “We know that we have something interesting here,” said Kahn. “We definitely think this has a chance to be one of our biggest hits.”

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