Undercover Brother Is First Online Series to Get Film Deal

May 10 2000

Undercover Brother, an animated blaxploitation series featured on UrbanEntertainment.com, was picked up today by Imagine Entertainment for at least $1 million to be turned into a movie possibly starring Chris Tucker.

The deal was brokered by Endeavor, the talent agency that represents Undercover writer John Ridley, who penned the screenplays Three Kings and U-Turn, as well as the novels Stray Dogs and Love Is a Racket.

Ridley's deal marks the first of its kind in online entertainment. Web entertainment companies like Icebox and Shockwave.com have expressed hope that the shows and characters they create will see bigger-dollar futures by getting optioned to TV and movie producers. However, that business model remains untested. Icebox has stated explicitly that it intends to earn revenues from off-line creations based on Icebox shows, and it has signed star names like Seinfeld creator Larry David to this end. UrbanEntertainment today proved that the concept of parlaying Web content into feature films at least has potential.

Although Hollywood agents have been surfing the Web for years in search of characters and shows to represent and leverage into other media, UrbanEntertainment's deal is the largest and swiftest to date.

Ridley signed on with UrbanEntertainment parent Urban Media earlier this year and debuted the first of a 10-episode series on March 21. He will write Undercover Brother and be its executive producer. Urban Media, run by CEO Michael Jenkinson, a former film-production VP at Fox, will coproduce the movie with Imagine Entertainment, allowing Urban to retain significant ownership of the film along with its proceeds.

Undercover Brother follows the adventures of a present-day action hero whose style and attitude are rooted in the 1970s blaxploitation genre. UrbanEntertainment focuses on black films and animated series, and the company recently signed Ben Ramsay, who wrote the screenplay for The Big Hit. Ramsay's series, Pookie Poo, will debut soon on UrbanEntertainment.com.

Imagine Entertainment is part-owner of Web-entertainment venture Pop.com, which has yet to launch. So far, Pop has announced that it will accept films from the public in a "film festival," and the company is said to be seeking writers and stars for an online comedy series.