Paramount Digital Entertainment Teams With Ben Stiller's Red Hour Films for Exclusive First-look Digital Media Deal

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Paramount Digital Entertainment announced today that it has signed an exclusive first-look deal with Red Hour Digital, a new subsidiary of Ben Stiller's Red Hour Films. Under the new two-year deal, Red Hour will develop original digital media properties that can be launched on a variety of formats, including live action and animated webisodes, and social media games on both digital and mobile platforms. Mike Rosenstein has been promoted to Director of Digital Content. Rosenstein has collaborated with Stiller and his producing partner Stuart Cornfeld at Red Hour Films for the past 4 years developing features and TV, while simultaneously producing short form digital content. He will oversee the Paramount Digital relationship for Red Hour.

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"It's an incredible opportunity for Paramount Digital Entertainment to be working with such a talented and successful creative team," said Tom Lesinski, President of Paramount Digital Entertainment. "With Ben Stiller at the helm, Red Hour is a proven draw for audiences on any platform.  Ben is digitally savvy with several successful online projects and a fan base of millions of followers."

Said Stiller, "I believe the internet is a magical gateway to make all our dreams come true. Red Hour is also developing a new flying jet pack and a teleportation system to travel through time. But for now, we are concentrating on making funny videos to watch while people are pretending to work."

The first projects in the pipeline include an animated digital extension of Zoolander, as well as an accompanying social media game. Red Hour is also developing Billy Glimmer: Entertainer of the Century, an online original comedy about Billy Glimmer (Stiller) the most successful singing impressionist-comedian in Las Vegas. The series will be written and directed by Jason Woliner, with Rob Huebel playing a Billy Glimmer "look alike" alongside Stiller.

Ben Stiller and Red Hour have a strong history of creating top tier comedy in film and television as well as for digital platforms, including the new Stiller and Meara series for Yahoo!, and the STILLERSTRONG viral campaign (which to date has raised over $300,000 entirely from social media towards building temporary schools in Haiti), which included "Night of 140 Tweets" digital download on Amazon and iTunes (produced in conjunction with Funny or Die).

Paramount Digital Entertainment will work closely with Red Hour to distribute the content through a variety of ad supported and transactional platforms, that allow for major advertisers to use high-quality entertainment as a marketing platform to connect with coveted demographics.

Red Hour Films Led by partners Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld, Red Hour Films develops creative, comedic and imaginative films coupled with a mainstream sensibility. The company serves as a hub for new voices and fosters the works of new writers and directors. The first film produced by Red Hour was the 2001 comedy Zoolander, based on the male model character Stiller co-created with Drake Sather for the VH-1 Fashion Awards. Stiller co-wrote the screenplay with John Hamburg and directed the hit film. Red Hour Films has produced the international box office smash Dodgeball, starring Stiller and Vince Vaughn; Starsky and Hutch, starring Stiller and Owen Wilson; Blades of Glory, starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder; and Tropic Thunder, starring Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black and Tom Cruise. The film was named by Entertainment Weekly as one of the "25 Greatest Comedies in the Past 25 Years" and earned an Oscar® nomination for Downey Jr., and Golden Globe® nominations for both Downey Jr. and Cruise.  The film won Best Comedy at the Broadcast Film Critics Awards and the Hollywood Film Awards.

On November 5th, DreamWorks Animation will release Megamind, produced by Red Hour Films and starring Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill and Brad Pitt. Red Hour recently completed production on David Frankel's The Big Year with an all star cast including Jack Black, Steve Martin, and Owen Wilson, and Ruben Fleisher's 30 Minutes or Less starring Danny McBride, Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari. Red Hour also recently executive produced Submarine which premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival and was acquired by The Weinstein Company.

About Paramount Digital

Paramount Digital Entertainment (PDE) is a division of Paramount Pictures Corporation. PDE develops and distributes filmed entertainment across worldwide digital distribution platforms including online, mobile and portable devices, videogames, and emerging technologies.

Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies.  PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Paramount Worldwide Television Distribution.

SOURCE Paramount Digital Entertainment