Chris Hardwick - H 2014
Mark Davis/Comedy CentralChris Hardwick‘s Nerdist Industries has revealed a new slate of digital content as part of its move to a seasonal programming schedule.
The pop culture-focused online network, which is owned by Legendary Entertainment, has added a number of new series, including a comedy musical, an unscripted series about makeup and effects artists, a Real Housewives parody and a series about cosplay.
The network, which debuts shows on YouTube and the Nerdist website, previously added new programs throughout the year but has switched to a schedule that mimics a traditional television network. The Hollywood-based company already produces podcasts and live events, but has also been looking to expand its programming slate to include TV-length programming.
President Adam Rymer, who joined Nerdist from Lava Bear Films in March, tells The Hollywood Reporter that as the network has grown and added more shows to its roster, it needed to formalize its programming schedule.
“It gives us a better chance to both connect with our audience and market the shows to see what’s working to bring shows back for an additional season,” he says.
Nerdist, which started as a podcast hosted by Hardwick, was one of the YouTube channels funded through the streamer’s 2011 original content initiative. But Rymer says that with the initial investment depleted, the fall slate of programming will be the first produced outside of that funding.
“We’re really excited about it,” he adds. “We’ve got a new team of creatives here that are constantly coming up with new shows.”
Those shows include weekly series The Adventures of The Sweet Electric, which premiered Sept. 2 and stars musician and puppeteer Liam Lynch, Scott Ian’s Bloodworks, which follows the Anthrax musician as he explores the makeup and effects business, and Real Housewives of Horror, a parody of the reality series from executive producer Kevin Pereira (Attack of the Show) and starring Brea Grant (Dexter). Other new shows include docuseries Just Cosplay, premiering Sept. 5, and Origin Story, premiering Oct. 24.
Nerdist Presents will air bi-weekly on Nerdist.com with one-off parodies of popular shows and music videos.
The new shows join Nerdist’s roster of franchise programming, which includes Nerdist News, pop culture-themed The Dan Cave and video game-centric Nerdist Play with Malik Forte.
Sept. 3, 12:37 p.m. A previous version of this story said that Nerdist publishes an email newsletter, which the company has stopped producing. THR regrets the error.
Email: Natalie.Jarvey@THR.com
Twitter: @NatJarv
