Alloy to Adapt "Private" for Web TV Series

By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 5/7/2009 8:33:00 AM

Alloy Entertainment, which created and produced Gossip Girl, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and other hits, is producing and financing its first online entertainment program and web series, based on its bestselling book series Private. The show will debut on Alloy Media + Marketing’s Teen.com network.

Private’s casting and development is unusual: Alloy will offer fans an opportunity to land a role in the series. Starting today, with a five-week online casting call, aspiring stars can submit auditions at www.privatetheseries.com for a chance to win a role. A peer-based voting process will narrow the field to 15 finalists, and the series producers will choose three grand prize winners to participate in a six-part casting competition. An overall winner will be chosen by a panel of judges, including the series’ director, and will be cast in the scripted series. Alloy will air a reality series in late July, giving viewers a look at the audition process. Then, in mid-August, the series will launch with three new webisodes each week for seven consecutive weeks.

Veronica Becker and Sarah Kucserka, who wrote for Ugly Betty, are adapting the Private book series for the web. Dennie Gordon (The Ex List; What a Girl Wants) will direct the original series and the casting of reality competition.

Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing is continuing to release new volumes in the Private series, written by Kate Brian. The most recent volume, Paradise Lost: Private, Book 9, pubbed on February 24 and remains on bestseller lists.