The Television Academy has added Emmy Award categories for short-form variety, nonfiction/reality and animation series as well as new actor and actress awards. The move reflects recognition of the growing popularity of original content produced primarily for online video services. Contenders on the 2016 ballot include digital series such as Maker Studios’ “Epic Rap Battles of History;” “Scare PewDiePie,” available on YouTube Red; AwesomenessTV’s “Guidance;” and New Form Digital’s “Oscar’s Hotel for Fantastical Creatures,” produced with Jim Henson’s Creature Workshop and available on Vimeo. Continue reading Emmy Awards to Debut New Short-Form Categories This Year

New Form Digital, a video distribution/production company funded by Discovery, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, has launched its original pilot — “Oscar’s Hotel for Fantastical Creatures” — on Vimeo On Demand. The series, which began life as one of the dozen or so shorts that New Form commissions each year via its incubator program, includes Jim Henson’s Creature Shop-created beasts that run a magical boarding house, YouTube stars Chris Kendall, Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart, and appearances by Patrick Stewart and Alfred Molina. Continue reading New Form Digital Debuts Its “Oscar’s Hotel” Series on Vimeo

Streaming service Vimeo is planning to team up with YouTube network Maker Studios to fund and distribute projects this year that will get exclusive release windows via Vimeo On Demand, the platform’s premium VOD tier. As part of the deal, Vimeo On Demand will be made available to Maker Studios’ 55,000 creators. Disney-owned Maker Studios has started looking into distribution options, including its own Maker.TV player and a new programming partnership with Dish’s soon-to-launch streaming service, Sling TV. Continue reading Vimeo Enters into Deal with Maker Studios for Original Content