CW Launches Digital Studio, Unveils Online Projects

Among the upcoming fare: live-action series "Stupid Hype" from "Hart of Dixie's" Wilson Bethel and an untitled Justine Ezarik project.

The youth-skewing CW is expanding into the web space, announcing the creation of CWD, the CW Digital Studio, during its upfront presentation to advertisers Thursday.

Launching in the fall, CWD will spotlight original content focused in the areas of animation, game shows, comedy and digital personalities. The shorter-form content will appear on CWTV.com ahead of the network's series offerings, much as trailers do before movies shown in theaters.

Among the initiatives first four projects, are those featuring Hart of Dixie's Wilson Bethel, who was behind Rachel Bilson's Funny or Die music video "Call Me Doctor" and YouTube sensation Justine Ezarik (aka iJustine). The arm, spearheaded by marketing guru Rich Haskins, is also prepping an animated comedy series centered on a acerbic SoHo gallery owner who gleefully takes down celebrities.

“CWD provides us with the exciting opportunity to create additional content tailored for digital platforms, while still reflecting The CW brand and reinforcing our connection with our digital audience,” said Haskins of the first and fully converged broadcast network. “The digital space allows us to explore unique or outrageous concepts and even different formats that wouldn’t be right for traditional television, but that are perfect for online. We’re so thrilled with our first slate of projects, and we’re excited to work with producers and with advertisers to create new content that will be a great extension of their brand and ours.”

Here are details on the upcoming projects: