Kobe Bryant and Justin Timberlake want in on the new streaming service: Quibi.
Justin Timberlake and Kobe Bryant will produce and appear in the series for Quibi.
The two global stars are in talks to create programs for the new online service backed by titans from Hollywood and the Silicon Valley, according to close sources, however, the negotiations haven’t been completed.
Quibi is led by Jeffrey Katzenberg, the long-time head of DreamWorks Animation, and Meg Whitman, the former chief executive officer of EBay and Hewlett-Packard. The name of the app is short for quick bites.
“This quick-bite form of entertainment should be as big a growth opportunity, as TV was when it came around in the mid-1950s,” Katzenberg said at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit in Beverly Hills.
Talks with Timberlake and Bryant barely offer a glimpse of the programming strategy the service is planning, but executives have also announced a handful of other creative partners, including flimmakers like Guillermo del Toro and Antoine Fuqua, as well as “Get Out” producer Jason Blum.
Its ambitious plan includes a production of over 70 programs in its first year, about half of which will be original series, estimating a total spending plan of up to $5 million an hour on those shows and their production costs.
The company recently hired Janice Min, former editor-in-chief of the Hollywood Reporter, to oversee entertainment news.
Whitman and Katzenberg plan to launch in late 2019 or early 2020, would be priced at $8 monthly without ads and $5 per month with commercials.
Quibi is seeking a 25-35 age demographic and aims to integrate into daily customer routines. It will serve as an alternative to deliver Hollywood-quality programming to the short-form market, promising HBO-like quality in TV shows that run 10 minutes or less.
