MTV Launches MTV Studios, Set To Reboot Daria and Aeon Flux

The 90s are back. Deadline reports that MTV has launched a new production arm called MTV Studios, with reboots in the works for Daria and Aeon Flux. The plan is to focus on reboots, revivals and spin-offs of shows already in the MTV library, as well as new unscripted shows. The reboots of Daria (now called Daria & Jodie), The Real World and Aeon Flux are being pitched to streaming services like Hulu, Netflix and Apple.

MTV President Chris McCarthy said the network is “thriving” on cable but “it is a little bit more limiting than it used to be, so the stories that we tell on traditional cable are going to be very different than the stories that we would tell in SVOD.”

He added: “Because the younger side of MTV’s traditional target demo of persons 12-34, the 12- to 17-year-olds, do most of their viewing online, MTV plans to reach them there. (Anything for) the younger set of the demo is going to be more on the SVOD partners. Anything in the 20 plus is going to be more for our traditional cable platform. Things that are in the animation space, things that are in pure music longform, things that are in the teen and high school space — those are the things that we’re going to be looking more in the SVOD space. The traditional amplified and louder versions of unscripted reality, we’re going to continue to focus on that in cable.”

He also spoke about the decision to put The Real World on streaming instead of cable: “We love the franchise, but what is so special about it is the purity of it. It didn’t have gimmicks, it didn’t have tricks, it didn’t have all the extra bells and whistles that the days unscripted required to work on cable. You have a whole different generation of young people that are growing up that didn’t experience cable in the way you and I did. And so we’re able to go and actually retell that story, updated of course, with new characters, new tensions, new real-life issues, but still stay totally pure to the clean idea of what Real World was without having to basterdize it in order to make it work for traditional cable. It’s better served for us to bring that out and look to partner with a SVOD (platform) because it’s where the audience is looking for that type of scripted. We can focus [The Valley] more on the high school side of it in which case it could actually be more for an SVOD partner; if we focus more on the older side of it, it will probably land more for our own platform.”

MTV Studios will produce most of its shows itself, sometimes working with an outside producer they have a strong relationship with like Bunim-Murray and Jersey Shore‘s SallyAnn Salsano.

McCarthy added that a reboot of Beavis and Butt-Head for SVOD could be possible, as well as a retrospective series on the 30th anniversary of Unplugged. All SVOD shows will be shopped to outside platforms, but it was recent suggested by Viacom CEO Bob Bakish that there are plans for a Viacom streaming service in the future.

The plan for MTV Studios has been developing for a year, after McCarthy and Nina L. Diaz (head of programming) came back to the network. He said: “One of the big things that Nina and I wanted to do when we came back was to really move back into a Build Model and away from a Buy Model. The iconic IP because quite often that’s where the demand is;. re-inventions and re-imaginations are fueling so many different peoples growth. I think it’ll eventually shift to a more of a 50-50 and hopefully to a 40-60. But, I think in the beginning, just based on demand, we’ll be a little bit more in the iconic. We cut our teeth in the unscripted phase; I think that’s really where we thrive. We do really well in certain scripted stories that really appeal to us; they have traditionally been more in the animated phase and then the young adults phase.”

Here’s a list of planned shows, as well as a promo for the company.

Daria & Jodie: “The iconic animated franchise is reinvented through the eyes of heroine Daria Morgendorffer and one of her closest friends Jodie Landon. These two smart young women take on the world, with their signature satirical voice while deconstructing popular culture, social classes, gender and race.
Writer: Grace Edwards (Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt, Loosely Exactly Nicole, Inside Amy Schumer)
Production Company: MTV Studios”

Aeon Flux: “This cult anime classic is back for a live action remake, as the badass heroine assassin Aeon Flux teams up with a group of biohacking rebels in the not too distant dystopian future to battle a brutally repressive regime and save humanity.
Executive Producers: Jeff Davis (“Teen Wolf,” “Criminal Minds”) and Gale Ann Hurd (“The Walking Dead,” “Fear of the Walking Dead”)
Production Company: MTV Studios”

The Real World: “The show that invented modern reality television returns to its roots. This reconnection to innocence for the trailblazing series strips away the polarization and cold anonymity of social media, the din of the 24-hour news cycle, and the facades of the instafamous culture to find out what happens “when seven strangers are picked to live in a house…stop being polite and start getting real.”
Production Company: MTV Studios and Bunim/Murray Productions”

Made: “The groundbreaking, Emmy-winning life makeover series returns. In a world of 2D Instagram transformations, MADE pairs talented young underdogs with experts for face to face coaching for total life, real life reinventions.
Production Company: MTV Studios”

The Valley: “In the spirit of “The Hills” and “The City,” this new show follows a group of attractive 20 somethings in a classic coming of age docu-series featuring first loves, relationships and life decisions – with a twist. This group of young people is living in “The Valley” of Nogales, Arizona, a town along the border of the United States and Mexico. This is the real life story of friends who are growing up on the edge of two countries, two cities as they share one Valley, their youth and common bond.
Production Company: MTV Studios”

Straight Up Ghosted: “While social media has connected the world more than ever, it has also undercut our ability to deeply connect and communicate. Today, critical relationship-ending conversations and confrontations have faded into digital dialogue or worse “ghosting.” This series explores real stories of real people who vanished by blocking them, and unlocks the reality and uncomfortable truth to satisfy the ultimate question–why did you leave me?
Production Company: MTV Studios”