Upfronts 2017: Crackle Pairs With 50 Cent on Two Projects

Crackle has a pair of TV projects in the works with 50 Cent, including the LAPD drama The Oath, about a secret society in law enforcement, and a project called RPM, about a used car salesman doubling as a getaway driver.

Crackle, part of Sony, held its upfront presentation at Sony Square in Manhattan, and played up its Sony heritage. Eric Berger, Crackle GM and executive VP of digital at Sony Pictures Television Networks, talked up content development. Snatch, which Berger said was the network’s most watched scripted original drama, has been renewed for a second season. The series is a spinoff of the 2000 crime film. Berger promised a virtual reality “bridge” between season one and two to run on PlayStation VR this summer, and more interaction between Crackle and PlayStation in general.

The network has also renewed drama StartUp; season two starts up Sept. 28 and Ron Perlman, a producer in the series, joins the cast.

Bryan Cranston and Stoopid Buddy Stoodios’ SuperMansion, meanwhile, gets a season three. “SuperMansion has delivered for Crackle on every metric,” said Berger.

On the movie front, Crackle has greenlit the techno-thriller In the Cloud, from Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Tim Kring.

Crackle also announced three TV series in development. Accident Park is a comedy based on the dangerous New Jersey water park of yore, Action Park. Drama Tribes goes 20 years into the future and sees a nano-virus ravaging the West Coast. Drama The Row is about death row inmates with an option to take a space mission that will almost certainly result in their death.

Finally, Crackle announced that Ian Hecox, part of the Smosh duo that dominates YouTube, will host humor show This Week On on new channel Crackle Spotlight.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.