Pookie in bed with Carrie from A.J. Jamal's popular Pookie Poo series. © Urban Entertainment.

First up will be a second animated Web skein from John Ridley, this one based on his sci-fi novel Those Who Walk In Darkness. Departing from the comedic tones of Undercover Brother, Ridley will write, produce and direct this anime-like series centering on a rookie cop charged with the task of hunting down mutants with superhuman abilities. Also mixing his artistic talents for a first online adventure will be noted director Reginald Hudlin (House Party, Boomerang). Signing with Jenkinson last July, Hudlin will write and produce a highly interactive point-of-view series entitled Game where viewers will be able to control aspects of a young man's attempts in seducing women.

Opening the floodgates just last month, UrbanEntertainment added to their lengthening A-list of new production deals by announcing: John Singleton (Boyz 'N The Hood and this year's Shaft) will make his first foray into Internet entertainment, co-creating with comedian Freddy Ricks a New York street life comedy called Hustlin' Hank....renowned director George Tillman Jr. (Soul Food and Men of Honor) will be working with his producer Robert Teitel on an original series currently under wraps....Malcolm D. Lee (of last year's debut hit The Best Man) is working on the tentatively titled Baby Mama Drama, a series where he'll examine the varied philosophies of a pseudo-black nationalist barber constantly juggling his two very different babies' mamas.....There Goes The Nation created by Chris Mack (former staff writer on ER and The Practice) will deal with a multi-cultural, multi-dysfunctional first family of the new millennium.....and from Cheo Hodari Coker, respected journalist and scripter of the in-progress Marion Barry and Tupac Shakur biopics for HBO and MTV, respectively, comes The Devil's Music, which will take us deep inside the music world with an out-of-control gangsta rapper attempting to clean up his act while the powers that be work to maintain the status quo.

Producer Nichelle Protho is brazen in facing the accelerated production slate. A graduate of the University of Southern California's School of Engineering, she went on to a successful career as a software engineer, segueing into a producer of numerous dramatic shorts, music videos, docus, commercials and, most recently, co-producing Ben Ramsey's indy feature Love and a Bullet. Protho states, "The best part of working here is that my creative voice is heard 90% of the time. It's undeniably the most freedom I've had to voice my opinions in Hollywood." The challenge, she feels, "is to be even more groundbreaking" as UrbanEntertainment's focus changes from just getting eyeballs to the site into keeping the audience coming back. In her close work with high caliber, traditional artists (who are coming from longer format TV and feature production), Protho observes that one of the biggest adjustments for some of them is in creating successful storytelling in the limited two-to-four minute Web segments. "We stress the need to be impactful, similar to how a commercial writer/director works," she says. "Fortunately for us, our writer/directors are so full of great ideas -- and the Hollywood studios haven't come close to draining this well of creativity -- that it is nearly impossible for them to miss their mark on the Internet!"