London media hub Outernet signs video production deal with Ridley Scott
London entertainment hub Outernet Global today said it has inked a deal with veteran filmmaker Ridley Scott to launch a new development and production platform for branded content.
Outernet, which is due to open in December, has teamed up with the Ridley Scott Creative Group to provide early-stage funding for visual content producers.
The initiative, dubbed Tomorrow Now, will commission films and secure deals with brands to create new immersive advertising campaigns to be aired at the Outernet venue.
It marks one of the first major deals for the media hub as it looks to secure advertising material to broadcast at its site, which will boast the world’s largest deployment of LED screens.
The firm is understood to be in talks with a number of brands, including publishers such as Time Out, to create branded content.
Outernet chief executive Philip O’Ferrall last month told City PM that the complex would not air traditional out-of-home advertising, but instead look to create new forms of branded entertainment.
The Tomorrow Now platform marks a tie-up between Scott, whose films include Blade Runner and Gladiator, and his company’s music and creative production arm Black Dog Films.
“Outernet’s extraordinary audio-visual capabilities provide a brand new canvas for storytelling, so we need a new breed of stor-teller to deliver truly immersive narrative experiences,” said O’Ferrall.
“We are looking for the iconoclasts, the pioneers, the creative visionaries whose ideas challenge the conventions of how stories come to life on screen. Throughout the conception of Outernet, we asked ourselves if anyone in the entertainment industry could match our ambition and one name kept recurring: Ridley Scott.”
In addition to the advertising space, Outernet will also house shops, restaurants, offices, a hotel and a 2,000-capacity underground music venue.