Many Worlds of Jonas Moore gets multimedia play from MGM

MGM Domestic Television has acquired an option to develop the comic The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore, a digital graphic novel from Factory Publishing, as a possible television series.

“MGM is a great place for The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore,” said Howard Webster, creator, producer and director of the project for Factory Publishing in association with Triumph Motorcycles. “There has never been a black British action hero before and what appealed to me was that MGM understood this from the outset. Jonas Moore is sophisticated, educated, tough and uber-cool. He represents the next generation of intelligent action heroes of international sci-fi drama.”

The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore was written, produced and directed by Howard Webster. Ruth Vitale of The Film Collective brought the project to MGM. She was instrumental in developing the television pitch with Webster. She is attached as an Executive Producer to the project, having worked with Webster for the last four years on Factory Magazine.

Nominated at MIPCOM 2007’s Mobile and Internet TV Awards in the Best Short Form Mobile and Internet Drama category and an official honoree at this year’s Webby Awards, The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore is a trilogy of second-generation graphic novels, which live online and are specifically designed for iPod and PC download.

The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore is set in a time where the British Empire has never ended and America is just one of thousands of virtual worlds hosted on a vast global game network. When Jonas Moore (portrayed online by British film and TV star Colin Salmon from Resident Evil, Die Another Day, Prime Suspect, the upcoming Punisher: War Zone, and Blood: The Last Vampire), a character personally created by the network’s founder, becomes self-aware he is tagged by the network as a virus and goes on the run. As he moves from one artificial game world to the next, his knowledge of the games and the real-world gamers spreads like a virus to the other game characters, freaks, creatures and monsters who live as slaves within the network – precipitating a revolution and fight for freedom against the murderously addicted real-world gamers. Worlds Apart lead singer Steve Hart wrote the score for the production and also stars in the online version.

Combining comic book illustration with 3D animation, live action photography, newsreel archival footage, and an original music score, The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore marks a revolution in online branded entertainment and user-generated content. Pushing the boundaries of the graphic novel genre, The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore engages fans by inviting them to become part of the journey by downloading the Jonas Moore digital elements and animating their own stories or creating comic book adventures for Jonas Moore. Garage bands and musicians all over the world are also invited to strip out the music and send in their own soundtracks. The best fan-generated comic books, animations and soundtracks will be posted at www.jonasmoore.com when the online digital comic book series goes live later this year.

Combining comic book illustration with 3D animation, live action photography, newsreel archival footage, and an original music score, The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore marks a revolution in online branded entertainment and user-generated content. Pushing the boundaries of the graphic novel genre, The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore also engages fans by inviting them to become part of the journey by downloading the Jonas Moore digital elements and animating their own stories or creating comic book adventures for Jonas Moore. A special extended preview of The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore is posted at Factory magazine online. The full online digital graphic novel series for The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore is scheduled for a late 2008 release, with the creative assets for fans to exploit and mash-up.

Previews for The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore digital graphic novel can be seen at www.jonasmoore.com and www.factory-publishing.com.