Benzinga | Aug 19, 2021 09:21AM EDT

Chicken Soup For The Soul Entertainment's Crackle Plus Signs Branded Entertainment Deal With APX Content Ventures For Original Interactive Interview Series 'Inside the Black Box' Produced By Landmark Studio Group

Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ:CSSE), one of the largest operators of streaming advertising-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) networks, today announced that Crackle Plus has partnered with APX Content Ventures, a division of Publicis Media, to serve as the co-production and brand-integration partner for the new Crackle original interview series, Inside the Black Box.

Produced by Landmark Studio Group, Inside the Black Box is hosted by esteemed acting coach Tracey Moore, and multi-award-winning veteran television, film, and stage actor Joe Morton (Scandal, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, Godzilla, King of the Monsters, The Good Wife, The Politician, and many more), Inside the Black Box is slated to begin production on 10 one-hour episodes in October with an anticipated Q1 2022 premiere date, exclusively on Crackle.

The innovative series is created by Moore, Morton, multi-Emmy(r)-Award nominated producer Rachel Weintraub (The View, The Gayle King Show), and David Kolin. Inside the Black Box is executive produced by Moore, Morton, Weintraub, Kolin, Scott Weinstock, Bob Maurer (The Tom Green Show, Project Dad), Landmark's (Willy's Wonderland, Safehaven, Trigger Point) David Ozer and Tim Rouhana, APX Content Ventures' John Nolan and Bhavana Smith and Publicis Media's Eric Levin.

Inside the Black Box--"Black Box" being an industry reference to an experimental theatre space consisting of simple black walls and 99 seats or less--will spotlight the world's greatest BIPOC artists, from actors and directors to producers, writers and musicians, reflecting on how their skin tone influenced their journey to success. Filmed in a theater setting, the series features an A-list roster of talent, such as Debbie Allen, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Phylicia Rashad, Shonda Rhimes, Sherri Shepherd, Tamara Tunie, and more, with a diverse audience filled with young aspiring artists. Each one-hour episode, hosted by Morton and Moore, will be filled with revealing conversation, exciting performance, workshops and discussions about the role race plays in the entertainment industry. At home, audiences will also be given an opportunity to participate in the forum via mobile devices through script reading, Q&As, and the potential to audition to win roles in key sponsor ads.

President of Crackle Plus Philippe Guelton stated, "We are thrilled to enter into this agreement with APX Content Ventures. Inside the Black Box is one of many high-quality projects we will be producing with them and their extensive roster of clients. One of the goals of Crackle Plus is to redefine what the involvement of sponsorship and advertising partners might look like in terms of content and this exciting series is just the beginning for our team."

"Inside the Black Box provides us with a tremendous opportunity to align big brands with entertainment content that promotes inclusivity and serves the minority community, and we look forward to working with the creative team behind the series, Landmark and Crackle to develop a truly innovative and diverse sponsorship campaign. We're excited to continue beyond Inside the Black Box on more compelling original programming partnerships," said Eric Levin, President and Chief Content Officer, Publicis Media US.

"Our new partnership with APX Content Ventures marks our foray into the branded entertainment space, and we will work together to identify brands that reflect and support the diversity and inclusion that is at the core of Inside the Black Box," said Landmark's CEO David Ozer.