The two made for VR series will be coming to the Hulu VR app this Fall.
HuffPost RYOT has created a new slate of VR shows, set to launch this fall on the Hulu VR app for Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR headsets.
The first show is a VR comedy series called “Virtually Mike and Nora,” and will be written, directed and star Nora Kirk Patrick (The Office) and Mike O’Brien (SNL). Hulu has committed to five episodes of the show and it’ll be interesting to see how the duo explores comedy in 360 degrees.
The second show, which Hulu picked up for 10 episodes, is a news program called “The Big Picture: News in Virtual Reality.” The news program is expected to be published every two weeks, with each episode featuring three different news segments. The host of the show will be RYOT’s co-founder, Bryn Mooser, with one featured report in the first episode transporting you to the Dadaab refugge camp in Northern Kenya.
It’s not clear how the VR news show will play out in a headset, but considering RYOT’s use of green screens, we can imagine the host will be teleported to different locations around the world in VR. Much like VRScout’s early experiments with the first hosted 360° news show, where we even brought in different clips from studios like RYOT, there is a ton of potential and room to expand upon the medium.
Both shows will be exclusive to the platform, with no plans for distribution on the web.
Hulu first introduced its VR app for the Samsung Gear VR back in March, launching at the time with 30 360° videos from publishers like Discovery Communications, Baobab Studios, National Geographic Channel, RYOT, Showtime Networks and Viacom.
Back in April, AOL acquired RYOT to bring immersive video to the Huffington Post, helping to reimagine journalism for the publication, especially as we move into this next generation of immersive storytelling. A 360° news show on Hulu does make sense for the immersive studio, fueling additional distribution channels for Huffpost RYOT content, especially with a larger audience of users who already own a VR headset.
Image Credit: Bryn Mooser – Instagram
