Microsoft has reached an agreement with Hollywood veteran Peter Safran, producer on Meet the Spartans, to create original TV content for the Xbox 360 to be distributed over Xbox Live.

Safran, who represents the likes of actor Sean Combs (Monster’s Ball) and Jason Friedberg (who directed the aforementioned Meet the Spartans) in his role as an agent through the Safran Company, has said that initial programming will be focussed on gamer-friendly genres such as comedy and horror. The content will initially be scripted, as opposed to dipping into genres such as reality TV.

He also said that the first wave of content will probably run at around ten minutes and will be available by Autumn.

Safran and Jake Zim, CEO of the Safran Company’s Safran Digital Group, said that they will recruit established filmmakers for the content, but do not plan to get major Hollywood stars on board.

“The Xbox is unique. It operates at a level outside of what we generally consider Web entertainment”, Safran commented.

This will not be the only deal to bring original TV content to the 360, according to Scott Nocas, global marketing manager for programming on Xbox Live. “We definitely look at this as the first of many”, he said.

While the content will initially appear on Xbox Live, it may be distributed elsewhere at a later date.

No information on whether the content will appear in the UK and what sort of pricing structure it will carry was available from Microsoft at the time of press.

Currently film content from the likes of Paramount and Warner Bros. is available for download through Xbox Live in the UK.

^{Source: New York Times}