Think about it: When was the last time you saw former NBC wunderkind (and Vulture hero) Ben Silverman singing in a towel, hitting the slopes, or renting a tiger for recreational purposes? It’s certainly been a while, right? Might he actually be working hard on something serious? The Wrap’s Sharon Waxman has exciting details today on Silverman’s new silo-busting “360-degree, multi-creative company,†Electus, whose name was only revealed yesterday.
Barry Diller is allegedly putting up $125 million for the venture, which would seem like a high figure if this were just designed as a face-saving maneuver. Waxman says Silverman’s in the process of “closing deals†with Ryan Seacrest and Lorne Michaels. He’s also courting Ben Stiller as another content provider he plans to partner with an advertising brand, the end goal of which would presumably be to create product-placement-y content for TV and the web without ceding a cut to ad agencies. Waxman correctly notes that this is not technically the world’s stupidest idea. Until we hear otherwise, we’ll consider television saved.
Also, Waxman says the name Electus has nothing to do with parrots, disappointingly.
Silverman’s ‘Electus’ Is Not a Parrot — and He’s Got $125M [Wrap]