March 24, 2005 Diddy Wants His MTV...and More
Forget bands. These days P. Diddy's making the deal.
MTV announced Wednesday that it is extending its partnership with hip-hop impresario Sean Combs and his Bad Boy Entertainment via a first-look production agreement that could eventually include new TV series and even movies.
"It's a big step, my first TV executive producer deal," Combs told the Hollywood Reporter. "It gives me a chance to create content but it also doesn't limit me to do things outside."
As part of the business arrangement, MTV will have the first chance to snap up any P. Diddy-branded projects. In return, Combs will receive funding from the network to develop a variety of offerings, from sitcoms and lifestyle series to documentaries and feature films for MTV Films.
The rap kingpin already appears in MTV's Making the Band 3, which premiered Mar. 3 to big ratings (by cable standards at any rate) and follows his quest to put together an all-girl pop group.
Also on Puffy's production slate: Borrow My Crew, a new MTV special featuring Puffy's protégé Farnsworth Bentley; and Run's House, a reality series he's coproducing with former Def Jam cofounder Russell Simmons focusing on Reverend Run of Run-D.M.C. fame and his family.
In September, the cable channel plans to premiere The Show, a behind-the-scenes fashion-oriented series chronicling the launch of Combs' Sean John clothing label's inaugural women's apparel line.
The hip-hopster, who made his first appearance as a presenter at last month's Academy Awards, is also looking to the big screen.
In conjunction with MTV Films, Combs is planning an urban heist flick that he's billing as a black answer of sorts to Ocean's Eleven that would round up an all-star African-American cast headlines by the likes of Denzel Washington and Jamie Foxx.
"I was watching Ocean's Eleven and I just couldn't relate," Combs told the New York Daily News.
"You have all these black icons. Chris Rock or Chris Tucker in comedy, Denzel and Jamie Foxx in acting, me and Jay-Z in music, what about us? It's about time to put the greatest black icons in a film together. We're not running around in 'do-rags and low riders anymore."
No word exactly where the film is on the drawing board, but Combs says it will be set in Miami. He's also mulling documentary projects focusing on subjects like the history of hip-hop and AIDS in Africa.
As for the increasingly music video-less MTV, its new pact with the Puffster continues a strategy to create a variety of programming aimed at the youth market. The network has made similar deals with Ashton Kutcher, the Osbournes and Jessica and Ashlee Simpson.
Meanwhile, Combs is seeking to literally extend his reach with a possible wireless venture.
"Everything is creating a content empire," he told the Daily News.
That empire might soon include a new foot soldier. Combs is mum, but according to the New York Post, ex-American Idol contestant Mario Vazquez is in talks to sign to Bad Boy.
Vazquez mysteriously withdrew from Fox's top-rated talent show last week, citing unspecified personal reasons.
