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MSN's silver bullet? MSN UK's first original commissioned web series, Kirill, proved a hit online. But why was it done, and what are Microsoft's long-term video ambitions? Adam Benzine talks to the project’s key players.  In late October last year, a project called Kirill (left) was quietly released onto the web. The idea was for it to be a viral phenomenon, building slowly via intrigue and word of mouth. "What is Kirill?" people would ask. A type of whale food? A hot new band, perhaps? Or maybe a cutting-edge fashion store?Within days, however, full details of the project had spread like wildfire across the internet. Perhaps a little predictably, too, when you consider what the project was: the first original sci-fi web series to be commissioned by MSN UK, Microsoft’s web services division. Kirill, a web-based miniseries consisting initially of 10 three-minute episodes, was made for MSN by Big Brother producer Endemol and UK-based production company Pure Grass Films, which Endemol bought a 40% stake in last March. Each episode was pre-roll sponsored by Microsoft Xbox.  The story, which was billed as "an environmental sci-fi drama," revolves around Kirill, a scientist at the CERN research facility in Switzerland, who is attempting to warn the viewer of a pending disaster. Each episode is moody and cryptic, with the viewer left to fill in many of the blanks, but, unlike many web dramas, the series looks polished and high-end, having been shot in HD and starring British actor David Schofield (Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World’s End, Valkyrie)."From a script perspective it's quite a mature and sophisticated piece of online entertainment," says Pure Grass Films' CEO, Ben Grass (above). "The project resisted the temptation to be wham-bam storytelling. It leaves a lot to the imagination and keeps you guessing. In that sense, it's quite true to the sci-fi genre." By November, the show had already been streamed more than a million times.  The project was co-ordinated on Endemol UK's side by Pasa Mustafa (left), head of digital studios, and Peter Cowley, MD of digital media. "Where things like Sofia's Diary and KateModern are about longer-running episodic content, this is about professionally produced drama, and it's more like a premium product," says Mustafa. He adds that the first 10 episodes essentially acted as a precursor to a potential first season proper. "Beyond that, there's potential for gaming, TV series, films," he says.Days after Kirill's unveiling, as if to reinforce its commitment, MSN announced it had poached Ashley Highfield -- the CEO of Project Kangaroo and the man responsible for helping launch the BBC iPlayer -- to be MD and VP of consumer and online at Microsoft UK. How much Highfield's hop was down to the quagmire Kangaroo found itself in is debateable, but for MSN at least, his hiring was seen as something of a coup, and a statement of intent. But what is the computing giant’s intent? Is Microsoft planning its own iPlayer, of sorts? A video platform with Highfield at the helm and filled, perhaps, with high-quality, brand-sponsored original programming like Kirill? "Our intention is to be the number one video platform for premium and top-level content, and we want to work with all sorts of broadcasters, indie producers and try all sorts of things," says Geoff Sutton, MSN's VP for EMEA. "But there's no plan at this stage to do lots more original stuff. We've not got, and we won't have, massive budgets to go commissioning programmes -- that's not our business. But we’ll certainly work with filmmakers, TV makers and advertisers and figure out new models and how to build great content. We're in the foothills with this and we need to see how it goes." For the Kirill project, which all at Microsoft are keen to describe as an experiment, the key aims were to drive downloads of Silverlight, Microsoft’s web browser video plug-in, and receive positive editorial feedback.  In total, Kirill brought in 1.5 million streams and 500,000 unique users during its five-week run, which is good news for MSN. That said, MSN UK executive producer Peter Bale (left) is vague as to how many Silverlight downloads the project prompted; saying only that "it was tens of thousands" – which, when one considers that the series was available through YouTube without Silverlight, does raise questions.On the feedback front, however, the news has been much better. "I've personally never seen an audience speak so positively about a Microsoft product before," says MSN portal business manager Rob Crossen, half-joking.  Though MSN is now keen to commission a first series proper of Kirill, the economy in which the web series was originally greenlit last summer was markedly better than the one the company currently finds itself in. "We're working very closely with Endemol to see if we can do a first and a second series this year," says Bale. "We have every confidence that we'll be able to get advertisers in behind it, but that will be one of the preconditions of taking it much further – getting advertisers to support it."And if MSN can get the funding, Crossen hints at something even more ambitious than Kirill in the pipeline. "When it started out we were looking to do something that was either very viral or that was a TV crossover and went totally mainstream. In terms of what we might do next, I think we might look for something that does provide that sort of TV crossover," he says. "But moving forward, these sort of things are going to have to be self-funded to be successful, much more so than six months ago." 12 Mar 2009 © C21 Media 2009 
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