vox media has plans to bring one of its web video stars to television. the digital publisher is in advanced talks with a cable entertainment network for a tv special next year starring liz plank, who joined vox.com earlier this year to launch comedic election web series <u+201c>2016ish,<u+201d> according to people familiar with the matter. vox media, which owns sites such as vox.com, the verge, sb nation and eater, last year secured a secured a $200 million investment from nbcuniversal . however, the network that is in talks for ms. plank<u+2019>s program is not in the comcast -owned tv giant<u+2019>s portfolio of cable channels, the people said. vox is on the hunt for an executive producer/showrunner to launch a digital series starring ms. plank, 29, who is a regular presence on msnbc and previously worked at millennial-geared publisher mic. while it<u+2019>s unclear just how linked the web series will be with the tv project, the showrunner will also lead creative development on a television pilot with a <u+201c>major cable network,<u+201d> according to a job posting . vox is hoping that the digital series and tv special will build up more interest among tv networks for a permanent show hosted by ms. plank, according to a person familiar with the plans. the move comes as more internet publishers, from vice to buzzfeed to refinery29, link up with traditional media companies to push into television. the yet-to-be-named digital show and tv special may experiment with different formats, but one person described the effort as a <u+201c>feminist <u+2018>chappelle<u+2019>s show<u+2019><u+201d> involving socially-conscious sketch comedy. ms. plank<u+2019>s <u+201c>2016ish<u+201d> series has accumulated more than 77 million views on facebook, according to vox. on a recent episode, she and comedian casey jost don varsity jackets and joke about donald trump <u+2019>s <u+201c>locker-room talk.<u+201d> after mr. trump called hillary clinton <u+201c>a nasty woman <u+201d> during the third presidential debate wednesday night, vox on thursday posted a video where ms. plank stars in a black-and-white mock advertisement for <u+201c>nasty woman<u+201d> perfume. <u+201c>because a woman<u+2019>s place is in the kitchen<u+2026>of a restaurant that she independently owns and operates,<u+201d> ms. plank says in a voice-over. <u+201c>get what you want: maternity leave.<u+201d> (it is from the makers of bad hombre for men, the video says.) <u+201c>we find really talented folks and try to build a platform for them to do the best work possible, no matter what platform that<u+2019>s on,<u+201d> said melissa bell, publisher at vox media. the company<u+2019>s tv ambitions are still in the early stages. in may, vox announced a new show on a&e networks-owned fyi called <u+201c>prefabulous<u+201d> in collaboration with its real estate site, curbed. since the investment, vox and nbcu have teamed up on a joint advertising sales initiative called concert, and reporters at the verge and recode, tech sites owned by vox media, make regular appearances on cnbc. vox<u+2019>s sb nation also created a blog focused on nbc<u+2019>s <u+201c>american ninja warrior.<u+201d> write to steven perlberg at steven.perlberg@wsj.com
vox media is developing a new tv project - wsj
steven perlberg