• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, January 31, 2011

We'll try to keep this short. AOL and TV producer Mark Burnett have entered into a production agreement to co-develop a series of comedic video shorts based on CliffsNotes Literature Guides.

Together with Coalition Films, Burnett's One Three unit has acquired the rights to select CliffsNotes content from publisher John Wiley & Sons. The next move is to develop animated shorts that sum up the plots, characters, and themes of classic works -- from Mark Twain, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.

"CliffsNotes is perfect for the short-form production format of the Web," said Burnett.

"CliffsNotes is known ... for distilling and summarizing great works of literature for students and scholars who may need help studying 1000 pages of Tolstoy," added Joseph Castelo, a partner at Coalition Films. "These new animated shorts will continue that tradition."

Monday's announcement follows a number of recent acquisitions and partnership deals from AOL, including the acquisition of tech-centric TechCrunch, the social software startup Thing Labs, and video platform 5min Media.

Continuing to formulate its content strategy, AOL recently appointed Amber Lawson to the newly created head of video programming. With a special focus on the company's consumer audience, Lawson is now responsible for procuring, programming and promoting all of AOL's original video content.

Just last week, AOL tapped Heidi Klum to co-create original programming for women. Klum and Full Picture Entertainment, the producers behind "Project Runway," signed on to create video, articles, blogs, and photo galleries focusing on fashion, beauty, parenting, arts and crafts, and relationships.

Earlier this month, AOL and Endemol USA announced a production agreement to co-develop and co-produce new Web programming. Initially targeting female audiences, the partners aim to produce unscripted digital video content, which exploits the Web's real-time, interactive and increasingly social nature.

The first series to be produced under the new agreement is "Re-Dressed By America" -- an interactive Web series where online users make over subjects facing a life-changing event, be it a high-school reunion, a first date, or a sex change. The series will be featured on Stylelist.com and MyDaily.com.

Closely aligning video with its overall content push, AOL has aggressively sought to establish itself in the space over the past year. Between July and November, AOL video streams increased from 192 million to 566 million -- an increase of 195%, according to comScore.

In particular, "You've Got..." -- the video series that launched on the new AOL.com in November -- generated nearly 8 million views in its first month. Appearances by President Obama, Matt Damon, and Kelly Ripa helped the show's cause.