• New York Times, Thursday, September 13, 2007 10:30 AM

It's a sign of things to come: big-time Hollywood producers are starting to create content specifically for the Web. Former Disney chief Michael Eisner, one-time Yahoo Media Group Head Lloyd Braun, Paramount Pictures' Gail Berman, and My Damn Channel President and CEO Rob Barnett have all shifted their time, focus and money to various Web-only ventures. Other big-name producers like Joel and Ethan Coen, Will Ferrell, and now, Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, are creating Web-only content through their respective ventures.

The new series from Herskovitz and Zwick, makers of "Blood Diamond," "The Last Samurai," and the ABC series "Thirtysomething," is notable for the "relatively large amounts of money" being spent to produce it, says The New York Times. Called "Quarterlife," the series covers the awkward time in a young person's life between graduating from college and entering the workforce. Herskovitz said the budget would be substantially more than the $50 to $100K usually spent on many higher-end Web series.

What's with the sudden interest in Web-only content? Mainly, it's the shifting habits of 18- to-34-year-old consumers, who are spending more time than ever on social media sites like MySpace and YouTube. "Quarterlife," by the way, will be shown exclusively on MySpace TV. New episodes debut each week on the YouTube competitor, and are then posted to the show's own Web site the following day. MySpace TV GM Jeff Berman is confident that "Quarterlife" will be "the single best-produced piece of serialized content for the Internet, ever."

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