EQAL, the studio behind faux-vlog shows LonelyGirl15 & KateModern, has signed a deal with CBS to create online content.

The two companies will work on producing multi-platform content, including online and mobile, around CBS programming. EQAL will work on a non-exclusive basis with CBS at consulting, producing and scripting.

“This partnering signals CBS’s attention to the web as a new medium across both interactive and the network,” said CBS president Quincy Smith.

via NMA

EQAL, the faux reality show startup of LonelyGirl15 creators Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, has raised $5 million in capital to help it produce new shows and international versions of its show:

Per Becket & Goodfried:

We’ve spent the last year and a half working hard at producing lonelygirl15, launching KateModern, and figuring out a business model that works in this emerging medium. None of it would have been possible without the help of our incredible team and our amazing community of hundreds of thousands of passionate viewers. Of course, you all know the actors on each show, but you may not know James, Amanda, Kelly, Casey, Luke, Kevin, Yusuf, Marcello, and the entire lonelygirl15 and KateModern production teams without whom none of this would be possible. We are incredibly fortunate to be working with such an all star group of individuals.

It’s an exciting time for online entertainment. There are a slew of independent producers, digital studios, and social media companies sprouting up, not to mention the fact that traditional media isn’t exactly ignoring this whole “internets” thing. We’ve always wanted to stay independent and produce interactive shows that we could put our hearts and souls into, and sometime last fall we realized that raising money would give us the ability to remain independent and produce amazing shows on our terms.

After six months of fast food and airplane delays, we found a VC that shared our vision to build a company that would produce truly interactive shows. Many of the exciting innovations we’ve all talked about will finally come to fruition now that we have the funding to act on our shared vision. Needless to say, we’re very excited to get started.

No investors would have put a cent in this company without the passionate and amazing community that has formed around LG15. A sea change is under way, and you are all at the very beginning. We are so excited to take this ride with you and see where it will lead.

Who’d have thought a video series co-starring a purple monkey puppet would come so far?

Trends are favorable for new media content producers: people are moving their attention from television to Internet media; the audience for new media is exploding; and there’s a flood of advertising money ready to wash into new media.

MySpace today announced the launch of an original scripted web series, Roommates, the first original web series created for MySpaceTV. It’s a fauxality show focusing on hot chicks just out of college.

The first of 45 episodes goes live today on MySpaceTV, with new episodes debuting each weekday at 1:00 pm PT/ 4:00 pm ET through December 21.

Roommates follows a group of eight former college roommates after graduation. The four main characters – Peyton, Violet, Heather, and Sigourney – move to Los Angeles where they are invited to participate in a “reality show” by living in a house wired with cameras and computers to document their every move. In case that doesn’t tell you what the show is focusing on, the press release for the show adds that Roommates features raw and voyeuristic segments, confessionals and romances. And bikinis and cut-offs.

While Roommates’ concept may not be especially new, the way it’s being presented is. The official Roommates profile will be the home for new episodes, profiles for each character, video blog postings from the characters, on-demand archives, and other interactive content. MySpace is also using its platform to host online discussions and polls so that the audience has the opportunity to influence the development of the show.

You can preview Roommates below:

Roommates Ep1: Life After College