Ridley Scott has announced Purefold: a series of five minute sci-fi webisodes, produced by the Scott brothers' commericals company RSA Films, in conjunction with online producers Ag8. The New York Times quotes Ag8's David Bausola talking up a Blade Runner connection.
Disappointingly though, closer inspection reveals that as pure spin. "We don't take any of the canon or copyrighted aspects from the movie," says Bausola, continuing, "it's based on the same themes." Themes like product placement perhaps? A way to reinvent that iconic skyline with more modern branding than BR's 1982 examples?
Campaign magazine explains that Purefold will provide "brand funded" programmes, with material produced by scanning social networking sites for buzz topics. Zeitgeisty stories will then be created around them, and viewers with the inclination will be encouraged to contribute to developing the narratives via blogs, or even editing. But it seems likely that subscribers will be charged for that involvement.
Adverts you pay to create yourself. Now that actually does sound like something that Philip K. Dick might have dreamed up...