Hulu taps Spurlock for first long-form show

US online video site Hulu announced plans Wednesday to produce its first original long-form show, a documentary series by "Super Size Me" director Morgan Spurlock. "A Day in the Life" will consist of six half-hour episodes focusing on 24 hours in the lives of "fascinating people," Hulu said in a statement.Among those to be profiled are British entrepreneur Richard Branson, rapper and songwriter will.i.am, comedian Russell Peters and musician Girl Talk, Hulu said.The shows will begin airing on August 17.Besides "Super Size Me," which chronicled a month of only eating McDonald's food, Spurlock has also directed the "Greatest Movie Ever Sold" and "30 Days.""As a filmmaker, I am always looking for new and exciting ways to reach an audience and to tell stories," Spurlock said. "When the opportunity to create an original doc series with Hulu presented itself, I jumped at the chance."Andy Forssell, a Hulu senior vice president, said the company is being "extremely deliberate and precise in targeting original content that would not find a natural home on traditional distribution outlets."'A Day in the Life' is a great example of the kind of content we will be providing as part of our original programming on Hulu," he added.In a blog post, Charlotte Koh of Hulu's original content development team said "A Day in the Life" kicks off a "new Hulu initiative designed to support creatively and financially the work of independent storytellers like Spurlock.""We look forward to bringing our users more unique stories in the future," she added.Hulu, which was founded in 2007, is a joint venture between NBC Universal, News Corp. and The Walt Disney Company. It is currently only available in the United States and generally streams re-runs of popular shows.Hulu's original programming foray comes about four months after video streaming giant Netflix announced it is backing an original series called "House of Cards" starring Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey as an ambitious US politician.