July 12 2017

Snap Inc. has greenlit production of an eight-episode unscripted comedy series, Ghost Hunt, co-produced by Vertical Networks and Avalon. The series will debut on Snapchat’s Shows platform later this year.

The series is the first co-production partnership between mobile-first content studio Vertical Networks (creators of Brother, an original Publisher Story on Snapchat Discover) and USA and UK production house Avalon (Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, Catastrophe, Workaholics). The series also marks the first time Avalon has produced a Show for Snapchat.

Ghost Hunt is hosted by comedian Matteo Lane, who has appeared on Comedy Central’s Adam Devine’s House Party and The Comedy Jam, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and is well-known for his hilariously honest advice on MTV’s Girl Code and MTV2’s Guy Code.

Ghost Hunt takes aim at the modern dating phenomenon of “ghosting” – each episode, Matteo helps a real person track down someone from their romantic past who ghosted them, ultimately bringing the two parties together for some “ball-busting and closure.” Along the way, Matteo imparts his own brand of dating wisdom. It’s Finding Bigfoot meets Catfish. The series is executive produced by Chloe Pisello at Avalon and Matt Harper at Vertical Networks.

Tom Wright, Vertical Networks said: “Matteo is awesome. Ghosting isn’t. Pairing the two is hilarious to watch.”

David Martin, CEO Avalon USA, added: “It’s been great fun producing this comedy format with Vertical for Snapchat. It’s a groundbreaking platform with a hard-to-reach audience, and we’ve enjoyed the challenge of making this Show for this new medium.”

Notes to Editors

Vertical Networks is a mobile-first content studio and channel developer based in Venice Beach, CA. Having launched the millennial male focused Publisher Story, Brother, on Snapchat Discover last year, Vertical Networks employs deep analytics and live insight into user behavior to inform content development and marries this with innovative working practices to deliver content tailored to the mobile first audience.

Vertical Networks’ Brother was the first original channel to launch on Snapchat Discover. Its content features a range of video and text based publishing, home grown formats and talent aimed at the millennial male audience reaching a monthly audience of more than 38 million viewers and generating more than 1.9 billion unique views each month.

About Avalon
Avalon is a multi-award winning talent management, live promotion and television production group with offices in the UK and the USA.

Avalon and ARG, the talent management arm has discovered and represents many artists which are household names, both in the UK, the USA, and around the world.

In 2017 Avalon was named the top true independent television production company in the UK and has produced numerous ground-breaking television shows including: Emmy and Peabody award winner Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), multi-award winning and Emmy-nominated Catastrophe (Channel 4/Amazon Prime), seven seasons of Workaholics, three seasons of Adam Devine’s House Party (Comedy Central), RTS and Rose d’Or winning Not Going Out (BBC1’s longest running sitcom currently on air), BAFTA and RTS-nominated Taskmaster (DAVE).
Avalon is also currently producing the first US season of Taskmaster for Comedy Central, hosted by Reggie Watts and Alex Horne.

For Avalon news visit: www.avalon-entertainment.com or @avalonent.

Matteo Lane is a New York-based comedian, originally from Chicago. In addition to starring in GHOST HUNT, he appears in the new Comedy Central series THE COMEDY JAM, and has also performed on LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS and Comedy Central’s ADAM DEVINE’S HOUSE PARTY. He can also be seen on MTV’s GIRL CODE and MTV2’s GUY CODE, and the IFC holiday special AT JOE’S PUB alongside Tony Hale and the Dap Kings. Matteo also recently co-created an IFC digital series called JANICE & JEFFREY that he stars in, and is developing an animated project with Titmouse. In 2014, Matteo was selected to be a New Face at the Just For Laughs festival Montreal. He is represented by ICM, Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment, and Ziffren Brittenham.

Dan Lloyd, Avalon
Tel: +44(0)20 7598 7222
Email: Dlloyd@avalon-entertainment.com

Nicola Howson, Vertical Networks
Tel: +44(0) 7768 275509
Email: nicola@nicolahowson.com

ENDS