Cynematik

Newly formed HDNet Films, headed by Jason Kliot and Joana Vicente, has greenlit its first three films to be shot in 2004. The company, which is a division of Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban’s 2929 Entertainment, has signed on for “Quid Pro Quo,” a dark comedy written and directed by Carlos Brooks, “Over the Mountains,” a contemporary political drama written by Joseph Castelo, Ayad Stehle-Aktar, and Tom Glynn, and Enron doc “Black Magic,” by Alex Gibney. For more info on the new projects, Wendy Mitchell reports for [IndieWIRE Story. ]

Mark Cuban, you may recall, is the fellow featured on 60 Minutes and other newsmagazines as the man who became a BILLIONAIRE during the early years of the Dot.Com craze by re-broadcasting college football over the internet. Recognizing the bubble was going to burst, Cuban sold off his internet stocks, acquired the Dallas Mavericks and other traditional business enterprises.

Extremely ambitious, Cuban revealed his business model during his interview, “Be first. Figure out what’s coming and be there first.” With that in mind, he began producing high definition content. He says that his company produces more HD than HBO, NBC, CBS and ABC combined. As more households come online with High Definition Television, Cuban believes viewers will not settle for inferior image quality and he’ll be in the catbird seat with THOUSANDS of hours of HD programming. Read more about the HDNet Story. And, for those of you tracking reality TV, you may have noticed there’s going to be a new “Apprentice” style show in the fall starring, who else, Mark Cuban.