Warner Bros.' Jason Hall re-emerges as an Internet host

Last year, soon after Jason Hall "ankled" (Variety's term for that nether region between getting fired and resigning that happens so often in Hollywood) his position as head of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, I heard an interesting story from someone I know in the industry: While pitching his new production banner HD Films, Hall also let it be known he was interesting in acting. The 6'4" and seriously jacked Hall has always stood out (literally) in the industry for being a physically imposing guy and apparently he was eager to put that look to use in front of the camera.

It's a year later and Hall hasn't made it big thus far (at least in terms of stuff I know about) as a pure producer, but the acting thing is starting to work out. Newsweek's N'Gai Croal has an interview with Jall about "The Jace Hall Show," (which also has its own fledgling website here) a new show debuting on Crackle.com soon that will feature him doing interviews and comedy bits. It's apparently about "lifestyle, entertainment, celebrity and culture as it surrounds videogames" and features him in what he describes as a "hybrid ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm'-‘Jimmy Kimmel'-type of situation." I'm not really sure what that means either.

I'm definitely of the opinion that videogames need more coverage of the culture and personalities that surround them, just like other media get, so it'll be interesting see whether Hall can pull this off. Croal has a brief trailer on his Level Up blog that basically demonstrates that the show is going to be fast paced and feature interviews with some of the same kind of people you would expect to see at the Spike Video Game Awards -- Cliffy B, Zach Levi, etc. -- and some less obvious folks, like Gregg Grunberg from "Heroes" and the development team of "Duke Nukem: Forever."

Just as interesting is the way "The Jace Hall Show" is being distributed. It's on Crackle.com, which is noteworthy only in the sense that it's owned by Sony Pictures. Apparently Warner Bros., which had a first look deal with HD Films when Hall left last year, either wasn't interested or didn't have a home for it.

But it's also going to be available on Xbox Live for $1. As far as I know, it's the first original Internet content that's being sold on Xbox Live. Are people willing to pay $1 for something they can get on the Internet for free? Will five minutes for $1 sell better or worse than 22 or 44 minutes of network television for $2?

(I also feel the need to note, just for the record, that despite Croal's claim at the top of the interview that his blog Level Up had "an exclusive first interview" with Hall when he left Warner last year, we actually posted our story, complete with quotes from Hall, earlier that same day.)