Ron Mann has his 13 year-old son to thank for discovering his next project, Pure Pwnage, a web series that just been greenlit for an eight 30-minute episode run on Showcase. Mann optioned the show through his Sphinx Productions, and will exec produce along with Catherine Tait of Duopoly.

While at a comic book convention in New York, Mann’s son Oliver insisted that they check out the booth for the web series. While chatting with its creators, Jarett Cale and Geoff Lapaire, Mann was surprised to learn that it received 200,000 viewers per month, that they were from Toronto and that the show was actually really funny. Pure Pwnage gets its name from gaming slang. To be ‘pwned’ (pronounced ‘owned’) is to be defeated, often in a humiliating way. It stars Cale – who Mann describes as “the Tony Hawk of video games” – as a 26-year-old online gaming addict who has lost touch with reality. Forced by his mom to get a job, he struggles to assimilate in society with comedic results. Many of the original cast from the webisodes will reprise their roles in the TV version, says Mann.

A Canwest spokesperson says there are integration and sponsorship opportunities for brands, naming beverages (energy drinks), snack foods and electronic products as ideal categories. Pure Pwnage is slated to go into production this fall, filming in Toronto and Hamilton before airing on Showcase sometime in 2010. Additional web content will be created exclusively for Showcase.ca and will be streamed on the site in late fall.

As for his son, arguably the catalyst in this deal, Mann says Oliver will be getting a “hefty finders fee” and is already researching the new paintball gun he wants to buy with it.

From Playback Daily.