Survivor showrunner buys into Lonelygirl co

The producers of hit web TV series Lonelygirl15 and Katemodern are set to massively increase their production slate after raising US$5 million in funding from a range of investors including Survivor producer Conrad Riggs.

LG15 Studios, operated by Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried, will now be known as Eqal following the investment from venture capital firm Spark Capital. Investors include Hollywood producer Riggs, executive producer of hit US reality series such as Survivor and The Apprentice, former Google exec Georges Harik and Silicon Valley dot-com entrepreneurs Ron Conway and Marc Andreessen.

"It’s an exciting time for online entertainment," Beckett wrote on his blog. "There are a slew of independent producers, digital studios, and social media companies sprouting up, not to mention the fact that traditional media isn’t exactly ignoring this whole ‘internets’ thing. We’ve always wanted to stay independent and produce interactive shows that we could put our hearts and souls into, and sometime last fall we realized that raising money would give us the ability to remain independent and produce amazing shows on our terms."