Ridley Scott And Associates has struck a deal with the video entertainment portal to produce 12 original shorts.

Scott and RSA president Jules Daly will serve as executive producers and, alongside Machinima, will selected film-makers from the Ridley Scott And Associates stable to direct the shorts.

LA-based Machinima is the top entertainment channel on YouTube and serves more than 2.6bn video views a month. It carries scripted series, original contact, official publisher content and gameplay videos. It is backed by MK Capital and Redpoint Ventures.

“Partnering with Ridley Scott to work with his talented directors shows Machinima’s dedication to going above and beyond in delivering quality original content for our audience to embrace,” said Machinima chairman, co-founder and CEO Allen DeBevoise.

“By combining this unique incubation model together with our powerful partnership of established creative talent and scaled distribution to millions on Machinima, we believe new sci-fi franchises will be born.”

“RSA has always been at the forefront of creating innovative work,” said Scott. “With new media transforming the way audiences connect with films and film-makers, Machinima is a great partner for us as we embark on this new model of delivering original content to fans.  It’s a tremendous opportunity for pushing the creative boundaries for both our film-makers and the audience.”