Director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer’s newly launched digital studio, New Form, will team up with students from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts to develop digital content. Two-person teams of students will participate in the year-long program to develop scripted series for the Web and pitch their projects. At the end of the first semester, three of the pitches will be selected for production to take place during the second semester.

New Form Digital, the multiplatform studio from Discovery, will contribute to the students’ exercises and guest lectures at USC. Jack Epps Jr., the chair of the cinema school’s screenwriting program, and Michael Fink, the chair of the school’s TV and film production program, will direct the new program.

It is slated to start during the 2014-2015 school year.

“This program is an experiment that we cannot wait to begin,” said Epps and Fink in a joint statement. “We’re excited that New Form is enabling us to offer our students this unique experience, which moves the academic arena closer to the real-world experience of working with industry professionals in creating content for various distribution platforms.”

Howard and Grazer are both alums of USC’s cinema school. The two launched New Form Digital in April.