Notional wants to be taken seriously. That might be a little tough ordinarily for a new cross-platform video production company birthed by a website called CollegeHumor but Notional has great genes and, in Barry Diller, a godfather with serious pull. It also has a very real slate with production commitments from the Food Network and HGTV and several originals in various stages of development.

Notional is part of ConnectedVentures, the fancy name CollegeHumor cofounders Ricky Van Veen and Josh Abramson came up with a decade ago for a holding company.  Video vet Dave Noll, president of the new company, is responsible for TV development and production. Noll, who was president of video production company City Lights, brought TV experience and the production deals for Food Network’s Chopped and HGTV’s Don’t Sweat It; Van Veen, the CEO, brings success creating across platforms, a wicked sense of humor and CollegeHumor’s nimble production skills. The production deals mean money is coming in while they work on development; they also add credibility. As Van Veen put it during an interview with paidContent, “No one wants to be the first one at the dance.”

—Working with Silverman: The new IAC (NSDQ: IACI) video production company shouldn’t be confused with the newest one, which would be Ben Silverman’s not-ready-for-primetime Electus. Van Veen and others at IAC say that the reports that had Notional reporting to Silverman were wrong, although they are working closely together. Both units are part of IAC’s media group, with Van Veen and Silverman each reporting to Diller.  Van Veen says the two companies are working on some “awesome” projects together: “We’re doing different things in the same space. When Electus unveils what they’ll do, everybody will see how the sum is greater than its parts.” Diller and Silverman are co-hosting Notional’s launch party with Van Veen and Noll Thursday night at IAC HQ. The invitation, which I took as an attempt to add a kind of gravitas to Notional, was one of the “signs” that spurred the “Silverman is in charge” reports.

—Forget the elevator pitch: For Van Veen and Noll, it comes down to a link. Van Veen: “If your idea can’t be summed up in one link, one sentence, it’s not going to get passed around, not going to get on Stumbleupon or Digg ... The media landscape is so crowded, the TV landscape is so crowded.” But they don’t want to give me the 10 seconds on Ready, Set, Dance!, a dance competition series in development which they say already has a major production partner and interest, until it’s picked up. What they will say is it’s a prime example of a show that wouldn’t work without both internet and TV. Other shows in development include game show You Vs. America, “epic-scale reality game show” Chase the Money (combines the pratfalls of a classic prank show with the simplicity of a child’s game of Tag); and Love Taxi, a dating show that takes place in a cab now being sold by Fremantle Media.

—Target audience: Noll says the assumption he hears most often is that Notional is targeting the same audience as CollegeHumor, 18-35 males. Not so. As for people who understandably look at the description of Notional and say, hasn’t that been done before? What makes you different,” Noll and Van Veen say it’s their ability to program for the web and to produce for TV with the speed of digital. What would really make them different is a consistent string of successful programs across platforms. We’ll see.

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