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‘The L Word’ Spins Off Its Chart

From the first season of Showtime’s “The L Word,” a chart mapping the relationships of the character Alice has been a central motif, growing to take over an entire wall. Starting Jan. 7 with the start of the fourth season of the lesbian-themed drama, the Chart is going live, both on the series and in the real world.

Looking for compelling Internet component (like all media executives), “The L Word” creator Ilene Chaiken realized that she could spin off the Chart as an advertiser-supported social networking Web site aimed at lesbians and their friends and families.

Users of OurChart.com will be able to create personal profile pages and then, like Alice, link them into charts of their relationships, whether sexual or otherwise. Three of the show’s cast members — Jennifer Beals, Katherine Moennig and Leisha Hailey, who plays Alice — are among the site’s founding partners and will contribute original content to the site, as will other invited filmmakers and Ms. Chaiken, who is OurChart.com’s chief executive.

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The logo for the Web site OurChart.com.

The site, a joint venture with Showtime Networks, which is owned by CBS, is a way of acknowledging that “audiences own TV shows these days and they want interaction,” Ms. Chaiken said.

Eventually, the portion of the new site devoted to “The L Word” will become less important “as the community takes it over” with user-generated content, said Hilary Rosen, a founding partner and the site’s president. “Every lesbian has their own L world. We thought it would be really interesting to let go of the show in this environment and bring other people’s L worlds into the mix and let them share with each other.”

Matthew Blank, chairman and chief executive of Showtime Networks, said the audience for the show “has a tremendous sense of community,” which he equated to “analog social networking.”

“Everyone I know who watches that show and is gay watches it with their friends,” he said. “It makes for a natural extension.” But he acknowledged that trying to build such a site from a show has not been done before. “We’re not sure what to expect.”

ELIZABETH JENSEN

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