Microsoft has announced its first round of original programming for Xbox Live. According to the Hollywood Reporter, a series of comedy shorts, each under 10 minutes, will be created by a half-dozen directors known for horror movies. It sounds like someone filed something in the wrong folder.

Last March, Microsoft hired Peter Safran to produce original content. Safran is a sometimes producer but mainly known as a Hollywood agent whose clients include P. Diddy, the woman from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and the guys who write and direct that awful Scary Movie series and its spin-offs. Again, was something put in the wrong folder? Maybe an email mis-sent?

The announced directors are a strange collection for comedy shorts. Half of these guys have a background in music videos, so maybe comedy shorts will come naturally to them. But James Wan, the terribly earnest director of the terribly earnest Saw, Dead Silence, and Death Sentence (pictured above)? Marcus Nispel, whose Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and Pathfinder were all style and no substance? Andrew Douglas, who did the Amityville Horror remake? These guys are supposed to do short and funny and downloadable? They're Microsoft's answer to Funny or Die?

The encouraging names are Lucky McKee, the director of May who showed he was adept at shorter form storytelling with "Sick Girl" for the Showtime's Masters of Horror series. Forgetting McKee's disappointing The Woods (sophomore slump!), he's definitely got a sense for finding humor in horror without trying to be funny (if he can get Angela Bettis involved, all the better). And Troma veteran James Gunn managed to break into the mainstream with Slither, which was nothing if not funny. He's sure to do something, well, different.

Still, it's hard to see how Microsoft plans to make these shorts worth their while. It's unlikely anyone's going to buy them and it's even more unlikely advertising is going to pay for whatever salaries these guys earn. Furthermore, how is this supposed to fit into Xbox Live? Product manager Scott Nocas says, "We really wanted to focus on bite-size entertainment pieces, under 10-minute short film pilots that Xbox Live users could jump on and enjoy before they go off and play 'Gears of War 2'." I don't know about Nocas, but when I want to play Gears of War, I play Gears of War. I don't stop and surf through a couple of YouTube videos first.

UPDATE: Microsoft just announced the actual short films. Read the synopses after the jump.

* “Doggie Heaven (Woof!)” — The creative team behind the smash hit “Saw” films, James Wan (“Saw,” “Death Sentence”) and Leigh Whannell, tell the story of a young man who is having a dog of a day. He’s just been shot dead, but his real problems are only just beginning because of a clerical error that has sent him to the wrong heaven.

* “Humanzee!” — James Gunn (“Slither,” “Dawn of the Dead”) directs and stars in a sitcom about his human-chimp hybrid son, the Humanzee (played by Gunn’s brother, Sean Gunn, from “Gilmore Girls”). It’s a delightful mix of “South Park,” “Wonder Showzen” and “Small Wonder.”

* “MEATDOG: What’s Fer’ Dinner” — Director David Slade (“30 Days of Night,” “Hard Candy”) presents MEATDOG, an animated mutt made up of cold cuts. MEATDOG is pitted against a church of evil occult pigs while being pursued by a carnivorous rabbit and a slobbering hound. It’s dogicide when everyone wants MEATDOG on their menu.

* “Blue Like You” — From director Lucky McKee (“May,” “The Woods”), “Blue Like You” follows the antics of old friends Patrick and Cyndy as they get to know their mysterious and extraordinary new friend Blue, a beautiful young woman who doesn’t seem to understand how the simplest of things work.

* “The Miracle of Phil” — From director Andrew Douglas (“The Amityville Horror”), “The Miracle of Phil” shows that the best relationships are full of screaming, shouting and cursing, but when Phil gets knocked up, Chris is the one who feels screwed.

* “ADRENALINE SLAM” — Director Marcus Nispel (“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “Friday the 13th”) brings “ADRENALINE SLAM,” a high-octane hybrid of hidden camera reality and Hollywood fantasy that exposes ordinary people to extraordinary events.