What Apple TV+ Wants to Buy Now
Part 1 of our Fall Market Guide covering each streamer and studio's wish list
Elaine Low covers the TV market from L.A. She recently wrote about the year-round development hell, the impact of the WGA writers strike and two words TV buyers are allergic to. As a paid subscriber to Series Business, you’ll receive richly reported dispatches from both Elaine and Manori Ravindran for a global perspective on the TV business. This is a standalone subscription separate from The Ankler. For access to Series Business and everything The Ankler publishes, including Sean McNulty's The Wakeup and columns from Richard Rushfield, you can subscribe here.
Happy Monday, Series Business readers. Just in time for spooky season, I’ve been gathering intel on the dark art of selling a television show, asking producers and agents and writers about what magic goes into a pitch and what makes an idea undeniable, as they say. (George Clooney. The answer is George Clooney. Even post-Wolfs.)
The last time I checked in with folks on the sell side, there was clamoring for “prestige-urals” and hard-funny comedies and a return to high-concept shows with broad demos. But the market was much quieter six months ago, and now that meetings appear to be happening in higher volume, the mood seems somewhat reinvigorated, if still rather cautious.
“There’s some calmness — more stuff is getting made and ordered and moving along,” one TV lit agent tells me. “But obviously, between Paramount and Skydance, and the Disney changeover, there’s just a lot of turmoil. I think we’re continuing to be in this wonky market where, you know, some big packages aren’t selling, and people are still scared of original ideas. [But] overall, it’s settled a bit.”
“Still scared of original ideas” probably isn’t what creatives want to hear, but this is where we are.
Today is the first in my Series Business Fall Market Guide covering TV, where I break down the current wants and needs of each major entertainment company: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, NBC and Peacock, HBO and Max, and Disney (and its many networks and streamers). The series is for paid subscribers only and will run for the next few months.
Let’s start with Apple TV+. For this piece, I spoke with about a half-dozen TV literary agents, plus production and studio executives, showrunners and producers. If you’re a writer who wants to share your experience pitching or meeting with any of these buyers this year, give me a shout at elaine@theankler.com.
In this Series Business, you’ll learn:
The people with decision-making power at Apple TV+
What it’s like to work with them
The IP packages that are appealing to Apple TV+
The types of comedies Apple TV+ is interested in now
Where the streamer varies from the rest of Hollywood in drama development
The creative decisions that are still a “nonstarter” for an Apple TV+ show
Where you may have more latitude than before
If the “starf***er” reputation is deserved, and the evolving nature of Apple’s relationship to star talent