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Series Developer: These people know what you want to see

2019-10-02T14:29:16.323Z


They do not know their series, their faces are not: Streaming services offer developers of new fabrics exorbitant sums to bind them exclusively. Because the market is always more competitive.



Actually Ryan Murphy should not be a star. He should invent, as is Hollywood's good tradition, behind the scenes, the worlds that make others stars. After all, Murphy is not an actor, but a director, screenwriter and producer. He has come up with series such as the surgery drama "Nip / Tuck" and the musical comedy "Glee". But through a multi-million dollar deal with Netflix, he finally made it his own celebrity.

Murphy is now one of the most powerful TV producers in Earth's largest television nation. And it stands for the rapid changes in the streaming industry, which is fighting for the creative minds for the television of tomorrow.

It is known that Murphy (53) lives and works in Los Angeles, is a devout Catholic and an active churchgoer, as well as married to photographer David Miller and the father of two sons. Whether Murphy can deal with stress well, not much is written about it, but his creativity does not seem to hurt printing. Murphy juggles with about ten series, documentaries and films in various planning stages. One of them, the first for Netflix, has just premiered: "The Politician," a political satire that has been pushed into the high school milieu. (Read a review of "The Politician" here.)

The $ 300 million deal

On TV Channel Fox is running his rescue team drama "9-1-1", FX at the LGBTQ Extravaganza "Pose", for the Billy Porter was just awarded as the best actor with the Emmy, also at FX his "American Horror Story "in the meanwhile ninth season. For Netflix Murphy now plans, among other things, a ten-part remake of "A Chorus Line", a series about the designer Halston with Ewan McGregor, a film about Marlene Dietrich with Jessica Lange and a film project with Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep.

$ 300 million is said to be worth over five years running production deal between Ryan Murphy and Netflix, reported the industry service "Variety". A sum, which is also for the spending-happy group no cardboard handle. But in the heated TV market in the USA no one is surprised anymore about such massive investments. Hardly a week goes by without a media company binding a producer or a producer for huge sums of money:

  • Shonda Rhimes ("Gray's Anatomy") is to develop for Netflix over four years series and films. Eight are already working. Production volume: 150 million dollars.
  • Patty Jenkins , director of the blockbuster "Wonder Woman", will be producing new series for Netflix over the next few years. Production volume: 10 million dollars.
  • David Benioff and Dan Weiss, creators of Game of Thrones, are also heading for Netflix. Production volume: 200 million dollars.
  • Oprah Winfrey tinkering with Apple's streaming service Apple + on new programs. Two docu-series are already known, including "Toxic Laboratory" on sexual harassment in the workplace.

Broadcasters and streaming providers are engaged in a struggle that is about survival for some and survival for others. The streaming market is getting brisk: Apple + launches on November 1, Disney + in the US, Canada and the Netherlands on November 12, followed by Warner's streaming service HBO Max and Peacock, the variant of Universal and NBC, in the spring of 2020.

The competitors are extending their elbows

Now the players pull out their elbows to keep the competition at bay. And so producers become powerful moguls who develop entire narrative empires for their respective clients. Because the magic word of the new television world is "IP": Intellectual Property. Freely translated: creative property.

Tying the viewer down as a paying customer requires more than a star system, as Hollywood did through its Golden Age. Stars are an encore today, but what matters is content that drives the audience to subscribe. Best content, and always new; the subscription should not be terminated.

Netflix co-founder Ted Sarandos describes this strategy as follows: "Instead of buying up other companies, we invest in the ability to create always new content." Today is the best time for producers in the history of television. Thus, the screens are flooded with more and more new series, films, games and documentaries, and indeed, the mass is amazingly high quality with a very wide range of topics to find.

Bet on the streaming future

Nevertheless, for how many streaming subscriptions is the viewer willing to pay in the end? The industry magazine Variety has shown that content that is currently accessible through Netflix alone - series such as Friends, Disney and Marvel films - will require four different services in the future. Because licenses expire and are not renewed because each service jealously hoards its exclusive content.

Nevertheless, the corporations bet on a future in which television viewers afford several subscriptions. At any rate, an end to the producer era is not in sight. It's been recently announced that JJ Abrams, "Star Wars" director and entertainment prodigy, has completed the next multi-million dollar deal: With his production company, he will be making films and series for Warner Media - HBO and Warner Film Studio develop. Production volume: $ 250 million. So the race continues.

Source: spiegel

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