Sony Pictures Television is widening the creative circle — by a lot — in its comedy division.
The studio has signed first-look deals with nine writers and comics — Scott Aukerman, Karen Chee, Shaun Diston, Chris Garcia, Chris Gethard, Lisa Gilroy, Lacey Jeka, Julie Klausner and Alok Vaid-Menon. They’ll all work on developing new comedy series projects and potentially collaborate with other writers and producers who have deals at Sony.
Lauren Stein, head of creative at Sony Pictures TV, and Colin Davis, executive vp comedy development, said the deals are part of an effort at the studio to bring in what Davis calls a “spectrum of sensibilities” to comedy development.
“The list is a collective of a different creators and multi-hyphenates that we believe each have unique voices and a hit show in them,” Davis said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “They really represent the comedy community at large, and we’re excited that we get to be the third-party studio that gets to sell what their visions are to a variety of places.”
Stein told THR that the deals are also a signal to “come play” at the studio: “It’s our way of saying, ‘Come here.’ You’re not tied down here because it’s just a first look. You still have the flexibility to work at other places, staff on other shows. But bring us those passion projects. Bring us the idea that you don’t think you could get another studio to do. Because of our independence, we have the most flexibility, and you’ll get the most freedom for your creativity.”
Top row: Alok Vaid-Menon, Chris Garcia, Karen Chee. Bottom row: Lacey Jeka, Shaun Diston, Lisa Gilroy
Celeste Sloman; Kim Newmoney; Bridget Badore (2); Eleanore Woods; Kristina Ruddick
The nine people in this wave of deals are a mix of more established writers and performers like Gethard (The Chris Gethard Show), Aukerman (Comedy Bang! Bang!) and Klausner (Difficult People, Schmigadoon!), and up-and-comers like Vaid-Menon (Netflix’s Gender Agenda comedy special) and actor-writers Gilroy and Jeka (who, incidentally, have worked with Aukerman and Gethard, respectively, in the past). Chee is a three-time Emmy nominee as part of the Late Night With Seth Meyers writing staff, Diston has penned episodes of Peacock’s Twisted Metal and Hulu’s Woke, and Garcia is a writer and co-producer on Sony and Fox’s new animated series Universal Basic Guys.
After signing the first-looks, the writers were encouraged to meet and talk with other writers and producers who are based at Sony. “For us, it’s important for the creative process for people to meet and talk —you don’t know where an idea is going to come from,” said Stein. “A producer may have an idea that a writer has a very specific connection to — you only learn those things by having people meet.”
Davis also noted that Gethard has already started working with Jessi Klein (Dead to Me, Big Mouth), who has an existing deal at Sony, on an idea.
Like most other studios, Sony has in recent years pushed to mine its IP library for reboots and updates on titles like CBS’ SWAT and Netflix/Pop TV’s One Day at a Time. The incoming writers — all of whom have pretty specific sensibilities — will be free to come up with new takes on Sony-owned properties, but they’ll also be encouraged to develop original ideas.
“It’s not a move away from [IP],” Stein said of the new deals. “I think it’s just a broadening out. There’s no mandate, so if you have an original idea, great. If you have an idea that is based on existing IP that we have, that’s OK too. We don’t tell people that you have to be original or you have to base it on something.”
Source: Hollywoodreporter
