This story first appeared in the May 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
Yet another movie company is testing the television waters. A24, the 3-year-old distributor behind such indie films as Spring Breakers, The Bling Ring and current hit Ex Machina, is the latest to push aggressively into TV, citing independent player Media Rights Capital among its role models. With partners Ravi Nandan and John Hodges overseeing the division, A24 will be focused on a model that allows for both independent financing and straightforward producing, depending on the outlet and degree of risk.
With offices on both coasts, the roughly 30-employee company (owned by THR parent Guggenheim Media) will maintain its film philosophy for TV. “We’re lean but aggressive,” Hodges tells THR. “It’s very director- and creator-driven, and we work to try to protect the vision all the way through the process.”
In addition to NBC’s forthcoming The Carmichael Show with Jerrod Carmichael and FX’s just-ordered Jenny Slate pilot, along with USA’s Playing House, the company has deals to develop and finance two pilots: an outside-the-box comedy from Channing Tatum‘s Free Association Productions and writers Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka (The Sitter) and an Asia-set action show from The Missing‘s Jack and Harry Williams. Nandan says A24 plans to finance the latter because he sees opportunity for it in the international marketplace. The company also is developing hourlong projects with writer-novelist Jon Ronson and Gideon Yago, MTV alum turned Newsroom writer.
At this stage, the partners insist they have no plans (or desire) to ink an exclusive deal with a major studio, with Nandan noting, “With as many buyers as we have today, it’s nice to be able to say, ‘This project really works for Amazon and this project works for FX’ and not be limited in any selling capacity.”
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