Apple snaps up 'Fargo' writer Monica Beletsky in multi-year Apple TV+ deal
Apple is continuing to fill out its catalog of content for its soon-to-launch Apple TV+ streaming service, with its latest move being a multi-year deal with 'Fargo' TV producer and screenwriter Monica Beletsky.
Creating a streaming video service requires more long-term planning than just creating launch content, something Apple knows well enough to make the company sign more deals with industry heavyweights and other creators. The iPhone maker's latest move is to sign up Monica Beletsky for a multi-year period of exclusivity to Apple TV+.
The terms of the deal has Beletsky developing TV series for Apple, reports SF Gate, with it being the first major exclusivity deal for the producer in her career.
Beletsky is known for being a writer and producer, who has previously worked on FX's "Fargo" as well as the acclaimed "Friday Night Lights" and "Parenthood." Both of the latter two shows had Beletsky working alongside Jason Katims and Kerry Ehrin, who both already have similar deals with Apple.
The producer is also working on developing two films with Hello Sunshine, a production company owned by Reese Witherspoon. Hello Sunshine is also connected to a number of other Apple TV+ projects, including one of its headline offerings "The Morning Show."
The deal is the latest for Apple as it tries to secure content producers before other streaming media giants like Netflix and Amazon, as well as major studios, pick them up with their own exclusivity deals. On Wednesday, Netflix advised the proliferation of streaming services will "accelerate the shift from linear TV to on-demand consumption," but traditional television will continue to be the biggest competition to any streaming service for the moment.
Apple will be launching Apple TV+ on November 1, with a large raft of content including "Dickinson," "The Morning Show," and the alternate-reality space race drama "For All Mankind." The service will cost $4.99 per month, but it will be free for a year for customers who buy select Apple hardware.
Creating a streaming video service requires more long-term planning than just creating launch content, something Apple knows well enough to make the company sign more deals with industry heavyweights and other creators. The iPhone maker's latest move is to sign up Monica Beletsky for a multi-year period of exclusivity to Apple TV+.
The terms of the deal has Beletsky developing TV series for Apple, reports SF Gate, with it being the first major exclusivity deal for the producer in her career.
Beletsky is known for being a writer and producer, who has previously worked on FX's "Fargo" as well as the acclaimed "Friday Night Lights" and "Parenthood." Both of the latter two shows had Beletsky working alongside Jason Katims and Kerry Ehrin, who both already have similar deals with Apple.
The producer is also working on developing two films with Hello Sunshine, a production company owned by Reese Witherspoon. Hello Sunshine is also connected to a number of other Apple TV+ projects, including one of its headline offerings "The Morning Show."
The deal is the latest for Apple as it tries to secure content producers before other streaming media giants like Netflix and Amazon, as well as major studios, pick them up with their own exclusivity deals. On Wednesday, Netflix advised the proliferation of streaming services will "accelerate the shift from linear TV to on-demand consumption," but traditional television will continue to be the biggest competition to any streaming service for the moment.
Apple will be launching Apple TV+ on November 1, with a large raft of content including "Dickinson," "The Morning Show," and the alternate-reality space race drama "For All Mankind." The service will cost $4.99 per month, but it will be free for a year for customers who buy select Apple hardware.
Comments
Money well spent if you ask me.
I don't know that she could work for Apple, given the content she produces. Wickedly funny, very nuanced, insightful, but a little-- intense for Apple's consideration.
But Amazon's investment makes me even happier that I'm a Prime member. I wonder if there was a bidding war (or skirmish) or if Amazon just plunked down a big ol' bag of money and said 'Here, do what you want'.
I hope Apple can build a competitive catalog of content. I want to see For All Mankind and See, but nothing else they've got so far seems to interest me. That could change for me, once they go live.
There are no Hollywood movies listed here, only three TV shows. That doesn't mean that's all she's done, though.
If only there was a website where you could look this kind of thing up. Oh, wait:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2196829/
Producer: I Am the Night, Fargo, The Leftovers, Parenthood
Writer: I Am the Night, Fargo, The Leftovers, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights, Lipstick Jungle
Executive Story Editor: Parenthood
Production Staff: Lost
I dunno, that's a pretty solid résumé for a ten year career.
Apple music didn't get my $10/mo. I tried it for six months and gave up. I had a hard time finding the versions of songs I like. As for a version by the original artist I get a cover. I kept telling Siri I don't like a song, and I still got similar. Tell Siri to play a particular genre and I get music that seemed to have no connection to that genre.
I know it works well for some people and I'm happy for them. I'll try it again in January to see if it suits me any better.
In spite of the thinks I didn't like about AM, it was nice on the occasions told the HomePod to play a give song, and it actually got in exactly right. That felt like magic.
If you are hiring someone to create original content that is something very different from writing episodes for an established TV show or adapting someone else’s script, book or play. Having the talent to do one does not imply the talent to do the other.
She did not create Friday Night Lights the book, the movie or the TV series, for example. She wrote or co-wrote scripts for an established show which is not the same skill set as creating a show from scratch.