Apple's Worldwide Video hires former Broadway Video, Netflix executives [u]

Posted:
in General Discussion edited June 2018
Apple recently hired Kelly Costello, formerly of Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video Entertainment studio, to head up business affairs for its fledgling Worldwide Video initiative. The company also picked up creative executive Layne Eskridge from market competitor Netflix.

Carpool Karaoke


Prior to Apple, Costello served as executive vice president of business and legal affairs at Broadway Video, reports Variety. Alongside business and legal dealings, Costello also brokered deals for popular series including "Portlandia" and "Documentary Now!"

Before Broadway Video, Costello moved up the ranks at Viacom over a seven-year stint that ended with a role as vice president of business and legal affairs for the company's Music and Entertainment Group. She also served as director of network and studio business affairs and senior counsel for legal affairs at NBC Universal Television.

At Apple, Costello will handle business affairs under Philip Matthys, who joined the tech giant in November to lead Worldwide Video's business efforts. Like other recently hired executives, Matthys is also an NBCUniversal alum.

In a separate report from Deadline, Eskridge is said to be joining the Apple team next month. As a creative executive, she will answer directly to Worldwide Video head of development Matt Cherniss.

Esrkidge worked as a development executive at Netflix, overseeing production of "Ozark," Spike Lee's "She's Gotta Have It," "Seven Seconds," "Longmire" and the upcoming "Top Boy," the report said.

Apple is in the midst of building out its video content team as part of a $1 billion investment in original programming. While Worldwide Video lacks the deep pockets of competitors Netflix and Amazon, the segment is actively recruiting Hollywood talent in hopes of jumpstarting an in-house video streaming service.

So far, Apple has fielded two shows in "Carpool Karaoke" and "Planet of the Apps," both of which aired exclusively to paying Apple Music subscribers. Most recently, "Carpool," which was picked up for a second season, became free-to-stream for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV users through the TV app.

The company is reportedly building out a slate of original content set to begin production in the near future. A number of big Hollywood names, including J.J. Abrams, M. Night Shyamalan, Reese Witherspoon and Kristen Wiig, are attached to the projects that spans genres and formats.

Today's report comes on the heels of Apple's agreement to sign on to the Writers Guild of America's master contract, offering writers terms that exceed the WGA's baseline for free-to-stream online content.

Updated with details about Eskridge.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 2,707member
    They named it “worldwide video?”

    seriously?

    must have been trying to fly under the radar. 

    Thats such a microsoft name. Like “windows media player.”


    minicoffee
  • Reply 2 of 22
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    Because Broadway Video Entertainment is so avant garde? It's more than likely when the studio is up and going they'll have a relisting and new name for the division within Apple Inc.
  • Reply 3 of 22
    They named it “worldwide video?”

    seriously?

    must have been trying to fly under the radar. 

    Thats such a microsoft name. Like “windows media player.”


    Nothing really wrong with "Windows Media Player". It pretty much lets you know right off the bat what the app does.

    If you tell someone who hasn't been exposed to the apps before, "QuickTime" and "Windows Media Player", chances are that he'd probably know what WMP does but may struggle a bit with QT.


    That said, I agree with you on your first statement. "Worldwide Video" doesn't sound very good. Heck, even "Apple Video Worldwide" sounds better!

  • Reply 4 of 22
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 2,707member
    They named it “worldwide video?”

    seriously?

    must have been trying to fly under the radar. 

    Thats such a microsoft name. Like “windows media player.”


    Nothing really wrong with "Windows Media Player". It pretty much lets you know right off the bat what the app does.

    If you tell someone who hasn't been exposed to the apps before, "QuickTime" and "Windows Media Player", chances are that he'd probably know what WMP does but may struggle a bit with QT.


    That said, I agree with you on your first statement. "Worldwide Video" doesn't sound very good. Heck, even "Apple Video Worldwide" sounds better!

    And yet iTunes was a great name. So was Time Machine. Both told you what they did and were creative. I suspect the current naming is Apples “quiet mode” until they are built out and ready to brand for public launch.
  • Reply 5 of 22
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    By the way Tim Cook, if you’re still pursuing the Apple Car there are 3,000 people who just got fired from Tesla in their reorg and I’ll bet you can hire the best of the bunch at a reasonable price.
    edited June 2018 patchythepirate
  • Reply 6 of 22
    claire1claire1 Posts: 510unconfirmed, member
    They named it “worldwide video?”

    seriously?

    must have been trying to fly under the radar. 

    Thats such a microsoft name. Like “windows media player.”


    Nothing really wrong with "Windows Media Player". It pretty much lets you know right off the bat what the app does.

    If you tell someone who hasn't been exposed to the apps before, "QuickTime" and "Windows Media Player", chances are that he'd probably know what WMP does but may struggle a bit with QT.


    That said, I agree with you on your first statement. "Worldwide Video" doesn't sound very good. Heck, even "Apple Video Worldwide" sounds better!

    And yet iTunes was a great name. So was Time Machine. Both told you what they did and were creative. I suspect the current naming is Apples “quiet mode” until they are built out and ready to brand for public launch.
    iTunes did get weird when they started selling Movies and TV Shows etc.
  • Reply 7 of 22
    palegolaspalegolas Posts: 1,361member
    This made me think of Scott Forstall.
    I hope he's fine.
    mike54
  • Reply 8 of 22
    michael scripmichael scrip Posts: 1,916member
    They named it “worldwide video?”

    seriously?

    must have been trying to fly under the radar. 

    Thats such a microsoft name. Like “windows media player.”

    Nothing really wrong with "Windows Media Player". It pretty much lets you know right off the bat what the app does.

    If you tell someone who hasn't been exposed to the apps before, "QuickTime" and "Windows Media Player", chances are that he'd probably know what WMP does but may struggle a bit with QT.

    That said, I agree with you on your first statement. "Worldwide Video" doesn't sound very good. Heck, even "Apple Video Worldwide" sounds better!

    Let's not forget Apple's most creative name: App Store

    BTW... when I hear "Apple Video Worldwide"... I think of Step Brothers... "Prestige Worldwide"

    :)
    patchythepirate
  • Reply 9 of 22
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    They named it “worldwide video?”

    seriously?

    must have been trying to fly under the radar. 

    Thats such a microsoft name. Like “windows media player.”
    They never named it publicly. Besides, when you are trying to recruit talent and buy up shows you need to give it a name, and people need to know it exists. This name serves to tell people Apple buys shows for worldwide distribution rights. Under the circumstances the name makes sense.
    edited June 2018 minicoffee
  • Reply 10 of 22
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    They named it “worldwide video?”

    seriously?

    must have been trying to fly under the radar. 

    Thats such a microsoft name. Like “windows media player.”


    Nothing really wrong with "Windows Media Player". It pretty much lets you know right off the bat what the app does.

    If you tell someone who hasn't been exposed to the apps before, "QuickTime" and "Windows Media Player", chances are that he'd probably know what WMP does but may struggle a bit with QT.


    That said, I agree with you on your first statement. "Worldwide Video" doesn't sound very good. Heck, even "Apple Video Worldwide" sounds better!

    And yet iTunes was a great name. So was Time Machine. Both told you what they did and were creative.
    The name iTunes doesn’t tell you what it does. Doesn’t make it a bad name or anything, at all though. It depends first what the name is for. Apple’s name in this story is for a division, not a product, so different rules apply to how it might be named.
    edited June 2018
  • Reply 11 of 22
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    claire1 said:
    They named it “worldwide video?”

    seriously?

    must have been trying to fly under the radar. 

    Thats such a microsoft name. Like “windows media player.”


    Nothing really wrong with "Windows Media Player". It pretty much lets you know right off the bat what the app does.

    If you tell someone who hasn't been exposed to the apps before, "QuickTime" and "Windows Media Player", chances are that he'd probably know what WMP does but may struggle a bit with QT.


    That said, I agree with you on your first statement. "Worldwide Video" doesn't sound very good. Heck, even "Apple Video Worldwide" sounds better!

    And yet iTunes was a great name. So was Time Machine. Both told you what they did and were creative. I suspect the current naming is Apples “quiet mode” until they are built out and ready to brand for public launch.
    iTunes did get weird when they started selling Movies and TV Shows etc.
    And ringtones and apps and podcasts and books and managing and restoring phones and pads and pods and Apple TV’s and devices and streaming radio stations and selling and renting and streaming and everything else.

    Thankfully, books has been separated out. Podcasts needs it’s own app very badly. As too does Apple Music. And iOS apps needs to be a section in the macOS App Store app. And macOS needs to get the TV app, too.
    edited June 2018
  • Reply 12 of 22
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,417member
    They named it “worldwide video?”

    seriously?

    must have been trying to fly under the radar. 

    Thats such a microsoft name. Like “windows media player.”

    Nothing really wrong with "Windows Media Player". It pretty much lets you know right off the bat what the app does.

    If you tell someone who hasn't been exposed to the apps before, "QuickTime" and "Windows Media Player", chances are that he'd probably know what WMP does but may struggle a bit with QT.

    That said, I agree with you on your first statement. "Worldwide Video" doesn't sound very good. Heck, even "Apple Video Worldwide" sounds better!

    Let's not forget Apple's most creative name: App Store

    BTW... when I hear "Apple Video Worldwide"... I think of Step Brothers... "Prestige Worldwide"

    :)
    Makes me think of Letterman.

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwide_Pants

    michael scripSpamSandwich
  • Reply 13 of 22
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,417member

    ireland said:
    They named it “worldwide video?”

    seriously?

    must have been trying to fly under the radar. 

    Thats such a microsoft name. Like “windows media player.”


    Nothing really wrong with "Windows Media Player". It pretty much lets you know right off the bat what the app does.

    If you tell someone who hasn't been exposed to the apps before, "QuickTime" and "Windows Media Player", chances are that he'd probably know what WMP does but may struggle a bit with QT.


    That said, I agree with you on your first statement. "Worldwide Video" doesn't sound very good. Heck, even "Apple Video Worldwide" sounds better!

    And yet iTunes was a great name. So was Time Machine. Both told you what they did and were creative.
    The name iTunes doesn’t tell you what it does. Doesn’t make it a bad name or anything, at all though. It depends first what the name is for. Apple’s name in this story is for a division, not a product, so different rules apply to how it might be named.
    Exactly, just as Schiller heads Worldwide Marketing at Apple. It doesn’t need a consumer-facing name. 
  • Reply 14 of 22
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member

    ireland said:
    They named it “worldwide video?”

    seriously?

    must have been trying to fly under the radar. 

    Thats such a microsoft name. Like “windows media player.”


    Nothing really wrong with "Windows Media Player". It pretty much lets you know right off the bat what the app does.

    If you tell someone who hasn't been exposed to the apps before, "QuickTime" and "Windows Media Player", chances are that he'd probably know what WMP does but may struggle a bit with QT.


    That said, I agree with you on your first statement. "Worldwide Video" doesn't sound very good. Heck, even "Apple Video Worldwide" sounds better!

    And yet iTunes was a great name. So was Time Machine. Both told you what they did and were creative.
    The name iTunes doesn’t tell you what it does. Doesn’t make it a bad name or anything, at all though. It depends first what the name is for. Apple’s name in this story is for a division, not a product, so different rules apply to how it might be named.
    Exactly, just as Schiller heads Worldwide Marketing at Apple. It doesn’t need a consumer-facing name. 
    I thought this exact same thing as soon as I read the story.
  • Reply 15 of 22
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member

    mike54 said:
    Now that's done, I hope Apple can hire people to make a reasonably priced headless mac, preferably this century. Apple doesn't seem to have the in-house talent to do it themselves.
    Miniature, modular Mac Pro?
  • Reply 16 of 22
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,727member
    New names are strange things.  Back in the days of Blockbuster VHS rental stores (remember those?) I thought Netflix sounded really weird ...
    dasanman69
  • Reply 17 of 22
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    AT&T just bought Time Warner. Comcast will buy Fox it is predicted. Apple should buy Netflix?
  • Reply 18 of 22
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    MacPro said:
    New names are strange things.  Back in the days of Blockbuster VHS rental stores (remember those?) I thought Netflix sounded really weird ...
    "iPad"
  • Reply 19 of 22
    hammeroftruthhammeroftruth Posts: 1,309member
    They named it “worldwide video?”

    seriously?

    must have been trying to fly under the radar. 

    Thats such a microsoft name. Like “windows media player.”

    Nothing really wrong with "Windows Media Player". It pretty much lets you know right off the bat what the app does.

    If you tell someone who hasn't been exposed to the apps before, "QuickTime" and "Windows Media Player", chances are that he'd probably know what WMP does but may struggle a bit with QT.

    That said, I agree with you on your first statement. "Worldwide Video" doesn't sound very good. Heck, even "Apple Video Worldwide" sounds better!

    Let's not forget Apple's most creative name: App Store

    BTW... when I hear "Apple Video Worldwide"... I think of Step Brothers... "Prestige Worldwide"

    :)
    Boats and Hoes, coming soon to Apple video. 
  • Reply 20 of 22
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    MacPro said:
    New names are strange things.  Back in the days of Blockbuster VHS rental stores (remember those?) I thought Netflix sounded really weird ...
    The beauty of the name Netflix is that it works if you either order DVDs via the internet or stream movies. 
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