Martin Scorsese Inks First-Look TV, Film Deal With Apple

[HARDY]

 

The director's Sikelia Productions will develop projects for the streaming service.

Martin Scorsese is formalizing his relationship with Apple.

The Oscar-winning director and producer's Sikelia Productions has signed a first-look film and TV deal with the tech giant. Under the multi-year deal, Scorsese will develop film and TV projects for Apple's TV+ streaming platform.

The deal comes as Scorsese is working on feature film Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, for Apple. It's his second straight feature made for a streaming outlet, following The Irishman on Netflix.

Scorsese formed Sikelia Productions in 2003, and the company has produced all of the auteur's projects since then, including features The Irishman, Silence, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Departed, documentaries The 50 Year Argument and Shine a Light and HBO series Boardwalk Empire and Vinyl, among others.

Apple has struck deals with a number of studios and production companies, among them DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson's Appian Way, Idris Elba's Green Door Pictures, Ridley Scott's Scott Free Productions and A24 and Imagine Documentaries. The iPhone maker also has kids' content deals with Sesame Workshop and Peanuts.

As it grows its streaming business, Apple has also signed individual deals with the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Alfonso Cuaron, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Justin Lin, The Morning Show's Kerry Ehrin, Little America's Lee Eisenberg and Sharon Horgan. 

 

[CGTitan]

That's the streaming services for you. They gather up the high talent, and produce great works that you cannot find anywhere else. In this time of social distancing, they grow fat on the profits of their wares. Hopefully it doesn't end up like Hollywood in the early days, where they had monopolies on which theaters their movies could be shown.