Michael Thorne Interview – The Hollywood Reporter

michael thorne

Rich Polk/Getty Images

The media group participated in a Waves of Cancellation Renewals And other cuts as economic headwinds and streaming-bending realities have hit home.

However, this is not the case, in fox, following a spinoff from its former in-house studio 20th Television, it intentionally remained relatively small in the Disney deal in 2018. Fox Entertainment president Michael Thorn even saw an opportunity to contrast his operations at the network and internal Fox Entertainment Studios with those of larger competitors.

“It’s part of our pitch,” Thorne told hollywood reporter“Because we don’t have a lot of output, we try to provide the best possible process that doesn’t get bogged down with layers, doesn’t get bogged down with lots of comments, and every project, whether it’s going on or not, feels like they’re a priority. And I Think what we’re seeing in these companies with these huge ecosystems is that it’s not possible for everyone to be the favorite kid. And because of that, it’s giving us access to say, you know, be our key partner Opportunity.”

thorne with threonine On how he’s developing his hopes for the fledgling studio — including a possible remake of the 1970s show Star and Hatch — and the network’s preparations for a possible strike later this year.He also spoke about the future of shows that Fox doesn’t own, including 911 franchise and its animated flagship The Simpsons.

Fox Entertainment Studios is growing a bit, so I’m curious what that means for the way you guys are doing development and your ongoing effort to have more of your shows.

We are consciously and slowly ramping up our in-house creations at Fox Entertainment Studios, including [animation studio] Lunch Box.so this week you’ll see [the premiere of] animal control, our first 100% Fox-owned comedy, embodies this big-picture strategy. We’ve been doing some direct deals with writers and producers who we think are a great creative fit. We are a voice-driven company. We’ve been selectively doing deals with some of the top talent.we declare Mark Cherry, Rodney Rothman In terms of animation. There are some very strong voices. It’s really exciting. We just closed a deal with Malcolm Spellman and Nichelle Tramble’s company, The 51. Therefore, finding like-minded voices is an important part of our strategy. For this, we needed a very nimble and lean in-house studio to help us achieve these goals.

Fox has been on a year-round development cycle for a few years now, and everyone else seems to be jumping on the train now. But we haven’t seen any pilot or series deals from you guys for next season. I’m just curious how things are going and how you’re doing with the full year cycle.

Yes, we did realign and focus our approach to build around the less is more buying strategy. For example, Marc Cherry’s project, Jenny is a weapon – He’s working on materials right now, which is a very compelling project for us. We also have some other internal projects. At the same time, we see ourselves as an important strategic partner for other studios. We’re working with Sony on a great medical drama, [executive producers] Barbie Kligman and Hank Steinberg based on a very successful Italian format called doctor. In terms of drama, we’re really focused. Again, we really want to do business with the best creators who want to do something original, unexpected, and have mass appeal.On the animation side, as I mentioned, we had a deal with Rodney Rothman and just a few months ago we ordered a new series malamute brothers. We are still developing and ordering and I hope we will have some new collections to talk about soon.

Has the era of consolidation and vertical integration that we’re seeing now, where everybody’s doing it internally, influenced the way you look at deals or licensing?

One of the reasons we’re focused on building our own internal capabilities is because most markets are focused on themselves. As you said, they’re really looking inward, within their own ecosystem. We want to make sure that as we continue to work with these partners, we have a strong pipeline for our needs and work with bold and creative but cost-effective models that work for us and for linear TV today. I think that’s what we’re seeing in the market, and we seem to have an opportunity to grow further. Our goal is not to recreate in any way what we have. Our goal is just to be nimble and have the best creators who really want to focus on this kind of mass-appeal TV. So far it’s working. We’re really proud of the response we’ve gotten as we’ve been building these writer deals.

As you’ve moved more and more to a script-to-series or direct-to-series model, how have you learned how it differs from the traditional pilot process?

When we’re doing a lot of pilot episodes every year, I’ve found that whether I’m on the sell side or the buy side, you’re going to have the item that you want to go into the series there—whether it’s flawed or not, warts and all. If you really step back and look at the pilot process, it’s not a great predictor of success. A good pilot doesn’t guarantee a successful series. What it warrants is a challenging financial model. We took a step back with the partners we were working with and decided that making multiple scripts into a series was a better way for them to express the goals of the series and for us to understand the vision for the series.exist animal control, we developed and emerged from three scripts for the series. Those scripts lead us to Joel McHale, who was able to read the scripts and say there’s a comedic vision here and I can’t wait to be a part of it.It’s not one size fits all – some projects have three scripts, some of our low cost developments like neverland, Star and Hatch, if we did a series on it, it would be two plays. We really spent some time thinking about what do we need to get approved? Where do our partners think they can successfully deliver to truly demonstrate their vision? So far, so good. And I think, I think our partners seem to really enjoy the process so far.

One of the things I would say similar to the pilot process is that when we went from one script to many, we were only working on a few projects at a time. We take the same approach, if you get an order to do a mini writer’s studio or to do alternate material, it still feels special, like you’re on the road to making a series. When we use that backup material, it’s because we really, sincerely believe we can get the show going.

what if you have changed anything since then Rob Wade Promoted to the position of CEO?

Now is an exciting time. You know, 2023 is off to a very promising start for us.and defendant, our highest-rated new drama in two years. On the unscripted side, special forces is the #1 new improv show. next level chef obviously had a fantastic night [after the Super Bowl]we believe that we are ready to animal control. We’ve been working on this together for a while now and Rob is very supportive of all the scripting goals. It’s really fun.

Are you planning or preparing for a possible strike later this year? In the event of a downtime, do you intend to keep some shows in production to store episodes?

We’re definitely ahead of it. With scripts, we can tackle any scenario.we ordered a third season cleaning lady Early, because we’re passionate about the series and want to get ahead of next season in general. Our animated series is in full swing and we’re confident we won’t miss a beat. And then, you know, one of the great things about Fox and our collective strategy is that Allison Wallach and her team on the unscripted side have a couple of series that they’re working on as well. We think we’re going to have a very strong decline no matter what happens.

When you’re trying to have more shows, you have these three long-running animated shows The Simpsons, Family Guy and Bob’s Burgers and two 911 Disney owned series. They’re obviously still pretty successful, but they’ve been around for a while, so they’re not cheap. How does this affect the negotiations for the new season?you will expect another 11th Hour Trading for 911 again?

Disney has been a great partner for us, as have the creators of the animated series. The Simpsons and Bob’s and Family Guy update all to two additional seasons. We are happy to maintain this relationship for a long time. lone star Came back with big hits and we love the series; they were a huge hit.There’s always a lot to talk about around these types of series, but now we foresee 911 A franchise in our air for as long as we can have it. We’re really trying to have a balanced schedule and they’re built around signature shows. Sometimes these iconic shows are made with great partners, sometimes you build them yourself. But anyway, it’s about the show and the common purpose and continuing to try to pierce the culture. We’re lucky to have such a resonant show.

I know you don’t want to go down in history as the one who ended The Simpsonsbut considering that it now only adds to his record every time it is played, and it will be played for 36 years by the end of the next order, is the same as [the producers] And Disney may be different than it was a few years ago? Is there talk of getting to 1,000 episodes or 40 seasons or something like that?

We’re not that granular yet. What’s impressive about these three animated series is the potential to continue to innovate their plots year after year. The Simpsons are all-time greats who keep the show relevant, and it’s because of the storytelling that they keep going season after season.You know, I don’t know of anyone predicting that a show will last 36 seasons, but The Simpsons Constantly challenge opportunities. I think our partners also see the value of our air, what we have to offer, especially the strength of Sunday night. [Airing after] Football, it really resonates with our Sunday night show in a way that keeps great stories going with the broadest comedic reach. I think it’s a great partnership.