FX chief trying to lure David Benioff and Dan Weiss to Disney
By Dan Selcke
Following the end of Game of Thrones, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are currently on the hunt for a new development deal. And considering how successful Game of Thrones was, it’s gonna be a big one.
At the moment, the three companies competing most aggressively for their services are Netflix, Amazon and Disney. The pair are already making a trio of Star Wars movies for Disney, so the Mouse may have the edge at the moment. Also, Disney owns many other properties, some of which have ties to Benioff and Weiss. For example, Disney now owns 20th Century Fox, which owns FX, the network behind shows like American Horror Story and Pose. FX Original Programming President Gina Balian used to work and HBO and helped Benioff and Weiss develop Game of Thrones. When multiple places are offering you obscene amounts of money, is it relationships like that which make the final difference?
“It’s really their decision where to go,” FX chairman John Landgraf told Deadline. “[T]hey have plenty of options, and I don’t think I know with any certainty at the moment what decision they are going to make. It’s a sellers markets for talent, and they will sell their services where they choose.”
"I met them and really liked them; I like them personally a lot, and I really admire their work. I’ve been reading one of David Benioff’s novels, City of Thieves recently, and it’s excellent; they are really terrific writers."
Disney would offer Benioff and Weiss more options concerning where they want their future programming to appear, anywhere from the Netflix-like Disney+ to smaller, edgier channels like FX. Landgraf points to a recent development deal 20th Century Fox signed with Daredevil creator Drew Goddard as evidence of how places like FX can sweeten the pot for in-demand creators.
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And FX itself doesn’t want to be left out of the game, and is “scaling up” to the point where it can feature its own sprawling, Game of Thrones-like series. “First of all, we are now making some shows that are really, really giant in terms of their scope; you will see it when you see Y, Devs, Mrs America. You can already see in some of Ryan Murphy’s work that he’s done.”
"But second of all, if you look at the kind of investment Disney has put in The Mandalorian, or it is going to be putting g in the shows that (Marvel boss) Kevin Feige is making in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you can see every show doesn’t benefit from a huge investment, but it’s extraordinary what kind of scope you can put on television now."
Y: The Last Man does look pretty interesting. “FX is an adult premium brand that will make stuff every bit as ambitious as HBO or Netflix or Amazon,” Landgraf continued. “You are going to expect to see shows of big scope coming our brand.”
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