Apple orders drama series from director of 'La La Land'
It continues Apple's streak of scoring top talent for original shows.
Apple's pattern of ordering shows with top-flight talent continues. Variety has discovered that Apple has secured a drama series from Damien Chazelle, the director of the Oscar-winning La La Land. The production is so mysterious at this point that even the basic premise isn't available, but Chazelle would both write and direct every episode. Unlike his work on the upcoming Netflix show The Eddy, he'll always be heavily involved.
There's still no mention of when Apple will release this or any of its other original shows. It's also unclear just how Apple will offer these productions, although a dedicated subscription video service would make the most sense.
No matter what, it won't be surprising if you hear about more coups like this. Apple is believed to have $1 billion to spend on its initial roster of original shows, and that gives it a lot of headroom even when shows from the likes of Steven Spielberg are on the cards. The question is just when Apple will have its first slate ready to go, and whether or not it expects to increase that budget over time. Netflix believes it could shell out $8 billion for content in 2018 -- it could be a long while before Apple can compete on sheer variety.
