Apple orders 10 episodes of 'Are You Sleeping' with Octavia Spencer

Apple is moving ahead with its TV adaptation of the Kathleen Barber novel "Are You Sleeping," reportedly ordering 10 episodes of the show expected to debut on its subscription services.

As previously indicated, the series will star Octavia Spencer with Nichelle Tramble Spellman serving as showrunner, Variety said on Wednesday. Reese Witherspoon, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, and Kristen Campo will be executive producers.

Witherspoon, notably, is also starring in an upcoming Apple talk show drama alongside Jennifer Aniston.

"Are You Sleeping" is a true crime drama with a particular focus on podcasts devoted to unsolved or wrongful convictions. Sarah Koenig — the creator of "Serial," one such podcast — is believed to be serving a consulting role.

Apple has a wide range of TV projects in development, such as an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" books and a reboot of Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories." Despite the popularity of shows like "Game of Thrones," "Westworld," and "The Walking Dead," Apple is said to be leaning away from risqué content.

The first batch of shows should premiere in 2019. It's not yet clear, though, how they'll be distributed. Rather than force people to sign up for Apple Music, as with "Carpool Karaoke" and "Planet of the Apps," one rumor has suggested that Apple will make the shows available to anyone with a compatible Apple device — possibly via the "TV" app on iPhones, iPads, and the Apple TV.

13 Comments

entropys 4302 comments · 13 Years

About 6 years ago

While I can see that monetising content can be a high margin business that leverages the iPhone via subscription services, it does worry me that it can be a rabbit hole for a company like Apple.

Its like those mobile network that tried the same thing on. Problem is, they are the pipe providers, that is their DNA. Their forays into content are ultimately substandard and annoy their customers, and ultimately don’t do well.they should have concentrated on being the best mobile network provider, rather than distract themselves with heavy investment in stuff that isn’t their area of expertise. And Lo they have struggled for years to provide great networks. I bet some internal MBA empire builder did alright personally out of it though.

Apple is a rather unique company. Its specialty is marrying hardware and software to produce products that are greater than the sum of its parts. A corporate giant that behaved and approached R&D like a start up. That is its DNA. A hardware and software combo that is better value, even at high margins than its competitors. A product that was the go to product for anyone that wanted to create the content that they could make a lot of money from. That is what the iPhone and the AppStore is.

The Mac used to be like that. The best platform to make content on. Now it is too hardware limited, haps buggy software, out of date, and still priced like it was a class leading product. Meanwhile, the new Apple is increasingly trying to compete with its oldest and most faithful customers. Why it is too hard for this hugely successful company to look after its bread and butter foundation products is depressing.

Apple’s Mac sales will really grow when it is the best platform to provide content. End of story. It doesn’t have to produce the content, but be the platform everyone wants to develop and therefore provide their content on.

Now, people can point to the current profits and turnover, even in the Mac business, as a counter to my theory. Thing is, that argument ignores how much greater Apple’s profits and turnover in the Mac business could have been. And how much of those sales has been due to good old loyalty? That has its limits. A lot of money has been left on the table, if not lost to competitors. With in the long term, flow on effects to future profits.

Like nations, there is a lot of ruin in a corporation, to misquote an economist greater than any alive today.

bsimpsen 400 comments · 14 Years

About 6 years ago

entropys said:

Apple’s Mac sales will really grow when it is the best platform to provide content. End of story. It doesn’t have to produce the content, but be the platform everyone wants to develop and therefore provide their content on.

I may be dreaming, but I hope the Mac starts getting serious attention from Apple when the conversion to A-Family processors occurs. At that point Apple will own the entire machine and they can flex some serious muscle in silicon design every year, as they do with the iPhone/iPad. I imagine the Mac hardware teams are as frustrated with Intel's progress now as they were with IBM's a dozen years ago. Apple's economies of scale across both hardware and software should give them an advantage.

urashid 127 comments · 6 Years

About 6 years ago

Is it just me, or did anyone else read the title as "Are You Sleeping With Octavia Spencer"? :-P

anome 1545 comments · 16 Years

About 6 years ago

urashid said:

Is it just me, or did anyone else read the title as "Are You Sleeping With Octavia Spencer"? :-P

Clearly it's not just you:

SpamSandwich said:

No, I am not sleeping with her.

I'm not overly happy with the idea that Apple has to produce its own content to compete in the marketplace. I feel the same way about Netflix, or Hulu for that matter. They should just be distribution systems that allow other people to sell their content.
I do understand why it's happening, though. It seems the only way to guarantee exclusives, which are essential to get people to buy your service, is to put up the money yourselves. And it's a carry-over from the TV networks, who made their own shows for much the same reason.
Really, I just want to pay for one service, and have one device that lets me legally watch all the shows I want to watch. Unfortunately, that doesn't exist at the moment, and the way things are going, it may never exist.