Apple gains first-look deal with Idris Elba's Green Door Pictures

Apple has added another celebrity-fronted production company to its roster of content producers for Apple TV , with Idris Elba's Green Door Pictures signing a first-look deal with the streaming service.

Under the terms of the deal, Elba's Green Door Pictures will develop and produce new TV shows and film projects that could be added to the Apple TV+ streaming service. As a first-look deal, this gives Apple the first choice of accepting a production or allowing Green Door to offer it to other companies, including its competitors.

It is unclear how much the deal, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, will cost Apple, but it does secure the services of a growing production company, and of its star. Elba has credits on many major films and TV shows, including "Luther," "The Wire," and "Hobbs & Shaw," and has won SAG awards and a Golden Globe for his work.

As Elba has starred in many of Green Door's projects, including "Turn Up Charlie" for Netflix and "In the Long Run" for Sky One and Starz, it is most probable that the actor will also be heavily involved in its Apple TV+ productions.

The acquisition of Elba's Green Door follows the securing of deals with a number of other production companies created or led by major names in Hollywood. Some of the major deals it has picked up includes Ridley Scott's Scott Free Productions, comedy star Sharon Horgan, Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron, and major media star and mogul Oprah Winfrey.

14 Comments

SpamSandwich 32917 comments · 19 Years

About 4 years ago

Support up and coming people, Apple. They’re cheaper and will work their tails off to earn their reputation.

CloudTalkin 916 comments · 5 Years

SpamSandwich said:

Support up and coming people, Apple. They’re cheaper and will work their tails off to earn their reputation.

Cheaper talent isn't necessarily going to make that subscription count go up. Up and comers don't draw the kind of attention Apple is trying to generate to garner more subscriptions. Pretty much everyone works their tail off so that's a wash. The attention span of the general populous is about as short as a goldfish's. Apple, like all streaming service owners, needs to grab the attention quickly with the hopes that some of the views stick and stay. Chances are greater that the public will give a nod to a known entity rather than an up and comer.

CloudTalkin said:

SpamSandwich said:

Support up and coming people, Apple. They’re cheaper and will work their tails off to earn their reputation.

Cheaper talent isn't necessarily going to make that subscription count go up. Up and comers don't draw the kind of attention Apple is trying to generate to garner more subscriptions. Pretty much everyone works their tail off so that's a wash. The attention span of the general populous is about as short as a goldfish's. Apple, like all streaming service owners, needs to grab the attention quickly with the hopes that some of the views stick and stay. Chances are greater that the public will give a nod to a known entity rather than an up and comer.

Seinfeld was a niche comedian until his TV show. Who else might be out there with potential who could cost 1/100th of the known quantity talent?

neoncat 164 comments · 5 Years

SpamSandwich said:

CloudTalkin said:

SpamSandwich said:

Support up and coming people, Apple. They’re cheaper and will work their tails off to earn their reputation.

Cheaper talent isn't necessarily going to make that subscription count go up. Up and comers don't draw the kind of attention Apple is trying to generate to garner more subscriptions. Pretty much everyone works their tail off so that's a wash. The attention span of the general populous is about as short as a goldfish's. Apple, like all streaming service owners, needs to grab the attention quickly with the hopes that some of the views stick and stay. Chances are greater that the public will give a nod to a known entity rather than an up and comer.

Seinfeld was a niche comedian until his TV show. Who else might be out there with potential who could cost 1/100th of the known quantity talent?

lol. Seinfeld's deal to create his show was one of the richest ever for a sitcom at the time. By the end of the show's run, he alone was earning over $2M per episode. To this day, he (again, just him) earns over $100M per year in residuals from the show's reruns, DVD/digital sales, etc.

I totally get and respect the point you're making, but the reality of content acquisition is the deals where someone unknown gets paid peanuts and creates the next "Seinfeld" are incredibly rare. If a person's star has risen to the point that they're able to catch the attention of Apple (or Netflix, or CBS, or HBO, or whatever company), they're already smart enough to demand a fat payday. There's so much competition for fresh content right now it's a seller's market like no other time in history.

ronn 684 comments · 20 Years

Smart move. Idris is a good fit with Apple's previous collabs (A24, Bleecker Entertainment, etc) I'm sure they're recruiting and watching up and coming talent for the next few years to come for Apple TV. Deals like this secures a good foundation for the future.