'For All Mankind' creator Ron Moore talks working with Apple, future projects

An interview with "For All Mankind" show-runner Ron Moore reveals more details about working with Apple and Tim Cook's visits to the "For All Mankind" set.

Ron Moore has been telling stories about space for decades, and now he's working on "For All Mankind" on Apple TV+. He's best known for his work on "Battlestar Galactica" and "Star Trek."

The Hollywood Reporter sat down with Ron Moore for a podcast interview that covered his work for Apple and future plans in the industry. He began by commenting on his love for space and how he wrote letters to NASA as a child.

The first question about "For All Mankind" was about its generational nature, with season two taking place nearly a decade after the first.

"From the beginning, I was attracted to doing it as a generational story. To see the space program expand and become real, it had to take place over decades," Moore answered. "I thought it was interesting to follow a group of characters, watch some of them grow up, watch others grow old and die and do it as a generational story."

"For All Mankind" is a Sony Pictures Television production, which means that Moore came to Apple via his contract with Sony. He continues to work on the show for Apple, but has begun work at Disney as well.

When asked about what it was like working for Apple he said "there was a certain familiarity of how things would get done." Despite the fact that Apple was new to making entertainment content, Moore says the growing pains were aided by how many former Sony members were a part of Apple TV+.

Apple CEO Tim Cook would come check out the set, according to Moore. Cook would sit at Mission Control and "get lost on the consoles and keyboards." Cook would comment, "oh yeah, I remember this kind of CRT."

Moore said that he would visit Cupertino for various things and be warmly received with comments such as "I love that show! I was a huge fan of the space program." He said that there are images of NASA all around the campus which reflects the company's admiration for the program.

The interview then angled towards Moore's time with Disney and his future projects. He will be producing a "Swiss Family Robinson" reboot as his first project, though his ambitions lie with Star Wars.

"For All Mankind" season 2 premiered on February 19 on Apple TV+. You can subscribe for $4.99 per month or get it with every tier of Apple One.

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5 Comments

randominternetperson 3101 comments · 8 Years

About 3 years ago

I just don't understand how these arrangements work. It's a Sony show and an Apple show. Do execs from both companies get to butt in? From the interview, it sounds like Sony most of the day to day but they need to take notes from "Cupertino" as well. I'd be interested in learning more of the "inside baseball" aspects of this.

bloggerblog 2517 comments · 16 Years

randominternetperson said:

I just don't understand how these arrangements work. It's a Sony show and an Apple show. Do execs from both companies get to butt in? From the interview, it sounds like Sony most of the day to day but they need to take notes from "Cupertino" as well. I'd be interested in learning more of the "inside baseball" aspects of this.

I think Apple hires Sony to produce a show for them. Sony’s role is more like Foxconn or Samsung

EFletcherSOC 3 comments · 4 Years

bloggerblog said:

randominternetperson said:

I just don't understand how these arrangements work. It's a Sony show and an Apple show. Do execs from both companies get to butt in? From the interview, it sounds like Sony most of the day to day but they need to take notes from "Cupertino" as well. I'd be interested in learning more of the "inside baseball" aspects of this.

I think Apple hires Sony to produce a show for them. Sony’s role is more like Foxconn or Samsung

Other way around. the show is produced by Sony and sold to Apple. Apple didn't go out to sony to produce the show.

StrangeDays 12976 comments · 8 Years

randominternetperson said:

I just don't understand how these arrangements work. It's a Sony show and an Apple show. Do execs from both companies get to butt in? From the interview, it sounds like Sony most of the day to day but they need to take notes from "Cupertino" as well. I'd be interested in learning more of the "inside baseball" aspects of this.

Motion pictures are like this too. Production companies do the work of production, and studios are the gatekeepers of resources. Movies go thru all kinds of meetings w/ top stakeholders, executive producers, for production notes, discussions on audience testing, etc.

22july2013 3731 comments · 11 Years

The article says he's working on a Swiss Family Robinson reboot. Also in the news this week about Swiss Family Robinson is the fact that Disney+ has labelled it with “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures.” I presume Disney wants a remake to be able to wash this blemish off its face. Swiss Family Robinson was before my time, so I had to google why it was improper, and here's the reason:

Then, of course, there are the pirates and that’s where the title card about stories mattering comes in. Disney is no stranger to the concept of pirate characters in its films and its theme parks, but the pirates depicted in Swiss Family Robinson might as well be faceless stereotypes. They’re bloodthirsty and cruel, and they are also pointedly played by actors of color (or by actors who are made to look like people of color). There’s no point excusing any of these choices, and you can contextualize it all you like. True as it may be that Disney wasn’t the only studio stereotyping people of color in the late 1950s or early 1960s, it doesn’t make this aspect of the film any more palatable.

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