Chris Gethard, Scott Aukerman Among Wave of Sony First-Look Deals

Sony Photos Tv is widening the artistic circle — by rather a lot — in its comedy division.

The studio has signed first-look offers with 9 writers and comics — Scott Aukerman, Karen Chee, Shaun Diston, Chris Garcia, Chris Gethard, Lisa Gilroy, Lacey Jeka, Julie Klausner and Alok Vaid-Menon. They’ll all work on growing new comedy sequence tasks and probably collaborate with different writers and producers who’ve offers at Sony.

Lauren Stein, head of artistic at Sony Photos TV, and Colin Davis, government vp comedy improvement, stated the offers are half of an effort on the studio to usher in what Davis calls a “spectrum of sensibilities” to comedy improvement.

Stein informed THR that the offers are additionally a sign to “come play” on the studio: “It’s our way of saying, ‘Come here.’ You’re not tied down here because it’s just a first look. You still have the flexibility to work at other places, staff on other shows. But bring us those passion projects. Bring us the idea that you don’t think you could get another studio to do. Because of our independence, we have the most flexibility, and you’ll get the most freedom for your creativity.”

The 9 folks on this wave of offers are a mixture of extra established writers and performers like Gethard (The Chris Gethard Present), Aukerman (Comedy Bang! Bang!) and Klausner (Tough Folks, Schmigadoon!), and up-and-comers like Vaid-Menon (Netflix’s Gender Agenda comedy particular) and actor-writers Gilroy and Jeka (who, by the way, have labored with Aukerman and Gethard, respectively, prior to now). Chee is a three-time Emmy nominee as half of the Late Evening With Seth Meyers writing workers; Diston has penned episodes of Peacock’s Twisted Metallic and Hulu’s Woke; and Garcia is a author and co-producer on Sony and Fox’s new animated sequence Common Primary Guys.

After signing the first-looks, the writers have been inspired to fulfill and discuss with different writers and producers who’re primarily based at Sony. “For us, it’s important for the creative process for people to meet and talk — you don’t know where an idea is going to come from,” stated Stein. “A producer may have an idea that a writer has a very specific connection to — you only learn those things by having people meet.”

Davis additionally famous that Gethard has already began working with Jessi Klein (Useless to Me, Large Mouth), who has an current deal at Sony, on an thought.

Like most different studios, Sony has lately pushed to mine its IP library for reboots and updates on titles like CBS’ SWAT and Netflix/Pop TV’s One Day at a Time. The incoming writers — all of whom have fairly particular sensibilities — will probably be free to provide you with new takes on Sony-owned properties, however they’ll even be inspired to develop unique concepts.

“It’s not a move away from [IP],” Stein stated of the brand new offers. “I think it’s just a broadening out. There’s no mandate, so if you have an original idea, great. If you have an idea that is based on existing IP that we have, that’s OK too. We don’t tell people that you have to be original or you have to base it on something.”