Blinders scribe sees Apple opportunity

Apple has ordered a futuristic drama from Peter Chernin’s Chernin Entertainment and Endeavor Content as the tech giant steps up its content push in 2018.

Peter Chernin

See will be written by Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders) and directed by Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part 1 & 2). The show was ordered straight to series.

Knight and Lawrence will executive produce on the project alongside Chernin, Jenno Topping and Kristen Campo.

See is the fifth scripted series from Apple announced in as many months, following news the company is to remake Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi series Amazing Stories.

Also ordered to the slate is an as-yet untitled drama to be executive produced by Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, another based on a Kathleen Barber novel called Are You Sleeping, with Witherspoon exec producing, and a space series from Star Trek creator Ronald D Moore.

The firm also recently announced an unscripted original called Home that will venture into some of the world’s most exclusive interior spaces.

Apple’s content push follows the appointment of former Sony Pictures Television presidents Jamie Erlicht and Zach Van Amburg, who arrived in June to lead the company’s programming strategy.

Other significant hires include Amazon’s Morgan Wandell as head of international creative development and former Channel 4 chief creative officer Jay Hunt, who is leading efforts in Europe.