The TV Shows Disney+, Disney Channel Want Now
Pilots are back and more market changes at the Mouse House
I write about TV from L.A. My Summer Sellers’ Guide has revealed what ABC, Hulu & FX, Apple TV+, Amazon, HBO & HBO Max and Peacock want to buy, and I reported on Gen X Hollywood’s career crisis and the boom in microdramas. I’m at elaine@theankler.com
What’s this? A Disney sellers’ guide so nice, we published twice in the same week? Yes! Today is a bonus installment of Series Business from me, on the heels of some very productive conversations with reps and agents that point to an active buyer in Disney across its networks and platforms. It’s a company so big I just had to split my Summer Sellers Guide for Disney into two parts.
On Monday, I told you what Hulu, FX and ABC were looking for in live-action series — and what TV agents are telling their clients too to succeed there. But I saved Disney+ for a separate guide today, in part because the core elements that power the Mouse’s flagship direct-to-consumer service are so varied: It is the streaming home to originals from Marvel, Lucasfilm, Disney Channel, Disney Jr., Pixar, Disney Animation and NatGeo, each brand a totally different entity and vibe.
Marvel and Lucasfilm have always seemed a bit like twin laboratories, secretive in nature and abundant in IP — closed ecosystems whose writers are not hired but ordained and quietly brought into the fold. For the most part, your average agent tells me that those two remain focused on developing IP in-house and are choosy about whom they work with.
So for the purposes of this newsletter, I’ll stick to a discussion about pitching and developing live-action, non-superhero original series to Disney Branded Television, a group that develops children’s shows and movies for in-house entities Disney Jr., Disney Channel, and Disney+. To recap: In the live-action scripted world, ABC and Hulu share a programming team under Simran Sethi, FX has a separate team under John Landgraf but streams on Hulu, and Marvel and Lucasfilm are each their own separate forces. Everything winds up on Disney+.
Animation certainly merits its own conversation for another week, though I have a bit of intel in that area for you today.
Today I’ll tell you:
New ways to break in — even without IP — and the sweet spot of original series for sub-12 audiences
Why pilots are making a comeback at Disney+
How Disney builds long-term relationships with creators — even without overall deals
How former broadcast/cable writers are finding new homes in Disney’s multi-cam revival
What Disney is programming for each age group, from toddlers to teens
Clarity on who makes decisions at Disney+, and the exec considered “phenomenal” by reps
The budgets sellers should expect to hit
Surprising ways in: co-viewing hooks, musical elements and preschool-forward talent partnerships