Apple lures Hulu, Legendary execs to its growing entertainment team

Apple continues to expand its video team. The tech giant has hired two business affairs execs — Philip Matthys from Hulu and Jennifer Wang Grazier from Legendary Entertainment — for “key roles” on its expanding original entertainment team, reports Variety. 

Matthys, previously Hulu’s head of business affairs, started last month at Apple as head of business affairs, Worldwide Video. He reports to Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, the former co-presidents of Sony Pictures Television. Wang Grazier will join Apple’s L.A.-based Worldwide Video group on the business affairs team, reporting to Matthys, starting in January, adds Variety.

Hulu is an American subscription video-on-demand service owned by Hulu LLC, a joint venture with The Walt Disney Company, 21st Century Fox, Comcast, and Time Warner. Legendary Entertainment is a motion picture and media publishing company.

Apple has set a budget of roughly $1 billion to procure and produce original content over the next year, according to the Wall Street Journal, and could acquire and produce as many as 10 television shows. The $1 billion budget will be in the hands of Hollywood veterans Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, two former TV execs who joined the company in June newly created positions overseeing all aspects of video programming. They joined Apple from Sony Pictures Television.