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Apple signs producer/director Justin Lin to a multi-year TV deal

Deadline (https://deadline.com/2018/12/justin-lin-overall-deal-apple-1202521419/) reports that has signed producer/director Justin Lin (Fast & Furious franchise, Star Trek: Beyond) and his Perfect Storm Entertainment to an exclusive, multi-year overall TV deal. Moving to the tech giant from Sony, he’ll develop, produce and direct television series “with a global perspective,” the article adds.

Under the Perfect Storm Entertainment banner, Lin produced the the CBS series Scorpion, which ran for four seasons, as well as CBS’ S.W.A.T, which is currently in its second season, and freshman Magnum P.I., along with the upcoming Warrior for Cinemax. 

On the big screen, he re-booted The Fast and The Furious franchise, directing five of the films in the series. Most recently, Lin directed the critically acclaimed blockbuster Star Trek: Beyond, the third film in the modern Star Trek trilogy.



Not counting what comes from Lin’s banner, Apple has 27 series in the works.  Upcoming original programming titles include:

“Amazing Stores,” 

“Are You Sleeping,” 

“Home,” “Little America,” 

“See,” 

An untitled Damien Chazelle drama, 

an untitled Reese Witherspoon/Jennifer Anniston/Steve Carrell dramedy, “Dickinson” (a half-hour comedy starring Hailee Stenifeld), 

an Ronald D. Moore science-fiction drama dubbed “For All Mankind,” 

An untitled M. Night Shyamalan thriller series, 

A TV series adaption of “Foundation,” the Isaac Asimov science fiction novel trilogy, 

The half-hour dramedy “Little Voices” from producers J.J. Abrams and Sara Bareilles, 

“Little America” from the screenwriters (Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani) of “The Big Sick” and producer/writer Lee Eisenberg, 

A drama series about pre-teen investigative reporter Hilde Lysiak, 

A TV series based on the “Time Bandits” movie, 

An English-language adaptation of the French short-form series Canal+, “See,” a world-building drama set in the future, 

A series based on the bestselling 2017 novel “Pachinko,” 

A half-hour scripted comedy from Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day, “Defending Jacob” starring Chris Evans, 

A series produced by Anonymous Content and based on the New York Times article, “Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change,”

An AAU basketball drama series dubbed Swagger from NBA superstar Kevin Durant,

“My Glory Was I Had Such Friends,” a limited TV series for Apple. The one-hour limited drama stars and is executive produced by Jennifer Garner and executive produced by J.J. Abrams via his Bad Robot Productions banner. Based on the 2017 memoir of the same name by Amy Silverstein, “the story showcases the power of friendship and the resilience of the human spirit as it follows an extraordinary group of women who supported Silverstein as she waited for a second life-saving heart transplant.”

Original series, specials, and shorts based on the “Peanuts” gang of characters created by Charles M. Schulz.

Also, Apple has signed producer/director Justin Lin (Fast & Furious franchise, Star Trek: Beyond) and his Perfect Storm Entertainment to an exclusive, multi-year overall TV deal. 

The company’s TV streaming service is expected to roll out next year.

Dennis Sellers
the authorDennis Sellers
Dennis Sellers is the editor/publisher of Apple World Today. He’s been an “Apple journalist” since 1995 (starting with the first big Apple news site, MacCentral). He loves to read, run, play sports, and watch movies.