According to Variety, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the prolific writer-producers involved with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Star Trek and Fox’s series Fringe, have signed an exclusive three-year deal with 20th Century Fox TV. As part of the deal, which officially starts March 1, the duo will bring in show ideas, recruit writers to work with them and also create their own projects, either by themselves or with others.
According to the article, 20th Century Fox TV chairman Dana Walden couldn’t be happier with the deal. “We’ve been pursuing this deal for quite some time,” said Walden. “They would elevate any type of development. But they were very thoughtful about the kind of commitment they were making. They didn’t want to overpromise.”
As for the writer/producers themselves, they are equally as excited. “We’ve been excited about going back into TV, but wanted to wait until the feature side of our company was on its feet,” Kurtzman said.
“One of the things that drew us back to TV was the idea that we could do the kind of stories that we’re not known for in features,” said Orci. “From sci-fi to procedurals to medical genres, those are all the kind of shows that we love.”
For TV, the prolific pair are already overseeing CBS’ reboot of Hawaii Five-O, which recently got a pilot order. They are also producing a new animated version of Transformers for the Hub, the new Discovery/Hasbro joint venture that is set to replace Discovery Kids later this year. Even though they are still involved with Transformers, let’s hope their TV projects during this new deal are more like Fringe and less like Transformers.
