Apple Inks Deal for 'See' Futuristic Drama Series Written by Peaky Blinders Creator Steven Knight

[MacRumors]

Apple has been snapping up multiple TV shows in recent months, and its newest straight-to-series order is for a drama called "See," which was written by "Peaky Blinders" creator Steven Knight and will be directed by Francis Lawrence, known for his work on "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay."

According to Deadline, the show is an epic world-building drama set in the future.

Francis Lawrence and Steven Knight, via Deadline​

Little additional information is available on the series at this time, but it comes from Peter Chernin's Chernin Entertainment and Endeavor Content, which are also behind "Are You Sleeping" another upcoming Apple TV show.

"See" joins several other scripted TV shows that Apple has in the works, including a revival of 1985 Steven Spielberg sci-fi series "Amazing Stories," an untitled space drama developed by Ronald D. Moore, known for "Battlestar Galactica," an untitled "morning show drama" starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, and "Are You Sleeping," a psychological thriller starring Octavia Spencer that focuses on a podcast that reopens a murder case.

Apple has also inked a deal for a docuseries called "Home," which will offer a never-before-seen look inside some of the world's most extra ordinary houses.

Apple has been aggressively pursuing original content since June of 2017, which is when it hired former Sony executives Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht to form a new video unit. Van Amburg and Erlicht, who produced shows like "Breaking Bad," "The Crown," and "Better Call Saul," are running Apple's video programming efforts on a worldwide scale under iTunes chief Eddy Cue.

It's not yet clear when the first of Apple's original TV shows will premiere, but it's possible at least one series will debut later in 2018.

Article Link: Apple Inks Deal for 'See' Futuristic Drama Series Written by Peaky Blinders Creator Steven Knight

 

[entropys]

Will this future envision a wonderful, Tomorrowland type future, or just yet another run of the mill dystopian one?

 

[MH01]

Was a time I said stick to computers , now stick to iPhones and get them right. They are chasing TV shows while they cannot get Apple Music right .

 

[KazKam]

I'd really wish Apple would spin-off a new company, say, Apple Studios or Apple Media Group or something, that would be a new shell for all their original media endeavors and the Apple Music service.

I feel like all these entertainment-related services are really diluting Apple's focus as a stellar hardware and software developer. Apple's starting to feel convoluted and schizophrenic.

I want Apple proper to get their act together and focus like a laser beam on getting their foundation hardware and services squared away. Too many distractions. :/

This new media side of Apple is also the stuff that tarnishes Apple a bit in my eyes. I've always considered the entertainment biz a bit shady/dirty. Partly why I feel Iovine and all these studio exec types are a bad representatives for Apple. They bring with them all the negative big-business baggage of the entertainment industry.

 

[BJB Productions]

Two very talented guys....this could be incredibly good. But the problem is this system is so broken, and Apple isn't helping: with all these streaming companies creating their own content, I'm already going crazy because I refuse to subscribe to every single service.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I'd really wish Apple would spin-off a new company, say, Apple Studios or Apple Media Group or something, that would be a new shell for all their original media endeavors and the Apple Music service.

I feel like all these entertainment-related services are really diluting Apple's focus as a stellar hardware and software developer. Apple's starting to feel convoluted and schizophrenic.

I want Apple proper to get their act together and focus like a laser beam on getting their foundation hardware and services squared away. Too many distractions. :/

With over 120,000 employees... I'm pretty sure the people at Apple who are working on TV shows are not the same people who are working on silicon and software.

But that's just a guess.

I see your point... but you have to remember that Apple is a GIANT corporation with many smaller divisions inside.

The hardware people don't even know who the media people are.

 

[PickUrPoison]

This is why Apple doesn’t need to acquire Netflix. They can source their own original content, and though Netflix has a nice catalog, Apple can build their own.

If they keeps snapping up content at this rate, they’ll have upwards of 100 Apple originals by the end of the year.

 

[Michael Scrip]

This is why Apple doesn’t need Netflix. They can source their own original content, and though Netflix has a nice catalog, Apple can build their own.

If they keeps snapping up content at this rate, they’ll have upwards of 100 Apple originals by the end of the year.

I'm just worried about their delivery:

"Come watch all the Apple Original TV shows.... by subscribing to Apple Music..."

Also... it pretty much requires buying an Apple TV to watch this content on a TV... since you can't watch it on any ol' smart TV, Roku box, etc.

That will limit its appeal too.

I think even my toaster has Netflix.

 

[KazKam]

With over 120,000 employees... I'm pretty sure the people at Apple who are working on TV shows are not the same people who are working on silicon and software.

But that's just a guess.

I see your point... but you have to remember that Apple is a GIANT corporation with many smaller divisions inside.

The hardware people don't even know who the media people are.

I understand. But I'm more talking about public perception and their brand. Also, I really want MacRumors to be about hardware and software again. I'm generally sick of coming to MacRumors and other Apple sites and being bombarded with stories about rappers, studio execs, TV shows, exclusive music deals, and celebs. Couldn't give two ****s.

 

[Bacillus]

OMG This is exactly what Steve despised: further dispersing the content landscape into a zillion mutually exclusive, single source content farms that force customers into a maze of different subscriptions and UX's.
Even worse than cableTV - that preserves news services and journalism
Soon, I will become a cable re-connecter...

 

[oldtime]

This is why Apple doesn’t need to acquire Netflix. They can source their own original content, and though Netflix has a nice catalog, Apple can build their own.

If they keeps snapping up content at this rate, they’ll have upwards of 100 Apple originals by the end of the year.

Netflix already has a great rep and a lot of original content that's very popular and very good. They've got a huge start in the game over their competition. A company like Amazon has been doing the original content thing for years and isn't even close to catching up to NF. Same with Hulu. In fact, NF's market share is larger than those two combined.

Apple can build their own catalog, but it's highly unlikely it'll catch up with NF anytime soon. The shine of the Apple name wasn't enough to vault Apple Music over Spotify (and NF is better at what it does than Spotify...), so there's no reason to believe an Apple tv and movie streaming service will ever be more than an also-ran.

 

[Delgibbons]

Look forward to watching this!

While someone with root access hacks my Macbook.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I understand. But I'm more talking about public perception and their brand.

The public perception of Apple in 2018 is a lot greater than the public perception in 1984.

Apple has a billion customers now. That's gotta say something about their brand.

The company has grown and offers more products. Apple wouldn't still be around today if they only sold Macintosh computers like the old days.

Also, I really want MacRumors to be about hardware and software again. I'm generally sick of coming to MacRumors and other Apple sites and being bombarded with stories about rappers, studio execs, TV shows, exclusive music deals, and celebs. Couldn't give two ****s.

MacRumors covers everything Apple does.

As I said above... the company has grown to offer more things. And MacRumors covers all of them.

I hear ya... I don't really care about celebrities and music exclusives either. But it's soooo easy to scroll by an article and not click on it. You should try it. It's fun.

 

[BornAgainMac]

My Mac Mini is really getting old. I wish I could replace it today.

 

[PickUrPoison]

I'm just worried about their delivery:

"Come watch all the Apple Original TV shows.... by subscribing to Apple Music..."

I would be extremely surprised if Apple didn’t launch an “Apple Video” subscription streaming service separate from Apple Music, but I think Apple Music will have music-related video content available.

Apple Music could also make some Apple Video original content available in order to cross-sell. So previews or the first few episodes of a series could be available to Apple Music subscribers, but they’d need to add Apple Video to get access to all content. Expect double play bundling discounts to get customers onto both services.

 

[KazKam]

The public perception of Apple in 2018 is a lot greater than the public perception in 1984.

Apple has a billion customers now. That's gotta say something about their brand.

The company has grown and offers more products. Apple wouldn't still be around today if they only sold Macintosh computers like the old days.



MacRumors covers everything Apple does.

As I said above... the company has grown to offer more things. And MacRumors covers all of them.

I hear ya... I don't really care about celebrities and music exclusives either. But it's soooo easy to scroll by an article and not click on it. You should try it. It's fun.

Nah, to me it feels more like if someone poured water in my soda. A diluted undrinkable version of what it once was, or the old bait and switch. Maybe I'm just getting too old and nostalgic and yearn for simpler times. I better leave now since I have to walk uphill both to and from home.

 

[Baymowe335]

You guys don't understand companies if you think this endeavor is detracting from software and hardware development.

Any issues Apple has in those areas are NOT a resources problem. They CAN do both things without one impacting the other. There is an execution issue on some of the software issues, although I think they are somewhat overblown.

 

[Compote]

At what point does Apple start to innovate again and at what point does it stop trying to compete with and kill off any company that wants to do business on its platforms?

Maps, music streaming, voice recognition, shazam...

Do something odd, bold and new, Apple, stop playing catch up and mee too!

 

[ironpony]

Peaky Blinders is a great series!

 

[Captain Brainstorm]

I'm just worried about their delivery:

"Come watch all the Apple Original TV shows.... by subscribing to Apple Music..."

Also... it pretty much requires buying an Apple TV to watch this content on a TV... since you can't watch it on any ol' smart TV, Roku box, etc.

That will limit its appeal too.

I think even my toaster has Netflix.

Isn’t it possible to get Apple Music on Android phones? I would imagine Apple’s streaming television service would try to hit players other than solely Apple TV.

 

[Mirice99]

This is why Apple doesn’t need to acquire Netflix. They can source their own original content, and though Netflix has a nice catalog, Apple can build their own.

If they keeps snapping up content at this rate, they’ll have upwards of 100 Apple originals by the end of the year.

Without an unlimited subscription it won't matter if Apple has upwards of 100 original shows for 2.99 an episode it will be a complete failure.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Netflix already has a great rep and a lot of original content that's very popular and very good. They've got a huge start in the game over their competition. A company like Amazon has been doing the original content thing for years and isn't even close to catching up to NF. Same with Hulu. In fact, NF's market share is larger than those two combined.

Apple can build their own catalog, but it's highly unlikely it'll catch up with NF anytime soon. The shine of the Apple name wasn't enough to vault Apple Music over Spotify (and NF is better at what it does than Spotify...), so there's no reason to believe an Apple tv and movie streaming service will ever be more than an also-ran.

Apple isn’t trying to beat Netflix though. Netflix spent $6 billion on original content last year, I think there’s $10 billion budgeted for this year. Apple has a reported $1 billion budget for original content; with their resources that could easily have been $10 or 20 billion if they’d have wanted. Apple could have acquired Netflix or Disney years ago, or even the recent 21st Fox assets, but they didn’t.

Actually, I would only be somewhat surprised if the video streaming content doesn’t require an additional subscription fee. Apple could just use it to create a stickier ecosystem, and include it free for those who subscribe to Apple Music.
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Without an unlimited subscription it won't matter if Apple has upwards of 100 original shows for 2.99 an episode it will be a complete failure.

I don’t think selling episodes on iTunes is how Apple plans to use their original content.

 

[mazz0]

Ooh, a futuristic Peaky Blinders sounds awesome.

 

[FightTheFuture]

The shine of the Apple name wasn't enough to vault Apple Music over Spotify (and NF is better at what it does than Spotify...), so there's no reason to believe an Apple tv and movie streaming service will ever be more than an also-ran.

Not one of Apple's products has ever or could ever be declared #1 in sales over their competitors... Maybe the iPod.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Not interested in some type of HGTV show from Apple.