Universal Cable Productions announced Thursday new pod deals with Steve Carell’s Carousel Television and Jessica Biel’s Iron Ocean Productions. Under the agreements, the companies will work with UCP to develop new content.
“At a time when compelling content is thriving across multiple platforms and distribution channels, it’s critical to partner with creative individuals who can develop potentially evergreen entertainment," said Jeffrey Wachtel, president and chief content officer, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “Premier talent like Steve Carell and Jessica Biel will bring a tremendous added value to our development slate.”
Carousel and UCP are collaborating on a one-hour project about Hollywood’s golden age. Iron Ocean is developing two projects with UCP—the Melissa Hilfers-written Pop Culture, about a bachelor who hires an actress to play his wife, and ski-resort workplace comedy Moguls from writers Geoff Moore and David Posamentier.
Wachtel was promoted in September, adding oversight of UCP and unscripted studio Wilshire Studios to his purview.
“Both of these studios have had success as mostly service studios,” Wachtel told B&C earlier this year. “The simple measurable success at the scripted or non-scripted studio is really turning both of those into smart, well run, flexible, profit-making studios.”
