Dick Wolf Extends Universal TV Overall Deal

NBCUniversal is ensuring Dick Wolf remains in its stable for a long time.

The procedural king, fresh off multiple-series renewals for his Law & Order and Chicago franchises, has signed a two-year overall deal extension with Universal Television.

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The new deal means Wolf will remain with Universal TV until 2027. His previous pact, which was signed pre-pandemic in 2020 and came with three-season renewals for his slate of shows, was a five-year deal that a source at the time described as being the “largest deal in TV history.”

“Universal Television has been my home for almost 40 years. It has been, and continues to be, one of the most successful partnerships in television, and I am thrilled that we are keeping the trains running another four years,” Wolf said in a statement that downplayed the previous five-year agreement as a three-year pact.

Wolf currently has three franchises that make up nine scripted series on the air across two broadcast networks: NBC’s Chicago Fire, Chicago PD and Chicago Med; NBC’s Law & Order revival, Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime; as well as CBS’ FBI, FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International. All nine have already been renewed for the 2023-24 season. He also is behind Freevee’s upcoming half-hour drama On Call and is adapting his serialized podcast Dark Woods as a series for Universal TV. (A platform for the latter has not yet been identified.)

“Whether in the comfort of their home or on the treadmill at the gym, it’s a safe bet that almost every adult in the United States has viewed at least one episode of a Dick Wolf show at some point in their life. Dick is a cultural institution who has produced over 2,000 hours of television, and we are elated that he will continue to make Universal Television his home,” said Pearlena Igbokwe, chairman of Universal Studio Group, of which Universal TV is a division. “With 10 scripted shows presenting across multiple platforms and a new pipeline of unscripted series, Dick’s vision, creativity and love for television continue to be boundless, and we are proud to be his partners.”

On the unscripted side, Wolf is behind CNBC/Oxygen’s Blood & Money and NBC’s upcoming L.A. Fire & Rescue. The latter debuts in June.

Wolf’s deal puts him on a parallel track with another of television’s most prolific producers, Greg Berlanti. Berlanti in January signed a new pact with his longtime home at Warner Bros. Television Group that sees him serve as a mini-studio at the company through 2027.

This is the latest rich deal that Wolf has signed with NBCUniversal. In early 2020, before his overall deal, the prolific producer set a rich six-show streaming deal with Peacock that gave the NBCUniversal platform rights to more than 1,000 episodes across six of Wolf’s shows: the flagship Law & Order and spinoff Criminal Intent, the entire run of SVU and all three Chicago series. Together, the streaming and overall deal were estimated to have been worth north of $1 billion at the time.

Wolf is repped by WME and Ziffren Brittenham.

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