John Requa & Glenn Ficarra Strike Broadcast First-Look Deal With Fox Entertainment

Peter White
·2 min read

John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, who directed the pilot episode of NBC’s This Is Us, have inked a broadcast first-look deal with Fox Entertainment.

The pair, who run Zaftig Films with production partner Charlie Gogolak, previously had an overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television.

This comes as John Slattery A.I. drama Next, which they directed the pilot for and exec produce, kicks off on Fox on Tuesday October 6 at 9pm.

The pair will develop series as well as direct pilots under the deal. Fox Entertainment will own shows greenlit with Requa, Ficarra and Gogolak exec producing via Zaftig Films.

Ficarra and Requa have written feature films including Bad Santa and Jungle Cruise and directed films including Crazy, Stupid, Love. They have also exec produced TV series including Amazon’s Patriot.

It is the latest first-look deal signed by the new-look Fox. The company has a broadcast-only overall deal with Criminal Minds creator Jeff Davis as well as deals with the likes of Kyle Killen, Denis Leary, Dan Harmon, Jermaine Fowler and Sarah Watson.

“Having had the privilege to witness first-hand John and Glenn’s brilliant approach to harnessing the creative process and bringing compelling television to life on This Is Us and, most recently, our new drama, Next, Charlie Collier and I always kept our eyes on the opportunity to build on our budding relationship with them,” said Michael Thorn, President of Entertainment, Fox Entertainment.

“John and Glenn joining Fox Entertainment’s growing portfolio of talent further illustrates the value of our strategy to create innovative models that highlight our independent position in the market and empower our partners to do their best work,” he added.

“We are over the moon to be in business with Charlie Collier, Michael Thorn and Charlie Andrews in this latest iteration of our continuing creative partnership. Their encouragement, support and trust have inspired us as writers and producers, and we thank them for the chance to work in an entirely new way – directly with the network and with an incredible amount of artistic freedom,” added Requa and Ficarra. “Unfortunately, along with our producing partner Charlie Gogolak, emails will be eternally confusing with too many Charlies…”

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