Phil Lord & Christopher Miller Re-Up 20th Century Fox TV Pod Deal
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have re-upped their television pod deal at 20th Century TV for another 3 years. Under the new pact, the duo will continue to develop, write and direct their own comedy projects — both live action and animation — as well as supervise other writers’ projects for network and cable under their Lord Miller banner. Lord Miller head of television Seth Cohen will continue to oversee all television projects and executive produce alongside Lord and Miller. Katie Newman will continue on as director of development and production.
Under the new deal, Lord Miller sold The Escape, a single-camera family comedy about three generations of men written by Dan Sterling, which has a put pilot commitment at ABC.
Lord and Miller, who started in television and worked on several 20th TV series, including How I Met Your Mother, had spent seven years in features before returning to TV with a three-year pod deal at 20th TV in 2013, following a directing stint on the pilot for the Fox comedy pilot Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which went to series, now in its fourth season. Lord Miller has three series on Fox developed through the company’s first 20th TV pod deal, the Emmy-nominated Last Man On Earth, now in its third season, new animation/live-action hybrid Son of Zorn and the upcoming time-travel comedy Making History. They also have a project in development at Fox 21 Television Studios based on the podcast phenom Serial.
“Phil and Chris are wildly inventive guys who revel in breaking the rules—exactly the kind of creative disruptors we champion at this studio,” said Fox Television Group Chairmen and CEOs Dana Walden and Gary Newman. “In just the past few years alone, they’ve given Fox viewers shows about the last man on earth, a cartoon warrior trying to reconnect with his teenaged son, and coming this spring, a pair of college professors creating chaos with a time machine shaped like a duffel bag. They are quite literally in a class by themselves and we love working with them. And we’re happy that we’ll continue to for many years to come.”
In features, The Lego Movie and 21/22 Jump Street helmers Lord and Miller are directing the Han Solo Star Wars anthology movie.
“We are very lucky to spend more time with the smart people at Fox,” they said. “Gary and Dana have high standards and play to win, and that is why we keep working together. Also, the parmesan crispy cracker-bread at the fancy commissary is highly addictive and this seems to be the only way to get our fix.”
Lord and Miller are repped by UTA and attorneys Matthew Johnson and Sam Fischer.
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