Another behind-the-scenes name from the traditional US television industry is moving into the streaming world, with Apple signing Emmy-winning Friday Night Lights showrunner Jason Katims to an exclusive, overall production and development deal.
Katims’ True Jack Productions company will move to Apple this summer after its long-standing overall deal with Universal Television expires. Katims will remain actively involved in projects he currently has set up at Universal, including Away, his sci-fi series for Netflix about the first human mission to Mars, and Sisters, his Fox network pilot based on the Australian family drama series.
The move to Apple will reunite Katims with his former head of development Michelle Lee, who joined the tech company’s creative development team, led by Matt Cherniss, just over a year ago.
Katims was executive producer and showrunner on acclaimed 2006-11 broadcast series Friday Night Lights, for which he won a writing Emmy, and an executive producer and writer on Parenthood and About A Boy. Most recently, he created and served as showrunner on NBC drama Rise and served as executive producer of Hulu’s The Path.
With streaming platforms continuing their drive to lure talent away from the broadcast and cable sectors, Katims will join an Apple roster that already includes producer and director Justin Lin and writer-producer Kerry Ehrin, who worked with Katims on Friday Night Lights and Parenthood and is now showrunner on Apple’s upcoming Reese Witherspoon/Jennifer Aniston drama series. Apple also has a multi-year content partnership with TV icon Oprah Winfrey.
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