More than a year after signing a first-look TV pact with Sonar Entertainment, the Get Out writer-director has moved his small-screen pact to Amazon Studios. The news comes on the heels of Amazon’s handing out a series pickup to Nazi drama The Hunt, which is produced by Sonar and Peele’s Monkeypaw. Peele is also readying documentary series Lorena, which explores the life of Lorena Bobbitt.
Under the pact, Peele will create and develop new projects for the retailer and streamer, which is plotting a new course under head Jennifer Salke.
“Jordan, [Monkeypaw’s] Win Rosenfeld and the Monkeypaw team represent the ideal creative collaboration as we continue to ramp up original, culturally relevant and riveting television,” Salke said. “Our Lorena Bobbitt documentary and series order for The Hunt represent just the start of what will be a prolific and exciting relationship with Monkeypaw.”
Founded in 2012 by Peele, Monkeypaw is a film, TV and digital focused production company that also produced breakout feature hit Get Out, which the Key & Peele alum wrote and directed. The original screenplay earned Peele an Academy Award, making him the first African American to win in the category and first to be nominated for producing, writing and directing in the same year. On the film side, his first-look deal remains at Universal Pictures.
“I couldn’t be more excited about this new relationship with Amazon. They’ve been a fantastic partner to Monkeypaw over the last year because they’re committed to the same kind of fun and culturally relevant television we are,” Peele said.
Peele comes to Amazon amid an arms race for behind-the-screens talent after Netflix signed Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy to nine-figure exclusive deals. At Amazon, Peele joins a roster of producers and showrunners that includes Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), Amy Sherman-Palladino (Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Jill Soloway (Transparent) and more.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
