Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao has signed a multi-year first look deal with Searchlight Television, a newly launched division of Searchlight Pictures.
The deal marks Zhao’s first foray into television with the same studio that produced her film “Nomadland,” which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2021.
“Chloe is a visionary filmmaker and, since the moment we finished ‘Nomadland,’ we have looked to find new ways to collaborate again,” Searchlight presidents Matthew Greenfield and David Greenbaum said in a joint statement. “We are inspired by the breadth of Chloe’s storytelling passions and are beyond happy to be able to link arms and expand the opportunities to support personal, powerful, and enduring stories.”
Searchlight Television is responsible for “The Dropout,” which was its first series as a production arm and won this year’s best actress Emmy Award for Amanda Seyfried. The true-story limited series about Elizabeth Holmes was produced in conjunction with 20th Television and is a Hulu Original.
The division is currently producing multiple additional series, including the Hulu Original variety series “History of the World, Part II” and an adaptation of “The Full Monty” with FX and Disney+.
Aside from “Nomadland” — for which she also won Best Director, only the second woman to do so — Zhao directed the MCU film “Eternals,” released in 2021, and the 2018 film “The Rider.” She is represented by Pangea and Ilene Feldman Management and Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Adler, Feldman & Clark.
