“Modern Family” co-creator Steve Levitan has re-upped his overall deal with 20th Century Fox Television, the studio announced on Thursday.
The new multi-year agreement keeps Levitan at the studio he has called home for the past 20 years. Under the deal, he will continue to create, write, develop, direct and supervise new series projects. He will also continue to shepherd “Modern Family” with co-creator and executive producer Chris Lloyd through its currently-airing 11th and final season.
“Modern Family” is set to conclude its run on ABC in 2020.
Levitan’s new deal comes just over a year after the writer-producer publicly threatened to walk away from the studio in protest of its corporate connection to Fox News. In a tweet, he took aim at the cable news channel for its “23-hour-a-day support of the NRA, conspiracy theories and Trump’s lies” and said he looked forward to “setting up shop elsewhere.”
In the months since, the deal between Disney and Fox has closed, severing 20th Century Fox Television’s link to the Fox News operation. The studio now falls under the Disney Television Studios umbrella, which also comprises ABC Studios and Fox 21 Television Studios.
“While I’ll miss seeing Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham at the Fox company picnic, I’m thrilled to make this move to Disney where I can still cling to so many people I love and respect,” Levitan said in a statement. “Good friends like Dana Walden, Peter Rice, Bob Iger, Howard Kurtzman, Jonnie Davis and Carolyn Cassidy, to name just a few, have been steadfast supporters over these last twenty years and I’m deeply grateful to join them and Craig Hunegs as I try to produce a few of the 46-thousand shows on television.”
Added Disney TV Studios chairman Dana Walden, “We made a deal with Steve twenty years ago and every year we’ve worked together has been fruitful, unexpected, and very meaningful to all of us. Modern Family, which Steve created with Chris Lloyd, is one of the funniest, best and most award-winning comedies in the history of television. He’s a brilliant writer and an extraordinary producer, who asks more of himself than we ever could. His love of comedy is evident in everything he writes and he elevates everything on which he works. On a personal note, he’s a spectacular person who has become a close friend and I’m thrilled that he’s continuing to make his home with us. Finally, it’s worth noting that my quote would have been significantly funnier had he punched it up.”
Levitan is repped by attorney Sam Fischer of Ziffren Brittenham.