Phil Lord and Chris Miller have signed an exclusive, five-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television. The deal is worth nine-figures, a person with knowledge of the deal’s financials told TheWrap. Sony declined to comment on the financials.
The Academy Award-winning and Emmy-nominated writing, directing and producing team will create a slate of both live-action and animated series under their Lord Miller Productions banner — including a suite of new TV series based on Sony’s Marvel Universe, produced in partnership with Amy Pascal.
The deal expands on the duo’s existing relationship with Sony Pictures Entertainment, with past collaborations including their Oscar-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” “21 Jump Street” and its sequel, and their directorial and writing debut “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.”
All of their feature films combined have grossed more than $3.3 billion at the worldwide box office. Upcoming projects they’re set to direct include “The Last Human,” and “Artemis,” based on the novel by “The Martian” author Andy Weir. The pair are also known for their television series “The Last Man on Earth,” and have a new animated series “Bless The Harts” created by Emily Spivey premiering this fall on Fox.
Under the deal, Lord and Miller will be allowed to develop their own projects for network, cable and streaming platforms, and also supervise other writers’ projects. Aubrey Lee will continue in her role as vice president of TV development and production at Lord Miller.
“We are so grateful to everyone at Sony Pictures Television for choosing to partner with us and expand our enduring relationship with the studio. Together we aim to make groundbreaking work of the highest quality and integrity, and to place that work in convenient proximity to your eyeballs and earholes, wherever you may be,” Lord and Miller said in a statement.
“This is a significant milestone for our television business, having the opportunity to work with two of the most creative forces in the industry in both our film and television businesses,” said Mike Hopkins, chairman of Sony Pictures Television. “Building on our strong IP and creating new franchises has been a key focus for SPE, and the best way to do that is to invest in remarkable storytellers like Phil and Chris. We are thrilled to welcome them to the SPT family, and I want to thank Jeff, Chris and Jason for all their hard work in pulling this deal together.”
“Phil and Chris have reimagined every medium and genre they have touched,” said Sony Pictures Television president Jeff Frost. “Whether it’s television, features or animation, they have created their own unique brand and style. We are so excited to be working with these brilliant creators and showrunners and are looking forward to collaborating with them in every aspect of television — comedy, drama, animation and beyond.”
The deal comes a week after Sony Pictures Television inked a big overall deal last week with “The X-Files” producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, representing a growing roster of talent for the production company.
UTA and Ziffren Brittenham LLP brokered the deal before the WGA/ATA’s franchise agreement expired on April 12.