Like so many different writer-directors, Alex Kurtzman grew up worshiping movie.
However he’s adaptable — and within the streaming period, that may be a very profitable trait.
Mr. Kurtzman, the onetime author of the “Transformers” motion pictures and the director of the 2017 movie “The Mummy,” not too long ago renegotiated his deal at CBS Studios into one of many richest there. Underneath the $160 million, five-and-a-half-year settlement, he’ll proceed to shepherd the rising “Star Trek” tv universe for ViacomCBS’s Paramount+ streaming platform.
He may also create reveals, together with a restricted sequence based mostly on “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” which he’ll direct for Showtime, and the long-awaited adaptation of Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Superb Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.” That restricted sequence is probably going to be bought to an out of doors streaming service.
Mr. Kurtzman’s deal is the newest in a string supposed to give prolific producers, like Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy for Netflix and Jordan Peele with Amazon Studios, free rein to create content material that may feed insatiable client appetites and hopefully enhance subscriptions for streaming. This one places the ambitions of CBS Studios — the manufacturing arm for the networks and channels beneath the ViacomCBS umbrella — squarely within the arms of the 47-year-old Mr. Kurtzman.
“From the primary assembly I had with Alex, it was so apparent to me that he’s our future,” George Cheeks, the president and chief government of the CBS Leisure Group, stated in an interview. “The man can develop for broadcast. He can develop for premium streaming, broad streaming. He understands the enterprise. He’s bought super empathy. He’s creatively nimble.
“If you make these investments,” Mr. Cheeks continued, “you want to know that this expertise can really ship a number of tasks on the identical time throughout a number of platforms.”
The street forward received’t be simple for ViacomCBS. Its fledgling Paramount+ was a late entry into streaming, and is basically a rebranded and expanded model of CBS All Entry. The corporate promotes the service’s information and stay sports activities, together with Nationwide Soccer League video games, together with “a mountain of flicks.” (“A Quiet Place 2” debuted on it on July 13.) However Paramount+, together with a smaller Showtime streaming providing, had simply 36 million subscribers as of Might.
Whereas it hopes to attain 65 million to 75 million international subscribers by 2024, that’s nonetheless a far cry from Netflix’s worldwide whole of just about 210 million and the practically 104 million for Disney+. Even NBCUniversal introduced on Thursday that it had 54 million subscribers for its Peacock streaming service, thanks to an Olympic push.
And with consolidation mania consuming Hollywood, many analysts aren’t assured that ViacomCBS will likely be in a position to proceed to compete with the bigger firms by itself.
“I believe it’s onerous to think about any of those firms going it alone; I believe they’re all too small,” stated Richard Greenfield, an analyst at LightShed Companions. “The problem, whether or not it’s Peacock, Paramount+, Disney+ or Hulu, is that every one of those firms are nonetheless conflicted over what do they placed on linear TV, what do they put in a movie show and what do they placed on streaming.
“Netflix, Amazon and Apple shouldn’t have that debate day by day,” he added. “All their property go into one factor. Right here, they’ve to steadiness, and that makes all of their streaming companies suboptimal.”
These company concerns don’t appear to hassle Mr. Kurtzman. Reasonably than bemoaning the diminished state of flicks or anguishing over the dearth of viable patrons because the market shrinks, he stated he was discovering the present local weather to be creatively invigorating and remarkably fluid.
“I do consider that the road between motion pictures and tv is gone now, and that to me is an amazing alternative,” he stated in an interview. “For me and for showrunners like me, we will inform tales in a brand new approach. We aren’t restricted by the slim definition of the way you inform a narrative — one thing have to be informed in 10 hours, or one thing have to be informed in two hours.”
Each day Enterprise Briefing
Mr. Kurtzman started working with CBS in 2009 when he developed the reboot of “Hawaii 5-0” together with his former writing companion, Roberto Orci. In 2017, he started reimagining the “Star Trek” universe for the corporate, constructing on his familiarity with the franchise after co-writing the 2 J.J. Abrams-directed “Star Trek” motion pictures a number of years earlier.
Since then, he has produced 5 reveals within the universe initially imagined within the 1960s by Gene Roddenberry, and all will likely be on Paramount+. They’re “Star Trek: Discovery”; “Star Trek: Picard”; “Star Trek: Decrease Decks”; “Star Trek: Prodigy,” which is able to debut within the fall; and “Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds,” set for launch in 2022. ViacomCBS says “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Star Trek: Picard” are among the many most watched authentic sequence on Paramount+.
Additionally within the works are “Part 31,” starring Michelle Yeoh, and a present constructed across the “Starfleet Academy,” which will likely be geared toward a youthful viewers.
However how a lot “Star Trek” does one planet want?
“I believe we’re simply getting began,” Mr. Kurtzman stated. “There’s simply a lot extra to be had.”
He not too long ago completed a four-month shoot in London for the primary half of “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” a 10-episode sequence based mostly on the 1976 David Bowie movie. Chiwetel Ejiofor performs a brand new alien character who arrives on Earth at a turning level in human evolution.
Mr. Kurtzman stated he cherished the expertise of engaged on the sequence, buoyed by the truth that the pandemic allowed him and his writing companion, Jenny Lumet, the chance to full all of the episodes earlier than manufacturing started.
“I might completely not be doing something in another way if we have been making this as a movie,” he stated. “I’m working with film stars in three totally different nations, capturing sequences which are actually not typical tv sequences, all of which I can solely do due to my expertise working in movies.”
Ms. Lumet met Mr. Kurtzman in 2015. He requested getting collectively after seeing the movie “Rachel Getting Married,” which she wrote. Ms. Lumet stated she was shocked that this “sci-fi robotic man in khakis” was involved in assembly her in any respect.
“All he needed to do was discuss tiny moments, tiny actual moments in motion pictures and tiny moments in tv reveals, and he was so mild and keen to hear,” she stated. “Often, the robotic guys aren’t keen to hear to something, and that’s all he needed to do. It was actually cool.”
The 2 have labored on all the things from “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Star Trek: Unusual New Worlds” to the short-lived “Clarice” and “The Man Who Fell to Earth.” Subsequent, they plan to sort out the story of Ms. Lumet’s grandmother Lena Horne in a restricted sequence for Showtime.
These round Mr. Kurtzman credit score his early expertise in tv (“Alias,” “Fringe,” “Sleepy Hole”) for giving him the power to handle a number of tasks at one time with out showing to be overwhelmed. “He has an nearly supernatural skill to preserve separate prepare tracks in his head, this present, this present and this present, and he can soar from one to the opposite,” Ms. Lumet stated. “He is without doubt one of the few individuals who can preserve all of the trains working.”
His work as a movie screenwriter started on Michael Bay’s 2005 movie, “The Island.” Quickly, he and Mr. Orci have been being referred to as “Hollywood’s secret weapons” for his or her skill to crack scripts on profitable present properties that others couldn’t (like “Transformers”). That led him to contemplate “Star Trek” in the identical expansive phrases that Marvel Studios views its cinematic universe. It’s a technique that CBS Studios completely endorses.
David Stapf, president of CBS Studios, factors to “Star Trek: Prodigy” for example. The animated present, one of many first animated “Star Trek” reveals geared at youngsters, is ready to debut within the fall on Paramount+ earlier than transferring to Nickelodeon.
“It clearly builds followers at a a lot youthful era, which helps with client merchandise,” Mr. Stapf stated. “Nevertheless it’s additionally a sensible approach to have a look at constructing a whole universe.”
To Mr. Stapf, who has overseen CBS Studios since 2004, the “Marvelization” of “Star Trek” can imply many issues.
“Something goes, so long as it will probably match into the ‘Star Trek’ ethos of inspiration, optimism and the overall concept that humankind is sweet,” he stated. “So comedy, grownup animation, children’ animation — you identify the style, and there’s most likely a ‘Star Trek’ model of it.”
That’s excellent news to Mr. Kurtzman, who needs to get a lot weirder with the franchise, which is able to have fun its 55th birthday this 12 months. He factors to a pitch from Graham Wagner (“Portlandia,” “Silicon Valley”), centered on the character Worf, that he calls “extremely humorous, poignant and touching.”
“If it have been up to me solely, I might be pushing the boundaries a lot additional than I believe most individuals would need,” he stated. “I believe we would get there. Marvel has really confirmed you can. However you may have to construct a sure basis so as to get there and we’re nonetheless constructing our basis.”