Fox Searchlight launching TV division to produce original shows
After two decades of releasing indie feature films, including last year’s Oscar-winning “The Shape of Water,” Fox Searchlight Pictures is officially getting into the TV business.
Fox Searchlight announced Wednesday that it is launching a division that will focus on producing original TV series and shows for broadcast, streaming and cable outlets. The division will be called Searchlight Television, and it will produce original material as well as use the studio’s library of feature films for adaptation for broadcast television, cable and streaming.
Searchlight Television will create scripted series, limited series, documentaries and more.
The new TV division will be led by David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield, who already head Searchlight’s movie production division. Their titles will be presidents of production for film and television, effective immediately.
“At such an exciting moment for the company, we feel it is the perfect time to provide new avenues for visionary and innovative talent as well as to recognize the contributions of David and Matthew,” Searchlight co-Presidents Stephen A. Gilula and Nancy Utley said in Wednesday’s announcement.
Searchlight has been on an Oscars hot streak in the last 10 years. The company’s best-picture wins include “The Shape of Water,” “Birdman,” “12 Years a Slave” and “Slumdog Millionaire.”
The company, which is a division of 20th Century Fox Film, produces as well as distributes feature films. Its most recent theatrical release is the animated Wes Anderson movie “Isle of Dogs.”
“The relationships that the Searchlight team forges with talent are deep and abiding. It only makes sense to extend these relationships into television so Searchlight can continue to tell great stories on every platform,” Stacey Snider, head of Fox Film, said in a statement.
This month, Searchlight signed a development deal with Guillermo del Toro that covers live-action feature projects that the Oscar-winning filmmaker will write, produce and direct, as well as creating a new genre label.
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