As they make significant moves into the content industry, tech giant Apple has already started hiring top executives from major firms in the business.
Apple had made their plans clear over the summer, when they launched their first two shows: Planet of the Apps and Carpool Karaoke. The company was looking to expand into the fast-growing market of video content, and they planned to do so by introducing video broadcasting on Apple Music, eventually aiming at becoming a competitor to Netflix, Amazon Video and Hulu.
Determined to make a splash on the original content stage, they closed a deal last month to produce the legendary director Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories. Originally aired in 1985, the series won five Emmys before being cancelled, but now a big comeback is imminent as the Cupertino company has invested as much as $1 billion for a new 10-episode season.
In order to really bring their vision to reality, though, Apple needs the best talent that the industry can offer, and, for now, it looks like they’re ready to go and get it.
The first strategic move to build an unprecedented task-force of film executives took place in June, when the company sealed a deal with Sony Pictures Television presidents Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, who had been at Sony for 20 years and had recently received several high-profile job opportunities, before deciding to join Apple. Their position, as the Apple Newsroom reports, involves leading video programming worldwide.
While at Sony, the two have overseen popular and critically acclaimed series, such as Breaking Bad, its spin-off Better Call Saul, Netflix’s The Crown and many more.
As these shows acquired their popularity primarily thanks to the rise of streaming services, and the two executives were highly in demand by other major firms, their move to Apple says a lot about how likely we are to see the tech giant enter the subscription streaming video industry in the near future.
In August, the company appointed former WGN America president Matt Cherniss as their Head of US Programming. The following high-profile hiring spree from Apple not only earned them one of the biggest talents in the industry, but they managed to tap him from their direct competitor Amazon Video. Morgan Wandell was indeed hired in October, with the title of Head of International and Creative Development, reporting directly to Van Amburg and Erlicht.
Finally, at the end of last month, Apple made its first move into the European talent pool by hiring UK-based broadcasting executive Jay Hunt as part of their International Creative Development team. Hunt was most recently chief creative officer at Channel 4, where she led a “creative renaissance” that earned Channel 4 two Channel of the Year awards at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, along with several BAFTAs for series and broadcast coverage commissioned by Hunt. Her impressive resume includes Humans, First Dates, and sci-fi series Black Mirror, which went viral on Netflix last year.
After other tech companies such as Amazon and Facebook also moved into the original content industry, it’s often speculated that Silicon Valley could become the new Hollywood, but the ease with which Apple is hiring such big names in the industry directly from the competition makes it look like this change is more imminent than ever. As tech companies have huge amounts of capital to invest in content and talent, traditional production companies risk ending up being deprived of their top executives and unable to match Apple’s offer.
However, what will make a difference in the race for original content will of course be the quality of productions, and on that front, we can only wait to see what Apple can come up with.