Fox Entertainment Sets First Overall Deal with ‘Teen Wolf’ Creator

Fox Entertainment has inked its first overall deal with a TV creator since becoming an independent company without a major studio affiliate.

Teen Wolf and Criminal Minds creator Jeff Davis has signed a multiyear, broadcast-only deal with Fox, under which he will develop scripted dramas for the network. Fox Entertainment will own any shows that come from the pact, the first such since Fox separated from former studio partner 20th Century Fox TV in the $71.3 billion Disney transaction.

Disney’s absorption of 20th TV and other 21st Century Fox assets left the Fox network without a major studio partner. Fox Entertainment is co-producing all of the network’s first-year series alongside other studios, and it also has “content development accelerator” SideCar, headed by former network chief Gail Berman, that will feed programming to the network and other platforms.

Fox has also acquired Bento Box Entertainment, the animation studio that produces Bob’s Burgers and the network’s upcoming Bless the Harts.

Davis’ deal, however, is exclusive to the broadcast network, a rarity in a time when media conglomerates are launching their own streaming platforms and looking for content to feed them.

“Jeff is a singular talent with a unique voice. His ability to create an incredibly wide range of shows — from character-driven procedurals like Criminal Minds to pop culture-piercing coming-of-age stories like Teen Wolf — is what makes this deal so significant,” Fox Entertainment president Michael Thorn said Wednesday in a statement. “As the company’s first direct overall deal, it has even greater significance because it underscores our commitment to being in business with the industry’s best creators — and offering them flexibility and backend, both rare commodities in today’s marketplace.”

Thorn and Davis worked together on Teen Wolf, which ran on MTV from 2011-17. Thorn was an executive at the show’s production company, Lost Marbles, prior to joining 20th TV. Davis had a long-standing deal at Viacom-owned MTV, where he was developing a Teen Wolf follow-up and a War of the Worlds drama, among other projects. MTV currently has no scripted originals.

“Producing the pilot of Teen Wolf with Michael Thorn not only began one of the best professional experiences I’ve had, but set a high bar for collaborative partners that I’ve sought to replicate ever since,” said Davis. “The chance to do it again with him, Charlie Collier, Charlie Andrews, Gabriel Marano and the rest of their team at Fox was one I couldn’t pass up.”

Davis, who also is developing a new take on Rod Serling’s Night Gallery for Syfy, is repped by Authentic Talent & Literary Management and Jackoway Austen.

Fox Entertainment Sets Its First Overall Deal: With ‘Teen Wolf’ Creator

Rick Porter

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