Martin Scorsese Signs First-Look Deal With Apple

Martin Scorsese and his Sikelia Productions label will create film and television projects for Apple TV+

It seems like the streaming discourse of the past few years didn’t dissuade Martin Scorsese away from that realm after all. Scorsese and his Sikelia Productions label have signed a first look deal with tech-giant Apple to produce content for their streaming service Apple TV+. The deal is a multi-year agreement that will cover film and television projects.

Sikelia Productions, which Scorsese founded in 2003, has produced all of the director’s narrative works since 2004’s The Aviator. It has also produced numerous documentaries, as well as the TV shows Boardwalk Empire and Vinyl.

Killers of the Flower Moon

Sikelia had a first-look deal with Paramount for the last decade or so, where Scorsese’s upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon was originally set up. That film, which will star Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, made the move over to Apple TV+ back in May as Paramount was worried over budgetary issues. The film will serve as the first project in Scorsese’s first-look deal, although Paramount will still serve as theatrical distributor. (DiCaprio’s production company, Appian Way, recently signed a first-look deal with Apple as well.)

The film is based on David Grann’s non-fiction book “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI”. It follows the investigation of the murder of wealthy members of the Osage tribe in the 1920s after oil was discovered on their land. Eric Roth wrote the screenplay, and Dan Friedkin and Bradley Thomas will produce for Imperative Entertainment. The film will be a “large-scale western” and is in pre-production, with filming looking to start in Oklahoma in February.

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