Saturday, March 23, 2013

"Arrested Development" Comes to Dive Into Media: Make Room for Will Arnett, Mitch Hurwitz and Brian Grazer


So perhaps you’ve heard: Last week, Netflix made its first big foray into original content, when it debuted “House of Cards,” the Kevin Spacey/David Fincher political drama.



The video-streaming company will be doing four more of these in the next year or so, but its next very big splash will come in May.



That’s when it brings “Arrested Development,” the much-loved, much-mourned Fox comedy, back for a fourth season, using the same controversial release plan as “House of Cards.” That is — it’s going to release all 14 episodes at once, so you can watch as many as you want, as fast as you want.



And that’s why we’re very excited to bring some of the show’s key on- and offscreen players to our Dive Into Media conference next week: We’re going to have Will Arnett, Mitch Hurwitz and Brian Grazer joining us onstage alongside Netflix content czar Ted Sarandos.



These are the folks we were talking about, but couldn’t name, awhile back. (Hollywood!) And you should know all of them, but in case you need a refresher:



Will Arnett has a long list of TV and movie credits, but he may be best known for the three seasons he played GOB Bluth on “Arrested Development.” If you want to see him before May, you can check out his work on NBC’s “Up All Night.” Or the stuff his DumbDumb multimedia ad shop has produced.



Mitch Hurwitz created “Arrested Development,” and is back for the new season, which he’s writing, directing and producing. His TV career stretches all the way back to “The Golden Girls,” and his work on “Arrested Development” has netted him three Emmys.



Brian Grazer has been making TV shows and movies for 25 years. Running total for that output: 43 Oscars, 149 Emmys, $13.7 billion in movie revenue, and a lot of happy television viewers. His Imagine Entertainment got “Arrested Development” on the air back in 2003, and he’s back for this round as well.



Fun lineup, right? And informative: These are three guys with a whole lot of options — so why are they working on a Web video series? And do they think this is a one-off, or is it the shape of things to come?



Those are the kind of questions we’ll be asking all of our guests, from Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen to Facebook content boss Dan Rose to music mogul Jimmy Iovine, at the Ritz-Carlton in Laguna Niguel, Calif., on Monday and Tuesday. You can see the full lineup here. If you want to join us yourself, we have a few tickets left.


No comments:

Post a Comment