The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Apple will be funding a new scripted TV series starring Dr Dre, who has been an Apple executive ever since he and Jimmy Iovine sold their Beats Electronics brand for $3 billion, back in 2014.
Sources say the show will be semi-autobiographical, with each episode focusing on a different emotion and how Dre’s character deals with it. Dre came up with the idea for the show and pitched it to Jimmy Iovine. Music video director Paul Hunter will oversee the project, alongside producers Aaron Ginsburg and William Green. Dr Dre hand-picked Empire co-executive producer-writer Robert Munic to write the six episodes and executive produce the series.
Although Apple now looks set to start creating its own TV content, a dedicated Apple TV streaming service, similar to Netflix doesn't seem likely any time soon. A Wall Street Journal report in 2015 claimed that Apple was in talks with American broadcasting networks ABC, CBS and Fox to release an online TV service.
However, CBS CEO Les Moonves has recently said that talks between the network and Apple have come to a close, for now at least.
Speaking in a CNNMoney interview, he said: “We had conversations a while back, and we haven’t had recent conversations with them." When asked if Apple would be releasing a service in 2016, he replied “You’ll have to ask Apple that,” but he did admit that CBS would be interested in partnering with the technology giant "if the price was right".
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