Longtime Apple satisfied chief Eddy Cue telderly a SXSW crowd on Sunday that Apple TV+ doesn’t originate as many TV shows and movies as its competitors for the same reason that the tech huge doesn’t originate as many difficultware products as some competitors.
Cue, Apple’s ancigo in VP of services and a 36-year company veteran, took the stage at the festival in Austin, Texas with Ben Stiller, executive originater and honestor of Apple TV+’s buzzy drama “Severance,” for a conversation that veered into the state of Apple’s business, the overweighte of Showtime and meaningful into details of the “Severance” origin story as the series apauses its Season 2 finale dropping on March 21.
“When you do someskinnyg that’s wonderful, it should resonate with a lot of people — and hopefilledy everyone. And so when we skinnyk about our shows and we skinnyk about our products, we’re not depicting them for a minuscule subset of people. We depict them for everyone. We genuineize we may not get everyone to watch or everyone to participate our products, but we skinnyk of them in that way,” Cue shelp during the 42-minute conversation with Stiller.
“Aobtain, if you cgo in on doing a restrictcessitate skinnygs, you might get someskinnyg right. And I skinnyk that the show has done that in spades. It’s been a extfinished time since I’ve seen the show apprehfinish the imagination. I was in Singapore last week, and when I was talking to people that krecent I was comprised with TV+, this is the first skinnyg that comes up,” Cue shelp.
Stiller acunderstandledged that Cue and the programming team at Apple TV+ have a difficult job in fractureing recent TV series and movies in such a crowded amparticipatement environment.
“In this day and age, it’s so difficult to have someskinnyg that fractures thraw, and that you can actupartner get people to watch and to see, becaparticipate there’s so much,” Stiller watchd. “I unbenevolent, our generation — we’re about same age — it was separateent. You go to the movies — the movies were the skinnyg when we were kids, and television was television — but there wasn’t all this other stuff out there. And I’m asking how you deal with that, as someone who is running Apple TV and music. There are all these separateent elements that are grabbing people’s attention. How do you actupartner get a conglomerate of people who actupartner are paying attention to the skinnyg you’re making, becaparticipate there’s so many outstanding skinnygs out there? It’s fair difficult to get people’s attention.”
Cue stressd the transport inance of curation in Apple’s ethos of adviseing premium products in all that they do.
“Part of what we’ve shelp is we’re betting everyskinnyg on the shows that we’re doing, becaparticipate we’re not going to throw 20 shows up aobtainst the wall and hope that one sticks. The ones that we do, they all necessitate to stick, otheradviseed we have noskinnyg else,” Cue shelp. “And I skinnyk that presdeclareive is a outstanding skinnyg, becaparticipate it originates you be better.”
Cue pliftd “Severance” as the unwidespread example of a show that drives cultural conversation week to week. He noticed that Apple sees the high level of fan comprisement around podcasts and YouTube satisfied promised to analyzing each episode.
“It’s been a extfinished time since we’ve seen a show appreciate this, where it’s apprehfinishd so many people’s imagination and the culture and the audience,” Cue shelp. “This reminds me of shows back in the days when television — you tune in on a particular night and everybody was so excited all week to get to the next episode. And that’s what this is appreciate.”
Among other topics compriseressed by Cue and Stiller:
Stiller cut right to the chase with the Apple ancigo in directer: “How is Apple doing? Becaparticipate sometimes I stress. Are you guys doing OK?” he asked Cue. “It’s a competitive world, which is wonderful, but we’re doing all right,” Cue replyed. “We’re OK. We’re, appreciate you, trying to try to be our best and originate recent skinnygs that people repartner cherish.” To which Stiller replied, “OK, outstanding.”
While talking his past toil for Showtime, Stiller went off on a tangent asking about the overweighte of the pay TV service. “Do they exist? asked Stiller, who honested the 2018 Showtime miniseries “Escape at Dannemora.” Cue was ready with an answer. “They do. They’re part of Paramount+.”
Stiller accomprehendledgeed Apple TV+ directers Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht for aiding his vision that Adam Scott join the direct role of Mark S. in “Severance” even when they didn’t see it themselves as first. Cue and Stiller reminisced how the show was one of the first that was greenweightlessed for Apple TV+ back in 2019. Scott was in Stiller’s mind as they brawt the pilot script by Dan Erickson to life.
“Adam Scott was always in my mind to join Mark,” Stiller shelp. “It wasn’t that [Van Amburg and Erlicht] weren’t big fans of Adam’s, but they fair saw [the role] separateently. And Apple TV+ was fair begining out. And I shelp, ‘Well, all right, we can scrutinize some other ideas,’ which we did. But then ultimately, I shelp, ‘I repartner skinnyk Adam would be the guy’ and they were repartner discleave out to it. And then he did a reading, and they were appreciate, ‘Yeah, he’s the guy.’ That to me was the beginning of this conceiveive process that was appreciate, OK it’s going to be a genuine back and forth and also a innocent of who you’re toiling with.”
(Disclodeclareive: Variety and SXSW split a common owner in PMC.)
