With AMC recently announcing plans for a Rob Ford biopic and the upcoming debut of the “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” series “Quiz,” the studio is continuing to foster relationships with unique creatives.
AMC Studios has revealed that it’s inked separate overall deals with “Rectify” creator Ray McKinnon, “Friday Night Lights” writer-producer Rolin Jones, and “Killing Eve” producer Eve Mingacci. The trio will create exclusive content over several years for AMC Networks Entertainment Group — which includes BBC America, IFC, SundanceTV, and the streaming service Shudder — as well other content companies. The announcement says this is merely an expansion of the trio’s already ongoing relationships with the network.
“Our writers and producers are the center of everything we do and achieve, and I could not be happier to welcome (back) this massively talented triumvirate to AMC Networks,” said Sarah Barnett, president of AMC Networks’ Entertainment Group and AMC Studios in a statement. “Rolin, Gina, and Ray are exceptional. I look forward to making incredible television with these brilliant humans, all of whom are incapable of doing anything that isn’t something special.”
McKinnon’s team-up with AMC is particularly exciting. His series, “Rectify,” about a Georgia death-row inmate released due to new DNA evidence, ran for four seasons from 2013 to 2016 on SundanceTV. The hourlong drama became a critics’ favorite and earned a Peabody Award in 2015, along with WGA and TCA nominations, as well.
“They embraced my particular slant once before with ‘Rectify’ which played no small part in my decision (and hopefully theirs) to have another go,” McKinnon said in a statement. “It’s near impossible to collaborate with someone who doesn’t really get what you’re going for. Sarah did and does and that’s hard to put a value on. I feel very fortunate. Given the times we’re in, it is hard not to be moved, inspired, and appalled into picking up the pen again. I can only hope for a full well.”
Right now there is no word on any new projects McKinnon, Jones, or Mingacci have in development as the result of this deal. McKinnon has not created or written for another television series since “Rectify” went off the air in 2016 (though he did have a recurring acting gig on “Mayans M.C.” and co-starred in James Mangold’s 2019 film “Ford v. Ferrari.”)
Mingacci serves as executive producer on AMC’s hit series “Killing Eve” which premiered its third season on April 12 and has already been greenlit for Season 4. Jones is also prepping to debut the Matthew Rhys-starring reboot of “Perry Mason” on HBO in June, which he co-created and executive produced.