David Farnor | On 13, Jan 2015

Amazon Studios has signed Woody Allen to write and direct his first ever television series.

The man who gave us Annie Hall and Blue Jasmine has made many appearances on the small screen, but never ventured into making his own series. Instead, he has focused on churning out feature films, producing almost one per year since he first started.

If the sudden departure from the 79 year old is a surprise, though, the choice of Amazon may be equally unexpected.

The retailer’s range of original content started poorly with the drab political comedy Alpha House. In the past year, though, its line-up has become increasingly impressive, attracting talent such as Gael Garcia Bernal to star in Mozart in the Jungle and David Gordon Green to direct TV pilot Red Oaks.

With Jill Soloway’s Transparent taking home the first ever Best TV Series Golden Globe for an online show at the weekend – also bagging Best Actor for Jeffrey Tambor in the process – the company is evidently thinking big.

Untitled Woody Allen Project will be a half-hour series, with episodes written and directed by Allen. It will premiere on Amazon Prime Instant Video in 2016.

“Woody Allen is a visionary creator who has made some of the greatest films of all-time, and it’s an honour to be working with him on his first television series,” says Roy Price, Vice President of Amazon Studios.

“Woody has been at the creative forefront of American cinema and we couldn’t be more excited to premiere his first TV series exclusively on Prime Instant Video next year.”

Woody adds: “I don’t know how I got into this. I have no ideas and I’m not sure where to begin.

“My guess is that Roy Price will regret this.”

 

Photo: www.woodyallen.com

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