EXCLUSIVE: Person of Interest creator and Westworld co-creator Jonathan Nolan has signed a new overall deal with Warner Bros Television, the studio behind the two series. I hear the new pact with Nolan and his Kilter Films is among the richest for a drama writer-producer. It solidifies Nolan’s spot among the top showrunners working in television. At WBTV, Kilter Films frequently collaborates with J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, which has co-produced both POI and Westworld.
Oscar-nominated screenwriter Nolan made his foray into TV with the innovative Person of Interest, which ran for five seasons and 103 episodes on CBS, developing a strong fan following and generating revenue for the studio via an off-network syndication deal with WGN America, SVOD pact with Netflix and strong international sales.
HBO
He followed that with Westworld at HBO, which also went to series, making it 2-for-2 in Nolan’s TV pilot efforts to date. He co-created the futuristic drama, inspired by the 1973 Michael Crichton movie, with Lisa Joy, who also is under an overall deal at WBTV. The series, which stars Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Thandie Newton and Jeffrey Wright, debuts in October, with Nolan directing the pilot and the season finale.
Athena Wickham will continue to head up development for Kilter Films and produce with Nolan under the new deal.
On the feature side, Nolan wrote, with his brother Christopher, blockbusters Interstellar, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises and The Prestige as well as their breakthrough, Memento, for which they received an Oscar nomination. Nolan is repped by WME and attorney Michael Schenkman.
