Maverick rides to Touchstone
Several projects already pitched, studio mulling two
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Under Maverick TV prexy Michael Rosenberg, the production company has already pitched several projects to Touchstone, which is mulling at least two potential pieces for development.
Maverick has been looking for some time to expand its TV presence; the company hired manager-producer Michael Rosenberg in January to jumpstart the division.
Prior to the Touchstone pact, Maverick already had several projects in the works including the reality show "The Rolling Stone Interview," which it is developing with MTV.
"Rolling Stone Interview" will take a group of high school-age journalists and give them a shot at touring with bands and writing profiles for the fabled mag (a la "Almost Famous"). Publisher Jann Wenner is involved in the project.
Maverick also is looking to produce a telepic from scribe Alan Zweibel ("Curb Your Enthusiasm," "It's Garry Shandling's Show") at Showtime.
Shingle is developing the story from the book "Brewster's Millions" (which inspired two movies) into a reality series, alongside Ben Silverman's Reveille.
Maverick also has a top-secret reality project set up at NBC.
Already announced and greenlit is a miniseries about the 1980s, which Maverick will exec produce with NBC Universal TV Studios for the Peacock (Daily Variety, March 16).
More recently, Oseary and Rosenberg joined forces with Fox TV Studios and Content House to develop a miniseries based on the biography "One Giant Leap: Neil Armstrong's Stellar American Journey" (Daily Variety, Aug. 23).
As for Touchstone, Oseary said the Disney-owned studio was a natural home for Maverick, which has a one-year deal with studio.
"I think that the Maverick brand has tremendous value with a young, cool audience, and Touchstone provides a great fit for that," Oseary said.
Rosenberg and Maverick TV report to Maverick Films (run by topper Mark Morgan). Maverick Films has a prolific slate in development including "My Sassy Girl" at DreamWorks and "Charlie Barrett" at Fox Searchlight.
Prior to joining Maverick, Rosenberg spent several years repping production companies and writer-producers. He helped package and sell VH1's first made-for-TV movie, "Sweetwater," and worked on Sundance honoree "Treasure Island" and several telepics based on the novels of Mary Higgins Clark.
Coincidentally, Maverick originally signed a TV production deal with Touchstone sib ABC back in 1993. Nothing ultimately became of that pact, which was to have included a four-hour miniseries biopic "Madonna: The Early Years."
