Ryan Murphy is on cloud nine at the moment. Sony is so happy with his new film Eat Pray Love that they’ve picked up a new pitch from the writer-director-producer for a shoot next year (a deal that netted him $5 million) and today he has made one of the most financially impressive TV development deals in recent history.
Deadline reports that Murphy has re-signed with 20th Century Fox TV for a 4 year, $24 million overall deal for his services on the Golden Globe winning Fox series Glee (which he created with Ian Brennan and Brad Falchuk) and new development through his Ryan Murphy Prods. The total includes advances against future profits and also rewards him profits from Glee’s music business – album sales and downloads – as well as portions of Glee‘s touring and merchandising revenues. Murphy can also exercise an option to produce a Glee musical for Broadway, which he’ll share profits in as well.
Analysts suggest that, if Glee continues to grow at the rate it is has thus far, Murphy could earn around $10 million a year throughout the length of the contract, which succeeds his previous deal that spanned three News. Corp owned networks and spawned Nip/Tuck and Popular in addition to last fall’s breakout high-school set musical. The show has prospered in every way possible: on the critical side, its has brought in more award nominations than any other. On the business end, Glee has landed a sizable off-network syndication deal with Oxygen (the first of many that’s sure to come) and has accounted for tens of millions of records sold in addition to boosting music industry sales across the board (every artist who has had music featured on the show has seen healthy spikes in sales as a result of it’s rabid fan base).
The trade notes that the deal solidifies Murphy as a major media guru like J.J. Abrams, who has similarly lucrative deals set up at WBTV and Paramount Pictures. Murphy can now flex his creative muscles in both mediums, like Brett Ratner and McG, who jump back and forth between setting up television shows and making feature films. If he wasn’t already a household name already, he will be now…
Source: Deadline
