Apple Shying Away From R-Rated Original Content
The show, a dark, semi-biographical tale of hip hop artist Dr. Dre, featured characters doing lines of cocaine, an extended orgy in a mansion and drawn guns.
It’s too violent, Mr. Cook told Apple Music executive Jimmy Iovine, said people familiar with Apple’s entertainment plans. Apple can’t show this.
And how in the world did Vital Signs go the distance into production without knowing where the red line was? Shouldn’t this have been flagged when it was just a screenplay? It really does seem like the Eddy/Jimmy content team is an island within the company. I actually hope there’s some sort of misunderstanding in the sourcing for this story, and that they didn’t really shoot a pilot (or a whole season?) only to throw it away.
It never seemed like a good fit for Apple’s brand.
Apple’s approach is in direct contrast to that of other streaming platforms, which have found great success in producing edgy content like HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and Netflix’s “House of Cards.” However, Apple apparently feels it has more to lose if viewers are offended by its entertainment offering.
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According to the report, Van Amburg and Erlicht have successfully pushed some edgier shows, including a series made by M. Night Shyamalan about a couple who lose a young child. However, Apple executives reportedly pushed for changes in the show because they didn’t want content to venture into religious subjects or politics.
Previously: Inside the World of Eddy Cue, Apple’s Services Chief.
4 Comments RSS · Twitter
Wait, so Apple wants to make original content, yet another me too moment from years of me too moments but that is a different tale to tell. As such, Apple green-lighted, scripted, cast, and shot at least one episode, only to cancel this project because the mature content was exactly what it was promised to be from the beginning?
What's the point of going through all the trouble if Apple wanted to be a faux family friendly, Disneyesque, Nintendoesque company from the start? Why is Tim Cook meddling with content anyway, not his wheelhouse at all, seems like a bad idea here. He's nuts and bolts guy that wants to avoid sex, violence, religion, and politics apparently. Sounds like a recipe for good shows. /s
@Nathan: +1. By now Apple should've locked in the living room, in-car entertainment, and K12 markets, at which point creating original their own family-friendly content for those devices would make shedloads of sense.
As the sainted Jobs taught us, new products should generate synergy with your existing ones. But as they've already ceded all those markets to competitors, what this going to synergise? Socialite 20-somethings on their iPhone Excesses?
Cook et-al's #DirectionlessThrash continues. Major opportunities missed, just for fear of making a clear decision. Watch and Learn, business students. I wonder how a Forstall Apple might've fared—at least it'd be entertaining.
@has
No kidding. I thought Apple TV was going to be the next big thing and Roku alone ate their lunch.
