FX Chairman John Landgraf Discusses Historic Night at the Emmys and Creating Magic at Disney
While The Walt Disney Company as a whole was the big winner at last week’s 76th Emmy Awards, it was FX that carried the load.
The studio delivered 36 total Emmys, largely due to the wild success of Shogun, The Bear, and Only Murders in the Building. While it would be natural for FX to celebrate their past successes, John Landgraf, Chairman of FX Content & FX Productions, is already looking ahead.
“Even as we celebrate the Emmys, we are launching five shows in September with four of them — ‘English Teacher,’ ‘American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez,’ ‘Grotesquerie’ and ‘Social Studies’ — being new, joining the anticipated return of ‘The Old Man,'” he explained.
Photo: Disney
“We close out the year with the limited series ‘Say Nothing’ and ‘American Horror Stories’ and the final season of ‘What We Do in the Shadows.’ FX heads into next year with a bunch of new shows, including our next global event series ‘Alien: Earth,’ and the next chapter of ‘The Bear.'”
FX Has Embraced Streaming
While FX has existed for decades, the studio has found renewed success creating streaming shows for Hulu. Assessing the studio’s rise, Landgraf credits Disney with spurring it forward.
“FX is now a global TV brand capable of delivering series on the magnitude of Shōgun only because we’re part of The Walt Disney Company. We have international reach at scale thanks to exceptional streaming services like Hulu and Disney+,” he explained.
Photo: Disney+
“That’s only possible in the streaming era — and we’re extremely fortunate to be at the forefront of it because of Disney.”
As perhaps the prime example of a traditional television studio embracing streaming, FX has become something of a gold standard. As opposed to seeing cable and streaming as diametrically opposed, the studio views the delivery systems as complementary.
“We want to reach as many people as possible so it’s just smart business to meet them where they are. Our loyal cable audience has been there from the start and is still an important part of the mix. To pull in younger and more global audiences, we are available globally on Hulu and Disney+ — which are additive to a remarkable degree,” he explained.
Photo: FX
“The fact that we have so many avenues of distribution, from linear to streaming to home video and beyond, is such a relief. However TV evolves, I feel we’ll be able to take advantage of all of the existing and emerging outlets to deliver the FX brand of programming in a way that simply wasn’t possible even a few years ago.”
Working at Disney
In the end, Landgraf recognizes that FX’s success is due to its commitment to storytelling. According to the executive, no place fosters creativity like Disney.
Photo: Disney
“Disney is a creative company started by an artist over 100 years ago, and where the core value has always been to foster and share great, innovative stories with consumers. We are proud to do our part by investing in our relationships with talent at every level to tell the best stories possible,” he said.
Photo: Hulu
“We love the opportunity to bring great TV to fans and couldn’t do it without the dedication of everyone on the FX team. To amplify that with the resources of The Walt Disney Company is amazing. Under the leadership of Dana Walden and Alan Bergman, and with the support of Joe Earley, Eric Schrier, Lauren Tempest, Alisa Bowen, Shannon Ryan, Karey Burke and so many others, Disney Entertainment has never been more poised for success. I’m proud to be part of that creative powerhouse.”
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