Weiner’s back on TV, folks—and I don’t mean the sex-addicted congressman. Deadline reports that Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner just got a $70 million advance from Amazon and The Weinstein Company to do a new series on the streaming platform.
Along with other streaming platforms, Amazon has grown its original programming wing exponentially in the past two years. Weiner’s announcement comes on the heels of the service’s Woody Allen’s Miley Cyrus collaboration Crisis in Six Scenes miniseries, and the recent debut of Goliath, the Billy Bob Thornton-starring legal drama from veteran TV producer/showrunner David E. Kelley.
Weiner’s highly anticipated Mad Men followup, however, will be a much bigger investment than Amazon’s usual modestly-budgeted—see Mozart in the Jungle, Transparent, or Mad Dogs—and promises a daring narrative scope. Deadline’s report claims that each episode of the contemporary eight-part anthology series will be set in different locations around the world. Weiner is the creator and writer, and be directing multiple episodes. Weiner said of the project, to Deadline:
“In a time when there are so many options for entertainment, it’s been tremendous to see how Roy Price and Amazon have taken center stage by distinguishing themselves through bold choices. I am truly excited to have this opportunity to work with risk takers like them and Harvey and The Weinstein Company who have a proven, longstanding commitment to creative voices and innovation.”
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There’s no news on when we’ll get Weiner’s show, but we’ll see the Mad Men auteur and Sopranos writer soon enough: His first novel, Heather, the Totality—a “dark fable” set in modern-day New York City—is due out via Little, Brown and Company in the fall of 2017.
