101 Studios Makes Overall Deal With Smokehouse TV Partners George Clooney & Grant Heslov

EXCLUSIVE: Smokehouse TV and 101 Studios have made a multiyear overall deal for original scripted and unscripted content for television.

This formalizes a relationship that got underway with Smokehouse Pictures and 101 Studios already teaming on the upcoming docuseries about the decades-long abuse scandal in the athletic department at Ohio State University. Based on the Sports Illustrated article by Jon Wertheim, this docuseries will be distributed by HBO. Its focus is on the victims of Richard Strauss, a former sports physician at Ohio State who’s accused of sexually abusing more than 300 athletes over decades working at and with the university.  Oscar and Emmy winner Eva Orner (Taxi to the Dark Side) directed the feature length docu.

Next up is The Department, which Clooney is directing and is EP. Showtime has given a straight-to-series order. The Department is based on the acclaimed French espionage political thriller The Bureau. Smokehouse Pictures produces with MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios, with production to start later this year.

Smokehouse films include Argo, The Tender Bar, Ocean’s 8 and most recently Ticket to Paradise, with Clooney having wrapped The Boys in the Boat, about the University of Washington rowing team that took gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. On the small screen, Smokehouse projects include the superb miniseries adaptation of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, which aired on Hulu.

For 101 Studios, this marks another building block in a TV portfolio that includes the Taylor Sheridan hit dramas Yellowstone, 1923, Tulsa King and Mayor of Kingstown.

“We could not be more thrilled to be in business with George Clooney, Grant Heslov and the entire team at Smokehouse,” said 101 Studios CEO David Glasser. “The quality of content coming out of Smokehouse is second to none and we are absolutely delighted they chose to make 101 their home.”

Said Clooney & Heslov: “We’re looking forward to collaborating with David and his amazing team at 101 to create innovative, quality TV content that can entertain audiences around the world.”