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EXCLUSIVE: WME is the victor in the very lucrative Dick Wolf sweepstakes. After taking a month and a half following his surprising exit from UTA to ponder his top agency options, the Law & Order creator has signed with WME. I hear he made the decision just before Thanksgiving. Wolf has strong personal ties with top TV agents at WME, CAA, and ICM, and that created some intrigue over where he would choose to go after spending 11 years at UTA. But there had been growing speculation over the past couple of weeks that he was headed to WME. Wolf will be represented by head of TV and board member Rick Rosen who is his Santa Barbara neighbor and a good friend.
Last month, a source explained Wolf’s departure from his longtime agency to Deadline’s Nikki Finke as the result of frustration over his inability to launch a successful non-Law & Order branded series as well as the fact that the mothership Law & Order couldn’t clinch a renewal that would have made it the single longest-running drama on television, an honor it now shares with Gunsmoke. Still, after two decades after the launch of his franchise, Wolf remains one of the top earners in television with a very lucrative deal at NBC Universal for his Wolf Films and a truckload of money from domestic and international TV syndication. He has three Law & Order series currently on the air: veteran Law & Order: SVU and freshman Law & Order: Los Angeles on NBC, with LOLA recently landing a full-season order, as well as Law & Order: Criminal Intent, which was picked up for a final 8-episode season on USA after lengthy and intense negotiations. Additionally, Wolf serves as an executive producer on the British Law & Order offshoot Law & Order: UK and has a blind pilot order at USA that was negotiated as part of the pickup for Criminal Intent.
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The original L&O mother-ship was the only one ever really worth watching anyway, imho. NBC, in all its genius, of course picked that one to ditch. No wonder NBC is #3 (#4?, #5? !!).
I loved watching Linus Roache on the original Law and Order. I can’t believe that NBC would keep those awful reality shows and cancel my favorite show.
Love it! Considering so many of those WME guys have bad mouthed Wolf his entire career… will be interesting to see how they handle their clients who are actually running his shows and their gripes with Castle Wolfenstein.
No matter how successful, wealthy & allegedly brilliant they are, TV writers are only capable of creatint one or two original hit shows in their lifetime. Gary David Goldberg Family Ties, Steven Bochco Hill Street Blues, Garry Marshall Happy Days, Norman Lear All In The Family, etc. The rest of these creator’s shows are spin-offs or pale imitations. As talented as Dick Wolf is with creating the Law & Order franchise, at 65 years old, he probably won’t create another “non Law & Order” hit show. But who in Hollywood would tell him that to his face?
You idiot. Norman Lear created All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, Good Times, Maude and many, many others. Why do morons think you can post or so anything and that makes it true. Creators create – there is no expiration date. But there is on haters and polluters like you. Dick Wolf will be branding series well into the next decade, probably beyond. And you’ll just be posting on message boards. Loser.
last I remember, David Kelley had created three or four long running shows from Ally McBeal, The Practice and Boston Legal . . .
but . . true that they were all set in the legal profession . .
This is idiotic and wrong.
Bochco – Hill Street, NYPD Blue, LA Law, Doogie Howser
David E. Kelley – Picket Fences, Doogie Howser, Chicago Hope, The Practice, Ally McBeal
Don Bellisario – Magnum PI, Quantum Leap, JAG, NCIS
Chuck Lorre – Dharm and Greg, 2 1/2 Men, Big Bang Theory
Steven J. Cannell – five thousand shows
Alan Ball – Six Feet Under, True Blood
Ryan Murphy – Nip/Tuck, Glee
and on and on and on and on
Yes, Bochco did create LA Law, Doogie Houser, etc. etc. But Hill Street “broke the mold”, the other shows were derivative and/or spin-offs.
In the case of All In the Family, The Jeffersons, Maude and Good Times were all based on characters that originated on All In The Family. While the spin-offs were great shows, they didn’t “break the mold” like All In the Family.
How was LA Law derivative of Hill Street? By being an ensemble show with multiple storylines? That’s absurd. Yes, Hill Street broke new ground by being the first ensemble show with multiple storylines after decades of dramas that were case of the week. But by your narrow criteria, ER, X-Files, and probably everything short of the Wire or Sopranos would be derivative. That’s ridiculous. Had Bochco turned around and did another cop show just like Hill Street — that would have been derivative. He didn’t, and didn’t do another cop show (outside of Hooperman and Cop Rock) until years later.
Also, how can you possibly suggest the Jeffersons wasn’t groundbreaking? It was the first sitcom built around a black couple, dude. You don’t get more groundbreaking than that.
Stop digging yourself into a hole. If you want to believe TV writers can only create one “mold-breaking” show BY YOUR OWN DEFINITION, no one can argue with you. But it’s also a useless thing to say. Like speaking your own made-up language.
Wow, brilliant observation Einstein. Yes, we all remember the riveting guest spots of a young Neil Patrick Harris, which of course led Bochco to base the Doogie Howser spinoff around Harris’s Hill Street Blues character. Dummy.
What is the point of your post? Let’s say they could only create two hit shows? Okay, so their terrible spin-offs — they generate tens of millions of dollars in revenues. Beyond that, the overall point?
Okay, these “allegedly” talented people, so they only create two hit shows? So they’re among the most successful people in America, TWICE, while you’re an idiot who will never accomplish anything in your life beyond a Deadline post.
Idiot.
jesterthemutt,
And Aaron Spelling’s ONE show was????
L&O as a franchise ran out of juice a long, long time ago. Still, much props to it. Personally, the countless reruns in the mid-2000′s helped get me through a very rough time. it was a great way to turn off the world when it needed turning off.
I would have wanted to watched the original L&O over the current Los Angeles knockoff.
UTA did a decent job for him, but he needs one of the major agendcies to get him in to different types of shows and business’. Good move for Wolf.
Huge signing for WME…they don’t come bigger than Dick. I assume UTA gets all the commission on the existing business…however Dick will come up with several new and original ideas, year in year out, so it will be worth having him as a client.
Fyi…
Dick has never come up with an original idea… that’s why there are always DEVELOPED BY credits on his series. Cause Dick don’t do shit. Although there was that one time when he personally refused to pay for water for his L&O writing staff.
Bring back Mann & Machine!
yes, and The Wright Verdicts!
over the hill, past his prime, busy work
How Hollywood works…done!
Wolf will be represented by head of TV and board member Rick Rosen who is his Santa Barbara neighbor and a good friend.
Bigger than big
THIS IS MAJOR!!!CONGRATULATIONS, I AM ONE OF YOUR BIGGEST FANS AND I HAVE WATCHED EVERY SHOW. I THINK WME WILL DO A GREAT JOB FOR YOU. THE ARE KILLING THE OTHER AGENCIES IN THE WORLD OF TV. NOW THEY REPRESENT THE MASTER AND KING. WOW!!!!!!I CAN NOT WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU DO NEXT AND I WILL CONTINUE WITH MILLIONS OF OTHERS TO WATCH YOUR SHOWS. THANKS FOR ALL OF THE YEARS OF ENJOYMENT.
Dick – how about an episode of L&O where a stalker types in ALL UPPER CASE LETTERS on an industry chatboard?
SD – learn to use lower case!
Shhhhhh… we can hear you just fine.
UTA did a good job, but DW needs an agency like WME to get his original scripted and non-scripted ideas off the ground. That’s the reality these days.
after what wme did for kelsey grammer (which caa was never able to do), they seem like the right agency for dick. he’s at a turning point and he needs the best possible team behind him.
Jesterthedog Goldberg yes he created Family ties, but don’t forget about Spin City as well.
Hope Ari likes the smack…