Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Peter Berg & Sarah Aubrey’s production company Film 44 has inked a new overall deal with Universal Television. Under the two-year pact, the two will develop and produce new projects for the studio, which has been transformed by the new NBC regime from an NBC production arm into a supplier to all broadcast and cable networks. Universal TV EVP Bela Bajaria noted that keeping Film 44 in the studio family was an easy decision. “Pete Berg and Sarah Aubrey have exquisite taste and are amazing producers,” she said. “They are well-respected within the community and we look forward to a very productive relationship under the new Universal TV banner.”

Under its previous overall deal with the studio, Film 44 produced NBC/Universal TV’s Prime Suspect. Berg directed the pilot, which was picked up to series, with him and Aubrey executive producing the drama starring Maria Bello. Berg and Aubrey’s previous two series were also for NBC, the acclaimed Friday Night Lights, based on Berg’s 2004 movie, and medical drama Trauma. (FNL, which won 2 major Emmy awards for its final season, finished its run on DirecTV.) On TV, WME-repped Film 44 recently produced the HBO unscripted series On Freddie Roach, a cinéma-vérité look at the famous boxing trainer. In features, it’s behind the upcoming tentpole Universal movie Battleship, directed by Berg.

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