Under the deal, Kail will develop, supervise and potentially direct TV projects both for broadcast and cable. Kail has enlisted Kate Sullivan as the Head of Development of his company, which is entitled Old 320 Sycamore.
“Working with Tommy on Grease: Live was an incredible experience, and we knew long before the credits rolled that night that we wanted a much more significant relationship with him,” commented Gary Newman and Dana Walden, Chairmen and CEOs, Fox Television Group, in a statement. “Anyone who has worked with Tommy knows just how remarkable and creative and visionary he is—he’s quite literally a force of nature. He has access to a largely untapped talent pool through his years in the New York theater, and he’s fantastically collaborative.”
“I am thrilled to have the chance to continue working with Dana and Gary, who have consistently proven their passion for cultivating new voices and inventive storytelling,” added Kail. “Working on Grease: Live with the FOX team was one of the highlights of my career, I am proud of what we made—and how we made it. I’ve always been drawn to helping find and platform new voices, surprising characters and stories that are relevant to our times. Hopefully, through this deal, we’ll be able to tell those stories in every possible form, from live events, to half-hour and hour scripted, and limited series.”
Kail was just nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing For a Variety Special for Grease: Live, which received 10 nominations, including Outstanding Special Class Program. He also directed 2008’s Best Musical Tony winner In The Heights, for which he also received a Tony Award nomination.
Sullivan served as assistant director on Grease: Live. She has worked on the films The Spiderwick Chronicles, (500) Days of Summer and Bridesmaids. In 2011 she founded Over the Moon Productions with Jonathan Larson’s Tony Award-winning Rent, staged in a warehouse in downtown Los Angeles. Sullivan is the 2014 recipient of the Epstein Directing Fellowship at New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College.
