It doesn’t seem like Courtney Kemp sits still for very long. Over the past ten years, the woman who transformed a single Starz crime drama into one of the most expansive franchise universes on cable television has built, expanded, and refused to let the story come to an end. She is now doing it once more, this time with Apple TV+ as her new home. She signed a multiyear overall contract that grants the streamer the first look at any film she produces as well as the exclusive rights to develop her television projects.
In the third week of May, the announcement was made with the quiet assurance that characterizes truly important actions. No grand opening. There is no red carpet. Just a deal that, when you think about it for a little while, begins to feel like a turning point for both Apple as it moves further into the premium television market and Kemp personally.
The timing is almost poetic because Kemp’s most recent project, Nemesis, which she developed under her previous Netflix contract, had just begun to air when she entered Apple. Co-written with Tani Marole and starring Y’lan Noel and Matthew Law, the cat-and-mouse thriller made its debut in early May and shot to the top of the charts in the US and a number of other countries in a matter of weeks. Although it’s still unclear if Nemesis will receive a second season, Kemp has stated that the storyline is still open. The fact that Apple would permit her to carry on working on a Netflix series, should that occur, implies that the partnership is based on something more adaptable than strict exclusivity for its own sake.
In his remarks regarding the agreement, Kemp used terms like “taste,” “vision,” and “creative support,” which are used by producers to convey ideas that go beyond the terms of the contract. It’s not insignificant that she named Apple executives Matt Cherniss, Jamie Erlicht, and Zack Van Amburg. In Hollywood, public expressions of gratitude aimed at particular names are typically deliberate. She seems to truly feel at home here, or at least anticipates doing so.
It’s important to take a step back and evaluate what Kemp has truly accomplished in the last ten years. When Power debuted on Starz in 2014, it belonged to a well-known genre at the time—ambitious man, drug empire, double life—but for some reason, viewers couldn’t get enough of it. There were three spinoffs after that. Power Book III: Raising Kanan; Power Book II: Ghost. Power: Origins is currently being produced in New York. It takes someone who is willing to fight for the details that most networks would prefer to omit for a franchise to last that long.
For its part, Apple has been discreetly assembling a group of exceptional creative talent. It’s obvious that the streamer who gave viewers Slow Horses and Severance isn’t chasing volume. It’s the pursuit of reputation. By bringing in someone with a track record of creating worlds, expanding audiences, and maintaining momentum across numerous stories and characters, Kemp’s signing fits that pattern.
It’s still unclear if this deal will result in something that is on par with or better than what Kemp created at Starz. Certainty has been punished by the streaming environment on multiple occasions. However, it’s difficult to ignore the fact that Courtney Kemp appears to know exactly where she’s going, even though no one else does yet, as you watch this unfold: the Netflix exit, Nemesis’s rapid ascent, and the Apple partnership announced practically before the dust settled.
