EXCLUSIVE: Matt Kaplan’s ACE Entertainment, the production company behind Netflix’s hit To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before film franchise, has launched a television division. Run by Kaplan and newly appointed Head of Television Spencer Berman, the company’s TV unit will develop character- and relationship-driven live-action and animation content. Like with ACE’s film slate, the TV projects will be aimed at young adult audiences. The television team will be rounded out by Paul Kim, manager of development and coordinator Kaelyn Moore.
ACE already has a greenlighted TV series in production, the Are You Afraid of the Dark TV limited series reboot at Nickelodeon, and multiple other TV projects set up for across various networks and streaming platforms, including Comedy Central and Quibi. The company recently set up for development Fugee High at AMC. The one-hour ensemble drama series created by Mohamad El Masri centers on high school refugee students in a small, parochial community in America’s heartland. As the school, which is based on schools in small, conservative towns across America takes on more refugee kids, the community grows increasingly racially and politically fractious.
Prior to joining ACE, Berman was Jack Black’s producing partner at Electric Dynamite, and oversaw development and production for TV and film projects including the comedic thriller feature, Happily, which wrapped in March. Before that, he served as creative executive at Lorne Michaels’ Broadway Video, where he worked on their slate of series and oversaw production of the first season on the FX series, Man Seeking Woman.
ACE Entertainment, established by Kaplan in 2017, is behind the hit Netflix breakout film To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and its upcoming sequel, The Perfect Date also starring Noah Centineo, the Netflix romantic drama Irreplaceable You and Spontaneous starring Katherine Langford. The company also is developing the YA features 10 Blind Dates based on the novel by Ashley Elston, Replica based on Lauren Oliver’s best-selling novel of the same name and the family comedy Runaway. All three projects are expected to go into production early next year.
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