David Shore Heads To 20th Television For New Overall Deal

EXCLUSIVE : After 12 years at Sony Pictures Television, The Good Doctor creator David Shore is moving shop to 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios, with a premium overall deal. Under the three-year pact, which starts in November when his most recent Sony TV overall deal is up, Shore will develop, write and executive produce original series for 20th Television targeting linear networks and streamers, with a focus on Disney Entertainment Television platforms.

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Shore has had only two studio homes for the past two decades. He spent eight years at Universal Television, where he created, executive produced and showran hit medical drama House before moving to Sony TV shortly after that series ended its eight-season run on Fox in 2012. With his followup hit medical drama series, ABC/Sony TV’s The Good Doctor , similarly coming to an end this year after seven seasons, Shore is making a change.

He will be developing and producing new series for 20th TV through his Shore Z Prods. alongside Head of Development Erin Gunn who joined the company in 2012, a few months into Shore’s Sony TV tenure. Having dipped his toe in the steaming originals space with the 2015 Sneaky Pete, Shore is expected to step up his efforts there along with continuing to develop for broadcast. There are only a couple of major TV studios left, including Disney TV Studios, that are supplying both. (Most indies, including Sony TV, have shifted their business away from broadcast, producing mainly for streaming.)

“I’ve been extraordinarily lucky throughout my career to work with tremendous, creative partners. Change is scary, but also invigorating,” Shore said. “I am thrilled to join 20th Television, where I will have the opportunity to collaborate with Eric [Schrier] and Karey [Burke], along with Craig [Erwich] and all of their incredible teams across the company. But most of all, I’m looking forward to all the nice things they’re going to say about me in their press release.”

Karey Burke, President of 20th Television, played off Shore’s press release joke in her statement.

“David Shore is a gift to television audiences; with The Good Doctor and House he somehow managed to create two of broadcast television’s most iconic characters, and shows no signs of slowing down,” she said. “He creates big, bold and ambitious television shows that challenge our expectations and expand the way we see the world—and he makes it look easy. His intelligence and wit are unmatched, and we are incredibly excited to welcome him into the 20th Television fold. But most of all we are looking forward to continuing to say nice things about him in press releases for years to come.”

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A former practicing attorney and partner at a boutique law firm in Toronto, Shore originally planned to pursue a career as a comedy writer but his legal background helped him break into the drama field with an L.A. Law spec script, which landed him his first writing job on Paul Haggis’ Due South . In 1996, David E. Kelley picked Shore as one of the three writers on the Emmy-winning first season of The Practice . After stints on series like Law & Order and Family Law , Shore wrote the pilot script for House in only his second stab at development.

Shore’s work on the Fox medical drama earned him an Emmy an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series as well as four Outstanding Drama Series nominations, the Humanitas Prize, Peabody Award, and WGA Award.

He went on to create off a Korean format and serve as an executive producer and showrunner on The Good Doctor , which explored a legal spinoff The Good Lawyer this past season. The double Hollywood strike impacted the fate of the latter, which had been looking good for a series pickup but ultimately got a pass as the work stoppage stretched into the fall.

Shore is repped by CAA, The Shuman Co., and attorney Bill Sobel.

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