First Projects Under New Agreement Are Altered Carbon and Sword Art Online

Santa Monica, CA – December 14, 2016 – Skydance, a diversified media company that creates event-level entertainment for global audiences, today announced that it has formed an exclusive, multi-year overall agreement for television production with award-winning writer-producer Laeta Kalogridis (Avatar, Shutter Island, Terminator Genisys), who currently serves as writer and executive producer on Skydance Television’s upcoming sci-fi drama series on Netflix, Altered Carbon. She also currently serves as executive producer on Skydance Television’s Sword Art Online, the first-ever live action SAO television series. Executive producing both projects alongside Kalogridis are Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Marcy Ross.

“Laeta is truly a visionary talent and we are incredibly honored that she has elected to make Skydance her creative home,” said Skydance’s Chief Executive Officer, David Ellison. “Both Altered Carbon and Sword Art Online are epic stories that span massive worlds, and I can think of no greater artist than Laeta to bring these two series to the screen.”

“David and the entire team at Skydance have been so good to me over the last couple of years, giving me a great deal of artistic license and creative freedom to see the vision for my projects come to life, and I am beyond excited to extend this partnership into the future,” added Kalogridis.

Today’s announcement marks the third in a series of overall agreements that Skydance has recently put into place – with Marti Noxon, Michael B. Jordan, and now Laeta Kalogridis – a sign of its rapidly growing business and prolific television department. The studio anticipates making additional announcements of this nature in the near future.

Laeta Kalogridis is a film and television writer-producer. Her writing work includes the first X-Men, Tomb Raider, Scream 3, Alexander, Night Watch, Bionic Woman, Pathfinder, and Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island, which she also executive produced. She worked alongside Skydance as writer and producer on 2015’s feature film Terminator Genisys. Additional producing credits include James Cameron’s Avatar and White House Down. Kalogridis is repped by WME and Katz, Golden, Sullivan, & Rosenman, LLP.

Today, Skydance is a leading producer of major Hollywood studio films and television shows. Since its inception in 2010, Skydance has produced 11 feature films, which have cumulatively grossed approximately $4.2 billion in worldwide box office receipts. Skydance Television was launched in 2013 and is currently slated to produce seven original series across multiple networks. Skydance has over the past twelve months significantly expanded its business operations by increasing the production of both feature films and television series as well as launching Skydance International and Skydance Interactive.