‘Fast and the Furious’ Director Justin Lin Sets Overall TV Deal With Apple

By Joe Otterson

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Director-producer Justin Lin has planted his Perfect Storm Entertainment banner with Apple in an exclusive overall TV development pact.

Lin moves to after six years with Sony Pictures TV. During that time Perfect Storm delivered three drama series for CBS — “Scorpion,” “S.W.A.T.” and the reboot of “Magnum P.I.” — as well as Cinemax’s upcoming “Warrior.”

As part of the Apple pact, Andrew Schneider has come on board to run Perfect Storm Entertainment TV. Schneider was most recently head of TV for multiplatform production company Free Association and previously worked at Fox 21 Television Studios.

Lin is credited with reviving the “Fast and the Furious” franchise with 2006’s “Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.” He’s now at work on the ninth installment of Universal’s box office juggernaut.

Lin’s TV directing credits include the pilots for “Scorpion,” “S.W.A.T.” and “Magnum, P.I.”

The Perfect Storm pact is the latest high-profile talent deal to land at Apple after a competitive bidding process.

The tech giant has so far kept mum about specific plans for its ambitious move into scripted video. But with several shows now in production — including the untitled Jennifer Aniston-Reese Witherspoon drama set behind the scenes of a morning TV show — industry sources expect Apple to raise the curtain on its original programming strategy by the spring.

Lin is repped by CAA and Sloane Offer.