George Clooney, one of the biggest movie stars, is making an audio move. Smokehouse Pictures, the production company founded by Clooney and film producer Grant Heslov, has announced an exclusive, multi-project development deal with Audible. As part of this collaboration, Audible and Smokehouse Pictures will create a slate of audio-only original projects.
"We have both been avid listeners for many years, and we couldn’t be happier to team up with Audible to produce original content exclusively for this terrific service,” said Clooney and Heslov in a joint statement.
Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Clooney may be an actor, but he is not new to directing and producing. And Heslov is the Academy Award-winning producer of such films as “Argo” and “The Ides of March.”
“We are absolutely delighted to team up with George Clooney, Grant Heslov, and the brilliant and creative minds at Smokehouse Pictures,” said Zola Mashariki, Head of Audible Studios in the announcement. “They’ve ignited conversations and imaginations on big and small screens alike— and we can’t wait to introduce our worldwide listeners to Smokehouse’s distinctive, high-caliber brand of storytelling.”
This deal follows Audible’s recently announced production and development deals with leading creatives such as Charlamagne tha God, Topic Studios, Treefort Media, Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco, Kerry Washington’s Simpson Street, Lena Waithe and Rishi Rajani’s Hillman Grad Productions, Queen Latifah’s Flavor Unit, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Dern’s Jaywalker Pictures, Steph Curry’s Unanimous Media, Kevin Hart’s HartBeat Productions, and The SpringHill Company, founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter.