Thirty years in the past, the coming-of-age romantic comedy “Clueless” opened in film theaters and went on to change into an everlasting American popular culture touchstone.
“I’m thrilled that people love it and continue to love it,” the film’s star, Alicia Silverstone, stated in a latest dialog in New York. “Young people. Old people. It’s really gone on and on, and obviously that’s lovely.”
AMC Networks is relying on Silverstone’s multigenerational attraction to assist increase the New York-based media firm’s streaming service Acorn TV, which focuses on British dramas and different applications from abroad.
Silverstone is the lead within the new Acorn unique sequence “Irish Blood,” which premiered Monday. She performs hard-bitten Los Angeles divorce lawyer Fiona Sharpe, who heads to Eire to resolve a thriller involving the daddy who deserted her as a toddler.
AMC has additionally signed the imperishable Brooke Shields to star in one other Acorn undertaking titled “You’re Killing Me.” She portrays a thriller novelist who groups with a younger wannabe author and influencer to research murders in a small New England city. The sequence begins taking pictures this summer season and is ready to premiere in 2026.
Why put two iconic American actresses on a streaming platform with a well-defined area of interest of offering viewers with worldwide places and accents that at instances require closed-captioning even when the language is English?
Even the small gamers in streaming need to get larger.
AMC doesn’t have the deep pockets to compete with the likes of Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+. The corporate has blazed its personal digital path by serving devoted audiences who pays for an extra streaming service that caters to their passions, comparable to Shudder for horror followers and HIDIVE for anime lovers.
The corporate’s suite of streaming providers has round 10.4 million clients. Even with that modest determine, AMC Networks’ streaming income has steadily grown to the purpose the place it’s going to quickly surpass what the corporate earns from its conventional TV channels comparable to AMC, BBC America, Sundance TV and WE, which proceed to see subscriber declines due to cord-cutting.
AMC has discovered that the robust fan bases for its area of interest providers are prepared to soak up worth will increase and are much less prone to cancel. The corporate has managed to maintain its streaming platforms priced at lower than $10 a month.
Brooke Shields is ready to star subsequent yr in “You’re Killing Me,” a brand new small-town thriller from Acorn TV.
(Evelyn Freja / For The Instances)
Now AMC Networks is seeking to speed up its subscriber development and Acorn — the most well-liked and worthwhile of its standalone choices — is seen because the platform finest suited to the duty.
“It’s a service we really believe in,” Courtney Thomasma, govt vice chairman for streaming and content material technique at AMC Networks, informed The Instances in a latest interview. “Over the last year, we’ve been really focused on looking for ways to continue to raise awareness of the brand and invite new viewers in who we know would also love it. We’re doing that with a focus on investing in the brand and inviting bigger talent that’s more familiar to North American audiences.”
Many followers of Acorn — which began out as a direct marketer of British TV sequence on house video and was acquired by AMC in 2018 — are what Thomasma calls “armchair travelers” who wish to soak up a French winery or the cobblestone streets of Chelsea. However AMC believes aligning Acorn extra intently to the thriller style will widen its attraction.
A monthlong promotional marketing campaign underneath the banner of Homicide Thriller Might — which featured quite a lot of season premieres — drove Acorn TV subscription sign-ups to a four-year excessive. The 20 million hours watched throughout the month was the perfect ever for the service, in line with AMC.
The emphasis on thriller supplies Acorn the latitude to solid Silverstone and Shields. A technique AMC attracts star expertise is the chance to place their very own inventive stamp on their applications. “They become as invested in the success of the projects as we are,” Thomasma stated.
Silverstone got here on to “Irish Blood” as govt producer and have become concerned within the improvement of the sequence. She was concerned within the hiring of key positions within the manufacturing and labored with the writers. She’s pleased with the outcome.
“I thought it was quirky and also an emotionally deep drama,” Silverstone stated. “There’s a lot for me to do.”
Shields and author Robin Bernheim pitched the technology hole tandem on the heart of “You’re Killing Me” to AMC, and the actor stays deeply concerned within the course of as taking pictures begins. “This is the first time I’ve ever had this much creative control as an executive producer,” Shields stated in an interview. “I feel lucky that they entrusted me to do what we’re doing.”
Silverstone, left, with Ruth Codd in “Irish Blood.”
(Szymon Lazewski / Acorn TV)
And although Acorn is hoping to draw extra youthful subscribers, the service gained’t be dropping its British accent.
Acorn just lately launched “Art Detectives” with Stephen Moyer, who is also an govt producer. The sequence, a few Heritage Crime Unit that solves murders linked to artwork and antiques, had the strongest premiere within the streamer’s historical past.
Later this yr, it’s going to supply a brand new six-episode sequence starring Matthew Lewis, identified for his Neville Longbottom function within the Harry Potter movies. Primarily based on the sequence of Canon Clements thriller novels by the Rev. Richard Coles, “Murder Before Evensong” is a co-production with British broadcaster Channel 5.
“We pride ourselves on being a boutique neighborhood store, the kind that you walk in, you know the owner [and] the owner knows you,” Thomasma stated. “We have deep connection to our audience.”
