Multihyphenate Todd Holland and former Katalyst Films partner Karey Burke have linked arms for a two-year production pact at Universal Media Studios.
The pair aim to develop a range of projects through their as-yet-unnamed shingle. Holland has spent the past dozen years under contract to 20th Century Fox TV, which let him out early to pursue the partnership with Burke. Burke was a longtime NBC creative exec who joined Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg’s Katalyst banner as a partner in 2005.
Holland and Burke got to know each other several years ago while working on the ABC sitcom “Miss Guided,” which Katalyst developed with 20th Century Fox TV.
The project took several years to get off the ground, and over the long haul of pushing it up the hill for a short run in 2008, Holland and Burke became close.
“Together we really make one perfect creative person,” Holland told Daily Variety . “She has all the skills I don’t have: all the network experience, the general awareness of the writer community and the memory of so much TV development. I’m always thinking like a director — ‘What are we doing right now?’ ”
Holland noted that his parting from 20th is bittersweet after 12 years and numerous skeins, including “Malcolm in the Middle,” the cult fave “Wonderfalls” and, most recently, laffer “Sons of Tucson.”
“I’m very grateful to the studio,” Holland said. “It’s going to be very strange to work anywhere else, but I’m excited for the strange.”
Holland said he was particularly eager to move back into drama development after focusing on laffers for the past few years.
The helmer-producer’s long resume includes directing Emmy winners for “Malcolm in the Middle” and “The Larry Sanders Show.” He was Emmy nommed this year for helming a seg of “30 Rock.”
The new pact with Burke and UMS comes at a heady time for Holland. He and his husband, singer-actor Scotch Ellis Loring, recently became the proud parents of triplets.
