“The Watcher”Since the 2018 New York Magazine article about real-life events, this intellectual property has been highly sought after The Cut. Murphy had seen the article and knew immediately that he wanted it for his next project. However, when he called to purchase the rights, he discovered that they had been sold.
“It had sold to somebody at Netflix. And I went, ‘What?’ So it sold very quickly. And so I found out that it was my friend Eric [Newman],”Murphy spoke in an interview. The Hollywood Reporter. Netflix won the rights to horror movie in 2018, beating at least five other studios. Bidding war — including the likes of Universal Studios, Warner Brothers, Amazon Studios, and Paramount.
Murphy was shocked to learn that Eric Newman (his friend) had bought the rights on behalf Netflix. He immediately rang Murphy to get involved. “I’m such a fan of this piece and I’m such a fan of this genre that I will write this for free; just let me write it,”He made a plea for help over the phone. Murphy offered to write the script free of charge because he felt a deep connection to the story. He also mentioned the possibility of having to defend his family against an unknown threat. While it was a nice and playful gesture to offer to write the mini-series for free, Murphy already has a $300 million dollar deal with Netflix — which also happens to be “the most lucrative TV pact in history.”