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Apple’s Big Spending Plan to Challenge Netflix Takes Shape

Apple is scheduled to unveil its ambitious Hollywood plans at a showcase event in Cupertino, Calif., on March 25.Credit...Gluekit

Apple is coming to Hollywood.

Delete that.

Hollywood is going to Apple.

On March 25, a delegation of producers, studio executives and big-name actors will enter the subterranean 1,000-seat Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, Calif., for one of those Apple showcases, with the chief executive, Tim Cook, commanding the stage before a crowd of loyalists.

This time around, the focus won’t be on the next must-have device. With iPhone sales showing signs of fatigue, the event is intended to draw attention to the company’s billion-dollar-plus bet on entertainment, an initiative that will put Apple in direct competition with Netflix, Amazon and HBO.

The premiere date for the service is getting closer, with the first of a dozen or more shows likely to start streaming before the year is out. At next week’s presentation, Apple is expected to reveal details of what it has been working on with stars from both sides of the camera like Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Brie Larson, Jason Momoa, Octavia Spencer, J.J. Abrams, M. Night Shyamalan and Steven Spielberg.

The tag line, “It’s show time,” appeared prominently on the invitations. For many of the show business people, this will be their first trip to Cupertino, the corporate home of their new patrons.

Apple didn’t need stars before, but it needs them now. Although the company was the first publicly traded American firm to be valued above $1 trillion, its most recent earnings report showed flat profits and falling revenue.

So the plan now is not only to sell devices, but to fill them with content. That has led the company into the alien territory of Hollywood, where local customs can clash with Silicon Valley folkways.

Apple is a relatively late arrival to streaming. Netflix, Amazon and Hulu have offered original programming for several years and are now formidable presences at the Emmys. In 2018, there were nearly 500 scripted television shows available in the United States, with Netflix spending at least $8 billion on new content. Amazon, the Walt Disney Company and Warner Media have increased their programming budgets to keep pace.

Apple has decided to put more emphasis on its services — think Apple Music and Apple Pay — to increase revenues. The strategy will include an expansion of Apple News, which is expected to be highlighted at the showcase, and the star-studded streaming service. Apple has negotiated with the likes of HBO, Starz and Showtime to populate its screens, Bloomberg has reported, but the centerpiece will be original programming.

The event at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino is also meant to drive home — for iPhone fans and anyone in Hollywood who hasn’t been paying attention — just how many shows Apple has pulled together. Five series have completed filming. Around a half dozen more are on the verge of wrapping production, according to several people familiar with the shows who were not authorized to speak publicly. And the number of original productions is expected to increase in 2020.

With all that new material, Apple will transform itself, seemingly overnight, from a tech giant into a more general enterprise, with a slate of original entertainment offerings sizable enough to put it in a league with Showtime, Hulu or FX.

Interviews with more than a dozen people who have had dealings with Apple, all of whom said they couldn’t speak publicly about private discussions, suggest that, while the producers and stars appreciate having another deep-pocketed company to pitch, they also have … well, let’s call them concerns.

Those concerns have arisen from the culture clash that may inevitably come about when a tech company that is used to guarding its trade secrets gets involved in show business, which runs on a stream of conversation, much of it of the just-between-us variety.

Players expect to be kept in the loop. But many of the people working with Apple said they have received little or no information on how, exactly, their shows will be released. Or even when they will be released, other than a vague assurance of “later this year, probably fall.” They also don’t have a clear idea of Apple’s marketing plans for the shows. Or what their colleagues in the newly built Apple stable are up to.

Apple’s entertainment team is based in Culver City, Calif., historically a center of moviemaking. It is led by two former Sony television executives, Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg, under the watch of the senior vice president of internet software and services Eddy Cue. Mr. Cue hired the Sony veterans in 2017, after Apple rolled out its first original series, a reality show called “Planet of the Apps,” which was a dud. About $1 billion was set aside for them to spend on programming, and they have blown well past that amount by now.

While Apple may be a late arrival to the streaming party, its showcase will take place two and a half weeks before Disney is expected to preview elements of its new streaming platform, and many months before Warner Media provides details of its version.

Apple’s entertainment team has not been totally opaque. It has provided feedback to individuals involved in the shows, but it has been tight-lipped about the marketing and rollout plans. The March 25 event may allay Hollywood’s concerns, but several people involved in the new programs have interpreted the lack of communication as a sign that there may not be a clear game plan.

People involved in the coming series also said that Apple executives had expressed squeamishness when it comes to the portrayal of technology in the shows — how exactly are you using that iPhone? Or that Mac laptop?

Apple was sensitive to a reputation it earned, early on, as a home for uplifting programming, with little or no room for the gritty antihero fare that has defined many critically acclaimed series over the last two decades, from “The Sopranos” onward. Executives at the company bristled when they discovered there would be scenes involving crucifixes in Mr. Shyamalan’s new thriller for the service, as The Wall Street Journal reported in September. But Apple ultimately allowed the crucifixes to remain, according to two people familiar with the series.

Apple had no comment on any aspect of its streaming plans.

Hollywood’s concerns have not prevented big names from making deals with the company. In all, Apple has ordered roughly two dozen series from the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Damien Chazelle, Chris Evans and others.

The producer J.J. Abrams has two Apple series in the works, one with Jennifer Garner, who played the lead in the Abrams-produced ABC series “Alias,” and a musical show starring the singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles that is about to go into production.

Apple has also given the green light to animated “Peanuts” specials and children’s shows made with Sesame Workshop, and it plans to round out its offerings with films it has acquired recently at Sundance and the Toronto International Film Festival.

Here are the projects that have either completed filming or are nearing their wrap dates. They are the likeliest to appear in Apple’s first wave of shows.

Untitled Series With Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston

Apple’s splashiest project is a behind-the-scenes series about a morning TV show. The company committed itself to two full seasons before seeing a script. Along with Ms. Witherspoon and Ms. Aniston, who are also producers, the cast includes Steve Carell, Billy Crudup and Mark Duplass. The series had some backstage drama last year, when its showrunner, Jay Carson, Hillary Clinton’s former press secretary and a supervising producer of “House of Cards,” was replaced by Kerry Ehrin, the co-creator of A&E’s “Bates Motel.” Brian Stelter, the CNN host and author of the 2013 book, “Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV,” serves as a consultant. Shooting for season one is nearly done.

“Amazing Stories,” a Steven Spielberg Reboot

Revival of the NBC series of the same name. After its own showrunner problems — the original producer’s vision was too dark for almost everyone involved, including Mr. Spielberg — Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, the duo behind the ABC series “Once Upon a Time,” took over. Expected to wrap soon.

“Are You Sleeping?” a Mystery Starring Octavia Spencer

A drama featuring the prolific Academy Award winner in the lead role, “Are You Sleeping?” is based on a crime novel by Kathleen Barber that featured a cold case and a sleuth with a podcast. According to Ms. Spencer’s Instagram account, shooting finished late last year.

“For All Mankind,” a Ronald D. Moore Sci-Fi Series

This space drama from the producer of the cult-favorites “Outlander” and “Battlestar Galactica” is a alternate-history look at what would have happened if the global space race had continued. This one is in the can.

“See,” With the “Aquaman” Star Jason Momoa

A fantasy epic starring the “Aquaman” star (please note, the series is not called “Sea”) that poses the question, What would happen to humanity if everyone lost their sight? Also with Alfre Woodard, who has been in everything from “Scrooged” to “Luke Cage.” Now shooting.

A New Shyamalan Thriller

A thriller from the maker of “The Sixth Sense” and “Glass” starring Rupert Grint, Lauren Ambrose and Nell Tiger Free. The story is a secret. Filming has come to an end.

“Little America,” From the Writers of “The Big Sick”

An anthology series focused on stories of immigrants coming to the United States. Produced by Lee Eisenberg (“The Office”) and the husband-and-wife screenwriting duo behind “The Big Sick,” Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon. Now shooting.

A Comedy From the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” Duo

Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day, the stars and producers of the long-running FX and FXX sitcom. It’s done.

“Central Park,” a Cartoon Musical

An animated series — with songs! — from the “Bob’s Burgers” creator, Loren Bouchard, the “Frozen” voice actor Josh Gad and the producer Nora Smith. Should be finished in the next few months.

“Home,” From the Documentary Filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer

An unscripted series from the maker of “Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood” and “Studio 54” that will take viewers inside lavish homes owned by non-celebrities. Expected to be finished in a few months.

“Dickinson,” an Emily Dickinson Comedy

A new spin on the reclusive poet of Amherst, Mass., from the playwright Alena Smith, who has written for Showtime’s “The Affair” and displayed her comedy chops with the cult Twitter account @TweenHobo and the 2014 novel “Tween Hobo: Off the Rails.” It stars Hailee Steinfeld, of “True Grit” and “Bumblebee,” as the title character, and the “30 Rock” alumna Jane Krakowski as her mother. Shooting is done.

An earlier version of this article misstated the title of an ABC series made by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. It is “Once Upon a Time,” not “Once Upon a Fairy Tale.”

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section B, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: An Apple Event for A-Listers. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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