Earlier this year., right before Primetime, we relaunched WM Studios, this time focusing initially on Intellectual Property I had been developing for 20 years. It was easier to package, attach other creatives, and let project evolve creatively without overthinking. Fast forward a few months, ahead of TIFF, here is a quick update on four (4) projects, not announcements so much as a snapshot of how we’re approaching four very different projects.

The through line of these projects boil with ambition, drive, success and setbacks, highs and lows… all themes I have covered, but admittedly, stories that need to go beyond the experiences and perspective of an Iranian Canadian entrepreneur! Imagine if Blumhouse wasn’t based on horror, but life, leadership, leisure and the pursuit of it all.

DASH — A year ago, I was developing an Unscripted project with Wheelhouse and it was going so well that I said “it’s a shame I don’t have a creative partner for the Scripted side.” Hearing that, Wheelhouse was kind enough to make a few introductions. For Dash, I am partnering with Ben Dubash (introduced by Wheelhouse), which is shaping up, for all intents and purposes, as a Hollywood production: we’re bringing together producers and directors from the traditional film/TV world, along with a well-known actor, while shooting it in a way that retains maximum optionality across platforms and formats. The original concept was this, but as I envisioned, the story and setting has already started to evolve, and I am happy that one of the earliest projects I conceived will be seeing the light of day, one day!


THE PEANUT PROJECT / ELLE EST PARTIE: THE RETURN — Yes, a documentary about my effort to bring MLB back to Montreal is the obvious low-hanging fruit, but frankly, that feels premature—and a little pompous—when nothing has actually been accomplished yet. Will Power, our Moneyball meets Field of Dreams scripted project, is something I see coming much later; for now, I’m partnering with Réjean Tremblay on Elle Est Partie: The Return, essentially Succession meets Lance et Compte (Tremblay wrote Lance et Compte). The Season 1 arc is mapped out, but suffice to say if the maestro wants to switch things up, more than welcome. I suspect this ultimately becomes a traditional television / streaming series, using the canvas that is Québécois society to tell the story of an outsider who finds himself in an unlikely situation all too common and universal.


RUNNING OUT OF IDEAS — Loosely inspired by the WatchMojo/YouTube startup grind, think The Office inside a fictional media company called The Count: our follies are the inspiration, but the characters and world are fictional. This one technically adapts my third book The 10-Year Overnight Success: How WatchMojo Built the Most Successful Media Brand on YouTube and could become a vertical series, a traditional streaming comedy, or something in between. We already have a completed pilot script, so rather than overthinking the format, I’m leaning toward simply producing the pilot and seeing what it wants to become. For this one, we’re currently looking for a director and actors. It would be meta, something that could be seeded across WatchMojo and MsMojo before then living elsewhere, if need be.


XANDER — In partnership with Jadu, we’re adapting my second book about Alexander the Great, The Confessions of Alexander the Great: 33 Lessons in Greatness, into an anime adventure. I am in talks with a writer to adapt Alexander’s lessons into an anime story, and recognize that the use of generative AI will upset some. I heard the feedback on AI loud and clear with regards to SoundMojo, but this is also an example of the nuance getting lost in that debate: without AI, I simply couldn’t justify producing an anime project about Alexander the Great; with it, we’re creating a job for a writer today and, if the pilot works and evolves into a more traditional production, potentially jobs for animators and others tomorrow.


I also explain my views on AI: as established brand like WatchMojo can’t actually go “all in” on AI (even if we wanted to), but it can be a great stepping stone for brand new concepts and vehicles like SoundMojo and Studios, though Xander may be the only AI-project, as the others are as traditional in development and production as they come.

That’s really the thesis behind the WM Studios: don’t force every idea through the same production, distribution and commercial model.

The idea is less talking, more doing. So not just developing the IP, but producing it, marketing it, and commercializing it.

Match the production model to the idea. Retain as much optionality as possible. And then let the audience—and the market—tell us where each one belongs.

I am quite bullish on all these projects, and continue to look for creative partners for each of the other projects on the slate.