Produced in partnership with Film Ireland and supported by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland through the Screen Stakeholders Funding Scheme, the State of the Arts series explores the creative processes, industry challenges, and new opportunities that both Irish and international creatives face in today’s ever-evolving artistic landscapes.
In the latest episode of the State of the Arts podcast, filmmaker and writer Des Doyle sits down with senior entertainment executive Scott Farris to discuss his role in shaping global franchise storytelling.
In this conversation, Scott discusses his experiences in the changing world of TV development, offering insight into how large-scale projects are developed from the ground up. He discusses the realities of working with major IP, the collaborative processes behind franchise storytelling, and how the industry is evolving in response to changing audience expectations, technology, and global demand.
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Scott Farris
Scott Farris is a senior entertainment executive with over 15 years of experience shaping global franchise storytelling. One of the earliest creative hires at Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video, he helped build the studio from the ground up and played a key role in establishing Amazon as a major force in premium television.
Scott pioneered Amazon's strategy for adapting global gaming franchises, securing and developing landmark properties including God of War, Mass Effect, Warhammer 40K, and The Sims, as well as the breakout hit Fallout, which drew over 100 million viewers worldwide and earned 16 Emmy nominations.
Beyond gaming, his work focuses on large-scale worldbuilding and IP-driven storytelling, with projects including Mike Flanagan’s upcoming adaptation of Stephen King’s Carrie, RoboCop with James Wan, and Fourth Wing, based on Rebecca Yarros’ bestselling romantasy phenomenon. Scott is particularly passionate about the intersection of creativity, technology, fandom, and the future of franchise storytelling.
Des Doyle
Des is a D.I.T. graduate who spent fifteen years working in the Camera Department in the Irish film industry before moving into directing. He is the writer/director of the critically acclaimed feature documentary Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show, featuring JJ Abrams (Alias, Lost, Fringe), Robert and Michelle King (The Good Wife), Ronald D. Moore (Outlander, Battlestar Galactica) and Bill Prady (The Big Bang Theory) amongst others.
He has created a number of courses in conjunction with Screen Ireland over the last few years, which provide breakdowns of all the major US and international streaming networks and what their evolving programming needs may be. He also initiated the Pitching Programme for TV Drama and Comedy with Screen Ireland, giving a selected group of writers the opportunity to pitch directly to some of the major Irish production companies based on briefs they provide, and created the LA Writers Room Placements scheme, which allowed Irish writers to travel to LA and spend time in real-world US TV series writers’ rooms.
He has also lectured on Showrunning, US TV Production and the Future of Content at USC Los Angeles, Rowan University Philadelphia, Scriptmakers Berlin, APIT TV Producers Conference Lisbon, Northern Ireland Screen, IADT Dublin, Writers Guild of Ireland and as part of the recent Greenlight Screenwriting Labs in Galway. He is currently developing a new documentary series, which is a US/Irish co-production, as well as providing creative consultancy services to Irish producers, writers and directors with projects targeting the US or global streaming markets.
He is also the co-founder of Destination TV along with Ciarán Donnelly, a creative skills live events company that recently brought Oscar and Emmy-nominated writer/director/showrunner Jonathan Nolan to Dublin for a masterclass.
