Apple TV Plus show Dickinson gets NYC screening Sept. 14, days after iPhone event

Apple's Dickinson premiere will come soon after the expected Sept. 10 event to unveil new iPhones.

Joan E. Solsman Former Senior Reporter

Joan E. Solsman was CNET's senior media reporter, covering the intersection of entertainment and technology. She's reported from locations spanning from Disneyland to Serbian refugee camps, and she previously wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal. She bikes to get almost everywhere and has been doored only once.

Expertise Streaming video, film, television and music; virtual, augmented and mixed reality; deep fakes and synthetic media; content moderation and misinformation online Credentials

Three Folio Eddie award wins: 2018 science & technology writing (Cartoon bunnies are hacking your brain), 2021 analysis (Deepfakes' election threat isn't what you'd think) and 2022 culture article (Apple's CODA Takes You Into an Inner World of Sign)

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Joan E. Solsman

Aug. 27, 2019 11:22 a.m. PT

2 min read

tim-cook-oprah-tight — Apple TV Plus has heavyweights like Oprah, Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams making shows and movies.
Apple

Apple's original TV series Dickinson will premiere Sept. 14 at New York's Tribeca TV Festival, timing that's sure to spur speculation about when Apple will launch its streaming service Apple TV Plus. Dickinson's screening, set to come just days after the expected Sept. 10 Apple fall iPhone event, will be the latest in a publicity ramp-up for Apple's Netflix-like service.

Apple declined to specify the timing of Apple TV Plus ' launch Tuesday beyond its previous statements that it will be available in the fall. The Dickinson screening is the first known public showing of any of Apple's original TV shows and movies, other than films that Apple acquired the rights to distribute after they were already screened at festivals.

Dickinson, a comedy starring Hailee Steinfeld as a young Emily Dickinson, is one of a handful of original series expected to be available on Apple TV Plus at launch or soon thereafter. The premiere news comes a day after Apple dropped a trailer for Dickinson, and the company has been releasing trailers at a faster clip in recent weeks. In addition to a trailer for Dickinson, trailers have dropped for The Morning Show, a drama about a morning news broadcast starring Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell, and For All Mankind, a period piece from the creator of Battlestar Galactica that presents an alternative history in which Russian put the first person on the moon.

As Apple grapples with slowing sales of its all-important iPhone, Apple TV Plus has become a crucial part of the company's design to make services a bigger part of its business -- and find fresh reason to entice more consumers to buy its gadgets .

But Apple's service, a video subscription for exclusive original shows and films, is launching at a time when seemingly every major media property is putting out their own streaming option, be it a new offering from Disney or or an offering from a stalwart like Netflix. So Apple is rolling heavy: Apple TV Plus has a reported $6 billion budget, helping Apple to lure in some of Hollywood's biggest stars and heavy-hitter creators.