EXCLUSIVE: Michael Bay has set his Bay Films to a multiyear first look deal with Sony Pictures to produce both film and TV projects. The deal was being worked on and was mostly done in January, before the town shut down. Last week saw the first fresh film auction with the Ryan Gosling-attached adaptation of Project Hail Mary, the novel by The Martian author Andy Weir which MGM won. This is the first overall film/TV deal to commence since then, as hopefully the business begins to show signs of life.

Deal puts Bay back at the studio where he made his directorial debut on 1995’s Bad Boys. He reprised as director of the sequel, and in the most recent installment, Bad Boys For Life, you can glimpse him in a tip of the hat cameo as a wedding MC.

Bay most recently directed Netflix’s 6 Underground, which he also produced through his Bay Films banner. The big-budget action film is nearing 100 million views by member households, the platform’s second most watched film release of 2019.

Up next, Bay will direct for Sony Pictures the ensemble drama Black Five, based on his original idea, with Top Gun: Maverick‘s Ehren Kruger writing the script. He previously directed and executive produced Paramount’s Transformers franchise, and served as a producer on franchises The Purge for Universal and A Quiet Place for Paramount.

On the TV side, Bay is an executive produce on Amazon’s top rated series, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan with A Quiet Place‘s John Krasinski starring. He previously executive produced TNT’s action drama pandemic series The Last Ship, and the Starz! series Black Sails, each of which ran for five seasons. Bay is also an executive producer on the anthology series The Purge for USA Network. Bay worked on those franchises and series with Brad Fuller and Andrew Form under the Platinum Dunes banner. Fuller and Form peeled off to launch Fully Formed Entertainment with a deal at Paramount. Now, Bay will see through his next chapter at Sony.

Bay is repped by WME and attorney Robert Offer.