Entertainment fusion a trend to continue into 2022 – The Hollywood Reporter
The worldwide consolidation of independent production companies, accelerated in 2021, looks set to continue through 2022 as the global streaming boom spurs both demand and budgets for movies. and television series.
In addition to Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia’s planned multi-billion-dollar super-entertainment merger, among the biggest content-focused deals of 2021 is Amazon’s $8.45 billion deal. bought MGM in May, the sale of a $900 million Hello Sunshine shingle by Reese Witherspoon (manufacturer of Morning and Big Little Lies) in August with a firm backed by private equity giant Blackstone, Creative Artists Agency’s October 4 acquisition of competitor ICM Partners, undisclosed financial details, and $775 million deal by Korean production giant CJ Entertainment – company behind Parasites – to acquire an 80% stake in Endeavor Content’s scripted business, announced November 18.
It can all be seen as a response to a shift in power in the industry as streaming and other digital entertainment become increasingly important and traditional revenue streams, including the theater box office, become increasingly important. should be less significant. Amazon’s MGM deal gives Jeff Bezos’ global conglomerate and its Amazon Prime streaming service a deep library of film and TV content, including the James Bond franchise.
The $900 million Hello Sunshine deal, led by former Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, was followed with a November 4 deal to buy the children’s entertainment group Moonbug Entertainment, producer of CoComelon and Blippi, for a reported $3 billion, and a deal, worth about $50 million and expected to close in early 2022, to buy Faraway Road Productions, the Israeli company behind Fauda and Tap and Run.
The suits are said to be eyeing other prominent production teams as well, from Imagine and Legendary to Lebron James’ SpringHill Entertainment.
The CJ/Endeavour partnership is an opportunity for both companies to boost their production potential and capture a larger market share from the growing licensing and operating revenue from streamers. Deals and access to Endeavor’s content library, including hit series New Year’s Eve Killing and Normal person and movies like a Just Mercy and Book Club, will also help CJ as it rolls out its Korean TVING streaming service worldwide.
“This transaction further underscores the long-term value of talent and premium content,” noted Endeavor CEO Ariel Emanuel.
For CAA and ICM, the association is a way to maintain leverage for top talent – CAA clients include Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Murphy and Meryl Streep, ICM’s roster boasts Shonda Rhimes, Samuel L. Jackson and Regina King – especially under new agreements between the agencies and the Writers Guild of America that banned so-called packaged deals. CAA co-chairman Bryan Lourd recently spoke out on behalf of CAA client Johansson when the actress sued Walt Disney Co. about her compensation from Black Widow after Disney released the Marvel movies simultaneously in theaters and on its Disney+ streaming platform.
But the push to go big or go home extends beyond Hollywood’s power players. Around the world, independent film and television companies are banding together or being acquired as the streaming revolution transforms the business. Recent acquisitions include Sony Picture Television’s acquisition of the rapidly growing British production group Bad Wolf, the company behind the HBO/BBC fantasy series His Dark Materials and crime movies Night of (a deal said to be worth around $80 million); the 5th of July agreement of the French Mediawan (Call my agent!) and Germany’s Leonine Studios (Dark) to hold a 51% stake in UK TV shingle Republic (Dr. Foster); Fremantle acquires Abbott Hameiri, the Israeli production company behind the hit international TV series Shtisel, in April this year; and ITV Studios hold a controlling stake in Denmark’s Apple Tree Productions, which was founded by Killing producer Piv Bernth, in March.
BBC Studios, the commercial arm of Britain’s public broadcaster, has been quietly acquiring independent production companies for several years now, most recently (on December 14) taking full control of House Productions , producer of Benedict Cumberbatch-star Brexit: Wa Uncivilr and BBC’s upcoming mini-series Sherwood. Similar post-acquisition deal (January 2021) of Clerkenwell Films, producer of independent TV hits Misfits and The end of the world F***ing, and Mr. Jack producer of Lookout Point (in 2018). BBC Studios also holds a 73% stake in Steve Coogan’s Sick Dairy Cow.
Indie production giants ITV, Fremantle and Banijay have long been playing the consolidation game: ITV has around 60 production studios in 12 different countries, Fremantle oversees about 40 independent entities in 20 territories. territory and Banijay, who took over the $2.2 billion Endemol last year, Shine made it the largest of the 800-pound gorillas, having 120 in 22 territories.
Newer players following their global pattern include True Detective and Robot Mr. producer Anonymous Content, has established joint ventures in the United Kingdom (Chapter One), Scandinavia (AC Nordic) and South America (AC Brazil) and on November 29 it announced that it would be launching a traditional label Anonymous / Federation image is based in France with Euro Federation Entertainment, the French hit producer Office.
Together with Sony – which adds Bad Wolf to the growing stability of British drama companies, including Crown producer Left Bank Pictures and Sex education shingle Eleven – ViacomCBS has also been active in locking down global manufacturing partnerships even though Viacom deals are often not bought out. Recent deals include ViacomCBS’s December 7 deal with CJ Entertainment, which will allow the pair to co-develop and co-finance scripted films and series, many of which potentially The feature will end on ViacomCBS streamer Paramount+, launching in Korea next year. ViacomCBS signed a similar partnership agreement on July 19 with the Italian Leone Film Group (Paolo Genovese’s Perfect Stranger) will ensure a steady stream of Italian content targeting both local networks and global streamers.
Demand for content and increased pressure on production companies is only likely to increase in the coming years. On December 9, ITV outlined an ambitious five-year plan that would see the company double its premium scripted hours from 200 to 400 by 2026, along with nearly doubling The proportion of total revenue comes from streamers. about 25 percent. ITV CEO Carolyn McCall said the goals are “generally in line with the global content market”, an indication of where the business is headed.
ViacomCBS seems to agree. In May, CEO Bob Bakish and president Shari Redstone forecast the group’s global streaming revenue to hit $7 billion by 2024 as Paramount+ and the Pluto TV platform get ad-supported. Their deployment worldwide.
In its annual media and entertainment report, PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts that OTT video or streaming revenue will reach $94 billion by 2025, up 60% from the 2020 figure.
On the indie film side, an alternative model comes from The Creative, a new alliance, announced November 22, that will see some of the world’s most prestigious art house producers join forces. to jointly develop a series of premium movies and TV series. series. Headed by French Court Haut Et, whose credits include Yorgos Lanthimos’ 2015 film Lobster and the Franco-Israeli series Land without people, The Ads will include Land without people Israeli co-producers Spiro Films and LobsterThe Dutch co-producer Lemming Film, Versus Production in Belgium and Masha Productions in the US, as well as the German group Razor Film (Quo Vadis, Aida?), Norwegian group Maipo Film (Happy Status), the French company Unité, produces the Netflix TV series Mythomaniacand the British Good Chaos shingle, whose upcoming features include Ruben Ostlund’s Triangle of sadness. The Creations signed a three-year partnership with Fremantle to develop and finance the television series. Haut Et Court co-founder Carole Scotta says the new partnership model will help “preserve the independent development that has been the backbone of storytelling in Europe for decades. We’re united to stay as free and creative fun as possible, and deliver movies and series that audiences will enjoy. ”
Expect more company partnerships and more innovative collaboration models by 2022 as global production players position themselves to capitalize on the wave of streaming expansion. next, most driven by the international roll-out of studio-backed platforms (HBO Max, Paramount+, Peacock) such as those of regional players with nationwide ambitions, from South Korea’s TVING to Scandinavian streamer Viplay to France’s Canal +.
But bigger doesn’t always mean better. April 2020 merger between Hustlers and Bad mothers Mumbai-based producer STX Entertainment and Eros International lasted only a year, before STX, which lacked a strong TV operation or deep library to offer streamers, was sold out. , for $173 million, to Phoenix-based The Najafi Enterprises by Jahm Najafi, in a deal announced Dec.
