As every good creative knows, Coming up with a brilliant idea is one thing, but finding the money to bring that brilliant idea to life is quite another, especially in this cash-strapped environment where development contracts are tight and budgets are even tighter. Likewise, consumer brands looking to peddle their wares know that viewers’ attention spans – weakened by social media, skippable advertising and years of ad-free streaming – are fleeting.
Now there’s a solution on the rise: branded scripted TV. When I reported on a new surge in brand-backed entertainment last fall, it was a space populated primarily by unscripted content – documentaries, competition shows and sports programs that are happy to receive funding from companies like Ally Bank or Marks & Spencer.
But given the ongoing decline across the industry — and the looming threat of further decline from the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery despite new legal challenges, including the injunction on the deal issued this morning — the mood is changing. In the development phase, more and more scripted series are dealing with brands – a “pleasantly surprising” development in this area, according to the president of Sugar23 Matt Rotondo tell me.
Audio equipment giant Bose, for example, announced the opening of its own entertainment studio in June. In collaboration with Sugar23, the company is launching its TV and film program with a Steven SoderberghStaged documentaries that promise to “explore the intersection between creativity, innovation and artistic expression,” according to Deadline.
“It just shows how much attention and interest there is in brand-funded projects,” says Rotondo, who notes that Sugar23 is working on a second title with Bose. After all, Soderbergh – known for Ocean’s 11, Erin Brockovich And Sex, lies and videotape – has “always been at the forefront of advancing technologies and capabilities that allow him to maximize his creativity,” Rotondo adds.
Today, Rotondo, CAA’s Margo Plotkin and producer Tommy Harper (Top Gun: MaverickThe Mission: Impossible Franchise) outlines how in-demand creatives are transforming the space, as the air of sell-out that once lingered in shows funded by consumer brands has long since deodorized in this era of austerity.
I’ll give you the overview of:
- How Sugar23 and CAA connect original pitches with brands without turning them into commercials
- How brands get into scripted projects before the script is even written – and what they contribute beyond the money
- The advantages for creatives: “market prices”, paid development and brands willing to invest money And Time
- What types of scripted stories are suitable for brands?
- Which streamers and distributors are buying brand-backed shows – and what happens after development is funded
- The vertical drama “Unlock” for brand storytelling
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