Kevin Beggs

World Screen Weekly, January 17, 2008

President of Television Programming and Production

Lionsgate

Independent studio Lionsgate has been shaking up Hollywood for a few years now. The company has made its mark with acclaimed releases like Crash in the feature-film space, while its darkly comedic award-winning series Weeds helped Showtime take on HBO in the premium pay-TV space. Today, under the leadership of Kevin Beggs, Lionsgate’s TV division has become a leading supplier of American scripted fare, particularly to cable networks, with a string of successes that has included USA Network’s The Dead Zone, ABC Family’s Wildfire and, most recently, the Golden Globe-winning Mad Men for AMC. “We think it perfectly fits within our brand identity on both the film and TV side, of smart, high-end yet commercially viable programming,” Beggs says.

“In the old days a mini-major was something we were aspiring to be,” says Beggs on the company’s evolution. “Now I think we’re a little bigger than that and it seems an outdated phrase. It’s almost like we’re a medium major. We’re in so many businesses.”

Beggs has had the opportunity to witness Lionsgate’s growth firsthand, having joined the studio in 1998 to start up its series-television business. And building something from scratch was not new to Beggs, who after stints as a stage actor and a public-school teacher eventually landed a job on what was then a “little known series,” Baywatch. “The producers I worked for had their hands full. They were writing the show, directing episodes constantly, so no one else was running the store and that became my opportunity. I ended up doing all kinds of things: marketing, publicity, business affairs, meeting the international buyers. So I got a quick education on the business side.”

After eight seasons with the show, when the production of Baywatch was set to relocate from Los Angeles to Hawaii, Beggs decided to move on and joined Lionsgate shortly after its formation. “It was a great platform for me because it was very different from just producing. It was being an executive and selling and we quickly got shows off the ground.”

Lionsgate’s fledgling TV operation received a boost when Jon Feltheimer took over as the studio’s CEO. “He had a huge TV track record coming out of Sony and that was great for me. He not only had amazing expertise, so he could be my graduate school of TV, but he had such amazing relationships. That gave me a much better platform upon which to sell. And when Sandra Stern joined our division shortly after Felt’s arrival, as COO, things really began to take off.”

In addition to building the production slate with deals with U.S. networks, Beggs also expanded Lionsgate’s international distribution business, with Weeds being the first show that the studio sold on its own. “When we first heard the logline of Weeds, I predicted it would work internationally,” Beggs says. “Just hearing ‘pot-dealing soccer mom in an affluent suburban LA world.’ LA is the focus of a lot of attention around the world. And the schizophrenic nature of the American psyche, being completely uptight about sex and drugs but completely laissez faire about violence and war and killing, is a subject of great interest to international audiences, specifically Europeans. BSkyB bought it and they loved it and have been fantastic partners. One by one�it sold everywhere.”

Beggs’ division is now focused on placing the new series Mad Men, among other titles, on networks worldwide, and is continuing to develop fare for the U.S. networks. Being involved in both the creative and business sides of Lionsgate’s television business has been a highlight for Beggs. “I love ideas, I love selling new show concepts. There’s always a new voice that wants to be heard or recognized and I can be helpful in not only executing it but [also] in getting that initial sale done. In an environment where there are only majors and vertically integrated companies, we’re flourishing and profitable and making great TV. We have to be a little scrappier, a little more nimble, a little more creative and probably a little more persistent at the end of the day. Those are the things that make it fun.”

—By Mansha Daswani