Legendary’s Michael Grindon

Led by Thomas Tull, Legendary has historically been known primarily for its feature films (among them the 2015 hits Jurassic World and Straight Outta Compton). In 2013, the indie tapped ex–Warner Bros. Television chief Bruce Rosenblum to helm its new Legendary Television & Digital Media division, which quickly set about aligning with top talent to deliver new content for multiple platforms. The product coming out of that business is being rolled out around the world by Michael Grindon, the president of worldwide distribution at Legendary Television & Digital Media. Grindon, the former head of international at Sony Pictures Television, tells World Screen about Legendary’s TV slate and about managing rights in the complex drama-distribution business today.

WS: Tell us about the strategies you’ve employed to build Legendary’s global TV distribution business.
GRINDON: We’ve been building it a brick at a time, so to speak—adding new Legendary-produced shows for distribution and making some acquisitions as we go forward. We’ve finished our first big series, Colony, for USA Network, which we’re actively distributing around the world. The series was targeted early on by Netflix, and we negotiated a worldwide deal for second-cycle rights. We’re still distributing it to all of our clients for first-cycle exhibition. We’ve also acquired a series for distribution called The Expanse, from Alcon Entertainment. It’s a special-effects-laden science-fiction series that launched in December on Syfy in the U.S. We’ve commenced production on another pilot for USA Network, Poor Richard’s Almanack. We’ve started production on a new pilot for ABC called Downward Dog. We’re also shooting a pilot for TBS about two men who are overwhelmed in this world of social media, changing gender roles and difficult relationships. In addition, there are five or six other projects in various stages of development moving toward pilot production.

So how are we building our content slate? We’ve been putting a lot of money, time and effort into development, with a lot of writer/producer relationships. All of those projects are being actively developed, and now we’re getting to the point where we’re producing pilots. We think we’ll have a pretty big slate to work with in 2016.

WS: In the current media landscape, what opportunities can you pursue at an independent like Legendary that were perhaps not available to you when you were in the Hollywood studio system?
GRINDON: Legendary is a small, nimble company that can move quickly to capitalize on opportunities. We have experienced, intelligent executives, such as Bruce Rosenblum and Thomas Tull, with an interesting take on creating unique projects. Where large studios will try to produce an array of projects to complement the full range of viewership, Legendary has focused primarily on more high-profile one-hour dramas. We have a chance to do some special programming that works both domestically and internationally. Right now, because there is so much product being made, you really have to do things to break out from the crowd. Legendary has a his­tory of doing some pretty spectacular feature films, and they want to bring that same level of quality and excitement to television.

WS: You mentioned the deal with Netflix on Colony. How are you managing all the complexities of the distribution business today in order to fully monetize your slate?
GRINDON: You have to monitor your clients and the new opportunities in each market. The new digital platforms, cable platforms and traditional broadcast platforms give you more opportunities to exploit the content you have. The Netflix deal is an interesting one. Second cycle in most markets used to be a fairly small percentage of what you’d be getting from your first-cycle licenses. In this particular case, our second-cycle revenues will be more significant—matched or exceeded by our first-cycle revenues. It’s a way to look at the new world from a very different angle. We’re willing to try all sorts of new approaches. We don’t have output deals in place; we don’t have past practices that insist we do it only one way. We’re willing to experiment and try new and different tactics. That’s [one reason for] our success.

WS: A lot of buyers are talking about the need for day-and-date premieres and the lack of procedurals on the market. What are some of the key concerns you’re hearing from programmers?
GRINDON: There is a continuing demand for procedurals, primarily among the major broadcast players who are looking at things on a linear basis. In the U.S., serialized content is more prevalent. International broadcasters feel that there’s a real dearth of good procedurals to work with. We hope we can help fill that gap with some of our productions for [this] year.

I’m not sure day-and-date is quite as important on the television side as it is on the feature side. We’re making sure [shows are] available on a day-and-date basis, but if a broadcaster chooses to air something two, three, four months later, that may fit better with their schedule and marketing opportunities. Scheduling a series after the U.S. premiere—unless it is a very unusual series—should not be a problem for most broadcasters. The important thing for them is to find the right time and the right marketing to reach their target audience. Day-and-date is important, but not essential.

Because of the vast quantity of product out there, buyers are in a quandary with an overwhelming array of choices, and making the right choice now becomes more important in trying to identify the breakout hits. Broadcasters that have made large amounts of studio output deals are finding more cause to regret those commitments. They cannot select the best shows because of their volume of commitments. All of a sudden they have huge amounts of product they can’t play. And when they find the kind of series they’d like to acquire, they don’t necessarily have the money or room for it on their schedule. I think more people are going to end up being more selective as things go forward to find the shows that fit them as opposed to committing to buy things en masse.