Magilla Entertainment on the Keys to Franchise-Building

Magilla Entertainment co-founders Matt Ostrom and Laura Palumbo Johnson talk to TV Real about building successful franchises.

Magilla Entertainment has been producing non-scripted television since it was co-founded in 2009 by executive producers Ostrom and Johnson. Comprising more than 1,800 hours of programming, its portfolio of shows has spawned a range of successful franchises, including Moonshiners, Diesel Brothers and Beachfront Bargain Hunt, to name a few.

According to Ostrom, the biggest key to building a successful franchise is character. “Character conquers all,” he says. “I definitely think [having] big, fun characters always wins. There’s this move back into that, which is something that is great for us.”

He continues, “We’ve always made our bread and butter off finding really great people and then building worlds around them or leaning in their worlds.” He points to Diesel Brothers and its roster of stars as a prime example, noting, “Those are fun guys. They build giant trucks. When you’re with them, you just want to hang out and be their friend.”

When you have great characters, the audience is invested, Johnson notes. Though not a franchise, she points to Long Island Medium and Theresa Caputo, “one of our biggest characters that we work with,” she says. “She just time and time again makes people laugh while crying, or just laughing while laughing. She has that effect on you that makes you want to watch more.”

Moonshiners in particular is a shining example of character carrying a show. “Moonshiners was a show that started and nobody thought we could do a first season, and then no one thought we could ever do a second season,” Ostrom notes. “But we were able to build out the worlds.”

He continues, “Master Distiller grew out of that because there’s this moment of, these guys are such experts at making alcohol, wouldn’t it be cool if they could be judges? It took a little figuring because there are lots of laws around making alcohol, so it’s a really complicated show to make, but we eventually figured out a formula and we were able to expand.”

“The networks, they want it to be bigger,” he points out. “So, it’s really up to us to say, ‘Oh, let’s do this.’” If you’re thinking of expanding a show, it’s important to sprinkle in opportunities throughout the original series, he says. With Diesel Brothers, “we’ve already built in a few spin-off opportunities,” he says. “There are places we can take that. As the series rates, we know, oh, we have this one episode that is an example of what we want to do with the future of that franchise.”

Johnson adds, “We definitely play with how to spin out, how to pull out the tentacles within the series first. That gives us the opportunity to find a lot of those franchises.”

She points to Moonshiners again. “The Master Distiller side of it grew out of this real competition between the guys, illegally, as to who is the best, always doing tastings when they get together and figuring out who is the master. It obviously made sense to see how we [could] bring that into a more repeatable, self-contained episode competition show.”

And “you know when a program has a world that’s happening around it,” Ostrom says. “You know when viewers are responding to it; there’s social media presence.”

Other times, it’s quite obvious right from the beginning, and Magilla doesn’t have to weave in spin-off opportunities throughout the original series. With Beachfront Bargain Hunt, Ostrom notes, “It just felt like, you’ve told the story, they buy [the property], you’re like, well, did they fix it up? What’s the next level?” Thus, Beachfront Bargain Hunt Renovation was born.

Aside from centering programs around big characters, another key to success is inking deals with talent. While not necessary to build out a catalog, deals can be very strategic and beneficial, Ostrom says. “Sometimes we’re partnering with celebrity talent, like the Biermanns, which we’re out with because we know that they have notoriety within the world,” he says. Other times, Magilla teams with producers such as Sugar 23, which can be equally beneficial, as you know “which producers bring [which] strengths.”

Ostrom adds, “It’s mostly a lot of fun to partner with people because you get to meet people and learn about their worlds, and they’re as passionate about what they do as we are about what we do, so it’s always a really good collaboration.”

Though Ostrom says the market is a little slow at the moment due to mergers and consolidation, he believes that when it kicks back up again, the demand for non-scripted series will soar, as streamers realize what cable companies did years ago: “You can make one scripted series for the same price you can make ten non-scripted series, and if you can get the same amount of eyeballs, you’re coming out ahead. With non-scripted, you have ten chances to get the same amount of eyeballs.”