Dealmakers


CHRIS GRANT Chief executive officer-designate, Electus


C CAREER


2011 Leaves Shine International, poised to join Ben Silverman again at Electus 2008 Launches Shine International and oversees rollout of megahit MasterChef 2002 Joins Ben Silverman at the launch of production company Reveille, which was later acquired by Shine Group Previously Agent at William Morris Associates


hris Grant surprised the indus- try earlier this year when he left Shine International after


much success with brands like Master- Chef. Now he’s back on the scene as the new chief executive of Ben Silver- man-founded Electus, the mission statement of which is to be “a next- generation studio enabling premium content creators to engage with adver- tising and technology partners at the inception of the creative process and partner on the finished product across a global and multi-platform distribu- tion model”. Grant takes up his new role on 1


November, so he’s still got a few weeks to work out what that actually means. But why is he the right guy for the job? And what is he likely to do? To understand Electus, you need to


know about Grant’s mentor Silver- man, who first came on the radar as a precocious young agent at William Morris. Still in his 20s, Silverman was among the first to recognise the potential of the British format busi- ness, brokering US deals for shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and The Weakest Link. In 2002, he left to form Reveille,


which he later sold to Shine for $125m (£81m). Just prior to that deal, he was appointed head of entertainment at NBC, an unsuccessful union that ended in 2009. Silverman then launched Electus with backing from IAC’s Barry Diller.


Rapid rise Like Silverman, Grant was at William Morris and decided to go to Reveille during its 2002 start-up phase. But when Silverman moved to NBC, Grant stuck around at Reveille and came out of the integration with Shine as head of Shine International. In this role, he did a great job, transforming the company into a global player through brands such as MasterChef, The Biggest Loser, The Moment Of Truth and Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?. Then came the news that Shine wanted to relocate its interna- tional division to London. LA-based Grant didn’t want to go, so he resigned – and Silverman came calling. Never one to mince words, Silver-


man says: “Watching Chris Grant grow into the finest and most sought- after executive television has seen in a long time has brought me tremendous joy and pride. He was an amazing partner at Reveille, and he will be an


www.broadcastnow.co.uk


Mob Wives


amazing leader for Electus. He is a fantastic collaborator and entrepre- neur with great management skills and passion.” Grant is equally effusive. “One of


the driving forces behind my decision to join was the opportunity to lead an independent studio that has the scale and bandwidth to compete. At Electus, I expect to collaborate with Ben and [COO Drew Buckley] to seek out and acquire US and UK compa-


‘I will seek out US and UK companies that can create international


productions’ Chris Grant


nies that can create international pro- ductions that thrive on a variety of platforms and leverage Electus’ distri- bution model.” So much for the back-story. But


what exactly is Electus? In simple terms, it’s a content creator and dis- tributor. In June, it announced that its distribution arm Engine had sold VH1 reality series Mob Wives to 20 territories. At about the same time, it sold Banijay International the format Momentum, a word-play game devised by Notional, one of several talent hubs that is linked to Electus via shared IAB ownership.


Nothing unusual there. But where


Electus claims to differ from its peers is in its relationships with advertisers and technology platforms. In simple terms, Silverman wants to bring brands into the creative process at the genesis, helping them achieve their communications goals in return for funding. At the same time, he wants to create content that reflects consumer behaviour, delivering stories and char- acters that work across platforms. In pragmatic terms, his reason for


doing this is to create a new business model, in which creators (ie Electus and its collaborators) get their funding from brands rather than TV networks. This would allow Electus to retain rights to IP – which could be licensed internationally via in-house distribution arm Engine. Silverman spelled out this vision at


MipCom 2010 when he revealed inter- active telenovela Pedro And Maria, in development for MTV with funding from Procter & Gamble. But it has yet to see the light of day, which has led some to question whether Silverman’s model can work. This is the challenge facing Grant.


Reunited with Silverman, he will have to decide whether Electus’ silo-busting ‘advertainment’ model is viable, or whether to focus his energies on deliv- ering a good, old fashioned network hit like MasterChef, which can then be turned into a 360-degree global brand.


30 September 2011 | Broadcast | 35


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