Sorry, Chick-fil-A Going Hollywood is Good for the Biz: 'No One Will Turn Up Their Nose'
The fast-food giant joins Nike, LVMH, Starbucks and other brands pouring millions into shows: 'I'm excited for another potential buyer'
Elaine Low covers the TV market from L.A. She recently wrote about the worries of Hollywood’s top earners, cable TV carnage and where the TV jobs are (and not).
Hello Series Business readers! What a response we got to last Monday’s newsletter, which broke down the lifestyles of the rich(est) and (not really) famous Salary Confessions participants. You were either intrigued to know that even 25-year industry vets who bag more than $1 million a year worry about the same things you do, or you went into full “eat the rich” mode on me. Want to share your experience? Fill out the Google Form here. Anonymity guaranteed.
Existential professional dread and pending mega-mergers aside, did you have “national chicken sandwich chain enters Streaming Wars” on your 2024 bingo card? According to a recent Deadline report, Chick-fil-A, the third-largest restaurant chain in the U.S. with $21.6 billion in sales last year, is getting into the direct-to-consumer game, with “plans to launch a slate of originals for its own streaming platform” later this year.
Given the company’s well-known faith-based values, it’s probably no surprise to learn that Chick-fil-A is looking for family-friendly programming. Whether they’re looking for chicken-friendly programming is TBD.
“A lot of people did a double take, probably, when they saw this announcement,” says Brent Montgomery, CEO of Wheelhouse, which produces Netflix’s King of Collectibles and Hulu’s Secret Chef. “Certainly it’s one thing to help subsidize content, it’s another to plant a flag that you’re going to be competing with the big streamers for eyeballs.”
Although many people immediately made jokes about the report (my colleague Sean McNulty among them), Chick-fil-A apparently means serious business, with reported budgets of around $400,000 for a half-hour of unscripted content, and an order for a 10-episode series from Michael Sugar’s Sugar23 and The Wall producer Glassman Media.
Chick-fil-A would also not be the first iconic brand this year to launch a studio. LVMH, the $375 billion market cap luxury conglomerate, and Starbucks (one step ahead of Chick-fil-A as the second-largest restaurant chain in the country) opened their own production studios in February and June respectively. That puts them in such company as Nike and REI.
So what’s actually going on here? We’ve spent all year exploring the slow return to production, job cuts and anxiety in Hollywood . . . yet beloved consumer brands now see opportunity in making TV shows (and movies)?
In this week’s Series Business, I’ll:
Tell you how Netflix and HBO are already involved with branded content in ways you might not realize
Reveal the production companies already making money through deals with big brands
Interview the players connecting brands and Hollywood you need to know
Reveal Chick-fil-A’s ties already to some of Hollywood’s big successes
The relief from sellers to have branded buyers as the buying market shrinks
Discuss the newly blurred lines between branded content and storytelling centered on a consumer product
Advise on how to tailor a pitch to a brand’s mission, and what brands are asking for in return