EXCLUSIVE: Four years after its launch, Artists Equity is expanding into scripted television. The artist-led indie studio, founded by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Gerry Cardinale, is starting a scripted TV division and has appointed former UCP executive Griffin Zucosky to lead it.
As SVP of Television under Amy Baer, Artists Equity’s President of Film and Television, Zucosky will oversee the development and production of ongoing and limited series. He will work alongside Kyle Wheeler, Head of Unscripted across both film and television.
Artists Equity intends to apply its talent-friendly business model, currently used in film — and manifested in the name of the company — to scripted series too.
It is a version of the classic television backend template where talent gets an ownership stake in a series and is rewarded in success. That profit participation model has largely been wiped out in the streaming era, replaced by the cost-plus setup, though performance bonuses have been making a comeback.
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Artists Equity will likely have to forge agreements with streamers in the mold of the one it made with Netflix for The Rip to accommodate its talent ownership-based budget structure. It led to bonuses for the movie’s cast and crew following its success on the global platform.
The TV division will be independent at this time; it will not be part of Artists Equity’s first-look deal with Netflix, which covers film.
Artists Equity plans to extend to television the writers’ room program it launched earlier this year for development of feature screenplays. It would be used to incubate original series ideas that would then be packaged and sold.
“Finding the right person to spearhead our expansion into television was essential, and Griffin brings exactly the experience, creative instincts, and entrepreneurial energy we were looking for,” Baer said. “We’re building a television slate that reflects the same ambition we’ve brought to our films, and bringing Griffin on is a major first step toward what Artists Equity Television can be.”
Until UCP’s merger with Universal Television last month, Zucosky served as Director of Development at the streaming-focused division of Universal Studios Group. He oversaw shows like The ‘Burbs and Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy and covered UCP’s overall deals with Seth McFarlane’s Fuzzy Door, Patrick MacManus’s Littleton Road Productions, and Sue Naegle’s Dinner Party. Prior to UCP, Zucosky worked in development at production companies including Red Wagon, Maniac Productions, and Relativity, working on shows like Ginny & Georgia and StartUp.
The move brings Affleck and Damon back in the scripted series arena where they have only ventured a couple of times with their previous companies, most notably producing ABC’s Push, Nevada and Showtime’s City on a Hill.
In addition to The Rip, Artists Equity’s film slate includes The Accountant 2, Doug Liman’s The Instigators, the Cillian Murphy-led Small Things Like These, William Goldenberg’s Unstoppable, and Air, directed by and starring Affleck. The studio’s nonfiction films include The Merchants of Joy, The Python Hunt, The Greatest Love Story Never Told, Kiss the Future and Believers: Boston Red Sox.
