Former Electus CEO and Shine International prexy Chris Grant has launched a new distribution company, Osmosis Global, which he will unwrap in time for next week’s Mipcom conference. Investor and entrepreneur Marc Pierce is backing the new venture.
Osmosis Global’s initial sales slate includes projects from Warm Spring Productions (Fox Nation’s “Yellowstone One-Fifty with Kevin Costner”), V10 Entertainment/Vin DiBona Prods. (The CW’s “Totally Funny Kids” and “Totally Funny Animals”), MRW Prods. (“Mike Rowe’s Somebody’s Gotta Do It”), Roc Nation (“Rise: The Siya Kolisi Story”), Stick Figure Entertainment (PBS’ “When Claude Got Shot” and HBO’s “Reporter”), Play House Studios (Fox Nation’s “A History of the World in Six Glasses with Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi, Jon Lovitz, Kevin Nealon and George Wendt) and Cosmo Media Labs/Mola TV (“MMA Fight Academy”), among others.
Osmosis is also looking to fully finance or deficit finance both scripted and unscripted original programming, in addition to repping titles for global distribution.
As part of his exec team, Grant (who will serve as Osmosis Global CEO) has tapped Eli Shibley as president and head of sales. The two worked together at Electus and Shine International; Shibley most recently ran Westbrook Studios and spent time at IM Global.
Besides Osmosis, Pierce’s portfolio includes Warm Springs Prods., which is also behind the series “Mountain Men,” “How America Works with Mike Rowe” and “Beach Hunters.”
Said Grant, “There’s been a permanent shift in the way programming is conceived, produced and monetized, and we have to change our approach to meet the moment,” Grant said in a statement. “Marc and I teamed up to create Osmosis so we could lean into our respective strengths in production, distribution and brand partnerships, and take the big financial swings that have always been the lifeblood of original content. We’re confident that our model and our independence can fill a need for both buyers and sellers.”
As CEO of Electus (which had been owned by Barry Diller’s IAC), Grant oversaw global and domestic programming and digital entertainment, as well as brand partnerships, which included deals companies like Walmart and P&G. While running Shine International, his remit included distributing content from Shine Group companies like Reveille, Kudos, Dragonfly, Princess Productions, Brown Eyed Boy, Shine TV, Shine France, Shine Germany, Shine Australia and the Nordic region’s Metronome. And before that, as managing director of Reveille, hew oversaw international distribution and creative affairs, and handled Universal Television Group’s formats overseas, including “The Office.”
