Assessing Benefits of Independent Television

Flexibility and quick response to trends prove to be vital attributes for those who produce entertainment for the global content market

While running Nbcuniversal’s boutique TV studio UCP, Dawn Olmstead thought of the company behind such shows as “Dirty John” and “The Umbrella Academy” as something of an indie shingle inside a larger conglomerate. But then she took the job as CEO and partner at Anonymous Content.

At UCP, Olmstead had worked with Anonymous on “Mr. Robot” and “Homecoming.” But once inside the production and management company, “I realized, ‘This is what it really feels like to be independent,’” Olmstead says. “And in the best of ways, I think, because the landscape is shifting so rapidly, to be at a company like Anonymous, when they see something, they can pivot really quickly. This particular company has always been about finding difficult stories to tell and those kind of visionary auteurs.”

Anonymous is one of several production companies that have eschewed overall deals or alliances with major studios, networks or streamers in order to remain flexible and work with as many outlets and partners as possible. And as the Independent Spirit Awards unveils its inaugural TV categories this year, it’s worth noting other indie-minded companies including A , Annapurna and Blumhouse are also stepping up their TV output.

Still, it’s tricky being an indie in TV these days: On the one hand, there are a growing number of outlets, particularly in the streaming space, hungry for premium content and anxious to grow their volume, fast. (“That desire to have more content really feels palpable right now,” says Hello Sunshine film and television president Lauren Neustadter. “Being able to be flexible, so that we can go anywhere and work with anyone, has been really great.”) But those streamers are increasingly looking in-house for their fare: Either they’re paying top dollar to grab A-list producers or intellectual property, rebooting popular titles already in their library, or relying on their sister studios to keep everything in the family.

The benefits of being independent shift “month to month,” according to one producer who preferred to stay anonymous.

In the late s, the end of the financial interest and syndication rules (“fin-syn”) put the squeeze on a once-vibrant independent TV business, as networks started stocking their lineups with in-house fare. And eventually even prolific companies such as Carsey-werner got out of that game. Five years ago, a new explosion in cable and streaming buyers convinced producers including Steven Spielberg’s Amblin TV, Jerry Bruckheimer and Mark Gordon to strike out on their own and breathe new life into the indie TV model.

That trend wasn’t for everyone, however. The overhead dollars and guaranteed network pipeline that come with overall deals proved too hard to ignore for some folks including Bruckheimer, who eventually reversed course and struck a new pact with CBS Studios. The fickle nature of TV buyers — some of whom entered the scripted game to much fanfare, then pulled back out (Discovery, WGN, E! and others) — also made it tough for other producers to stick it out alone. And that was before the COVID- pandemic.

Olmstead says Anonymous, which launched its TV operations with a pod deal at Paramount, plans to stay independent by mixing the level of its involvement in series productions. In some cases, it will continue to serve as a studio, and at other times as a producer.

“You really have to have something that they can’t get their hands on, whether it’s a piece of talent or a piece of IP, and it has to be really meaningful for them to really look at you as an outside studio,” she says. “If you look at the last two years it’s gotten even harder as the platforms have built up their own studios. So we are open to doing whatever is right for us. And that’s the great thing about being independent, you can see where the winds are blowing, and then move on it like a speedboat.”