Chris Grant’s Osmosis Global Single launches the first edition of an unscripted US studio model with Discovery’s upcoming ‘Saving Dennis Quaid and Yellowstone’ as its first project. The series follows Quaid as he highlights ongoing threats to the 58,000-square-mile Yellowstone Ecosystem, which spans Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, and will premiere in the U.S. this Wednesday, November 26, on Discovery and Animal Planet.
Osmosis partner and investor Warm Springs Productions is producing Saving Yellowstone, and Osmosis is currently selling it internationally through distribution deals in Canada (Paramount+), Norway (TV2) and Australia (SBS).
“If we are able to own rights again, and we know we can, the next question is, ‘What rights do we want to own?'” Grant said. “As it relates to content creation, obviously talent is what has always stuck through. In the unscripted space, you have the opportunity to work with great, talented people on ideas and concepts that are near and dear to their hearts. What are they interested in and how can you connect that to content creation? That’s what we did with ‘Saving Yellowstone.'”
The four-part documentary, hosted by Quaid, “focuses on the region’s continuing threats, including disease, drought, pollution, human encroachment, and climate change, and provides viewers with exclusive insights from the majestic nature and the people fighting to keep this extraordinary American landscape alive.”
With “Saving Yellowstone” and many more titles to come, Osmosis is currently distributing those projects by financing them at a loss or fully financing the original fare (either in-house or through partners, advertisers, and investors).
“We have three or four more already in production or out of production,” Grant said. “Our aim here is to work with producers and talent who want to make something but are struggling with it and are willing to come up with innovative ways. That’s always been our model, whether it’s Reveille or Shine or Electus. The thing is, we need it now more than ever…If we can own the rights and we can do some innovative deals, I think there’s an opportunity that could potentially be just as profitable or even more profitable than it was before when we were giving up everything and selling the show. ”
Grant called expanding more first fares “an interesting moment in business.” “Business has changed a lot,” he said. “Starting a distribution company was an interesting moment, but also an exciting one, because now I can hold the rights and that provides opportunities, just like when my career started.
“We lived in space for a long time, and it was great. As long as we understood the American buyer and what they wanted, that was all we needed,” he added. “Things have changed. So now we have to look at the big picture. What are advertisers looking for? What are international buyers looking for? What are cable companies looking for? What are streamers looking for? What works with digital AVOD? Is it fast? It’s a much more extensive process than before.”
Grant, a former Erectus CEO and president of Shine International, launched Osmosis Global in 2023 with a focus on distribution and sales initiatives including projects from Warm Spring Productions (Fox Nation’s “Yellowstone One with Kevin Costner”) and V10 Entertainment/Vin DiBona Prods. (The CW’s “Totally Funny Kids” and “Totally Funny Animals”), MRW Prods. (“Mike Rowe’s Someone Should Do It”), Roc Nation (“Rise: The Siya Kolisi Story”), and Stick Figure Entertainment (PBS’s “When Claude Got Shot” and HBO’s “The Reporter”). More recent examples include Texas Crew Productions (Fox Nation’s “Hunting Bundy: Case for the Devil” and “Scammed: Getting Even”) and See It Now Studios, APG Pictures and Anonymous Content’s “Thirst Trap: The Fame. The Fantasy. The Fallout” (premiering on Paramount+).
“While this studio model is exciting, we are still finding our feet in formats and readymade global distribution from like-minded producers,” Grant said. Other recent projects include Paramount+’s doc “We Will Dance Again,” about the events of October 7, and “Checkpoint Zoo,” about Ukraine.
“We’re interested in working on projects that create the right kind of noise, because that’s what’s needed right now,” he said. “We did very well a few years ago selling a lot of rights just for standard fare, but recently that has become less persuasive.”
