In a recent discussion at the Access Canada Summit, Kevin Beggs, chair of Lionsgate Television Group, shared his insights on the evolving landscape of the TV industry post-Peak TV era.
Kevin Beggs on Navigating New Hollywood
After the end of the flashy Peak TV era, Kevin Beggs, Lionsgate Television Group chair and chief creative officer, sees green shoots signaling a hopeful recovery for the global TV business.
Resurgence in the TV Industry
“The streaming wars kind of came to a crashing end, both with COVID and the strikes, and now there’s been a nice little resurgence that’s happening, but nothing of the order of what we saw,” Beggs stated on Tuesday at the Access Canada Summit in Toronto, presented by The Hollywood Reporter.
Strategic Bets on New Series
To capitalize on these better times, Beggs argued that Lionsgate TV needs to make disciplined bets on new series, like the first-look deal the studio signed with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Point Grey Pictures.
“It’s really yielded a great result,” he added about The Studio on Apple TV+ during a conversation with Maer Roshan, Editor-in-Chief of THR, at the Omni King Edward Hotel, midway through the Toronto Film Festival.
Renewal and Caution
Beggs welcomed Apple TV+ renewing the comedy for a second season, with Rogen returning as Matt Remick, a movie executive who realizes he might be in over his head.
At the same time, he expressed caution about inspiring any characters or storylines in the fictional series as it returns. “The mantra around our shop, and also probably to an extent Apple, is we don’t want to be in season two,” he insisted.
Opportunities Amidst Change
Beggs, a California native who has been with Lionsgate Television for around 25 years, argued that, despite unprecedented change and turmoil in the TV industry, emerging and enterprising creators will always find a way into the business.
“These disruptive moments, these dips, I’ve lived through a bunch of them, and these times also present opportunity. It won’t present itself in the traditional ways,” he stated. As major studios and networks cut back, new entry points into the business will come from what is “bubbling up” in a next-generation creator economy.
The Importance of Storytelling
“All of it revolves around great storytelling at its root; all of us are here because we love stories. We want to tell them. We want to support artists that tell them better than we do,” Beggs added.
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Hunches Over Data
For Lionsgate TV, hitting a bull’s eye in the TV industry still takes hunches, not just data, but increasingly informed hunches. “Everyone who has ever pronounced the death of a genre has been surprised by a hit. You can’t anticipate what won’t work. You have to think, will it work? And why are we uniquely qualified for this package, the writer, creator, the showrunner, the team to deliver it in a way that is unique and new,” Beggs argued.
Broadcast Networks Still Matter
Despite the supremacy of streaming platforms, Beggs remains optimistic about legacy broadcast networks. “Shows have to be self-contained enough that they’re repeatable,” he insisted, unlike soaps that are more difficult as reruns.
“Standalone episodes with some serialization is kind of the key. Procedurals are probably the best model right now,” Beggs said.
Future Collaborations
Lionsgate TV has a hit on CBS with Ghosts, and now that David Ellison has completed Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount Global, Beggs is optimistic about working with CBS under its new leadership.
“Anybody who’s bolstering a legacy media company, putting investments in making more stuff, that’s an amazing thing. It could have easily gone the other way,” Beggs said of working with Ellison and his new team.
The Access Canada Summit wraps on Wednesday, ahead of the Toronto Film Festival reaching a finale on Sept. 14.
