CASE STUDY: A Look at Some of TV's Most Successful PODs

With news that Neal Baer (showrunner of Under the Dome, Law & Order: SVU, ER) just signed a POD deal with 20th Century Fox, I thought it was worth looking at the holy grail for television writers/producers: the POD deal aka the production overall deal. 

Now we don't often talk about television productions but with the quality of television productions meeting and oftentimes exceeding the quality of films, it's time to reconsider. I'm a big believer in aiming high and learning from successful people so the article below will give you something to aim for (POD deals) and give you examples of people with POD deals to learn from.

A Look at Some of TV’s Most Successful PODs 

Originally published by Film Escape April 5, 2015 and written by Charlie Sierra

It’s every TV writer/producer’s dream to get a POD deal at a studio. To be paid handsomely and respected for the work that you create is something that everyone strives for.  A POD (production overall deal is basically a first look deal except anything that the producer develops while under this agreement must stay within the studio and cannot be taken elsewhere even if the studio passes. In return, the studio will pay an annual fee to the producer and cover all of his/her overhead costs. Both TV and film studios make overall deals with production companies and writers. In the TV world, these production companies are known as PODs which are responsible for some of today’s most successful series. This system allows for studios to pay for exclusivity to the content from talented creators. For example, if someone like Shonda Rhimes creates a hit like GREY’S ANATOMY for ABC Studios, they’d want to make sure that they have access to her next projects so that they can have more hit shows like SCANDAL and HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER. After the success of BREAKING BAD, Sony Pictures (the studio that financed the show) made sure that the creator Vince Gilligan wasn’t going to take his next projects elsewhere. So they signed an undisclosed 8 figure POD deal with him and his company High Bridge.  Here is a list of a few other notable PODs for each of the major TV studios.

20th Century Fox TV
Production Company	Principal(s)	Credits
Bays & Thomas	Carter Bays Craig Thomas	How I Met Your Mother
Liz Meriwether	Liz Meriwether	New Girl
Party Over Here	Andy Samberg	Brooklyn Nine Nine
Steve Levitan	Steve Levitan	Modern Family
Flying Glass Of Milk	Matt Nix	Burn Notice
Teakwood Lane Productions	Howard Gordon	24,  Homeland,  Tyrant
Chernin Productions	Peter Chernin Katherine Pope	New Girl
Imagine Television	Brian Grazer Ron Howard	24, Parenthood,  Friday Night Lights,  Empire
Lorde Miller	Chris Miller Phil Lord	Last Man On Earth,  Lego Movie,  21 Jump St
Ryan Murphy TV	Ryan Murphy	Glee,  American Horror Story,  Nip Tuck
Sutter Ink	Kurt Sutter	Sons of Anarchy

ABC Studios
Production Company	Principal(s)	Credits
Coquette	Courteney Cox David Arquette	Cougar Town
Dark Toy	Todd Holland	Red Band Society,  About a Boy,  Shameless
Fake Empire	Jason Schwartz Stephanie Savage	Hart of Dixie,  Carrie Diaries,  Gossip Girl,  Chuck,  The OC
Michael Seitzman	Michael Seitzman	Intelligence,  Code Black
Mark Gordon Co	Mark Gordon	Grey’s Anatomy,  Criminal Minds,  Private Practice
Shondaland	Shonda Rhimes	Scandal,  How To Get Away  With Murder,  Grey’s Anatomy

CBS Studios
Production Company	Principal(s)	Credits
Robert Doherty	Robert Doherty	Elementary
When Pigs Fly	Gary Galsberg	NCIS
606 Films	Halle Berry	Extant
Fly The Coop	Doug Ellin	Entourage
K/O Paper Products	Alex Kurtzman Roberto Orci	Scorpion,  Sleep Hollow,  Hawaii Five O,  Fringe
Original Film	Neal Moritz	The Big C,  Prison Break,  Fast and Furious
Ryan Seacrest	Ryan Seacrest
Timberman/Beverly	Carl Beverly Sarah Timberman	Justified,  Unforgettable,  Elementary,  Masters of Sex,  The Odd Couple

Sony Pictures Televisions
Production Company	Principal(s)	Credits
Davis Entertainment	John Davis	The Blacklist
Farm Kid	Darlene Hunt	The Big C
Fedora	Michael Wimmer Peter Tolan	Rescue Me,  Rake
Nemo Films	Graham Yost	Justified,  Boomtown
Midd Kidd	Shawn Ryan Marney Hochman	The Shield,  Chicago Code,  Last Resort,  Lie to Me,  The Unit
Happy Madison	Adam Sandler Doug Robinson	The Goldbergs
High Bridge	Vince Gilligan	Breaking Bad,  Better Call Saul,  Battle Creek
Shore Z	David Shore	House MD,  Battle Creek
Smokehouse	George Clooney Grant Heslov

Universal Television
Production Company	Principal(s)	Credits
Broadway Video	Lorne Michaels	Saturday Night Live,  Man Seeking Woman,  Mulaney
Deedle-Dee	Greg Daniels	The Office,  Parks and Recreation,  King of the Hill
Etre Films	Anne Heche	Bad Judge
PaperKite	Amy Poehler
Little Stranger	Tina Fey	30 Rock
Parkes MacDonald	Walter F Parkes Laurie MacDonald	The Slap,  Warrior,  Crossbones
UnbeliEVAble Entertainment	Eva Longoria	Devious Maids
Wolf Films	Dick Wolf	Law and Order,  Chicago PD,  Nightwatch
The Bedbug Letter	Matt Olmstead	Chicago Fire

Warner Bros TV
Production Company	Principal(s)	Credits
Berlanti TV	Greg Berlanti	The Flash,  Arrow,  Mysteries of Laura,  Brothers and Sisters
Bad Robot	JJ Abrams Bryan Burk	Person of Interest,  Believe,  Almost Human,  Lost,  Fringe
Chuck Lorre	Chuck Lorre	Big Bang Theory,  Mom,  Two and a Half Men
Doozer	Bill Lawrence Jeff Ingold	Cougar Town,  Scrubs,  Undateable
Jerry Bruckheimer TV	Jerry Bruckheimer	CSI Franchise,
My So-Called Company	Julie Plec	Vampire Diaries,  The Originals,  The Tomorrow People

For help with your filmmaking career and your television projects, contact me at danny@djimlaw.com or 929.322.3546.

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