Clarice was set to transfer from CBS to Paramount+ a month ago, with the promise of an extended run for the Silence of the Lambs sequel’s premium edition. Negotiations between ViacomCBS and co-producer MGM have reportedly come to a halt, putting the series’ future in jeopardy, according to our sources.
Clarice Transfer Got Into Deadlock
Furthermore, there is no way for Clarice to return to CBS next season because the broadcast network has already committed to a full slate of shows. It would be the end of the road for the high-profile drama unless the Paramount+ discussions reach a substantial breakthrough, which seems improbable at the moment. MGM and Paramount+ declined to comment on the situation.
This is one of the oddest scenarios industry professionals have seen, when a program with a Season 2 pickup is on the verge of cancellation, potentially putting 300 people out of the job. It involves a major franchise, Silence of the Lambs; a prominent producer, Alex Kurtzman; a recently combined firm, ViacomCBS; and a studio that is soon to be merged, MGM, which is being purchased by Amazon.
MGM either abruptly ended good-faith discussions or chose to walk out after already being handed a “mediocre” contract it couldn’t accept, according to whom you ask.
Clarice at Paramount+
Clarice began the tale as the lowest-rated and least-watched scripted series on CBS during the spring season. On the other hand, the serialized drama, which is more suited to streaming, has done well on Paramount+.
The network’s dramas SEAL Team and Clarice were reportedly heading to sister Paramount+ on May 14, five days before CBS‘ upfront presentation. MGM Television, which co-produces Clarice with CBS Studios, was informed of the move the same day, according to sources.
Between May 14 and May 21, there had been a lot of back-and-forth between MGM Television and Paramount+/CBS Studios about an agreement, a busy week that included news of Amazon’s awaiting merger of MGM (May 17), Paramount+ publicly stating the pickup of SEAL Team and Evil (May 18), and CBS carrying its upfront (May 19).
Clarice, on the other hand, eluded agreement. The causes for this varied from one side to the other.
Thus according to insiders close to ViacomCBS, Paramount+ and CBS Studios offered the majority — if not all — of the concessions MGM requested in the business conditions, but MGM refused to sign the agreement. According to my sources, the show’s licensing price increased from $1.2 million-$1.3 million per episode at CBS, where the business model is deficit financing, to $3.8 million per episode at Paramount+, which follows a cost-plus approach.
The planned Paramount+ contract, like the CBS pact, is just for domestic distribution, with MGM managing foreign sales (MGM Television and CBS Studios split the proceeds as 50-50 co-producers). Clarice would no longer be able to seek an off-network streaming contract in the United States if she became a Paramount+ original, however industry analysts say the Paramount+ licensing cost more than compensates for this.
Clarice agreement
According to sources close to MGM, the Clarice agreement provided by Paramount+ was lower than the deals given by the streaming service to the two previous dramas that migrated from CBS to Paramount+, all of which were entirely owned by CBS. According to the same sources, Paramount+ pays a licensing fee that covers around 90% of SEAL Team and Evil’s expenses.
The offer on Clarice was for 78 percent of the budget ($3.6 million per episode), which was increased to 82 percent ($3.8 million) during talks.
According to CBS insiders, the 82 percent is within the usual range for a premium series, which fluctuates from show to program based on pay cable network/streamer performance data. According to my sources, Paramount+’s internal prediction for Clarice was that it would break even at a 78 percent licensing charge and lose money at an 82 percent fee, and eventually agreed.
The magnitude of the order, with Paramount+ proposing ten episodes, was also a matter of concern. MGM requested a minimum of 15 episodes every season as a guarantee.
The streamer argued that 10-episode seasons are common. Evil was shifted from CBS to Paramount+ after its second season had already been created for transmission, making it a 13-episode season. Meanwhile, I’ve heard that SEAL Team’s fifth season will include 14 episodes, with the first four airing on CBS and the remaining ten on Paramount+. Multiple sources claim that Paramount+ was willing to increase the quantity of Clarice’s order, but the matter was never pushed forward.
A multi-year freeze on the episodes was also put in place in response to MGM’s desire for a second window for Clarice on its own premium network Epix. According to insiders, MGM was not pleased with the delay in making the show’s produced seasons available on Epix.
MGM Television officials expressed excitement early in the discussions about the potential of Clarice going to streaming, where it might have a long run and creative flexibility to develop the characters and stories without the constraints of broadcast television. Following a flurry of activity between the two parties and many concessions, MGM TV indicated that a deal was in the works. But that never happened.
Clarice at CBS
Clarice comes from CBS Studios’ top producer Kurtzman, thus the company was determined to make the transaction work. With the Star Trek universe, which he is overseeing continual development, he helped establish Paramount+ forerunner CBS All Access.
It’s unknown who at MGM decided not to move forward with the Paramount+ Clarice agreement. The streamer was led to believe that the contract had been rejected by the board, but sources close to MGM allege that the topic was never brought before the board and was instead assessed by a committee that supervises licensed content.
Top officials from Paramount+, CBS Studios, and MGM Television were in charge of the negotiations at first. When negotiations stopped, CBS Entertainment Group president and CEO George Cheeks, CAA, which represents Kurtzman, and MGM chairman Kevin Ulrich became involved. Despite this, a deal remained elusive.
Although the MGM-Amazon transaction was announced while MGM and CBS were negotiating for Clarice, it seems unlikely that the forthcoming merger influenced MGM’s decision not to allow the program to transfer to Paramount+, a competitor to Amazon’s Prime Video.
Amazon’s $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM was predicated on the MGM collection, so the corporation wanted to keep one of its most well-known pieces of IP in order to explore it in the near future with a new Prime Video series would be a reasonable financial decision. While outside industry observers speculate about a link given the timing of the discussions’ failure, MGM sources claim that business as normal is continuing at the studio, which is continuing to sell to outside purchasers while the potential Amazon acquisition is going through the legislative framework.
Before Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet came up with the concept for Clarice, there had been several failed efforts to adapt Silence of the Lambs to broadcast.
MGM executives are pleased with the duo’s creative vision, but the studio is only interested in keeping the show at ViacomCBS if it remains on the broadcast network, based on the assumption that, even if the series does not perform well on CBS, the company will earn more money in foreign sales with the series on a domestic broadcast network — a belief that some industry experts debate. Ulrich believes that a broadcast series adds greater value to the MGM library as a whole and that moving Clarice to a streaming service will hurt the studio’s library assets in general.
Clarice would have earned money for MGM if it had been renewed for a second season on Paramount+. Instead, it would be going away with a loss as a result of deficit-financing a show that was canceled after one season, which is one of the worst circumstances in the broadcast network industry.
