Sony Pictures Television is looking to shorten the commute between Culver City and Madison Avenue.
Studio has hired former MediaVest programming prexy Jeff Grant to a one-year consultancy deal, charging the exec with finding new ways of getting advertisers involved in the development of scripted and unscripted programming. He'll remain based in Gotham.
Grant has been actively involved in so-called client-supplied programming for more than two decades, working with companies such as Procter & Gamble, General Foods and Kraft. Sony, meanwhile, also has traditionally been receptive to partnerships with advertisers, teaming up with P&G and CBS Prods. to produce the Eye's "King of Queens."
"The changing dynamics of television have inspired everyone to re-examine the relationship between programming and advertising, and we are dedicated to seeking innovative and appropriate ways to collaborate with advertisers," said SPT programming prexy Russ Krasnoff.
Exec said Grant's track record made him an obvious choice to increase Sony's activity in the area. Grant has been involved in a number of top-rated client-supplied programs, including the CBS pic "About Sarah" and the Peabody-winning pic "Having Our Say."
"Jeff's been doing this longer and knows more about it than anyone," Krasnoff said. "Our interest is in finding new economic models for TV. It seems that if this is an opportunity to do business in a different way, who better to help us do it than Jeff?"
After leaving MediaVest, Grant decided to form his own consultancy company, Totem LLC. He's also signed a deal to consult for P&G.
"On a project-by-project basis, and maybe on a larger scale, I want to create a dialogue and a bridge between Sony and the advertising community," Grant said.
"There's been an awful lot of smoke, some of which I generated, about client-supplied programming -- but there haven't been as many deals and concrete programs that have come out of it."
Grant said Sony "has always understood the client-supplied business" better than most studios. "They're a perfect fit for clients," he said of the non-aligned studio, which uses one management team to program all dayparts.
In addition to brainstorming new concepts with advertisers, Grant might also work on ways to integrate products into Sony shows. "But it can't just be a bar of soap sitting on a sink," he said. "It has to be organic to what's going on."
Krasnoff said he's not sure yet how the relationship between producers and advertisers will evolve.
"It's still in its infancy, which is kind of funny since this is how television began," he said.
Grant's resume includes five years as exec VP-director of programming for TeleVest, creating the advertising-network program division at King World in 1987 and four years as prexy of Reader's Digest Entertainment/Taft Entertainment Television.
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