Spotify announced a first-look deal with Chernin Entertainment to adapt new film, television and digital projects from Spotify’s library of over 250 original podcast series. The two companies will work together to identify promising properties from Spotify’s lineup of original series from all over the world.
Chernin Entertainment is behind a couple of successful films and franchises of the past decade, including its revival of the Planet of the Apes franchise; acclaimed, award-winning feature films like Hidden Figures and The Greatest Showman; and popular television series like New Girl, See and Truth be Told.
The company also has a presence in the streaming media world, with upcoming projects such as Homecoming and The Two Princes (HBO Max).
This announcement comes after an earlier deal that saw the two companies collaborate with Pineapple Media on the forthcoming adaptation of the podcast series The Clearing. It must have gone well, because Chernin decided to lock in future access to Spotify’s archive. Under the new deal, Chernin will get first look at Spotify’s audio series, whose top series span multiple genres and reaches millions of listeners.
“Audio is by far the fastest-growing medium in the entertainment business,” said Chernin Entertainment Chairman and CEO Peter Chernin. “With over 250 originals and thousands of hours of content, Spotify has one of the largest libraries of unattached IP that exists in the world today and that library is being added to on a daily basis.
This treasure trove of content plus the acceleration of new voices and stories provides a big opportunity to transform these addictive stories and IP into content for the screen.”
Chernin Entertainment, which has had success with non-fiction based features like last year’s surprise hit, Ford vs. Ferrari, clearly sees potential in the kinds of stories that podcasts tell, and with the unique relationship that podcasts form with audiences through the intimacy of audio storytelling. Announcements of specific deals are expected to follow shortly, with shows in genres like narrative and true crime likely to be among the first few projects out of the gate.
