Lionsgate takes a stake in Pilgrim Studios


Details

Michelle Clancy

| 17 November 2015





Lionsgate has agreed to make a strategic investment in Pilgrim Studios.


The deal marks another key alliance for Lionsgate as it continues to grow and diversify its television operations.

Pilgrim's programming slate encompasses 47 unscripted and scripted series spanning 27 networks, including reality hits such as: Ghost Hunters (SyFy); Welcome to Sweetie Pie's (OWN), a docu-drama about a soul food matriarch; Fast N' Loud (Discovery); Wicked Tuna (National Geographic); and The Ultimate Fighter (FOX Sports 1). It also recently optioned the rights to ‘Mensch on a Bench.’

Pilgrim will continue to operate independently with full creative autonomy under its current management team headed by founder and CEO Craig Piligian. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The transaction gives the two companies a combined roster of nearly 80 television series across 40 networks and builds Lionsgate's position in unscripted programming. Lionsgate has recently expanded its footprint in unscripted programming with a growing roster of producers and a programming slate that includes Monica the Medium, recently renewed for a second season on ABC Family, the horror-themed game show Hellevator, which debuted last month on GSN, and the Freddie Wong/RocketJump series for Hulu.

"We're delighted to be in business with Craig Piligian and his team, who have achieved remarkable success building Pilgrim into a global leader in unscripted content with a valuable portfolio of long-running returning series and reality brands," said Jon Feltheimer, CEO at Lionsgate. "This transaction scales and diversifies our television business by aligning Pilgrim, the market leader in nonfiction programming, with our robust scripted production operations as well as our premier syndication business operating under the Debmar-Mercury banner."

"We're thrilled to become part of the Lionsgate family and align ourselves with Jon Feltheimer, Kevin Beggs and the rest of an incredible team that has built a world-class organisation," added Piligian. "This deal creates tremendous synergies between our companies, including the benefits of our respective relationships in the industry and the strength of Lionsgate's worldwide distribution infrastructure; we're very excited to work together to accelerate the next phase of our growth."