Dennis Quaid’s ‘Saving Yellowstone,’ From Osmosis, Lands at Discovery

Chris Grant‘s Osmosis Global shingle is launching a first-run unscripted U.S. studio model, with Discovery’s upcoming “Saving Yellowstone With Dennis Quaid” as the first project. The series, which follows Quaid as he highlights the ongoing threats to the “Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem” — which spans 58,000 square miles across Montana, Wyoming and Idaho — premieres in the U.S. this Wednesday, Nov. 26, on Discovery and Animal Planet.

Warm Springs Productions, which is an Osmosis partner and investor, produces “Saving Yellowstone,” which Osmosis has now also sold internationally via distribution deals in Canada (Paramount+), Norway (TV2) and Australia (SBS).

“If we can own rights again, which we know we can, the next question becomes, ‘what rights do we want to own?’” Grant said. “As it relates to the creation of content, obviously what always has broken through is talent. In the unscripted space, there’s an opportunity to work with premium talent on ideas and concepts that are near and dear to their hearts. What are they interested in, and how can you marry that in creating content? That’s what we did with with ‘Saving Yellowstone.’”

With Quaid as host, the four-part docuseries looks at “ongoing threats to the region, such as disease, drought, pollution, human encroachment and climate change, giving viewers an exclusive look at the majestic wild and insights from those working to fight for the survival of this extraordinary American landscape.”

With “Saving Yellowstone” and more titles to come, Osmosis is now also deficit financing or fully financing original fare (either by itself or via partners, advertisers or investors) and then distributing those projects.

“We have three or four more already, that are already in production or finishing production,” Grant said. “Our objective here is to work with producers and talent that want to get stuff made and are struggling to do so, and are open to figuring out innovative ways to do it. It was always our model, whether it was at Reveille or Shine or at Electus. I would just say it’s more necessary now than it’s ever been…I think that if we’re able to own rights, and we’re able to do innovative deals, there is an opportunity that has the potential to be as lucrative or more lucrative than it was before, when you were selling a show and giving up everything.”

Grant called it “an interesting moment in the business” to expand into more first-run fare. “The business has changed so substantively,” he said. “It’s been an interesting moment to start a distribution company, but also an exciting one, because of the fact that you’re able now to hold on to rights in sort of the way we were when my career began, and that provides for opportunity.

“We lived in a universe for a long time, which was great, where, if you had an understanding of the U.S. buyers and what they were looking for, that was more than enough,” he added. “That changed. So you need to now have to look at the whole landscape. What are advertisers looking for? What are international buyers looking for? What are the cablers looking for? What are the streamers looking for? What will work in digital AVOD, FAST? It’s a much more expansive process than it used to be.”

Former Electus CEO and Shine International president Grant launched Osmosis Global in 2023, focusing on distribution and a sales slate that included projects from Warm Spring Productions (Fox Nation’s “Yellowstone One-Fifty with Kevin Costner”), V10 Entertainment/Vin DiBona Prods. (The CW’s “Totally Funny Kids” and “Totally Funny Animals”), MRW Prods. (“Mike Rowe’s Somebody’s Gotta Do It”), Roc Nation (“Rise: The Siya Kolisi Story”), Stick Figure Entertainment (PBS’ “When Claude Got Shot” and HBO’s “Reporter”) and others. More recent examples include Texas Crew Productions (Fox Nation’s “Hunting Bundy: Case for the Devil” and “Scammed: Getting Even”) and See It Now Studios, APG Pictures and Anonymous Content’s “Thirst Trap: The Fame. The Fantasy. The Fallout” (which debuted on Paramount+).

“This studio model is exciting, but we’re still knee deep in the distribution of formats and readymades globally from like-minded producers,” Grant said. Other recent projects include distribution on Paramount+’s doc “We Will Dance Again,” about the events of Oct. 7, and “Checkpoint Zoo,” about Ukraine.

“We’re interested in taking on projects that are going to make the right kind of noise ,because that’s needed right now,” he said. “We did very well years ago selling a lot of volume right of just standard fare, and that is less compelling these days.”