Comedy Extends South Park Deal
Parker, Stone to Create Digital Animation Studio
By Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 8/27/2007 5:39:00 AM MT
Getting a piece of the digital-revenue pie, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone extended their deal with Comedy Central for three more seasons, and are forming a joint venture with the network to create a digital animation studio, officials said Monday.
The strategic alliance includes the formation of the new studio, South Park Digital Studios, at South Park headquarters in Los Angeles. It will serve as the new home for all digital extensions of the show’s franchise, as well as an incubator for new animated projects.
The new agreement is worth more than $75 million to Stone and Parker over the next four years, The New York Times reported Monday. There is a 50-50 split of ad revenue from the digital joint venture, and Stone and Parker will get an increase in their salaries and guaranteed advances from DVDs, merchandising, international sales and syndication, according to The Times.
“Three more years of South Park will give us the opportunity to offend that many more people,” Stone said in a prepared statement. “And since Trey and I are in charge of the digital side of South Park, we can offend people on their cell phones, game consoles, and computers too. It’s all very exciting for us.”
As part of the agreement, Parker and Stone will produce an additional three seasons, at 14 episodes per season, of the Emmy and Peabody award-winning South Park. That will take the series beyond its current deal, which was set to expire at the end of 2008, to keep new episodes of the show on Comedy Central through 2011. Parker and Stone will continue to write, direct and edit every episode of South Park, as they have since the series premiered in August 1997.
South Park Digital Studios will include a comprehensive production and development facility featuring an animation studio that will serve as a home base for animation experimentation and groundbreaking animation for Parker and Stone, as well as other animators. Comedy Central will have a first-look option on any projects developed at the studio.
The South Park Digital Studios joint venture will also explore opportunities on gaming platforms (console, handheld, online) and be a new online home for the series that will create a Web presence looking to equal the popularity and power of the series' brand.
SouthParkStudios.com, the official South Park fan site, will be expanded and become a major part of the new joint venture. The expanded site is scheduled to re-launch during the first quarter next year.
