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James Norton will be on hand to talk about his historical epic King & Conqueror as Paramount Global ushers buyers into the Curzon Cinema in London’s Soho later this week. Giving clients a first look at the period drama is top of mind for Lisa Kramer, President, International TV Licensing at Paramount Global Content Distribution. The studio exec and her team will also be pushing hard on selling premium originals from Paramount+ to buyers, with second window sales a bigger priority for premium tentpoles.
London offers a moment for the Hollywood studio to see clients before the LA Screenings in May. Some mid-season network shows have hit the air and there’s a helpful pause before acquisition execs head to LA to watch new network series. Because of that, London is a better bet for the U.S. heavyweights than the now defunct MIPTV.
“The timing of the London [TV] Screenings in February is probably preferable to the old market in April. It provides some distance before May and that next wave of anticipation around shows,” Kramer tells Deadline. “I’m excited that [London] is growing. It used to be very specific with buyers going to see the British producers, but now it’s a great moment for the entire industry. It’s a critical market now for distribution.”
CBS Studios is a co-producer on Battle of Hastings period piece King & Conqueror. The show will be on the BBC in the UK with Paramount across international. A finished episode will screen for buyers in London and Happy Valley star Norton, who stars alongside Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, will do a Q+A.
Meanwhile, Paramount comes to town with a slate of movies from the revived Republic Pictures label. The Studio’s Chief Content Licensing Officer, Dan Cohen, also serves as President of Republic Pictures. He has previously explained to Deadline the rationale for getting Republic, an historic banner once renowned for Westerns, is to supplement the supply of blockbusters from Paramount Pictures. Volume is needed, he said, given strong demand for theatrical movies from buyers in the first and second TV windows.
Kramer points to Twinless, which made noise at Sundance, and the Oscar-nominated September 5, as notable recent additions to the Republic slate that will be presented in London.
Opening Windows For Premium
The U.S. distributor also has a sharp focus on selling premium drama into second windows. The push is focused on the Paramount+ originals, which have their exclusive moment in the sun on the streaming platform and Paramount+ branded blocks around the world, before coming to market, after a holdback, in the second window.
The buzzed upcoming NCIS spin-off Tony & Ziva is a good example, as are existing shows like Tulsa King and Lioness.
“We are looking at second windows, that’s part of our message coming into London,” Kramer says. “People have been talking about second windows for some time. I think the difference now is we have started selling second windows on our so-called premium series.”
If done right, the theory goes, international sales can help offset the huge budgets that premium dramas command. Or, as Kramer puts it: “The cost of production is sky high and it is trying to shore up your business model.”
Second windows on big shows also mean a mainstream audience seeing the series in question, pumping up its tires before new seasons bow on paid-for services. “It is interesting revenue generation for us, but maybe more importantly, what we see is when you have an IP you need to expose it in order to make it valuable.”
Kramer continues: “It opens that product up to more viewers who may not have seen it the first time around, or didn’t see it because they were not subscribers. It gains interest and traction. It actually sends viewers back when a subsequent season launches.”
As Paramount gets ready to tout its wares in London, there’s no ignoring the wider corporate machinations, namely the $8BN ongoing merger with Skydance Media.
Come the 2026 London Screenings, the new ownership structure should be well established. Kramer does not have a crystal ball to hand as she chats to Deadline but sounds a confident note about the future of the content sales business.
“The value of our distribution is a critical component to figuring out the overall enterprise strategy. I mean, they need distribution. It will not be an insular organization, so I feel that we will be continuing to drum up business internationally, and hopefully, linking with our international partners for some time to come.”
