How Baywatch Once Again Became One Of The Most Widely Distributed Series
You would think that only novel and current productions could be in contention to claim the award of the most widely distributed in the streaming era. But it turns out one of the runner-ups is Baywatch, which was recently remastered and is now available in countless streaming services, cable networks, and broadcast TV channels across the world, including Amazon, Hulu, Pluto, H&I, and Samsung in the U.S. alone. How did this happen? How can an old-time hit from the turn of the 20th century come back in such a strong way?
I investigated this success story trying to find lessons about the business of entertainment that can stand the test of time. I found two: Industry experience and entrepreneurship.
Industry Experience
Baywatch rights owner Fremantle has extensive experience in the production and distribution of content that has international appeal, including non-scripted formats like Idol, Got Talent, and X-Factor, and game shows like Family Feud and The Price is Right. Fremantle worked with the show’s original producers Greg Bonann, Michael Berk, and Douglas Schwartz on the Baywatch Remastered venture.
You could argue that technology was the key to enable the comeback of Baywatch. After all, about 200 people digitally touched each episode to convert the series from standard to high definition. Bob McCourt, COO International at Fremantle, managed the project. He stated: “To remaster 242 episodes of Baywatch and replace over 400 songs cleared for streaming was a monumental project, but with the dedication of the team involved and the superb work done by the remastering houses it was completed within 11 months. The results were stunning and the international TV market agreed, having now sold to 120 countries.”
Certainly technology was necessary, but not sufficient. Bonann stated: “For anyone to make a bet on the comeback of an old hit, the risk-reward relationship had to work. We used industry contacts and negotiation skills learned decades ago to transform and remaster all 11 seasons, and then created new original music for about 10% of the millions in license fees it would have cost to clear the old songs, all the while creating our own record label to own and control that new music. Today this record label is its own significant revenue source.” So the technology was there, but without their experience and industry knowledge to craft a viable business case, it probably wouldn’t have happened.
Entrepreneurship
Courage. The first thing you need as an entrepreneur is the courage to take a risk for something you believe in. Baywatch producers have had that for years. Bonann himself entered the entertainment industry with no background other than that of a lifeguard with a dream to tell beach stories. Somehow, he and his co-creators convinced NBC executives to bet on Baywatch, and so the first season of Baywatch was launched in 1989.
Fast forward 30 years, where according to McCourt, similar courage was needed: “Fremantle believed so strongly in the demand for a remastered Baywatch and the power of a global iconic brand that it was prepared to invest in the project without any broadcaster or streaming platform attached.”
Resilience and Creativity.
Two other key traits of successful entrepreneurs are resilience as you encounter obstacles, and the creativity to overcome seemingly insurmountable ones.
After its first season, Baywatch was cancelled by NBC. Thanks to persistence, creative thinking, and desperation of its producers, they developed a new distribution model for the industry called ‘first-run syndication’. That is, they pitched Baywatch’s new second season to independent TV stations (those not owned by a major network group), which were suddenly excited to show first runs of Baywatch instead of the usual old re-runs. At its peak, through this novel distribution strategy, Baywatch was available in over 95% of the U.S. And Worldwide, it reached a record 1.1 billion weekly viewers.
Baywatch Remastered was a similar story of resilience and creativity. First, to raise funds it was key to break the typical chicken-and-egg problem: Without a market for an old-time hit it was hard to attract funding. Fremantle and Bonann decided to try the old trick of pre-sales of distribution rights to get some initial funding and demonstrate marketplace interest. But still, how do you break the ice and get the first pre-sale? The approach was to pre-sell first to a top U.S. distributor, which would pave the way to convince international buyers to also commit.
They thought they had it all figured out, but in 2017, the Baywatch movie failed pretty badly at the box office, and the perceived value of the Baywatch series in the market was hurt, reducing the chances of that first deal. But the producers didn’t give up and eventually the persistence paid off, as Bonann recalls: “In 2018, one morning I woke up to a big gift from the young man I had discovered in a surfboard shop in Hawaii, Jason Momoa. He had just broken box office records with his new movie Aquaman. Introduced in the 1990’s to the world of acting in Baywatch Hawaii, Momoa had just returned the favor through his big screen success, helping the Baywatch franchise recoup its marketability.”
After that, the first deal finally came through. Once the ice was broken, there was a snowball effect, and many more deals transpired. Baywatch can now be watched all over the world and there are talks about a Baywatch reboot. This is how you do it in entertainment today, similar to how it was done decades ago. Industry experience and an entrepreneurial mindset of courage, resilience, and creativity can take you a long way. Well, I guess considering the ‘Momoa effect’, a bit of fortune helps too.
Remastering Process
- Original Film Quality: The show was originally shot on high-quality 35mm film, which provided a solid foundation for the remastering process. This allowed for a more detailed and vibrant final product compared to digital formats that might have been used in later productions.
- Restoration Efforts: The remastering team invested considerable time and resources over an 11-month period to restore all 242 episodes. This included addressing technical issues and enhancing visual quality, which ultimately resulted in stunning visuals that have been well-received internationally.
- Music Licensing: A significant aspect of the remastering involved replacing over 400 songs that were originally part of the series. This was necessary to clear the music rights for streaming platforms, adding complexity to the project.
- Aspect Ratio Adjustments: The original 4:3 aspect ratio was converted to a 16:9 format to fit modern widescreen televisions. However, this led to some criticisms regarding cropping and stretching of the original compositions.
- Censorship Issues: The remastered version faced scrutiny for altering certain scenes, including changes in music and censorship of some content, particularly in scenes that originally featured nudity
