Legion M Partners with CSS Entertainment

Legion M CEO Paul Scanlan Speaks About the New Partnership with Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment.

Legion M, the fan-owned entertainment company based in San Francisco and Los Angeles; has announced their new strategic partnership with Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, a crowdsource entertainment company known for their Chicken Soup for the Soul books. With this new deal that goes into effect immediately, CSS Productions will be given exclusive rights to projects that are already in the works with Legion M. Together, Legion M and CSS Productions will develop and produce community-driven content for television and film projects. It also will provide entertainment fans the opportunity to potentially invest and receive equity in the projects. I had the opportunity to speak with the Legion M CEO, Paul Scanlan about the new venture with CSS Entertainment.

"The CEO of CSS Entertainment and the woman who is driving that initiative (Elana Sofko, COO of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment) is someone (Jeff Annison, Paul's business partner) and I have worked with in the past. When we announced, Legion M way back when—she was one of our first investors," explained Legion M CEO Paul Scanlan. He added, "She was excited about what we're doing and she's a part of the community and she kept in touch and had been following our updates."

Elana Sofko, the COO of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment said in a Legion M press release statement, “We are excited to be working with an innovator like Legion M—“It’s a great time to take advantage of the changes in the entertainment industry and foster direct relationships with fans in an engaging way. We look forward to working with Legion M on Screen Media theatrical releases as well as developing and delivering great television series.”

“Partnering with CSS Entertainment comes at an exciting time for Legion M. Our fourth round of equity crowdfunding is currently open, and we’re building on the momentum of two recent projects that have received unbelievable attention: Mandy, which had a very successful theatrical release this fall, and our recently announced comic book and feature film project Girl with no Name” said Jeff Annison, co-founder and president of Legion M in their press release statement. “We’re thrilled to be working with CSS Entertainment, and adding uplifting, community-driven series to our growing slate of projects.”

The Legion M CSS Entertainment Connection

Paul described the connection to Elana at CSS Entertainment

"She went to Chicken Soup for the Soul after that, and when she went over there I sent her a 'congratulations' and that I love that company and we should reconnect. "On one of our trips to New York—we stopped in (the CSS Entertainment office) and gave her the full update on what Legion M was up to and some of the projects that we were excited about; had in development, things that we had put out into impulse and had really good feedback on. And as we started to compare notes they took us through their strategy and what they're planning to do—and what their brand is all about and how they're building up their platform—it was immediately obvious there was so much we could do together because we've got a history of working together and a lot of trust— and I have a lot of respect for very smart also very easy to work with and ethical people—all the things that Legion M looks for in a partner—we have very strict 'no a**hole' polices!"

"We pitched some of our TV shows and some of the series and all these series that we announced in the (Legion M) press release are all part of are unscripted slate and portfolio—what you'll notice is that they all have a common theme," Paul explained. "The community is involved—it's like 'crowdsourced' content but it's also 'crowd-informed.' Legion M revolves around this amazing community that we have which are our shareholders and supporters."

"When we explained to Elana about all these show ideas that we have and how the Legion could provide the value of helping to evaluate content but also to contribute and submit content; it was so obvious that it was a good fit." "The interesting thing about CSS books is that they are 'crowdsourced' they are actually written by the crowd."

"The founders, Jack Canfield and the entire team they had pioneered this whole realm of publishing where they do an open call for submissions—and all those stories; each chapter comes from a different author around the world." "It was like they're the perfect analogy for this format that we are driving forward in television," Paul said. "We want to do a video version for what basically 'Chicken Soup for the Soul' is— So one of our shows is, 'PosiTV' this is something that Legion M is driving and we had great feedback on it from our community as a positive, uplifting, storytelling—it's like going out to the crowd and find and discover and submit these stories; and them using them in our Legion M community to help us evaluate and find the best ones so we can include that in an episode."

Legion M and CSS Entertainment Partnership Moving Forward

Paul admits that the CSS Entertainment partnership works very well. "The whole thing felt like (to use that kind of cheesy word) synergistic; it works! What we like to say is that our DNA is very similar—in a lot of ways, so we're excited that they really responded to our TV series pitches, and I know it went all the way up to their CEO who reacted very favorably especially toward 'PosiTV.' It was literally the first series that they have seen that what their notion of what they want to be doing so perfectly." "We're also talking to CSS Entertainment about other initiatives they're pretty active in the film space. But right now we're focused on the unscripted TV shows."

Legion M's upcoming TV projects

*"PosiTV"—A weekly collection of inspirational, uplifting and positive news, stories and real-life moments that are submitted by individuals from around the world, curated by the Legion M community.

*"Comedy Royale"—A next-generation sketch comedy show where online viewers play the role of a production executive as up-and-coming creators, actors, comics and comedy troupes compete for cash, prizes and the opportunity to break into the industry.

*"Upside"—At-home viewers become venture capitalists as entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas on live television. The audience selects which companies they’ll invest in, receiving equity in return.

*“New York Rock Exchange”—Solo acts and bands perform on a weekly TV series that puts the audience in a record label’s executive seat. Participants compete for financial backing to fulfill their rock star dreams while viewers invest in their favorite act and receive equity in the winner’s first studio album and/or tour.

*"Legion M"—Creators, directors, and dreamers pitch their TV or film concepts to a TV audience who “green light” their favorite projects by investing in their productions. The newly minted fan-producers receive equity once a project reaches its minimum funding goals.

For more information, please visit Legion M's website, at LegionM.com.