South Park and the greatest TV contract clause

Summary

Thanks for subscribing to SatPot. Hope you all have had a great summer. I’m back on the keyboard after some travels with the family.Today, we will talk about the fascinating business history behind South Park.Also this week:Trey and Matt getting their cardboard cut-outs on in 1997 (Photo by Bob Riha, Jr./Getty Images)The legendary South Park guys have officially joined the Tres Comma Club, with Matt Stone and Trey Parker each worth $1.2B per Forbes. Stone and Parker are also officially the first billionaires to have ever previously shown up at the Oscar’s high on acid after taking LSD sugar cube while wearing designer women dresses. They hit this financial milestone after signing a development deal with Paramount (which recently merged with Skydance Media in an $8.4B deal) and a $1.5B exclusive streaming agreement with Paramount+ (which has mostly been a vehicle for Taylor Sheridan projects but did just add UFC rights for $7.7B over 7 years). Naturally, South Park kicked off its 27th season last month by poking fun at all of these backroom negotiations (and also relentlessly going after the Trump White House).Since debuting on Paramount’s Comedy Central in 1997, the duo have always been able to tap into (or set) the cultural zeitgeist with their iconic animated show about four school kids telling infinite fart and dick jokes. They are “equal-opportunity offenders”, stirring up controversy with their willingness to troll anyone and anything. Unlike other long-running animated hits such as The Simpsons and Family Guy — which have changed from the original creative teams— South Park is still Parker and Stone writing, producing and offending. While their bottomless supply of creativity is the foundation of their success, Stone and Parker also made a fortune because of fortuitous dealmaking. Some was luck. Some was ballsy. All of it was betting on themselves. Oh, they also may have signed the most lucrative (and improbable) TV contract clause ever. Let’s walk through thi...