Chris Rice will step down as co-CEO of CJ ENM’s Fifth Season at year’s end.
Graham Taylor, who has served as co-CEO with Rice since the company was founded in 2017 as Endeavor Content, will remain at the helm as solo chief executive.
Rice shared the news of his decision to resign at the expiration of his current employment contract with Fifth Season staffers on Friday. The news comes after Fifth Season hit a milestone this year in leading the TV industry in Emmy nominations with a record-setting haul for the Apple TV+ drama “Severance,” produced with Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films.
“Fifteen years ago, after running my own production business, I started a journey at WME working with Graham. We were a small band of producers, sales agents and distribution execs trying to innovate on how film and television could be produced, financed and distributed from inside a talent agency. We believed early on in a few things that seem obvious today: that there were ways creatives could have more ownership of their rights; that storytelling could come from a more global set of voices; and that the mediums of film and television would start to merge creatively,” Rice wrote.
“It has been a journey I could never have imagined — a journey leading me to share with you today that I have decided that at the end of this year, when my contract is up for renewal, I will be choosing to start a new chapter, leaving the company in the immensely capable hands of Graham as sole CEO. Having shepherded the continued growth of the business for four years since spinning out of Endeavor, it is time now for me to move on to my next entrepreneurial season,” he wrote.
Rice will remain in the Fifth Season orbit as a consultant on key projects and also through a first-look deal that he has set with the company. He expressed his gratitude to Taylor for their professional union for intense years of business-building.
“My friendship and partnership with Graham has been profound and certainly one of the most enjoyable relationships of my life. His passion, taste and drive for the best of film and television is only surpassed by his love and generosity for the people he works with,” Rice wrote.
Fifth Season’s roots are in the upstart film and TV financing unit within WME that Rice and Taylor formed more than a decade ago. By 2017, that internal agency effort had evolved into Endeavor Content. WME parent Endeavor was forced to sell a majority interest in Endeavor Content under the pressure created by the Writers Guild of America’s 2019-2020 campaign to restrict talent agencies that represent WGA members from operating or having significant investment in production entities, on conflict of interest grounds. Endeavor Content was acquired for $775 million by Korea’s CJ ENM in late 2021. It rebranded as Fifth Season in 2023.
In addition to “Severance,” Fifth Season and Endeavor Content series under Rice’s tenure have included BBC America’s “Killing Eve,” AMC Network’s “The Night Manager,” Hulu’s “Normal People,” “Life & Beth” and “Nine Perfect Strangers” and Apple TV+’s “Chief of War” and “Truth Be Told.”
Before joining Endeavor Content, Rice worked as a producer in London.
Here is Rice’s full memo to Fifth Season staffers:
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
15 years ago, after running my own production business, I started a journey at WME working with Graham. We were a small band of producers, sales agents and distribution execs trying to innovate on how film and television could be produced, financed and distributed from inside a talent agency. We believed early on in a few things that seem obvious today: that there were ways creatives could have more ownership of their rights; that storytelling could come from a more global set of voices; and that the mediums of film and television would start to merge creatively.
It has been a journey I could never have imagined — a journey leading me to share with you today that I have decided that at the end of this year, when my contract is up for renewal, I will be choosing to start a new chapter, leaving the company in the immensely capable hands of Graham as sole CEO. Having shepherded the continued growth of the business for four years since spinning out of Endeavor, it is time now for me to move on to my next entrepreneurial season.
None of this would have been possible without the extraordinary backing from Ari Emanuel, Mark Shapiro and Endeavor that led to Graham and me founding Endeavor Content in 2017. It was the birth of what I still believe to be the premier independent television studio, film producer and television distributor in the world. This led us to our second season, FIFTH SEASON, with the continued backing of Endeavor and the investments from CJ ENM and Toho Studios — two Asian content powerhouses. I am so grateful for Miky, Hiro, Pious and Koji’s support of the business.
There have been so many shows and films along the way that I am deeply proud of, but our goal of backing distinctive, unique, authored stories certainly culminated these past few months with Severance becoming the second-most-nominated season of television in 77 years of Emmy history, going on to win eight awards. This was an Emmy season that involved every single division and person at the company, with 36 total nominations across six series and films. It was an insanely proud moment for Graham and me, and I know for you all.
At FIFTH SEASON, we have assembled in you the greatest groups of creatives, innovators, builders, boundary-pushers, passionate storytellers and enablers of great artists and talent. I feel immense pride in every brick laid at this incredible company and deep joy in having been able to walk this path with you and build bonds that I hope will last a lifetime.
My friendship and partnership with Graham has been profound and certainly one of the most enjoyable relationships of my life. His passion, taste and drive for the best of film and television is only surpassed by his love and generosity for the people he works with.
I won’t be going far away. I will remain an advisor to the company and continue working across some FIFTH SEASON projects, while also re-embracing my producorial roots through a first-look deal with the studio.
I’ll be here in my current capacity through the end of the year, closing a chapter with deep gratitude. I can’t wait to see what’s ahead for FIFTH SEASON with Graham at the helm and the incredible Kasee Calabrese at his side. I have no doubt that they and you will grow the business from strength to strength.
Even though a handshake is available upon request, I hope for years ahead of collaborations — albeit in a different form.
With deep love and gratitude,
Chris