5
Formats Everything about content
Golden girl: format pioneer Anette Rømer
Spring 2021
6
Canuck format makers eye int’l markets
10
Covid comfort: Fact ent ticks the right boxes
PLUS: How Taskmaster has found success worldwide – 2 Anatomy of a Deal: Jungle Entertainment’s No Activity – 14
2
NEXT BIG THINGS: Taskmaster adaptations
Channel21 International | Spring 2021
Channel 4’s Taskmaster
Taken to task I
n the words of the co-host of the original UK version of Taskmaster, comedian and actor Greg Davies, the inventive comedy show is just like life: “cruel and without meaning.” It’s not exactly the usual unbridled positivity that accompanies the spiel for other entertainment programmes and, in many ways, Taskmaster is the antidote to talent formats and shiny-floor gameshows. Indeed, if Taskmaster were to have a floor, then it would probably be rather stained and certainly not shiny. But that doesn’t seem to have done the show any harm, with the UK version being sold into 94 countries around the world, having been created by comedian Alex Horne for a show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2010. The format was then pitched to broadcasters and was initially passed over by Channel 4, which went on to poach it from Dave in late 2019 after it had become a hit over nine seasons on the UKTV channel since 2015.
“
I don’t know anything about Finnish or Portuguese TV. So we trust they will do a good job and Avalon makes sure the people making it have a good track record. Alex Horne
Buyers of entertainment format Taskmaster, plus its creator, comedian Alex Horne, discuss why the show is racking up international remakes as far apart as the Nordics and New Zealand. By Nico Franks
Relatively cheap to make compared with your usual entertainment hits, the format features a group of local comedians and comedic actors competing in a variety of bizarre and funny challenges set by “the Taskmaster” and their assistant. Now on its 11th season in the UK, and second on commercially funded pubcaster C4, where it has been performing strongly, the format is also racking up international versions, a dozen of which have been made so far. Portugal’s RTP is the latest broadcaster to license the format from producer and distributor Avalon, joining the likes of VTM in Belgium, TVE in Spain, TV2 in Denmark, Discovery in Norway, SVT in Sweden, MTV in Finland and TVNZ in New Zealand, where it was renewed recently for a second season. Ian Katz, director of programmes at C4, says the show is watched “intensely” on the broadcaster’s free streaming service All4, while the first episode of the latest season more than doubled C4’s share
of young viewers against the slot average. “The joy of Taskmaster is the precarious balance between idiocy and genius. It’s an endlessly rewarding and bingeable watch for fans old and new,” adds Katz. Strong performances on the VoD services of the commissioning broadcasters is a recurring theme when you ask execs about the show, as well as its ability to bring in co-viewing families. C4 has already noticed this trend and has made the effort to release a more “family friendly” version, with all the swearing bleeped out, available on All4. And having begun life in the UK on Dave in a late-ish evening slot, more and more of the international versions of the show are airing in highly coveted weekend primetime slots. Mette Kühnell Petersen, an acquisitions executive at TV2, where the Danish version is in its fourth season airing on a Saturday evening on its main channel, attests to the format’s multigenerational appeal. “What we are particularly pleased with is the fact that this is one of those formats that is able to gather the whole family for a joint TV experience – something that is quite rare these days,” she says. “This format simply is a brilliant combination of fun, silliness and entertainment on one side and then really relatable, thrilling and fish-out-of-water moments on the other. It is a show where you see new sides of celebrities, solving tasks with either great brilliance or succumbing to the pressure and ending up having a minor meltdown. It is both very emotional and very, very funny to watch, and it stands out in our weekend schedule otherwise dominated by shiny-floor formats.” In Sweden on SVT, the show has outperformed the local version of Strictly Come Dancing on rival network TV4 on a Friday night, prompting the latter to change the day Strictly airs, according to Markus Sterky, the pubcaster’s content strategist and formats exec.
NEXT BIG THINGS: Taskmaster adaptations
Channel21 International | Spring 2021
Versions of Taskmaster from TV2 in Denmark (top left) and Sweden’s SVT (above and left)
Meanwhile, Jani Hartikainen, head of drama and development at MTV Finland, agrees that just as the Swedish version has also performed well on SVT Play, the Finnish version has been a strong performer on MTV Finland’s AVoD platform. “Thanks to strong performance on weekday primetime, we are launching the show on our Saturday night primetime slot on MTV3. Also, the show has been fantastic to cast and we have been able to get top talent,” he says. Magnus Vatn, programme director at Discovery in Norway, adds: “Taskmaster is now in its third season in Norway and it has proven to be a great success for Discovery, driving both linear and digital figures. “Our channel TVNorge has for years been branded as the number one place for Norwegianproduced comedy, releasing lots of locally produced shows and series every year, and Taskmaster has quickly established itself as one of the most popular formats among these.” But how do some of the producers responsible for remaking the show abroad with Avalon approach translating the comedy that is so integral to the format to screen? Bronwynn Bakker, executive producer at Auckland-based Kevin & Co, which coproduces the Kiwi version of Taskmaster with Avalon in New Zealand for TVNZ, says: “We think the UK and New Zealand seem to have a similar sensibility in terms of comedy, with all the comedians involved in the show loving the format and having a great time.” Cate Slater, director of content at TVNZ, says comedy formats often need to be tweaked to reflect the unique sense of humour of a territory and localising the format with an ensemble cast of local talent means this happened naturally on Taskmaster NZ. “We’ve really been quite true to the format but it’s always down to the casting and the comedians,
and we’ve worked incredibly hard on building that ensemble. The show is so impacted by the personality of the Taskmaster host, so that gives it a different look and feel. But in terms of the basic format, all of the elements are there and it’s a terrific show that’s done incredibly well for us,” says Slater. So what does Horne, or “little Alex Horne” as he’s more familiar to Taskmaster viewers, and one of the few format creators to also appear in their own show (a club that also includes Richard Osman in the UK with his House of Games), make of its international success?
“
It is a show where you see new sides of celebrities, solving tasks with either great brilliance or succumbing to the pressure and ending up having a minor meltdown. It is both very emotional and very, very funny to watch. Mette Kühnell Petersen TV2 Denmark
Horne, who comes up with most of the tasks in the show himself, has a “Task bible” with “lots of detail” about how the show is made that is given to those remaking it. Meanwhile, back in the days of international travel, either Horne, director Andy Devonshire or series producer Andy Cartwright would try to visit the local production.
“I would like to say we get involved enough but not too much. We have the option of getting very involved, and they always have the option of asking us for advice, but I don’t know anything about Finnish or Portuguese TV. So we trust that they will do a good job and Avalon makes sure the people making it have a good track record,” says Horne. One market the format hasn’t been able to crack is the US, where a local version ran for just one season on Comedy Central in 2018. More recently, the UK version was sold to The CW last year when the network was on the hunt for finished programming to make up for gaps in its schedule due to the pandemic, but only one episode aired before it was pulled. It may not have lasted long on air on The CW, but Horne says it remains popular on its VoD service, CW Seed, while the Taskmaster YouTube channel in the US also does good numbers. “I see America as 50 different countries. So things like America’s Got Talent work because it’s big and broad, but something a bit niche – and Taskmaster is definitely a cult-y programme – is going to do well to break through. Especially when it’s UK comedians, who aren’t necessarily big mainstream acts,” says Horne. True, the esoteric nature of the show means there may be a ceiling for whether the format can rival the number of remakes of a shiny-floor show with mass appeal. But in small to medium-sized markets where British-style panel shows (a style still yet to successfully cross the pond without sinking) are popular and the casting is meticulous, then Taskmaster might just be the next big primetime hit.
3
GOLD AWARD INTERVIEW: Anette Rømer
Channel21 International | Spring 2021
The golden age Anette Rømer, recipient of this year’s Gold Award at the International Formats Awards, presented in association with FRAPA, EMC and MipFormats, reflects on how the business has changed during her decades as an exec and where it’s heading next. By Ed Waller
T
hirty-two years is a long time to work in any industry, let alone at the same company. But when Anette Rømer left Danish network TV2 in March 2020, she had chalked up that many years, along with plenty of insights into the format business and more than a few hits. Ready Steady Cook, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Popstars, The Block, Secret Millionaire, Deal or No Deal, Changing Rooms, Strictly Come Dancing… It’s a long list of formats acquired by Rømer for the Danish market and one that reflects not only an eye for a potential hit but also a notable appetite for risk. “Serendipity was a very strong ally for me,” she explains, recounting anecdotes about how a chance encounter with Celador chief Paul Smith in a tiny booth on Level 4 of the Palais resulted in her getting rights to Millionaire, and how her fond memories of taking dancing lessons as a child meant she knew Strictly was going to work in Denmark. Interestingly, and perhaps inevitably, Rømer’s career is intertwined with many previous Gold Award winners. The late Swedish format pioneer Annie Wegelius, from whom Rømer acquired her first format – celebrity cookery show This is Your Fridge – and Ready Steady Cook and Changing Rooms creator Peter Bazalgette, for example. Those 32 years allowed Rømer to witness some seismic events in the business: the growth of pay TV, the move to digital, the rise of reality TV, the impact of the internet and social media… Even
“
There’s a lot of optimism in the industry right now, and the format business is really resilient. I want to imagine there’ll be an explosion of ideas when we come out of these lockdowns
Anette Rømer the notion that formats are worth paying for and importing was a bit of a uphill struggle in the early days, she remembers. Another thing that marks how the industry has changed since Rømer’s early days is the uproar she faced in commissioning Wegelius, a Swede, to set up a Copenhagen prodco to make shows in Denmark. “We are now all so far down the road of global consolidation that it’s interesting to think that a Swede producing in Denmark could create such controversy,” she recalls. One of the biggest changes Rømer has seen is, of course, the growth of streaming. “That was a real
Big Love
eye-opener,” she says, referring to the watershed moment at Mipcom 2018 when the traditional broadcasters really saw what streaming meant to them. “We all got really excited about The Circle, but then the big launch was cancelled because of the Netflix deal.” A sign of the shape of things to come, perhaps, but Rømer now says the power of the global streamers isn’t something anyone can legislate for. “Agility does not come into play because no matter how quick you are, you would not be able to buy worldwide rights. Sometimes you just have to throw in the towel when you’re up against players like that.” But it’s not just the industry that’s changed – Rømer’s role has too. No longer buying for a broadcaster, she is now buying for a production company, Copenhagen-based STV, which requires a new skillset. “It’s very interesting to now have the opportunity to look from the outside in and try to analyse the needs of all of the broadcasters in the Nordics, and for that matter, the platforms too.” STV, like many prodcos in Denmark, is now not just importing formats but developing them for export. The company has a deal with Canada’s Media Ranch to take STV formats out globally, including weight-loss show Big Love, which STV makes for Danish pubcaster DR1. Following the success of the Danish show, Media Ranch has sold options in the US (3 Ball Productions), the Netherlands (Monday Benelux), France (Herve Hubert), Italy (Banijay), Finland (Moskito TV), Germany (Imago TV), French Canada (Mustang Productions) and Belgium. So for three decades pioneering international formats in Denmark, Rømer is now part of the move to bring Danish IP out to the world, reflecting an industry-wide trend for IP importers to become IP exporters. She sees this trend as one upside, for want of a better word, of the pandemic. “There’s a lot of optimism in the industry right now, and the format business is really resilient. Covid has slowed production, but when we get through this I am sure we’ll see the fruits of the development that people are no doubt very hard at work on,” Rømer says. “I want to imagine there’ll be an explosion of ideas when we come out of these lockdowns. It’s OK to see revamps and relaunches, but I do hope the commissioners will be bold enough to commission new material and give it time also to find its audience. Time and time again, it has been shown that patience pays off and that you shouldn’t be shying away from trying new things.”
5
6
COUNTRYFILE: Canada
Channel21 International | Spring 2021
Battle of the Blades
Canada can do Canada’s scripted business may be enjoying its moment in the sun thanks to the success of Schitt’s Creek, but how long until Canuck formats win similar attention internationally? By Ruth Lawes
A
long with baking your own bread and the mute button on Zoom, one of the most welcome discoveries for many in 2020 was Emmy-winning comedy Schitt’s Creek. Created by father-and-son creative team Dan and Eugene Levy, the series launched on CBC in Canada and Pop in the US in 2015 to little fanfare, before a Netflix deal two years later and word-of-mouth made it a smash hit, both critically and commercially. But it is not just the show’s seemingly sudden ascent to global success that makes it stand out. As an original Canadian format, Schitt’s Creek, produced by the Levys’ Toronto-based prodco Not A Real Company Productions, is a rare example of a Canuck comedy that has managed to go beyond cult hit status and appear on the radars of mainstream international audiences. And when it comes to original unscripted Canadian formats, it is even harder to think of an example that has set the world alight. Canadian execs themselves will be the first to admit that the country is not pulling its weight in the international formats business. But why is that and when will the tide turn? According to Jamie Brown, CEO and executive producer at Winnipeg-based Frantic Films, Canada’s geographical and cultural ties to one of the world’s biggest producers of formats, the US, has meant that historically it hasn’t needed to look inwards to produce and sell shows. “If I were running a network, I would watch the US market, assess how well a show does and, if it draws in the viewers, simply bring it over to Canada. Canada has access to these formats, so networks think, ‘Why do we need to be inventing formats for our channels when we have a country right next to us developing great content?’” he
explains. A tested format also means less financial risk. Perhaps this access is why, over time, US programming has dominated schedules in Canada. This has happened to such an extent, argues John Brunton, CEO of Torontobased Insight Productions, that US-produced shows have become ingrained in Canadian TV culture. “Canadian private broadcasters have traditionally filled up their schedules with US programming and their focus has largely been on the purchasing of formats from the States, as well as other parts of the world,” he says. Among Canada’s most popular shows last year, according to Canadian audience measurement company Numeris, have been reality series America’s Got Talent and US comedy Grey’s Anatomy. And why wouldn’t broadcasters look to the States? If a show is already popular, it makes it easier – and cheaper – for Canadian broadcasters and networks, as there is no need to fork out on publicity. “American Idol was a massive success in both the US
“
Canada has access to these formats, so networks think, ‘Why do we need to be inventing formats for our channels when we have a country right next to us developing great content?’ Jamie Brown Frantic Films
COUNTRYFILE: Canada
Channel21 International | Spring 2021
Insight has taken cooking format Wall of Chefs to market. Below: The UK version of Love It or List It on Channel 4. Bottom: Media Ranch’s Sophie Ferron
and Canada, and millions and millions of dollars were spent on marketing that brand before it even got to Canada. The same is true of Survivor, Amazing Race and many other American formats,” Brunton says. It doesn’t stop there either. Brand awareness, according to Brunton, also secures sales of premium advertising slots. “Brand recognition attracts advertisers. They want to buy into already established brands that the public have known about for some time.” Income, then, is already guaranteed, making international and long-running formats a safe bet for risk-averse network execs. But the problem might not just lie with the gatekeepers. Brunton says original Canadian IP often touches subjects that are “very specifically to do with our culture” and therefore have little international appeal. Insight Productions’ skating reality show Battle of the Blades, for example, has been one of Canada’s most successful original formats in terms of domestic ratings and advertising but has not found buyers abroad, says Brunton. “You’re not a town in Canada unless you have a skating arena, where people play hockey and figure skate,” he says. “In Battle of the Blades we take professional hockey players, our big national sport, and train them up to be figure skaters. These players are among Canada’s biggest stars, but they aren’t famous in other parts of the world. The show was tailor-made to get huge ratings and a fanbase in Canada, with little desire to sell the format internationally.” Overall, Brunton says, Insight Productions has produced around 12 local versions of international formats and about seven original formats. “But with the original formats, we created them very specifically for domestic consumption and they were not designed to be exported,” Brunton adds. For Frantic’s Brown, it is more a matter of financial incentive. Put simply, there is less money in producing formats than there is in finished tape, he says. For a format, Brown says, he is typically offered 5% of the budget of the show. “At least in our experience, the sale of finished shows is better economically than selling the format of the show,” he says. “We’d rather have the UK buy
our show than have a British producer take the format and make it into their own show.” This all could change though, says Brunton, who predicts an “explosion” of original Canadian formats in the next few years. He believes this shift away from producing formats solely for domestic broadcasters is down to the evolution of content consumption. “We’re living in a borderless world right now,” he says. “Global streamers dominate the market and therefore we’re doing more deals with them. Streamers want worldwide rights, and brands, ideas and programmes that can be consumed globally.” The shift towards original and new format creation has already taken place at Canadian public broadcaster the CBC, according to its executive director of unscripted content, Jennifer Dettman. Speaking at the digital version of Prime Time recently, she said the pubcaster’s current development slate comprises 75% original and 25% existing formats. “We have pivoted our business to put more into developing new and original formats. For several years u
7
8
COUNTRYFILE: Canada
Channel21 International | Spring 2021
now, with our Canadian producers and They also need to stump up more cash international partners, we have said to ensure high-quality development, a format doesn’t need to have a track Brown adds. “Networks say they amply record, it can be a paper format and we fund your development, but that is can work on it and develop it with you,” simply not true and it is a big loss she said. leader,” he explains. “Recently, I was Insight Productions’ “number one redoing a show that we have produced focus” is international format creation, in the past and the network wanted Brunton says. Already the prodco has new materials, among other things. produced original cooking format They gave us C$5,000 [US$4,000] to Wall of Chefs in association with Corus fund the development, but we spent Studios, which recently took the format about C$30,000, which is around the to market. The same is true of Insight’s normal cost of development. We need We have pivoted wedding-focused reality format I Do, to try to encourage our broadcasters our business to put to invest more to develop better, bigger Redo, which sees couples who have experienced wedding disasters do over more into developing formats that can be world-beating.” their big day with a dream ceremony. new and original formats. As for the next hit Canadian format, The Canadian version premiered last Brown believes it will be “fun and For several years now, year on CTV and Crave in Canada, and escapist” entertainment following on Netflix internationally, but faces we have said a format worldwide lockdowns due to the an uncertain future due to a dispute doesn’t need to have a coronavirus pandemic. Under that between its host, Jessica Mulroney, and track record. bracket, Frantic Films is shopping its lifestyle influencer Sasha Exeter. factual entertainment series The Stats For Sophie Ferron, CEO of Montreal- Jennifer Dettman of Life as a format with global giant based producer and distributor Media CBC Banijay. First commissioned by CBC, it Ranch, format creation has been a follows three families, one of whom is priority for years. In fact, the company launched a format living the average life according to national statistics, and incubation project in 2018, called Horsepower, because two who are not. Ferron recognised Canada was not getting a “fair share” of Both Brown and Insight’s Brunton believe Canada excels the foreign formats business. in producing shows in the food, home decorating and Now in its third iteration, Horsepower trains up lifestyle space. Brown points to Toronto-based indie Big candidates from Québec to create exportable formats. Coat Productions’ home improvement show Love It or List Previous work in television is not a requirement, and It, which has spawned local versions in major markets the the cohort this year includes people with professional UK and Australia. Naturally, they also agree that Canada backgrounds as diverse as teaching and fashion styling. is a major player in scripted comedy formats. “Hollywood This, Ferron believes, is part of the project’s success, is filled with Canadian comedians. Just look at Saturday which has seen formats picked up internationally, with Night Live, which is one of the most iconic comedy shows South Korea’s SBS FormatEast acquiring dating show ever made. That was created by Lorne Michaels, who was Heartbreak Hotel, which was created during last year’s born in Toronto,” Brunton says. Horsepower. While it may not have produced many big hitters, it’s “Some people who work in the TV industry are jaded. clear that Canada has started to take strides towards They have the mindset where they automatically think conquering the international formats industry. And if a programme can’t be done or won’t be financed. It’s fun Schitt’s Creek is any indicator of what Canadian producers when you work with someone who has no idea of what’s can create, it won’t be long before a Canadian unscripted possible or not. They just go for the best idea,” Ferron format has its global water cooler moment too. explains. There are challenges, however, that come with creating an internationally focused format. Insight’s Brunton says it can be difficult coming up with an idea that hasn’t been “overexposed or overexploited” in an evermore crowded global market. He includes Insight Productions-produced music competition show The Launch, from Bell Media and record label Big Machine Group, as an example of a format that failed to make waves outside of Canada. “It was a cool idea, and we had a lot of big international stars on the show, including popstar Fergie and One Republic’s Ryan Tedder. But when we went to the marketplace outside Canada, we found there was a little bit of fatigue around singing and music-oriented formats and that it was an overcrowded genre,” Brunton says. So what can be done to turn Canada into a major player in the international formats market? Frantic’s Brown thinks partnering with broadcasters is the way forward. “A robust, strong and clever format is needed for success. But success also relies on programming it at a good time and with promotion from the network. All of that is a lot easier to do in partnerships,” he says.
“
Schitt’s Creek is one of the few home-grown Canadian comedies to become an international hit
Master the quiz, become the Quiz Master
New Entertainment Format
redarrowstudios.com/international
RED0290_StealingTheShow_FP_Digital_C21_AW.indd 1
18/03/2021 14:46
10
AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Factual entertainment
Channel21 International | Spring 2021
Secret Treasures of the Museum
Factual entertainment programming has fared well over the past year as audiences look for upbeat and relatable content and networks seek low-risk routes back into production. By Andy Fry
Facing the
fact ent Outback Opal Hunters
I
n many respects, factual entertainment has been the perfect TV genre for a world battling to keep up its spirits in the face of a global pandemic. Whether it’s the escapism of travel and adventure series, the reassurance of cooking and DIY, or the intellectual diversion of social experiments, factual entertainment has been able to hit virtually every note on the Covid-19 emotional register. True, it has had to confront the same production challenges as other genres – but this hasn’t proved too disruptive, says All3Media International’s senior VP of non-scripted, Rachel Job. “Last spring was a bit scary when all production stopped, and there have been a few productions, like Race Across the World, that have had to be postponed,” she says. “But, on the whole, producers have found ways to make these shows under Covid protocols. Some of our shows, like Gogglebox, have proved to be very Covid-friendly, because they are emotionally upbeat and can be made in a controlled production environment.” Negative impact on some segments of factual entertainment has, to a large extent, been offset by the flexibility of the genre and the breadth of subjects it encompasses. “When live sport and high-end drama were struggling, buyers turned to factual entertainment to fill slots,” says Job, “either through acquisition or by upgrading shows from access primetime or secondary channels. And as things returned to normal, factual entertainment formats were a way for channels to get back into production quickly and relatively cheaply.” While experimentation hasn’t disappeared from the market, Job’s
AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Factual entertainment
Channel21 International | Spring 2021
impression is that channels and streamers have been keen to get their hands on proven franchises. “Undercover Boss wasn’t in production during 2020, but tape sales of the show were very strong,” she says. “And Channel 4 has been building on its Escape to the Chateau franchise, with a new season coming in 2021 and a spin-off series called Make Do & Mend, which taps into the DIY trend. We also secured a major deal with Discovery+ for Studio Lambert’s Naked Attraction.” Tim Gerhartz, senior VP of global sales at Red Arrow Studios International, agrees that established franchises have fared well, with Married at First Sight having a storming year despite the production challenges it had to overcome. In terms of trends, Gerhartz says there has been interest in Red Arrow’s home-based formats House Rules and Buying Blind, as well as “guilty pleasures” like reality series Heartbreak Island. “Probably the highest demand has been for our social experimentbased factual entertainment series, which really captured the zeitgeist of the Covid era. People have been thinking about issues like inclusion and what they stand for as a society, and that has helped drive interest in The Restaurant that Makes Mistakes, a series about a restaurant staffed by people with dementia.” New Red Arrow launches include Secret Treasures of the Museum, a format from Denmark’s Snowman Productions in which “celebrities are invited to explore the hidden treasures in museums and build their own
“
When live sport and high-end drama were struggling, buyers turned to factual entertainment to fill slots. And as things returned to normal, fact ent formats were a way for channels to get back into production quickly and relatively cheaply. Rachel Job All3Media International
The Love Experiment
exhibition. They choose works that they believe are important and, in doing so, say a lot about themselves and the society they have grown up in. When Covid restrictions are lifted, the show will end with the public being invited to explore the exhibition.” Red Arrow Studios-owned UK prodco CPL has just been commissioned by local terrestrial Channel 5 to make a six-part reboot of You Are What You Eat, with Trisha Goddard set to host. Murray Boland, CPL creative director, says the show speaks to the same self-reflective trend identified by Gerhartz: “Channel 5 really wants to do something new with You Are What You Eat that feels warm and life-affirming. The show will reflect the challenges we all face in keeping happy and healthy.” According to Boland, the C5 commission also underlines the demand for proven formats. “There is a lot of pent-up demand from broadcasters right now, and what they all seem to be focusing on are franchises that can guarantee a certain level of return. Having big-name talent attached is also important.” From his position on the front line, Boland is also witnessing more complex commercial negotiations. “Broadcasters are all under financial pressure so, more than ever, they are looking at whether they can retain a share of the IP and integrate brands. Firms like GroupM are increasingly part of the equation.” Boland confirms that locationbased factual entertainment proved especially tough during 2020, with A League of Their Own: Road Trip having to be scaled down in order to comply with restrictions. Like Gerhartz, he says buyers seem to be pursuing
Coastguard Mission Critical
feel-good, wholesome content, as well as programming that’s a bit more indulgent. “The desire for non-cynical, life-affirming content is definitely there, but there also seems to be an interest in mischievous, tabloid-style content. After all, a key challenge for all broadcasters is still the question of how to cut through the competition.” C5 commissioning editor Denise Seneviratne says factual entertainment plays a key role in the Viacom-CBS owned channel’s schedule. “Whether covering lighter topics or societal issues that affect real people, the key for us is to always ensure that our content is nonjudgemental, sometimes aspirational and inspiring our viewers to embrace life to the full. Bargain Loving Brits in the Sun, for example, is full of warmth and humour but there is a bigger story about people starting a new life. A more recent launch, Happy Campers, came from Britain’s obsession with caravans and focuses on the characters who run the holiday camps.” Hit series in the C5 schedule include Our Yorkshire Farm, “our highestrated factual programme ever,” says Seneviratne. “As people grappled with the onset of Covid-19 and lockdowns gripped the UK, we stayed away from pandemic programming to offer viewers a release through heart-warming, escapist content led by loveable characters, and Our u
11
12
AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Factual entertainment
The US version of Married at First Sight
Escape to the Chateau
Yorkshire Farm embodied this.” Again, however, fact ent is a broad church that can home in on a variety of emotional triggers. “Rich House, Poor House is at the documentary end of factual entertainment and allows us to address issues such as poverty, social mobility and the class divide in a light-hearted, uplifting manner,” Seneviratne says. “Shows such as Filthy House SOS and Dogs Behaving Badly have strong transformational angles while remaining firmly rooted in the entertainment genre.” Seneviratne says “the more stackable, returnable potential an idea has, the better.” But she stresses there is always room for new ideas: “We don’t have experimental slots, but we tend to start with a short run of three or four episodes; a programme’s first outing on Channel 5 really needs to punch through the noise and is always a strong indicator of its longterm success for us.” Discussing the impact of Covid-19, Seneviratne adds: “At the beginning of the pandemic, we leaned into what our audience needed at that time – escapism, nostalgia and familiarity. We met our audience appetite for travel and adventure with shows like Adrian Dunbar’s Coastal Ireland and shone the spotlight on alternative lifestyles with Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild. We know the pandemic has led people to focus more on home improvements and, as a result, have recently commissioned two Nick Knowles series.” Alongside home-centric shows, Lineup Industries co-founder Julian Curtis says there is growing interest among buyers in family relationship
Channel21 International | Spring 2021
formats. “People have been in isolation and unable to see their families. That has helped generate interest in one of our newer formats, Family Dinner, which is all about helping families bury the hatchet. It’s also created an additional buzz around one of our longrunning formats, Long Lost Family. That originated in the Netherlands 20 years ago and has already been running for 11 seasons on ITV in the UK, but it’s an example of a show that has captured the emotion of living during Covid-19.” Curtis agrees that broadcasters and platforms are increasingly interested in deepening their relationship with proven brands, either by acquiring multiple versions of a show or developing spin-offs. “Long Lost Family has a sister series, Born Without Trace, which uses DNAbased evidence to reunite individuals with relations who knew nothing about them – for example, people abandoned as babies. ITV airs Born Without Trace alongside the Long Lost Family brand.” With factual entertainment capable of playing out across free TV, pay TV
“
Audiences want escapism, but they also like to come out of these shows with some nugget of information. Richard Life Cineflix Rights
and streamers, Curtis says demand for shows in this genre has been intense. As a result, Netherlands-based Lineup is looking further afield for ideas. “For example, we are working with NHK in Japan on a couple of its formats that we think can travel globally,” Curtis notes. Australia-based Flame Distribution has also benefited from this broad sweep for factual entertainment. Fiona Gilroy, its content sales and acquisitions director, says: “We’ve done extremely well with Outback Opal Hunters, which has been broadcast in over 100 countries. It went to air in late 2019 on Discovery Channel in the US, where it was so successful that they rolled straight into season two. Outback Truckers also has a global following and is in production for a ninth season.” Like Red Arrow, Flame is also enjoying some success in the social experiment space, with Aussie format
The Love Experiment being remade for RTBF in Belgium. “There’s no doubt people are craving basic human contact and that relationships are more key than ever to wellbeing,” Gilroy says. “The Love Experiment really plays to this and looks at how deep, authentic relationships between strangers can be formed by asking 36 questions followed by three minutes of uninterrupted eye contact. Versions created so far have been done during the pandemic, so the format is very Covid-friendly.” While the range of content under the factual entertainment umbrella is extremely broad, Cineflix Rights head of acquisitions Richard Life says one trend he has identified that covers the entire gamut is the desire for factual takeaways. “Audiences want escapism, but they also like to come out of these shows with some nugget of information. That’s true across the range, from shows like Ambulance Code Red and Border Security to World’s Most Scenic Railway Journeys. The latter works for us because it has a bit of everything, including travel, science, history and culture, as well as spectacular scenery.” Cineflix has a large slate of completed factual entertainment shows and Life says these have just as much sales potential as the formats: “Ambulance Code Red and Coastguard Mission Critical are popular with buyers because they are more action-driven than characterdriven. They’re examples of more show, less tell. But character-driven shows can also do well. Our Yorkshire Farm [aka My Big Family Farm] works well because the characters are so authentic. We also have some popular long-running franchises like Property Brothers and Border Security.” For now, Life sees linear and pay TV as the primary homes for factual entertainment, but he believes there are interesting opportunities emerging in streaming. Netflix, for example, has shown that factual entertainment can work with series like Love is Blind and Queer Eye – and the low production cost of the genre compared to drama suggests it will push further in this direction. “And alongside Netflix, there are Discovery+, CuriosityStream, YouTube and regionally based SVoD platforms like BritBox and Salto,” he says. “AVoD is still a bit of a Wild West, with deals still mainly built around revenue shares, but I can also see this emerging as an ancillary opportunity for long-running archive series.”
ADVERTORIAL
Format foursome from NHK Public broadcaster NHK of Japan has four new formats to showcase to international buyers. Hisako Fujioka, executive manager for non-scripted format sales, content distribution at NHK Enterprises, has the details. Can you tell us about the new formats on your slate? Chiko’s Challenge is co-viewing comedy show with a cheeky half-CGI quizmaster who challenges celebrities with child-like questions, which are often surprisingly difficult to answer. The Late Night Show with Nitty & Gritty is a candid talkshow that uses puppets as a way to encourage guests with hidden lives to speak their minds. We also have 72 Hours, an authentic documentary format that captures the real stories of ordinary people who come and go at a specific location during a 72-hour period. Lastly, Fairy Tales in Court is an unconventional courtroom drama that puts our favourite fairy-tale characters – such as the three little pigs – on trial and challenges viewers to re-evaluate preconceived notions. How did these shows perform in Japan? Currently one of the biggest studio entertainment shows in Japan, Chiko’s Challenge has aired weekly on NHK’s main channel since 2018. The ratings more than doubled in its first year and it’s still going strong across three generations. Just wrapping its fifth season on NHK and causing significant social media buzz with each episode, The Late Night Show with Nitty & Gritty is popular among our young audiences and enjoys high internet engagement with every episode. 72 Hours, meanwhile, first broadcast on Hisako Fujioka NHK’s main channel in 2006, has almost 300 episodes filmed and is very popular among viewers in their 30s and 40s. And Fairy Tales in Court is a much talked-about show, with 11 episodes produced and aired on NHK’s educational channel to date. The show’s surreal world view attracts both adults and children. Have any of the formats been picked up around the world? 72 Hours has been acquired by China’s Tencent, which has posted its second season, with the Chinese version gaining nearly 300 million views. Four new deals will be announced soon. How do these formats fit into NHK’s export strategy? NHK always tries to be aware of global events and our content has an underlying tone of warmth and compassion. The programmes that we export – whether they’re formats, documentary, drama or animation – should have solid universal values that people can relate to and these values are close to the core concept of our formats. We hope these formats will help us further share these values with a wider audience. NHK is always exploring new media technology and production methods, and the hybrid CGI character in Chiko’s Challenge and the puppeteering in The Late Night Show with Nitty & Gritty are a couple of examples. How has demand for Japanese formats changed in the past year? There seems to be greater interest in Japanese formats, especially among Western clients. Many are now revisiting formats they once thought were ‘interesting but too Asian.’ We have also noticed that buyers now have a better grasp of how masks and hidden identities work in our formats like Chiko’s Challenge, The Late Night Show with Nitty & Gritty and Fairy Tales in Court. What other global format deals has NHK sealed in recent months? We signed an agreement with Lineup Industries last year to drive the licensing of our formats in Western markets. We’re happy to see Lineup and NHK share similar sensibilities. We also licensed our makeover show Cinderella Network to MNTV in Myanmar. The show connects young people with popular YouTubers who share their practical ready-to-use tips with participants across the country who are connected to the studio via the web.
From top: Chiko’s Challenge, The Late Night Show with Nitty & Gritty, 72 Hours and Fairy Tales in Court
14
BACKEND
Channel21 International | Spring 2021
Anatomy
of a deal
Jungle’s No Activity O
riginally created by Trent O’Donnell and Patrick Covid world, people are really looking to produce shows Brammall in 2015, No Activity is racking up the in contained situations with very few locations and a small international remakes, with a successful version in cast and crew. No Activity was made like that in the first the US being joined by adaptations around Europe and the instance, so there are no creative compromises that need to be made.” Middle East. The US version of the show is about to enter its fourth Local versions of the low-key comedy, which centres on two police officers during a stakeout, are being made in season on Paramount+, which last Germany, Belgium and the Middle East following deals with year greenlit a run of animated episodes, produced by CBS Studios in its Australian producer Jungle Entertainment. RTL Germany’s streaming platform TV Now launched the association with Funny Or Die, Jungle first season of its remake in late February and has already and Gary Sanchez Productions. Creators O’Donnell and Brammall ordered a second season, while fledgling Flemish streamer both wrote the scripts and Streamz is making a local version as one of its first were showrunners for the ever originals. Meanwhile, Middle Eastern pay US series’ first run in TV provider OSN has commissioned two 2017, which Stan also seasons of the show for its streaming service acquired as part of its across the Middle East and North Africa. versions of No originals line-up, while The deals for the non-English-language Activity so far (Oz, the Aussie version has remakes, which join a Dutch remake on the US, Germany, previously aired on the BNNVARA, were done on behalf of Jungle Belgium and the BBC2 in the UK. by sales agent Tyler Massey, president Netherlands) More remakes are on the way, with of MassMedia International. They continue Warner Bros set to produce No Activity in No Activity’s affinity with streaming services, multiple territories and production confirmed in the show having originated on Stan down under three that are yet to be announced at the time before being remade in the US as one of the of writing. first originals on CBS All Access (now known Meanwhile, Jungle is ploughing ahead as Paramount+), with high-profile executive with its slate of original comedies, many producers in Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. of which it is producing with international Chloe Rickard, partner, chief operating players, including FX in the US (Mr officer and executive producer at Jungle format deals in Inbetween) and BBC Studios (Wakefield). Entertainment, says a degree of flexibility other territories, Many parts of Australia are has been key to the local adaptations, which including MENA in the enviable position of have been ordered partly due to the format’s having Covid-19 relatively suitability to being produced in a pandemic. under control compared to “Who would have thought a comedy about lowother parts of the world, which, ranking cops where nothing happens would have universal appeal? But I guess we can all relate to having coupled with a 30% rebate, has led lots of time on our hands right now. The mundane is an to what Rickard describes as a production “boom” down under. excellent backdrop for comedy,” Rickard says. “There’s been lots of interest “We haven’t been precious in terms of the words spoken and the gags in the script. What’s remained is very loosely in Australia as a production the idea that there’s ‘no activity’ at the heart of what’s going location. We’ve got world-class on and the characters are just in conversation, lamenting crews, many of our wonderful over their past, imagining their future, or just talking about Australian cast are home and there’s the government support the mundane intricacies of life. “In each territory, we’ve brought in comedic talent from and incentives. So it’s really that territory to ad lib and come up with concepts and Australia’s time right now to jokes that fit within the framework of that show. And in a make worldwide shows.”
5
8
No Activity has been remade for CBS in the US (top) and BNNVARA in the Netherlands (above) Left: Jungle’s Chloe Rickard