TV Formats October 2009

Game Shows NBC’s Paul Telegdy Sony’s Steve Mosko and Mike Morley ITV Studios’ Lee Bartlett www.tvformats.ws

MIPCOM EDITION THE MAGAZINE FOR THE FORMAT BUSINESS

OCTOBER 2009

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2waytraffic www.2waytraffic.com

Highlights Mr & Mrs

• Your Kid’s an Idiot • Big Chain Reaction • Frenemies • How to Win the World Cup • The Dating Game

Many of the formats in 2waytraffic’s catalogue come with a proven track record, such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Dragons’ Den. There’s also a host of new formats heading to the market this year, including Your Kid’s an Idiot, which has been a recent ratings success on BBC Three, and Big Chain Reaction, which did well in Germany and the Netherlands this summer. Also a highlight, Frenemies is a new genre of quiz show injected with a reality element. “We’re very excited about How to Win the World Cup, which is sure to set pulses racing as we approach the big event in South Africa next year,” says Ed Louwerse, the managing director of 2waytraffic, a Sony Pictures Entertainment company. “This format goes on sale for the first time at the MIPCOM market,” Louwerse adds. “And we are also highlighting The Dating Game, a new version of which is soon launching on TF1.” Mr & Mrs is offered as well.

“ We’re very excited about How to Win the World Cup, which is sure to set pulses racing as we approach the big event in South Africa next year.

”

—Ed Louwerse

Armoza Formats www.armozaformats.com

Highlights

IN THIS ISSUE Heaven or Else

Money Talks Game shows continue to perform well and offer revenue opportunities for cash-strapped broadcasters 14

• Loving Anna • The Incompetents • Heaven or Else • Buzz Off • Funny Side Up

Cost-effective programming with fresh, original concepts looks to be a winning combination for Armoza Formats.

Several new shows will be making their MIPCOM debut in the company’s lineup, spanning genres including game shows, dating reality series, drama and comedy. “There’s really a potpourri of genres,audiences and production types,” says Avi Armoza, the CEO of Armoza Formats.“We always strive to be current and relevant, to be forward-thinking in the format industry, and to anticipate future TV trends. Each of these shows brings a fresh idea to the format world.”

The Incompetents puts a new spin on in-studio comedy panels, while Buzz Off takes dating shows to the next level.

Also new to the slate is Loving Anna, a drama; Heaven or Else, a game show; and Funny Side Up, a comedy-reality hybrid.

Interviews NBC’s Paul Telegdy Sony’s Steve Mosko and Mike Morley ITV Studios’ Lee Bartlett Global Agency’s Izzet Pinto

“ We always strive to be current and relevant, to be forward-thinking in the format industry, and to anticipate future TV trends.

”

—Avi Armoza

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FremantleMedia www.fremantlemedia.com

Highlights

Let’s Dance

• Let’s Dance • Let’s Make a Deal • Welcome Home!

• Love Taxi • Cinderella CEO

Ricardo Seguin Guise

Publisher Anna Carugati

Editor Mansha Daswani

Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski

Managing Editor Lauren M. Uda

Production and Design Director Simon Weaver

Online Director

The format offerings from FremantleMedia incorporate many current industry trends, from dancing competitions to dating shows to series with a feel-good angle. Let’s Dance sees celebrities take on iconic dance routines. Take Me Out and Love Taxi both delve into the world of dating. In Welcome Home!, friends create home-makeover surprises to improve the lives of deserving recipients.Then there are game-show formats such as Crash Course, Risking It All and Let’s Make a Deal. “Entertainment is a recessionary industry,” says Rob Clark, the president of worldwide entertainment. “In times when people don’t have a lot of money, they very much want what FremantleMedia gives them, which is these big family-friendly entertainment shows. It’s the four ‘F’s: Family-friendly, Fun, Familiar and Flexible on budgets.”

“ FremantleMedia [offers] big family-friendly entertainment shows.

”

—Rob Clark

Phyllis Q. Busell

Art Director Tatiana Rozza

Sales and Marketing Director Kelly Quiroz

Sales and Marketing Manager Rae Matthew

Business Affairs Manager Cesar Suero

La Presse Télé www.lapressetele.ca

Highlights • The Parents • Seduction

Sales and Marketing Assistant

Ricardo Seguin Guise

President Anna Carugati

Executive VP and Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani

VP of Content Strategy TV Formats © 2009 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website:

www.tvformats.ws

MIPCOM is the first market where La Presse Télé will be distributing its product, and company president André Provencher is looking forward to the inaugural outing.

“Our programs are addressed to audiences of all ages who are partial to quality and originality,” he says.“We are very excited to meet our clients and discover new potential partners.” Leading off La Presse Télé’s properties is The Parents, a scripted comedy consisting of sketches on the art of being a parent in the modern world.“It is the series you need if you want to refresh the comedy offerings in your schedule,” says Provencher. La Presse Télé is also presenting Seduction, a reality-entertainment show that aired for its fourth season on Radio-Canada, reaching more than a million viewers and more than a 30-percent market share.

“Seduction is heartwarming and gives an opportunity to discover new things about your favorite celebrity as well as beautiful and unknown communities,” adds Provencher.

“ Our programs are addressed to audiences of all ages who are partial to quality and originality.

”

—André Provencher

Get daily news on the formats business by visiting www.tvformats.ws

The Parents

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Si Hay Ideas www.sihayideas.com Vocalist Wanted

Highlights • Mission Accomplished • www.What Shall I Do.tv • The Crash Testers • Vocalist Wanted • Heart Beat

The core principals that were in place when Si Hay Ideas began are still central to its business philosophy today.“We want to combine different narrative structures, take risks with new game dynamics, combine multiple platforms and involve TV viewers with our content,” explains Camila Misas, the creative director at Si Hay Ideas. “We have focused on these since we entered the market two years ago, and so far we can say we’ve had favorable results.” Si Hay Ideas heads to Cannes with titles such as Mission Accomplished,The Crash Testers,Heart Beat and Vocalist Wanted.

Misas believes these titles will be particularly attractive because they fall in line with current trends. “We believe that talent and game shows will continue to be very attractive in the market because they can be produced with smaller budgets. Also, without a doubt, content created for multiple platforms...will call buyers’ attention.”

“ We want to combine different narrative structures, take risks with new game dynamics, combine multiple platforms and involve TV viewers with our content.

”

—Camila Misas

Sinevizyon TV Production www.sinevizyon.tv

Highlights

May I Call You Mom?

• Foreign Bride • May I Call You Mom?

Love and marriage take center stage in the Sinevizyon TV Production formats May I Call You Mom? and Foreign Bride.The reality–soap opera show May I Call You Mom? involves a house, surrounded by cameras 24/7, in which five wanna-be grooms live.

Another house contains ten aspiring bride candidates and the five women who might soon become their mothers-in-law. In Foreign Bride, ten women will travel from different countries to live in a house and meet men.The twist is that they will live together with the mothers of these men. “They are both very successful and are applicable for many countries in the world,” says Pelin Akat, Sinevizyon’s executive producer.

Akat also notes that co-productions in Turkey and Romania are particularly what Sinevizyon is after.

“Formats have had to reduce their budgets; that’s why I really do believe that co-productions should be used more effectively in the TV industry.”

“Formats have had to reduce their budgets; that’s why I really do believe that co-productions should be used more effectively in the TV industry.

”

—Pelin Akat

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Talpa Distribution www.talpa.tv Laugh and You Lose

Highlights • • • • •

Know Your Nation Dating in the Dark Laugh and You Lose I Love My Country Divided

Dating in the Dark, a dating reality format with a twist, had a successful run this summer in the U.S. on ABC, and has been sold to 16 countries.Talpa Distribution has high hopes for adding new broadcasters to the roster at MIPCOM. Further titles Talpa believes will be attractive include Know Your Nation, which has a lighthearted take on current affairs and social issues; Laugh and You Lose, an entertainment offering; and the game show Divided, which had a strong showing in the U.K. on ITV1 and was renewed. I Love My Country is also going strong with recommissions.Talpa provides a wealth of production support for its titles. Maarten Meijs, the director of sales, explains,“Our buyers consider working with us as a partnership.We create and produce all our formats in-house and do our utmost to share our knowledge with our buyers. Our mutual goal is to create a success in their territories.”

“ We create and produce all our formats in-house and do our utmost to share our knowledge with our buyers.

”

—Maarten Meijs

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2waytraffic’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Some,like The Price Is Right,have had the right alchemy to keep viewers tuning in for more than 30 years, and counting.

The Price Is Right made its debut in its current version in 1972, and still grabs high daytime ratings in the U.S. on CBS. The show made Bob Barker a TV legend during his 35 years as host, no doubt adding to The Price Is Right’s appeal with viewers.Contestants are plucked right from the audience for their chance to play one of 80 different games, like “Plinko” or “Hi-Lo,” in hopes of winning valuable prizes, ranging from motor homes and cars to trips and furniture. The show just started again in France and has been on air for many years in a number of other European territories.

FremantleMedia produces the long-running hit, which came from the Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions catalogue.

BIG WINNERS

The Goodson-Todman slate also brought another triedand-true game-show success to FremantleMedia, Family Feud. In one time slot or another, the quiz show has been around for more than 30 years. This year the venerable game show, which pits two families against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a surveytype question posed to 100 people, will be on the air in around ten territories, but over its lifespan has aired in more than 40 markets.

Together, The Price Is Right and Family Feud form what Rob Clark, the president of worldwide entertainment at FremantleMedia, calls the “crown jewels” of the company’s game-show catalogue. “With those two shows, we don’t allow any changes to that format, at all,” explains Clark about adapting these shows internationally.“Those formats [work the way they are.] There really is no need to change them.They just tap into something that’s entertaining.They’re fun, they’re loud, the values that they have are still important.”

A more recent example of a game show with a winning format is Endemol’s Deal or No Deal. Since hitting the airwaves

MONEY

TALK$

Game shows continue to perform well and offer cash-strapped broadcasters advantages like brand recognition, product extensions and opportunities for advertising sponsorships.

By Kristin Brzoznowski Phrases like “Is that your final answer?” “No whammies, no whammies, no whammies!” and “Come on down!” have all made their way into the pop-culture lexicon courtesy of game shows.Viewers have been tuning in for decades—in large numbers, too—to watch contestants try their hand at taking home cash and prizes. Hundreds of quiz-andcompetition concepts have come and gone since the first TV game show, Truth or Consequences, hit the airwaves in 1950.

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A great catch: Vem kan slå Filip och Fredrik, the Swedish version of SevenOne’s Beat Your Host!, features two competing hosts instead of one.

in 2005, Deal or No Deal has become a serious money-maker for the Dutch outfit.The show was a runaway hit on NBC in the U.S., and is a proven success worldwide.

“Without a doubt, Deal or No Deal has been Endemol’s biggest hit game show,” says Paul Römer, the company’s chief creative officer. “It’s captured the imagination of people all over the world and sold in 135 countries, including key markets throughout Europe, the U.S. and Southeast Asia.”

Making the show a success in each market requires finetuning and tweaking, but Römer says it’s essential that the game itself remains the same through all the adaptations.

“As long as you never change the game mechanics, it’s possible to make a show work in any country.You can change everything about the look and feel, but never the mechanics. Each version of Deal or No Deal looks completely different, but the audience is continually captivated by the game-play architecture.”

The game play of Deal or No Deal doesn’t involve triviastyle knowledge or physical-performance components like

most game shows. Rather, chance is the real deal breaker. It’s a game of odds that keeps the players (and the audience!) in suspense until the very end.

“Although Deal or No Deal is a game of luck, its most engaging element is that the viewers can play along,” says Römer.

“Everyone at home has an opinion on what the contestant should do:They need to choose to take the deal or not!”

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is another megahit that’s easy to play along with from home.Viewers can turn their couch into “the hot seat” and guess right alongside the studio competitor. Just a little more than a decade since the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? format made its debut in the U.K., the iconic quiz show’s popularity is still as strong as ever.

“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? has been a global success story which continues to resonate hugely with viewers around the world,” says Mike Morley, the executive VP and chief creative officer for international production at Sony Pictures Television, which holds rights to the format as part of its acquisition of 2waytraffic. “Just some of the countries where the show has been licensed include India, Colombia, China, Venezuela, Malaysia,Australia, Russia, Singapore, Philippines, Kazakhstan, Poland, the U.K., Germany and Israel. Most pleasingly, the introduction of a new variation, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Hot Seat, has seen the show become a regular ratings winner in Australia, even against tough competition from the likes of Deal or No Deal. In addition to demands for new twists, there are clear opportunities for the classic show to return and play to its old strengths.”

MAKING ALTERATIONS

Morley says that a good portion of the show’s worldwide success is the flexibility of the format. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? has been localized for a slew of markets, and new elements have been added and modified to keep it fresh, all the while remaining true to the brand.

“The tricky part is tuning the format into the local culture and, at the same time, not altering the format’s unique selling points,”Morley explains.

“Local humor, traditions and practices sometimes conspire to dilute a format’s potency, so you have to work creatively to improve the global product to get a good local fit. Localizing shows is one of the things we do best, and it’s key that we do it in a costeffective way. Our team of producers and creators, who have years of experience, can advise clients on how our format brands will work best and offer solutions to address the budgetary pressures that broadcasters are feeling.”

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A host of fun: Family Feud is one of the longest-running game shows, and still performs well for FremantleMedia.

SevenOne International’s smash hit Beat Your Host! has undergone some serious alterations as it’s traveled from one market to the next, and each adaptation has found its own success.The format centers on the battle between contestant and host. It calls for a combination of athletic prowess, skill, knowledge, bravery and willpower, and offers a potpourri of different games within each episode.

“We were able to create adaptations for the format that have turned out to be very successful,” says Jens Richter, the managing director of SevenOne.“In Sweden, the audience contestant is not [just] fighting against one host, they’re fighting against two hosts. Because we were able to find a team of hosts there who are extremely funny and reckless and outrageous, the Swedish version is an exceedingly funny one.There’s a lot of comedy in that version.”

SevenOne changed the format yet again for ITV in the U.K., swapping in celebrities instead.“With Beat the Star, we’ve found another successful adaptation.We do not have the same host playing in each episode, but we have different celebrities—a colorful mix of sports stars and TV stars—competing in each episode against an audience contestant. That show is really strong for us.”

The U.K. adaptation even made its way back into Germany.This year, ProSieben aired the Beat Your Host! version, Schlag den Raab, and then the U.K. adaptation, Beat the Star, in the spring as a special series.

VALUE ADDED

Beat Your Host! and its various adaptations are aired as big prime-time events. Though not exactly inexpensive to produce, this type of show can add a lot of value for a broadcaster by creating a tentpole brand. Richter explains, “Big flagship shows, if they’re combined with 352

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creative marketing, can generate big awareness.

This is exactly what you want to create for your channel. Those kinds of shows are not really cheap.They’re rather expensive to produce. Considering the high ratings Beat Your Host! is generating, it’s a big boost for the channel’s image and brand.”

Besides generating a lot of buzz, game shows can offer a host of other advantages for a broadcaster, one of which is drawing in advertisers with sponsorship tie-ins and product-placement opportunities.Avi Armoza, the CEO of Armoza Formats, sees this as one of the biggest selling points for the genre.

“Especially in today’s economic climate, game shows that incorporate product placement and advertiser sponsorship are very attractive to broadcasters. With ad revenues dropping by 25 percent around the world, advertisers are really foregoing the traditional ‘30-second spot’ for the chance to become more involved in the content of TV shows.

This can be through general sponsorship of a show, or through individual product-placement spots for prizes, the hosts’ clothing, game-play elements (vehicles, mobile phones, etc.).”

Upgrade, one of Armoza’s most successful game shows, lends itself perfectly to product placement. Upgrade surprises people in their homes with a trivia challenge, and correct answers allow families to upgrade their shoddy appliances—TVs, living-room furniture, washing machines.

“Upgrade relies heavily on the use of brandnew appliances and home furnishings, and part of our production notes explain how this concept can be matched with a sponsor like LG or GE and even tied into the sponsor’s website,” Armoza explains. “These sponsorship deals can change from territory to territory, but some global brands could very well sponsor the

global rollout of the format, serving as the sponsor of each local version in each territory.

These are the kinds of new funding packages being looked at more and more by creators and distributors.”

BACK TO THE BOARD

Another selling point for game shows is builtin brand recognition. If a series is based on a classic board game that has been around for years, the show already has a fan base established right off the bat.This has certainly been the case for Debmar-Mercury International’s Trivial Pursuit: America Plays. Before the show made its debut in U.S. syndication, DebmarMercury had secured eight international options for the format and presold the finished U.S. version into two territories.

“It’s definitely the strength of the brand that has driven the interest,” says Beata Hegedus, the managing director of Debmar-Mercury International. “It’s an extremely powerful, globally recognized concept.”

Based on the popular Hasbro board game, this half-hour strip features questions exclusively from viewers, giving them the opportunity to play—and win—from the comfort of their own living room.The classic board game has been around since the ’80s and now the TV version, Trivial Pursuit:America Plays, is giving legions of loyal players the chance to reconnect with the brand, as loyal viewers.

“Hasbro originally approached us through the William Morris Agency as a result of our

track record in producing hit shows for the U.S. and beyond,” Hegedus explains. “The whole aim was to maintain the original graphical elements of the board game, so for example the studio design is based on the board’s iconic features. We then brought in new elements, such as audience participation and interactivity, to give it a more modern and fresh feel.”

While Trivial Pursuit made the move from board game to TV show, oftentimes the situation happens the other way around. Game shows lend themselves nicely to be spun off into merchandise for at-home play.This area can be a great source for extra revenue.

“There’s huge potential for ancillaries with game shows,” says FremantleMedia’s Clark.“If you look at The Price Is Right and Family Feud in terms of flexibility, they’re brands. And because they’re brands, they’re usable in lots of different areas.” The Price Is Right has online and mobile extensions, and even a live Las Vegas stage show. Family Feud has a number of playat-home gaming applications as well.

GET IN THE GAME

The product extensions for game shows have moved beyond traditional tabletop entertainment. Technology has helped add an array of new opportunities to extend the game-play experience to viewers. Endemol’s Römer says there are merchandise extensions for nearly all the company’s hit game shows, and many of these are far more advanced than the classic board game. He explains, “1 vs. 100 on Xbox

Everyone’s a winner: Armoza Formats’ Upgrade goes into the homes of everyday families.

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Live Primetime is a great example of how a game-show brand can be taken to the next level by bringing TV game-show architecture into a game platform that is played in real time on Xbox Live Primetime.”

Sony Pictures Television and 2waytraffic have been very innovative in using technology to add to a show’s experience. Morley stresses the role this plays in creating a hit brand.

“Interactivity is hugely important.Ten or 20 years ago, the only demand on a format was that it needed to be a good show. Now, a show must be a 360-degree proposition—in other words, we must be able to package it so that viewers can enjoy it not just on TV but also online and on mobile—something we’ve done very successfully with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The kinds of interactive elements we’ve incorporated have included introducing online dragons in Dragons’ Den [a show that sees entrepreneurs trying to secure investment from business experts] to breathe some extra fire into the business community when the TV show is off the air. We’ve also enabled consumers to interact with our brands through physical and digital merchandise such as DVDs, board games, mobile games, ring tones and mobile wallpapers, which are all part of our game-show portfolio.”

NEW PLAYERS

In these particularly challenging times, the advantages game shows present have made them appealing to broadcasters. Demand is healthy across daytime and prime-time slots for these kinds of shows, and new distributors are adding game shows to their slate to capitalize on this success.The Brazilian media powerhouse Globo TV International has an established reputation for its telenovelas, but the company has now started distributing formats as well.

Globo kick-started its format-selling efforts with five titles, two of which were game shows.

The Spelling Game puts entertainment and education together, and Xtreme Connection sees people competing against celebrities in a variety of challenges involving strength, intelligence and creativity.

“We want to bring alternative content to the market,” says Raphael Corrêa, Globo’s director of international sales, about moving into the formats business.“We don’t intend to be one of the biggest format players in the world.We want to be a very good partner for formats, and we want to be recognized for the innovation and creativity that we can bring to our partners.”

Globo’s entrance to the game-show arena is a further testament to the strength of the genre in today’s tough market.

Q& A competition: The brand recognition of Trivial Pursuit: America Plays has been a winning element for Debmar-Mercury.

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one of the reasons people tune in,because they never know what they are going to see, so there is a sort of surprise. But one thing they do know is that it will be produced to some scale and it will be in our signature destination—which is the stage—and they are going to see the judges that they know. It’s a kind of familiarity that hasn’t bred contempt.

TV FORMATS: What are your plans for keeping The Biggest

Loser fresh?

TELEGDY: The main statement of purpose of that show is uni-

Finding the Right Formula

NBC’s Paul Telegdy Paul Telegdy is known for his expertise in trans-Atlantic coproductions. When he worked for BBC Worldwide America, he oversaw the sale and launch of the ABC hit Dancing with the Stars, which is based on the BBC format Strictly Come Dancing.

He also executive produced Grease: You’re the One That I Want, adapted from another BBC format. As executive VP of alternative programming at NBC and Universal Media Studios, Telegdy oversees NBC’s unscripted and specials programming, which this summer included several format-based titles, including I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!

By Anna Carugati

formly clear: people with, in most cases, extreme weight problems will go on a life-changing journey in which they will lose that weight.The ticket to ride on that show has a very clear stamp on it,but within that,there are all sorts of production variations that can be used to drive the story in different ways.The producers brainstorm for hours and really raise the bar on the quality of ideas and the quality of challenges and the individual set pieces within the show, so that it all comes together to create a body of fresh ideas that inform the viewers’experience. As I say, the purpose of the show couldn’t be clearer. So thematically you can change the approach, there are ways to draw in new audience segments [by focusing on] family members,or couples.

Basically this is a show that successfully holds a mirror up to America in a way that at times is challenging and at times is difficult to watch, but all of the hardcore fans, as well as the broad public, see elements of themselves in the people on the show.

TV FORMATS: It’s the human factor that is so appealing.

TELEGDY: Yes, absolutely, and going back to what makes a

great colorful reality franchise, whether it’s America’s Got Talent or The Biggest Loser, it’s real people and real humanity that are very important factors in our shows’ DNA. Second to that, and this is part of how we do differentiate between projects, it’s fundamentally positive.The experience of The Biggest Loser, for most participants and for the viewing audience, is that it leaves you with positive outcomes.And then, as I said, there is ingenuity to it—The Biggest Loser was the first weight-loss format to break big in prime time.

TV FORMATS: When you are evaluating new alternative

concepts, what are you looking for?

TELEGDY: Reality programming is no longer a genre that the

audience in the U.S. sees as new and groundbreaking. So we still look for ingenuity and innovation as part of the basic concept because even if our audience hasn’t seen the specific twist of a show, our research shows that they will tell you they have already heard of the concept, even if they haven’t. So that means shows need to loom very bright in the area of ingenuity.

TV FORMATS: To what do you attribute the continued suc-

cess of America’s Got Talent?

TELEGDY: There are a number of reasons. It’s hugely enjoyable.

There is a degree of innocence to what its purpose is, which is to provide a very democratic right of access.Where other talent shows have perhaps a number of different criteria for contestants that need to be met—whether they are amateurs, or professionals, or [in a certain] age range—ours is just undiscovered talent.We have kids,we have what we call seniors,[contestants of] all ages and all shapes and sizes and all different talents.That pure innocence of purpose, which is just to be wildly entertaining, is 358

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Seeking the spotlight: NBC came on board for its own version of ITV’s I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! this summer.

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Making it big: The Biggest Loser has become NBC’s signature reality franchise.

TV FORMATS: What new shows are you excited about?

TELEGDY: We are producing a show with Jerry Seinfeld,which

certainly from an ingenuity point of view deserves to be on air because you haven’t seen it before, which is the show called The Marriage Ref. [It draws] on Jerry’s own experience with the institution of marriage and with that voice coming through, we will examine real-life discussions between husband and wife that will ring very,very familiar to our audience as the kinds of things that occasionally cause conflict.We will see real couples’ arguments commented on by a panel of personalities.And they will come down on a certain decision in what is meant to be a lighthearted comedian’s court of decision-making within marital disputes.

These are not heavy duty,“I hate you, I wish you would change, I’m leaving you,” [types] of marital disputes. Instead it’s,“Do you really think that the vase looks good there?”It’s dealing with issues of passive aggression and differences of opinion in a humorous way. Now I’ve not seen that concept before and I watch a lot of TV, so I’m excited about it because the potential to entertain with real people and comedians is something that we see as having novelty. Of course, working with probably the best-loved brand of comedy in all of the U.S. is something that is exciting from a creative point of view.

TV FORMATS: And going back to the human factor, we can all relate to that.

TELEGDY: Absolutely, I would rate most people’s relationships a B- and maybe with a little help they can get to an A. Everyone wishes their relationship were a little better and everyone takes a kind of pragmatic lighthearted view about continuing relationships and yes, people [get into] real problems [over issues that aren’t really that big].

TV FORMATS: How many arguments have started because

of a vase!

TELEGDY: If there was a handbook that answered the ques-

tion,“Does my bum look big in this dress?” that’s what we’re trying to do! What am I meant to say? “Yes, it does look big, but in a good way!” Or “No, it’s tiny.” [Laughs] To which the reply could be,“Are you saying I have a small bum?” These are the mysteries that we are seeking to address in the show!

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TV FORMATS: Why has the U.K. become such a major source for entertainment ideas?

TELEGDY: Because of the economics of U.K. television, light entertainment—big shiny studio shows, prime-time entertainment other than scripted drama and comedy—has been a mainstay of British television for 40 years and it never went away. Going back to a different era, it was also on American television, but then it went away for a long time, while it didn’t go away from British television.

That was out of economic necessity, because the BBC or ITV and, lastly, Channel 4, couldn’t afford to have just drama and comedy on, they had to do all sorts of different things. Part of that was also public purpose in the case of the BBC, which generated interesting forms of entertainment.

That heritage, both from a developmental and a practical point of view, never went away.When American television changed to a more similar economic model [less reliant on expensive scripted dramas and comedies] the main source for ideas, in a short space of time, happened to be the U.K. But as someone who grew up with European television, I remember when Endemol was producing largely for Dutch TV, and they attained global status by producing for networks in the U.K.The U.K. may have been the English-language gateway for ideas from elsewhere in Europe.

Survivor, which was one of the major watersheds in U.S. reality television, was based on a U.K. format, which was taken from a Swedish format—so Sweden to the U.K. to the U.S. Pop Idol became big on ITV and the rest is history, and then Strictly Come Dancing became Dancing with the Stars. But the U.K. now faces its own issues, which are similar to the issues the U.S. is facing. Having big hit franchises, whether it’s Strictly Come Dancing, or The X Factor, or Britain’s Got Talent, which is actually based on America’s Got Talent, means there is limited real estate for innovation on those big shows, so you don’t see a lot of new ideas coming through.

TV FORMATS: Are there other markets you look at as well?

TELEGDY: Yes, we take pitches from producers all over the

world.We have a Belgian format in development, a Japanese format in development and an Italian format in development.

But no market mirrors exactly another market in terms of fragmentation or distribution.The U.S. with five, arguably six, terrestrial networks, is nothing like Germany, where there are 20 terrestrial networks, but there is a huge [number] of big cable players in America. So you can’t look [at a show] and say that was a hit there and therefore it will be a hit here.... But you can look at concepts that feel like they’ve had either pop-culture traction or that you just loved because you loved watching it—there is the sort of visceral element of buying shows, which is, “Hey I like that!” And you couple that with audience [research].

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ing into it headfirst. 2waytraffic was a big step in that direction because it gave us reach with its various production companies and distribution throughout the world. Michael Davies is a prolific producer, particularly of game shows, as seen in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? There is a real business there and we would be shortchanging our ability to grow our television business if we weren’t involved in it.

TV FORMATS: Tell us about Dragons’ Den, which was adapted for the U.S. market.

MOSKO: It’s a terrific format. Some time ago I sat down with Mark Burnett and said, “We would love to be in business with you. Is there a format in our library that would get your blood pressure going and that might be something you would be interested in producing?”

Long story short, he loved the Dragons’ Den format.We’ve adapted it as Shark Tank to American television. Mark is unbelievable to work with. He’s a consummate professional, he understands this business, understands how all the pieces work together. It’s been a great partnership.

Unscripted Success

Sony’s Steve Mosko As one of the first studios to set up local-language productions around the world, Sony Pictures Television (SPT) quickly learned the value of taking a successful show from one country and adapting it to another. It started tapping into its library of hit sitcoms, such as The Nanny, and produced them to considerable success in a number of territories.

More recently, SPT acquired 2waytraffic and Michael Davies’ Embassy Row, thereby expanding further into the unscripted arena. SPT’s president, Steve Mosko, talks about increasing the company’s format business.

By Anna Carugati

TV FORMATS: Why has it been important for Sony to get involved in formats and the unscripted business?

MOSKO: If you look at American television, more than 25 percent of the schedules of the broadcast networks consists of unscripted programming, and unscripted makes up a big chunk of the cable networks’ programming as well.As a studio, if we were just in the scripted business, we’d see the available time periods slowly slipping away and we wouldn’t be able to compete.And on top of that, it’s a good business. People don’t realize this—we have two of the most successful worldwide formats known to man in Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! We’ve been in this business, but in the past we didn’t really dive into it.Now,because of what American television is going through and the amount of [slots] dedicated to unscripted programming, and the potential to build out a worldwide format business, we are div362

TV FORMATS: What challenges and opportunities do you see in the format business today? It’s not “flavor of the month,” is it? It’s become an established business.

MOSKO: A while ago, some of us on the studio side were in denial.We thought that this would come and go and that it was just cheap programming that was going to help the bottom line at the networks. The reality is, no pun intended, that that’s far from the case.These shows are not only part of network schedules, they are part of our culture here and around the world. A lot of these reality shows have become watercooler shows. Whether it’s American Idol or Dancing with the Stars or Survivor, those are shows that are top of mind for folks.

This is in no way to say scripted shows have been marginalized; it’s just that people really enjoy watching reality shows.

They are not going away. Reality is only going to get better,

Question time: 2waytraffic, now a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, has a diverse array of formats for MIPCOM, including Mr & Mrs.

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Moneymakers: SPT partnered with Mark Burnett for the American version of Dragons’ Den, which airs on ABC as Shark Tank.

and I can see more people jumping into it and it getting more competitive. It’s a business we have to be in.

TV FORMATS: What advantages does a studio like Sony have when competing with the FremantleMedias and Endemols of this world?

MOSKO: In terms of advantages, certainly having a deep library helps us a lot, as does having the expertise of people

who have worked on Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! and Millionaire. It all comes down to executing and delivering great shows.

We’ve established the fact that we are serious about getting into this business, and we’ve given the people who work with us all the tools to make great shows. Having 2waytraffic as a first-class international distributor was a huge step for us. It spoke to our commitment to being in this business, and we’ve made a couple of big overall deals that we will be announcing soon. And it speaks to the fact that this is a great place to be. A lot of it is about environment and providing the proper place for people to flourish creatively and let them do their thing, and I think that’s what’s great about Michael Davies being able to come here.A lot of these people were entrepreneurs, and so the trick is to make sure that they keep their entrepreneurial spirit while at the same time working within a corporate environment.That is the main challenge for us. It’s worked very, very well with Michael and it’s worked great—although it’s a oneoff project—with Mark Burnett.

Mike Morley Executive VP & Chief Creative Officer, International Production Sony Pictures Television

By Kristin Brzoznowski

With its acquisition of the Dutch outfit 2waytraffic, Sony Pictures Entertainment ramped up its international-production initiatives. As executive VP and chief creative officer of international production for Sony Pictures Television (SPT), Mike Morley plays a hand in developing formats that can fit in a host of international territories. An Endemol veteran, Morley knows quite well what elements can give a concept worldwide appeal.

TV FORMATS: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

is an undisputed global phenomenon.To what do you attribute its popularity?

MORLEY: It’s a great show! Simple as that. Full of jeopardy,drama and aspiration.It’s a true classic.

Two major factors in the worldwide popularity of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? are that we have been able to successfully localize the show while

remaining true to the format and the brand, and our ability to keep it fresh.What has appealed to people worldwide is that the concept of the show is very simple, yet the audience and viewers at home are on the edge of their seats as the excitement and tension builds.We’ve demonstrated our ability to take our format brands to a global audience not only with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? but with other successful shows such as Mr & Mrs, Dragons’ Den and The Dating Game.

TV FORMATS: SPT/2waytraffic is very inno-

vative with using technology. How important is interactivity nowadays with game shows, and what sort of interactive elements do you incorporate?

MORLEY: Interactivity is hugely important.

Ten or 20 years ago, the only demand on a format was that it needed to be a good show.

Now a show must be a 360-degree proposition—in other words, we must be able to package it so that viewers can enjoy it not just on TV but also online and on mobile—some-

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thing we’ve done very successfully with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

The kinds of interactive elements we’ve incorporated have included introducing online dragons in Dragons’ Den to breathe some extra fire into the business community when the TV show is off the air. We’ve also enabled consumers to interact with our brands through physical and digital merchandise such as DVDs, board games, mobile games, ring tones and mobile wallpapers, which are all part of our game-show portfolio.

TV FORMATS: What new game-show titles do you have for MIPCOM, and how do these stand out from the pack?

MORLEY: For MIPCOM, SPT will be highlighting The Wall, Give & Take and You’ve Been Faked, as well as The Dating Game, which will have some new elements.With its recent successful ratings in the U.K., we’re also offering Mr & Mrs to the market, which provides fantastic, all-round family entertainment and a unique and humorous insight into the lives of different kinds of couples. And we’re selling Chain Reaction, which is all about linking a series of both minor and major events in one long chain without any breaks.This is a gripping show that provides a true spectacle for prime-time television viewing.

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Last year, when Lee Bartlett joined the U.K.’s leading commercial broadcaster, ITV, he brought with him years of experience working in the U.S. market, many spent creating and adapting formats. In his role as managing director of ITV Studios, he is applying that expertise to several ITV shows, which he is launching as global brands. He believes that in this challenged advertising market, which is forcing risk-averse buyers to be more selective than ever, a good format with a proven track record provides a winwin solution for distributors and buyers.

mat. And if you have a production company in a country, then you can make a production fee because you produce it for them. So you have a couple of revenue streams.

TV FORMATS: You are a fan of the format business.Why do you like it so much?

BARTLETT: Take a show like Come Dine with Me, which is a U.K. show. It is done in one way and emphasizes a certain group of characters and traditions that are particularly British in their mentality.And then you turn around and you do the same program with the same basic idea of people going to other people’s houses to cook a meal and create a nice evening, and you tailor that to fit how German people would entertain. So you had the basic idea and yet you tailored it to different audiences.

TV FORMATS: When you are trying to

create global hits, do unscripted formats usually lend themselves better than scripted?

BARTLETT: The general rule is yes, for a couple of reasons.You can create a format

Formatting Hits

ITV’s Lee Bartlett

By Anna Carugati and get it on the air in a pretty short period of time, because you are not writing anything. If it’s a hit in the country in which it initially airs then you can sell that very quickly. So, obviously, if ITV [programmers are] willing to put the format on the air in the U.K. it means that they think it’s got legs in the U.K.And then once it’s aired here, and its ratings are good, it’s easier to adapt it to the international marketplace—to mount the show doesn’t take very long.And we have producers who go out and help broadcasters do that.

TV FORMATS: And what are the advantages and disadvan-

tages of scripted formats?

BARTLETT: The disadvantage to drama is that you have to

write the script and that takes several months.Then it takes four or five months to produce it, and by the time you are finished editing it, the whole process takes quite some time before it actually goes on the air. So the time frame for drama is very long.When you then turn around and sell the format, you are licensing the format along with scripts. Only certain countries are going to buy those ideas, and dramas can be very countryspecific, so it takes a lot of rewriting the scripts.And the payoff, from a format point of view, isn’t as good when you produce scripted as it is to produce unscripted formats.

On the other hand, with scripted, you start to build up a library of finished episodes of these series that you can turn around and sell as well.

The piece that works better, and I think this is unique to ITV, is we have a deep library of very famous dramas that have been produced over the years.We had three of them on the air last year in the U.S. While selling and producing scripted formats is a slower process, in many respects, it’s more satisfying because drama is the heart of television. Scripted is a little bit harder, but when it hits, it hits really well. If you take a U.S. example, Desperate Housewives, Disney has made a lot of money selling the finished episodes and selling the for366

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TV FORMATS: Why does this work so well as a business?

BARTLETT: The reason... is that you developed it originally for

one country and you’ve been able to test it.Then you can sell it to other countries based on the ratings it got in the country of its origin.And you can have a format fee, but again, even more importantly, if you have a production company in the country where the show is being broadcast, you can produce it and get a production fee and you have the finished episodes that you can also turn around and sell. So it’s a very interesting business from that point of view.And particularly nowadays, when broadcasters are hesitant to take a lot of risk because the advertising market is so difficult, if you can give them something that has been proven in one country, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will work in their country, but the chances are better—you’ve cut your odds, so to speak—so that is why I particularly like formats.

TV FORMATS: Even with limited budgets, what are buyers looking for and how can ITV Studios help them fill their needs?

BARTLETT: First of all, as I said, because the advertising markets are so tight, foreign broadcasters don’t want to take a lot of risk.

They want something that is proven and they need to be able to see it on tape.We have two pilots that ran in the U.K.that are both game shows. One was called The Chase and the other was called The Fuse. Both of them aired in the U.K. and both rated well.

They will be part of our MIPCOM slate.

TV FORMATS: And what information about these formats

do you provide buyers?

BARTLETT: We have a sizzle reel for them and we have all

the demographic information.There will be all the material buyers need and they can actually see episodes of these shows, so they will have a much better idea of what they are going to get than if I just gave them a piece of paper and said,This is what the format is.

We also target the specific networks that buy these types of programs.We know what time slots they work in. If the show is made for late afternoon here in the U.K., we know that by tweaking it this way or that way it can be made as a prime-time show.

Our salespeople and the brochures we have on our website will tell you all of this.We focus on ideas that have worked someplace else, especially in the U.K. or the U.S., and offer all the demographic and ratings information behind them and provide actual episodes that can be seen.This is the best way to sell.We have a lot of formats, but we target them for sales only if we have good ratings information for them.

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Broadening the Playing Field

Global Agency’s Izzet Pinto

By Mansha Daswani

The Turkish-based Global “My biggest goal is to represent more format creators,” says Agency is keen to become a Pinto on his plans for developing the business. His motto for major player in the format the kinds of titles he wants to offer broadcasters? “We bring market with its slate of reality you formats that create buzz.” titles, led by Perfect Bride.

Pinto is also eager to show what Turkey can contribute to Known in its original Turkish the global format marketplace.“The cool thing about Turkey as Gelinim olur musun, the is we connect Europe to Asia.We’re in a place where we mix show provides a twist to the old-fashioned ideas with today’s culture, which is perfect. dating reality genre, putting a Turkey has great potential to create unique ideas.” bunch of single women in a Pinto also wants to help format creators avoid having their house along with a group of ideas stolen. “The minute you score huge ratings in one single men—and their moth- country, copycat versions start entering the market,” he says. ers.The finale of the format’s “You have to be fast.You have to enter many countries quickly debut season clinched a 71.7- to be called the original. It’s not easy to find the next big percent market share. thing.Therefore I urge the networks to give importance to At the time of Perfect Bride’s buying the original formats and reject the copycat versions.” debut, Izzet Pinto was workWhile keenly aware of an economic climate that is puting as a successful literary ting immense pressures on broadcasters’ production budgets, agent, representing a number of best-selling authors in Turkey. Pinto is feeling upbeat about negotiating through these chalWhen he was asked about trying his hand at representing a lenging times. “My company is fairly new, with just three TV show, Pinto jumped at the opportunity to score the inter- years of history,” he notes.“We are on a rising scale in terms national rights to the Perfect Bride format. It was a fortuitous of revenues, and we expect to grow fast even in these hard first step into the TV business. Pinto first signed up Italy, then times. As long as you come up with great formats and cona pan-regional Middle Eastern version and then Korea; in trol the expenses, you can survive in this tough economy.” total, Global Agency has sold the show to 19 territories.

When asked about the strategies he is employing to remain With proof of a track record on Perfect Bride, Pinto was soon successful, Pinto says, “We employ people with successful being approached by numerous other producers in Turkey who backgrounds, advertise more, travel more to visit clients, were hoping to turn their homegrown ideas into international reserve bigger stands, represent great formats, are very selechits. Pinto says he rejects about “99 percent” of the pitches he tive and work day and night!” receives, but notes that “1 percent are amazing.”

One title that caught his attention was My Wedding Witness Is My Ex, in which divorced couples are housed together with a view to creating some new happy couples. “In one month I sold it to the U.S., Canada and Germany,” Pinto states.

Also in the catalogue is Super Talented, which searches for what Pinto calls “mega-talented stars, who have multiple talents, from singing to acting, fashion design to talk-show host to stand-up comedian.” He also has high hopes for The Big Challenge, which takes 12 individuals and packs them off to far-flung destinations with $1,000 and nothing else.“They don’t have a place to stay, they don’t have food to eat. They’ll find out how hard it is to make money in those countries.

Every week we check on how much money they are left with.The person with the least money leaves every week.At the end of the show, whoever has the biggest amount wins.”

The newest addition to Global Agency’s catalogue is Choosing My Religion, which puts ten atheists in a house with a priest, a rabbi, an imam and a Buddhist monk for ten weeks.At the end of the period, the contestants The ex-factor: Global Agency’s new slate of formats for MIPCOM includes My Wedding Witness Is My Ex. are given a choice: remain an atheist or convert?

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