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TVFORMATS
WWW.TVFORMATS.WS
OCTOBER 2018
MIPCOM EDITION
Mega Brands / Game Shows / Kid-Centric Formats Mike Fleiss /ABC’s Robert Mills / Endemol Shine’s Peter Salmon
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10 TV FORMATS
CONTENTS
Demanding Times
FEATURES 26 MEGA FORMATS A look at the art and science of format franchise management.
26
After shaking up the drama market in immeasurable ways, the FAANGs have started to sink their teeth into entertainment.
Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Executive Editor Joanna Padovano Tong Managing Editor Sara Alessi Associate Editor Victor L. Cuevas Production & Design Director Phyllis Q. Busell Art Director Simon Weaver Online Director Dana Mattison Senior Sales & Marketing Manager Nathalia Lopez Sales & Marketing Coordinator Andrea Moreno Business Affairs Manager
Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Formats © 2018 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tvformats.ws
Project Runway power duo Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum recently announced they’re saying “Auf Wiedersehen” to the hit U.S. show after 16 seasons to do a global fashion reality series with Amazon. Facebook is reportedly working on a virtual singing talent competition. Among Netflix’s recent raft of commissions are The Final Table, a global culinary competition series that is being exec produced by MasterChef and MasterChef Junior alums, and Flinch, a comedy game show. Programming like high-tension game shows and shinyfloor talent competitions are so well-suited to live viewing— with their watercooler moments and emotion-packed finales—that the notion of watching them on-demand may take some getting used to on the part of the viewer. Perhaps that’s why some streaming platforms are testing the waters by licensing finished entertainment product first before going all in on a big-budget global format buy. Netflix, for one, scooped up the U.K. rights for America’s Got Talent, while Amazon has the U.K. rights for American Idol. As audiences become more accustomed to streaming the types of entertainment shows that have long been the domain of live TV, those in the format industry are starting to face a new set of questions. What types of formats work for an OTT platform? If it’s a global service, how does that impact the traditional market-by-market rollout for local versions? Are viewers ready to get their talent shows on-demand? It’s early days, and the verdict is still out as to whether or not the FAANGs stand to upend the entertainment market in the same way they have with scripted. For now, the majority of viewers are still flocking to their TV sets to catch the entertainment megahits live. Many of the classic juggernauts continue to pull in big numbers for live viewing as well. In this issue of TV Formats, we look at the keys to keeping a megaformat franchise fresh. We also explore what’s new in game shows and examine the popularity of formats that place kids at the center of the action. ABC’s Robert Mills tells us about how the U.S. network manages its successful entertainment shows, including American Idol and The Bachelor. Mike Fleiss, the mastermind behind The Bachelor and its spin-offs, is also featured in this issue. Peter Salmon talks to TV Formats about some of the biggest hits from the Endemol Shine Group portfolio. He tells us there’s “enormous potential” for entertainment shows on OTT services. Watch this space! —Kristin Brzoznowski
38 SPIN TO WIN Explores what it takes to make an impact in the crowded game-show sector.
46 KIDDING AROUND Formats featuring children are popular in family-oriented prime-time slots.
46
INTERVIEWS
50
Mike Fleiss
52 ABC’s Robert Mills
56
Endemol Shine’s Peter Salmon
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14 TV FORMATS
A+E Networks Voices from the Grave / Seatbelt Psychic / Snap Decision Terminally ill people who have a short time to live record hologram messages for their loved ones in Voices from the Grave. “After their deaths, these walking, talking versions of the departed are delivered at times and in places where families need them the most,” explains Ellen Lovejoy, A+E Networks’ VP/head of content sales for the Americas and formats. “Voices from the Grave is unprecedented, gripping and highly unique content. Using cutting-edge portable holograph technology, it creates a ‘first’ in TV.” Seatbelt Psychic, meanwhile, follows a medium who poses as a ride-share driver and surprises passengers with the ability to talk to their deceased loved ones. “We are very excited to take these two formats global,” Lovejoy says. The slate also includes the game show Snap Decision.
Seatbelt Psychic
“A+E Networks’ formats reflect the cultural zeitgeist, and most importantly, they garner success in the markets where they air.” —Ellen Lovejoy
Armoza Formats Singerella / Dance Revolution / Instababe An aspiring singer gets a fairytale surprise of having the chance to sing with a musical idol in the prime-time format Singerella. The series “uses music, which we know connects people worldwide, and protagonists that we can all relate to in order to bring strong emotional engagement in every episode,” says Sharon Levi, head of sales at Armoza Formats. The prime-time competition Dance Revolution uses state-of-the-art technology to take a 360-degree snapshot of dancers’ best “revolution” moment. “Dance competitions continue to be a strong and successful genre that entertains and appeals to a wide audience,” says Levi. “Dance Revolution offers a unique element in its use of 360-degree technology that you would usually only see in sports events.” She adds that Instababe, a short-form teen series, is “tailor-made for today’s Instagram generation.”
Singerella
“We are coming to MIPCOM with compelling formats that are very much on-trend.” —Sharon Levi
Banijay Rights The Duo / Taste for the Nation / LIVE Diverse singers are brought together in an audition with the aim of discovering a vocal partnership the nation will fall in love with in The Duo. “The wonderful unpredictability of human chemistry is the essence of this entertainment format,” says Andrew Sime, VP of formats at Banijay Rights. “The winner will be two individual voices brought together by fate to create one unique and magical sound.” The search for the next food sensation is on with Taste for the Nation. Meanwhile, LIVE looks for a musical artist who can wow a live audience. “From the very first show, viewers can enjoy the atmosphere and sensation of a live performance and vote in real time to decide who they think is the country’s next big live star,” says Sime.
“Thanks to our unrivaled network of production companies and strong relationships with the world’s best content creators, our catalog is bigger and better than ever before.” The Duo 420 WORLD SCREEN 10/18
—Andrew Sime
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One Day That Changed My Life
BBC Studios Dancing with the Stars: Juniors / One Day That Changed My Life / Different Like Me With the global success of Dancing with the Stars, BBC Studios has high expectations for Dancing with the Stars: Juniors in the international market. “It’s a feel-good, aspirational show and essential family viewing,” says Sumi Connock, BBC Studios’ creative director of formats. “We’ve really taken our time to ensure that Dancing with the Stars: Juniors will sit well on any network and uphold the high production values of the original format.” She adds that the show has “a really great energy and warmth to it.” One Day That Changed My Life shines a light on ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances, while Different Like Me brings together young people who share unusual conditions in order to help them gain confidence and overcome their insecurities.
“One Day That Changed My Life is a great format for daytime or prime time with a real human angle as we see ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances.” —Sumi Connock
CJ ENM
Love at First Song
Music Bites / Love at First Song / Love Catcher Music and food are brought together in the game show Music Bites, which CJ ENM is presenting to international buyers in Cannes. “We don’t see many game shows in CJ ENM’s lineup, but this recently launched format made a great landing in Korea,” says Diane Min, the company’s head of format sales. Love at First Song looks on as individuals search for their soul mates through music. Min describes the program as being a mix of American Idol and The Bachelor. Love Catcher, meanwhile, puts a new spin on the typical dating show, with some participants who are pretending to be interested in making a romantic connection in order to earn money. “We have seen lots of matching dating shows but never a trick of fake love in that genre,” Min says.
“These formats all have simple concepts that can be easily and cheaply reproduced anywhere in the world.”
—Diane Min
Fremantle
The Greatest Dancer
The Greatest Dancer / Match Fit / The Big Race Commissioned by BBC One in the U.K., The Greatest Dancer is a brand-new entertainment format in the Fremantle catalog. “The Greatest Dancer will feature a host of talent from every genre of dance as contestants give the performances of their lives in the search for the country’s best dancer,” says Rob Clark, the company’s director of global entertainment. “From ballet to jazz, hip-hop to Bollywood, this show is open to everyone.” In Match Fit, a group of sporting legends must try to get back into shape. The show “will shed light on how they’ve let themselves go and why it’s important to maintain a healthy lifestyle as you approach middle age,” says Clark. There is also The Big Race, in which four stock car racing families team up with celebrities.
“The Greatest Dancer will do for dance what Got Talent has done for variety, and we can’t wait to show our partners in Cannes.” —Rob Clark 422 WORLD SCREEN 10/18
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Global Agency Runaway Women / Tahiti Quest / Auction Queens Eleven women are taken away from their families and everyday lives for a luxury retreat, leaving their husbands to run the household, in the format Runaway Women. Umay Ayaz, the head of acquisitions at Global Agency, calls Runaway Women “one of the catchiest, most different and exciting formats in our catalog.” She adds, “It seeks to raise awareness about the roles that men and women have undertaken in today’s society, holding a mirror to practices that have been accepted as common in our everyday lives in relation to gender roles and questioning the balance in sharing the tasks.” Global Agency is also promoting Auction Queens. “It is a real auction experience with all the excitement of a bidding war,” says Ayaz. The company’s slate also includes the family adventure game show Tahiti Quest.
“Auction Queens is a very entertaining and unique format that will attract many buyers.” Auction Queens
—Umay Ayaz
GMA Worldwide Legally Blind / Until We Meet Again / The Clash Female lead characters overcome adversity despite the odds being stacked against them in GMA Worldwide’s Legally Blind and Until We Meet Again. In Legally Blind, a visually impaired lawyer seeks justice against the man who raped her, while in Until We Meet Again, a feral child looks for her real family. “Both series showcase the Filipino values of courage, perseverance and love of family,” says Roxanne J. Barcelona, the VP of GMA Worldwide. The slate also features the non-scripted format The Clash, “a unique take on a talent competition,” says Barcelona. “With little to no time to strategize, all the contestants can do is give their best performance every week.” She adds of her MIPCOM plans, “We would like to develop worldclass content with our clients and forge mutually beneficial partnerships through co-pros and shared licensing rights.”
“While GMA Worldwide continues to provide broadcasters and platforms with the best Filipino dramas for licensing, we will be actively promoting format rights for our scripted and non-scripted content.”
Legally Blind
—Roxanne J. Barcelona
Inter Medya
1 vs. 10 Patrimonio mundial - Herencia de la humanidad
The Perfect Couple / 19 / 1 vs. 10 Set on a private island, The Perfect Couple sees 11 women and 11 men compete in challenges in order to win keys to the rooms of the only house on the island. The catch is that there aren’t enough rooms for everyone, and the winners of the challenges get to choose a partner to share their room. “This fast and exciting format will definitely attract the crowd,” says Can Okan, the founder and CEO of Inter Medya. In the quiz show 1 vs. 10, “instead of answering the ten questions, the main contestant chooses one person among ten who he or she believes doesn’t know the answer,” Okan explains. Another quiz show is 19, which has “a simple and attractive concept, offering contestants grand prizes as long as they manage to answer more questions than their rivals,” Okan says.
“For this year’s MIPCOM, we are planning on revealing a number of surprises by presenting additional new projects.”
—Can Okan
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Media Ranch The Ex-pert / The Vault / The Judas The factual format The Ex-pert follows a high-profile divorce lawyer and a family psychologist as they work with couples who are separating. “The Ex-pert has authentic, strong emotions but is also positive as we try to solve issues and actually help the people involved,” says Sophie Ferron, CEO of Media Ranch. She describes The Vault as Ocean’s Twelve meets an escape room. “The Vault is a very strong reality game-show concept with so many elements that simply make it must-see TV,” says Ferron. The Judas is an interactive transmedia crime and investigation game show that invites players to immerse themselves in an alternative reality game. “It’s more and more difficult to really engage people nowadays, but Judas does just that,” says Ferron. “It’s a different way of producing and consuming content.”
The Judas
“We’re a boutique distribution company, but we act and work globally.” —Sophie Ferron
Passion Distribution The Class Next Door / Postcode Playdates / Paradise Hotel The factual-entertainment format The Class Next Door sees a group of parents being sent back to school for one half-term; the twist is that their kids are in the classroom next door. Also in the factual-entertainment arena, Postcode Playdates features families with children from the same neighborhood but across social divides. They will open up their doors for a playdate for the first time. “The Class Next Door and Postcode Playdates are a combination of entertainment and documentary-style quality, perfect for mixed family and generational audiences,” says Nick Tanner, the director of sales and co-productions at Passion Distribution. The company is also showcasing the classic prime-time dating and reality show Paradise Hotel, which has been produced in more than ten territories.
The Class Next Door
“The Class Next Door is a brilliantly funny and warm factual-entertainment format.” —Nick Tanner
Rabbit Films
conWEBsation
Don’t You Know Who I Am? / The Awards Show / conWEBsation The game show Don’t You Know Who I Am? sees contestants compete against each other by guessing a celebrity guest’s “life numbers”—such as their IQ level, amount of gold records they have or the year of their first kiss. “It’s a game show with a touch of talk show,” says Irini Kylkilahti, international sales executive at Rabbit Films. The Awards Show consists of pre-recorded sketches and a live gala, in which scripted characters such as “the most determined neighbor stalker” are awarded. “This live prime-time, shiny-floor comedy series is a hilarious entertainment blast for the whole family,” says Kylkilahti. Also looking for laughs, conWEBsation is a comedy panel show that tests celebrities on the degree to which they have mastered the rapidly evolving digital world.
“The target audience for all of these formats is broad, and they encourage people to get involved while having fun.” —Irini Kylkilahti
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Red Arrow Studios International Don’t Stop the Music / Heartbreak Island / How Dare You? The social experiment Don’t Stop the Music follows the progress of children from an underprivileged school that has introduced a new music program. “With the help of experts, the teachers are trained on how to teach music more effectively, and the results have a startling effect on the lives of the kids and their families,” says Henrik Pabst, the president of Red Arrow Studios International. “Don’t Stop the Music is an uplifting show that reveals how music has the power to move us, inspire us and even transform lives.” Heartbreak Island is a reality program that examines how modern ways of finding love stand up against realworld challenges. There is also How Dare You?, a game show in which celebrities judge strangers based solely on their appearances. Don’t Stop the Music
“We have an impressive range of new reality, entertainment and comedy formats that are fast-paced, fun and entertaining.” —Henrik Pabst
Talpa Global House of Talent / Dance as One / Lucky13 The daily reality show House of Talent looks into the lives of eight aspiring musical artists, who must work to build a large and engaged fanbase, perform throughout the country and release a new track every six weeks. During the live elimination show, which will be broadcast exclusively online, one artist must leave the house and will be replaced by a new musician. Talpa Global also has the new dance show Dance as One, which focuses on synchronized dancing, and the live mobile game show Lucky13. “For media companies, it is a big challenge to reach and engage the younger audiences,” says Annelies Noest, Talpa Global’s director of formats and global network. “We created Lucky13 and House of Talent as perfect solutions for consumers in today’s media landscape.” There’s also Golden Boys, a dating show for seniors.
Golden Boys
“We have always been a frontrunner in creating innovative content.” —Annelies Noest
The Story Lab
Ninja Warrior
Evil Monkeys / Game of Clones / Ninja Warrior The format Evil Monkeys follows unsuspecting celebrities, held captive on a remote island by a group of intelligent (costumed) apes, who face a series of “Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Evil” challenges to secure their freedom and win loot for charity. The Story Lab is also presenting Game of Clones, a reality dating format that sees singletons selecting from eight identical suitors. The company is looking to continue sales momentum on the family entertainment show Ninja Warrior as well. The Story Lab, together with Dentsu, has sold Ninja Warrior in multiple European markets. “Our shows really cut through a very crowded marketplace because of their creative audacity, simplicity and marketable visual DNA, while also delivering pure entertainment,” says Michael Iskas, the company’s global president.
“We are continually looking for creatively daring entertainment ideas that can connect with family and millennial demographics across —Michael Iskas territories.” 428 WORLD SCREEN 10/18
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Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution This Is Us / Last Man Standing / How I Met Your Mother The hit drama This Is Us has been in “great demand” since its U.S. launch, “largely because of the show’s superb storytelling and compelling family themes that are presented in a unique and authentic manner,” says Dorothy Crompton, VP of format licensing at Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution. “These themes are universal and lend themselves to localization in any territory around the world.” The company is also offering format rights for Last Man Standing and How I Met Your Mother. “Last Man Standing is a reflection of the change in societies around the world where men are no longer making all of the rules,” says Crompton. How I Met Your Mother features storylines that are “evergreen and allow networks to reach large audiences, young and old.”
Last Man Standing
“All of these formats represent modern-day societies and topical life issues.” —Dorothy Crompton
Twofour Rights
Undercover Girlfriends
Take the Tower / Undercover Girlfriends / Weekender Boat Party Inspired by action movies, Take the Tower challenges members of the public to a combination of physical trials and quiz questions across a number of levels, culminating in a final duel. “This adrenaline-packed series will tap into classic movie tropes, requiring toughness, brains and stamina,” says Holly Hodges, head of sales operations and VP of sales for North America, Australia and New Zealand at Twofour Rights. Undercover Girlfriends sees five ladies going undercover to work out if their man is really the one. There’s also a new spin-off of the successful Weekender series: Weekender Boat Party. “This brand-new format has the same lighthearted tone but will see a group of fun-loving reps give their guests the time of their lives at sea,” says Hodges.
“Our formats are flexible enough to be adapted to our clients’ various diverse cultures, budgets and production preferences and always aim to leave a lasting impression on viewers.” —Holly Hodges
Warner Bros. International Television Production The Proposal / The Big Audition / Game of Games From the creators of The Bachelor comes The Proposal. The show “offers all of the excitement and tension of The Bachelor in one condensed hour in front of a live studio audience,” says Andrew Zein, the senior VP of creative, format development and sales at Warner Bros. International Television Production. Also being showcased is The Big Audition, which “offers broadcasters a unique entertainment format for prime-time slots,” says Zein. The show lifts the lid on the audition process behind real jobs, whether it’s casting for hand models, historical reenactments or musical theater leads. The rollout continues for the game-show format Game of Games as well. “Game of Games continues to push the boundaries on scale and production values, offering a monumental studio experience both on and off the camera,” Zein says.
The Big Audition
“We are immensely proud to introduce our MIPCOM slate, which is bursting with diverse, genre-spanning formats.” —Andrew Zein 430 WORLD SCREEN 10/18
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26 TV FORMATS
Talpa’sThe Voice on NBC.
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TV FORMATS 27
Joanna Stephens hears from leading format producers and distributors about managing megahit format franchises. verybody wants a mega-format—one of those game-changing super-brands that embeds itself in popular culture, invents (or reinvents) a genre and turbo-drives revenue season after season, territory after territory, iteration after iteration. But what happens once you’ve made it into the formats super league? How do you nurture the goose that lays your golden eggs? According to Lisa Perrin, the CEO of creative networks at Endemol Shine Group, keeping a heritage format fresh and appetizing is an art form in itself. “It’s not a given that these brands will bloom year on year,” she says, pointing to Endemol Shine’s two monster formats, MasterChef and Big Brother. “Their continued success comes with an extreme amount of effort and constant monitoring of their global health.”
E
CREATIVE EXCHANGES Central to this process are workshops—known as “exchanges” in Endemol Shine parlance—where a format’s global family of producers come together to share tips, tricks and experiences, both good and bad. Perrin observes that the creative team behind, say, MasterChef India is under the same pressures as the team behind MasterChef in the U.S. “Our exchanges give our [operating companies] a chance to offload and talk about what’s working and what’s not. It’s all done in a spirit of openness. As a group function, the idea is to share what we’ve learned and inspire new approaches. We want our local producers to go home thinking, ‘Blimey, I hadn’t thought about that. Let’s give it a go….’ ” But even with this creative safety net in place, there are never any givens in entertainment. Perrin cites a change in the casting format for MasterChef that worked brilliantly all over the world but went down like a failed soufflé with
U.K. viewers. Cultural “tonality” is also a major factor when it comes to fine-tuning local iterations. The big question, of course, is how to keep your superformat vibrant and relevant without losing the secret sauce that makes it unique. The trick is to tweak, not reinvent. Endemol Shine’s research into format longevity has shown that viewers will accept organic change, but they don’t like change for the sake of novelty, or changes they perceive as cynical, manipulative or inauthentic. They have, after all, tuned in to watch a show they know and enjoy, and that’s what they want to see. Ultimately, it’s a balancing act between staying true to the format’s DNA while refreshing its outer casing with, for example, new casting, locations or branding. One way of reenergizing a format is, of course, to introduce celebrities. “But we always say that once you go celebrity, you can never go back, so the timing of a celebrity version is crucial in terms of a format’s life cycle,” Perrin says. She also warns against “rinsing a format dry” with too many seasons. “People get bored. There has to be an element of a show feeling special. The BBC does that really well with Strictly Come Dancing, which has come to herald Christmas in the U.K. Every autumn, when it comes back on, you think, ‘Wow, it’s Strictly time again.’ ” Over at Fremantle, dancing is also on Rob Clark’s mind. The company’s director of global entertainment believes The Greatest Dancer, BBC One’s new Saturday-night talent format from Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment and Fremantle U.K.’s Thames, has the potential for “longevity, revenue base, global presence and scalability” that separates the super-formats from the merely successful. “For me, the ability to scale from the biggest territory to the smallest is what defines a mega-format,” Clark says. “I went to the Maldives earlier this year and was amused, knowing that American Idol was coming back, to see a big poster at the airport advertising Maldivian Idol. Now that’s what I call a super-format!”
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resources to precision engineer their concepts into a state of technical perfection. This may help to explain why, as Maarten Meijs, the COO of Talpa Media and managing director of Talpa Global, points out, “The big golden-oldie formats are stronger than ever.” They are, at heart, brilliantly constructed shows that provide viewers with great entertainment and broadcasters with that increasingly elusive phenomenon: a tentpole in the schedule.
LOUD AND CLEAR
BBC Studios holds the lucrative rights to Love Productions’ hit The Great Bake Off franchise.
Talpa’s The Voice most certainly qualifies as a tentpole. The show debuted in the Netherlands in 2010—making it the youngest mega-format on the market today. It has aired in more than 180 territories and picked up four Primetime Emmys for the NBC version. In addition to the flagship property, the show’s brand extensions include The Voice Kids (which now has close to 40 local iterations), The Voice of the Ocean on Princess Cruises and The Voice Senior. Other offshoots include an instant-win online game and a range of merchandise. But while it makes sense to exploit a super-format’s global recognition with satellite products, care must be taken not to tarnish the core IP. “Before we develop a brand extension, we do our due diligence to make sure we see only benefits to adding a spin-off to the original brand,” Meijs says. Talpa’s home territory serves as a reliable testing ground for any new concepts—the most recent example being The Voice Senior, which rolled out on RTL4 in late August. “From our experiences with the regular seasons of The Voice, we had a strong conviction that seniors are interesting characters with fascinating life stories,” Meijs says. Talpa, too, has a team of format consultants who travel the world to guide, advise and share learnings. For licensees, having access to this level of expert support is a crucial benefit of acquiring a Talpa format, Meijs suggests. And the advantages cut both ways: for Talpa, it’s also essential to be aware of what’s happening on the ground, so that local iterations can be finetuned to the needs of specific markets. “For example, our talent competition The Next Boy/Girl Band has great traction in Asia,” Meijs says. “Given the large
But, echoing Perrin, he says there are challenges involved in keeping a global franchise healthy as it matures—and with Idols, The X Factor, Got Talent and the venerable Family Feud (42 years old and counting) in his portfolio, Clark has had plenty of experience with format rejuvenation. “It’s no surprise that only big companies have superformats,” he reflects. “You need big resources in management to keep a big format on air.” Those include a centralized force of flying producers whose tasks are to monitor quality control—as Clark points out, a mega-format isn’t cheap and broadcasters expect to get their money’s worth—protect the core concept from ill-advised tinkering and roll out triedand-tested changes across licensees. Again, balance is the watchword. “You have to be quite strict in what you allow, but lenient enough to evolve the show and move it on,” Clark says. He gives the example of Got Talent’s Golden Buzzer, which judges can use once per series to send a stand-out act straight through to the finals. The idea emanated from Germany around six years ago and has since been introduced into every Got Talent iteration in every territory. “But it was quite controversial at the time,” Clark says. “There was a lot of discussion about how it changed the whole dynamic and democracy of the show. But then we saw how well it worked and thought, democracy be damned!” Formats also have to move with the times, Clark says. For example, back in 1976, when Family Feud debuted on ABC in the U.S., the world was a very different place. “So we’ve adapted Family Feud over the years to represent what America looks like today,” he adds. “We’ve recast hosts that are more appropriate for the era, and we’ve ‘modernized’ the families, as it were, because today’s families come in many different forms. But what we haven’t done is play around with the basic structure. It works perfectly as it is.” Clark touches on a salient point—that super-formats are flawless under the bonnet. Most of the classic franchises were conceived 10 or 20 years ago, in a gentler economic climate. Almost without exception, the first generation of mega-formats were allowed to grow very, very slowly, with producers given the time and all3media’s Gogglebox has rolled out to a raft of markets since its Channel 4 debut. 438 WORLD SCREEN 10/18
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Several big formats have recently returned to market after a sabbatical, among them the BBC’s iconic quiz The Weakest Link. The format debuted on BBC Two in 2000 under the stewardship of acerbic host Anne Robinson, whose mocking “You are the weakest link. Goodbye!” fast became a national catchphrase. It recently returned in Finland and Cyprus and performed well. It also had a successful reprise in the U.K. at the end of last year, when it returned for a celebrity version. Dancing with the Stars is also back on air on 1+1 in Ukraine after a ten-year hiatus, and going gangbusters.
I’M BACK! There have been more than 50 adaptations of Fremantle’s Idols format, including in the Czech Republic.
number of millennials and Generation Zs in the region, we adjusted the format in Asia to engage this target group.” This involved introducing an AI-powered Google Assistant feature to enable fans to engage in a two-way conversation with the hosts of the show. But introducing any change is “a team effort,” Meijs stresses. “We always work in close consultation with the local partner.” This resonates with Sumi Connock, BBC Studios’ creative director of formats. “We would never force a change. We work with our global production network to share local innovations, twists and challenges, but, ultimately, it’s down to the local producers and broadcasters to agree on what’s best for their market.”
STEP BY STEP Adjustments can vary from territory to territory, and from platform to platform, Connock adds. “Some want format twists, while others feel a great new cast each year will keep the audience engaged.” She references Dancing with the Stars—a true stepchanger in every sense—which has introduced a variety of innovations across its 55-plus international versions. “There are territories that want more than one episode per week, or perhaps a show of longer duration, so we work closely with local producers to help meet their demands while keeping the core DNA alive.” That said, the original version of the show, Strictly Come Dancing, has remained mostly untouched since it shimmied onto BBC One back in 2004. Given that it turned in its highest-rating season ever last year, it would clearly be a gamble to change more than the odd sequin. Another monster format distributed by BBC Studios is Love Productions’ The Great Bake Off, which continues to spread calorific joy around the world. The show has just launched in its 30th territory, Chile, following a triumphant debut in Argentina earlier this year, where it pulled in a 70-percent share for free-to-air giant Telefe. Bake Off Greece launched in September and The Great Kiwi Bake Off arrives later this year. Bake Off has also hit the sweet spot with carefully constructed spin-offs that “reflect the production and editorial values of the main show while fitting the needs of the local market,” Connock says. These include Bake Off: The Professionals, Junior Bake Off and An Extra Slice.
“It beat the audiences of its nearest rival by 65 percent and ranked first in its time slot against all competition to become the highest-rating show on the channel in 2017,” Connock reports. “The producers did a fantastic promo campaign that cleverly mixed the old with the new. They used the iconic theme tune as a marketing tool and they brought back a much-loved but unsuccessful contestant from series one. But they cast new professional dancers, a new judging panel and a new host to bring it up to date.” Nick Smith, the executive VP of formats at all3media international, believes the power of a mega-format’s name is generally enough to bring fans back to a pre-loved show. “That’s why reboots are so attractive to networks,” he adds. “They guarantee attention from viewers and the press.” But that same attention can turn sour, Smith says, if the relaunch fails to deliver. He cautions against “going too crazy” with variations on the original format theme, which run the risk of disappointing fans who are expecting to revisit a familiar experience. “But often small changes can be very effective,” he adds, citing Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, which has successfully changed networks in several territories since it launched in 2004. The reboots have simply recast the restaurant-saving chef at the center of the action. When reviving a classic format, changes may be needed to prevent the reboot from feeling dated. Smith uses the example of Cash Cab, which debuted on the U.K.’s ITV back in 2005, before Facebook went mainstream. In Discovery Channel’s recent celebrity reboot of the quiz, which is set in the back of a New York City taxi, Lion Television added a “social media shout-out” to the gameplay. Via Facebook Live technology, contestants could ask family and friends for help. “Not only is it a great way to make the format feel current, but it’s also great promotion for the show coming on air,” Smith adds. As for the risk of audience fatigue with long-running franchises, Smith’s advice is to avoid the obvious. “I think it’s important not to be lazy with brand extensions and just make the same show with kids of celebrities.” He illustrates his point with the successful Gogglebox spin-offs Gogglesprogs and Vlogglebox. The former, which features a cast of kids giving their uninhibited and hilarious opinions on a range of TV shows, is a very different proposition from Studio Lambert’s original format.
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Banijay Rights’ Temptation Island is making a comeback with new versions in the works in Germany and the U.S.
“It has a different production method—it’s not a fastturnaround review of the week’s TV,” Smith says. The same is true of Vlogglebox, in which young people review viral videos. Designed to reflect how 16- to 24-yearolds engage with content, Vlogglebox’s participants are filmed out and about, watching trending videos on their phones, laptops and tablets. However successful a format, there will “always come a time when it begins to wane,” Smith believes. He observes that most of the mega-formats are no longer at their peak and no longer on air in all the territories they once dominated.
STORY OF SURVIVAL Andrew Sime, the VP of formats at Banijay Rights, has a different take. “A good format can run and run,” he insists, pointing to Banijay’s trove of mega-brands, which include Survivor, Temptation Island, Fort Boyard and Wife Swap. “All of these have been adapted in numerous territories over the years, but continue to find new audiences. However, it takes hard work and a collaborative approach between the distributor, producer and broadcaster to make sure formats aren’t over-exploited, and to manage and maximize their life span.” For Sime, refreshing a format is, in essence, no different from localizing a format in the first place. “You need to work with a reliable partner who understands the cultural subtleties of their own market to ensure that any evolution in the look and feel of the show works for their audiences.” And with production companies in 16 countries, plus a globe-spanning network of external collaborators, “wherever we’re selling a format, we can be confident we’ve got a good understanding of local audiences and their tastes and can adjust shows according to these requirements,” Sime adds. When it comes to drawing viewers back to a new incarnation of a legacy format, Sime admits there are challenges. “It’s never an easy process,” he says, “but the results can be extraordinary.” In Sime’s view, the key is to find the right combination of local producer and broadcaster—“a partnership
that delivers both a passion for the original format and the skill and instinct needed to update it.” A prime example is RDF Television’s revival of the game show The Crystal Maze, which made a triumphant return to the U.K.’s Channel 4 last year after a 22-year break. Other Banijay formats set to make a comeback include Temptation Island and Wife Swap, which are being remade for USA Network and CMT, respectively, by Banijay Studios North America.
MAKING A COMEBACK “When developing classic formats for a new audience, hosts provide a great opportunity to keep the brand feeling fresh,” Sime says. “You can tweak the target demo, you can tweak the tone and you can tweak the scale by securing the right local host.” But tinkering with a much-loved format is always a gamble. “Any changes need to be properly justified and fully thought through,” Sime adds. “We’re very protective of the integrity of our format brands, but if we trust the producer and believe in their vision, we’re always willing to take a calculated risk in order to reward existing viewers or attract new ones.” In the end, it’s clear that the guardianship of a mega-format is a mega-task in itself. How do you keep your super-brand shiny and appealing as it grows older and, inevitably, wearier? How do you determine whether adjustments made in one market should be rolled out into others? How do you avoid burning your brand, tarnishing your IP and boring fans by not moving with the times—or outraging them and turning a much-loved old friend into a stranger? For Fremantle’s Clark, it comes down to balance, patience and respect. “Always remember that it’s a long game and you’re not playing for quick fixes,” he concludes. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Something that gives you £100 for the next 50 years is worth a lot more than something that gives you £200 for the next two years. These are hugely valuable brands and, if you look after them with care and consideration, they’ll look after you.”
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Global Agency’s In and Out.
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Kristin Brzoznowski investigates what it takes for a game-show format to stand out in today’s marketplace. n a TV landscape awash with dark and complex dramas, and increasingly shocking and stressful news bulletins, the need for shows that can provide heavy doses of hopefulness and fun is supersized. If this escapism also provides an opportunity to get the whole family together, even better! Game shows have long been a draw for broadcasters looking for cost-effective solutions to fill their schedules. And with audiences nowadays clamoring for an entertaining distraction from the hectic world around them, the genre is a veritable jackpot for format distributors. While game shows are particularly hot at the moment, some in the industry would argue that these programs have never really gone out of style. “Game shows is one of the genres that will always be in demand,” says Amos Neumann, COO of Armoza Formats. “Sometimes it varies between more demand for prime-time shows and more demand for access-prime-time or stripped daytime shows, but the demand is always there.” Global Agency’s founder and CEO, Izzet Pinto, agrees that game shows are perennially popular, unlike some of the
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other format genres. “In the past, we have seen declines in [the appetite for] talent shows, but for game shows it’s always quite stable,” he says, adding that budgets are a key factor for broadcasters at present. “If it’s a big game show with a big set that may require a production hub, buyers are staying away from that. Instead, they are mostly looking for cost-effective game shows.” Peppering in some comedy helps add to the allure, Pinto says. Such is the case with Global Agency’s new game show Keep It or Lose It, which features contestants competing for prizes selected from a shopping mall. “There’s a good amount of humor in the show,” he points out. “The questions are usually silly and easy to answer, but the contestants make mistakes. At the end of the show, you see the products they get to keep and the ones they lost. Sometimes we will see the contestants upset and sometimes they’re so cheerful—it’s a great combination.” Maintaining suspense throughout the episode holds the audience’s interest up to the finale as well, Pinto adds. “Some game shows are based on luck and for some, it’s more about knowledge or ability. Either way, up until the last minute, you don’t really know who is going to win, and
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Armoza Formats’ The People’s Choice gets the audience involved by having viewers play at home during the live-TV event.
that creates a lot of excitement, which is a key element for game shows.” Nostalgia is another factor playing into buyers’ wish lists these days, according to Jonathan Tuovinen, COO and head of international at Rabbit Films, which produces a slew of game shows in Finland in addition to distributing its own format and ready-mades catalog. “Relaunching old game shows is still quite a big trend,” he says. “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? continues to do super well in Finland. Wheel of Fortune has been brought back, and that’s doing really well. There’s also a local favorite, What’s the Word?, which ran for about 30 years in Finland; Rabbit brought it back this year and relaunched it to great success.”
LOOKING BACK
Another important element of a game show is interaction, Tong adds. “Audiences want something they can get involved in and play along with at home. There is also a real need for something different rather than another lineup of derivative formats with just a slight change of an element or two.” At MIPCOM, Hat Trick is launching Football Genius, which Tong describes as “a physical and visually inspiring game show aimed at a sports-mad audience. It is completely fresh and innovative,” she says.
NEWLY ENGAGED Inter Medya, which recently diversified its catalog with formats alongside its stable of hit Turkish dramas, also has an eye on innovation. “More than ever, we see a tendency toward game shows with an interactive spin as well as a technological twist,” says Can Okan, the company’s founder and CEO. “In this age of technology, interactivity is inevitable for all businesses,” he adds. “It becomes ‘a must’ rather than a preference, since audiences feel more involved when they have the chance to interact. Rather than watching the show as passive viewers, they want to be more active.” This activity can be provided in different ways, suggests Okan, such as answering trivia questions alongside the in-studio contestant or making guesses as to who the winner will be. In addition to interactivity, innovation in the gameshow arena has come in the form of hybrids—combining quiz elements with other genres, such as food, travel and more. Inter Medya, for example, is seeing traction build for The Perfect Couple, a dating reality show that features physical challenges. At MIPCOM, Rabbit is launching the format Don’t You Know Who I Am?, a studio-based game show with a talk-show
Tuovinen continues, “For us, the trend has been to go retro. Relaunches of old favorites are popular with audiences who seem to crave familiar things, things that they saw in their childhood or know from the past. In addition to the people who are big fans of knowledge-based series and want to play along, there is a huge demographic of viewers who want to watch game shows to relax, have a good time and not stress. For that type of viewing, these [classic] formats do a really good job.” He says that when bringing back a classic game show, it’s important for the series to be refreshed or updated a bit. “It could be as simple as changing the host,” he says. “It could be something like changing the set, making it a bit more modern, or maybe slightly changing parts of the format to be more fast-paced and exciting. You can also add in an interactive element; it might be an app that you can play with at home or a website that correlates with the gameplay.” Sarah Tong, director of sales at Hat Trick International, has also taken note of this trend. “There continues to be a lot of demand for remakes of tried-and-tested formats, and there are a lot of older shows still on air,” she says. “Any new game shows need to be truly entertaining, which often means that they are humorous…. It’s humor, plus a lot of fun and silliness that we’re delivering in our new game show The Time It Takes.” The quiz show 19, which Inter Medya sells as a format, is positioned for prime time. 446 WORLD SCREEN 10/18
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element and a celebrity spin. The show is set for a weekly run in prime time on Nelonen in Finland. “In most territories, if you want to do a weekly, prime-time game show, it needs to be huge,” says Tuovinen. “You need to have a big studio and a big visual element. There’s no room for mediumsized game shows. If you want to be on in prime time and compete against drama series or hit reality franchises, then either go big or go home.” Tuovinen adds that from a distribution perspective, there’s an entirely different market for access-prime-time game shows that can be stripped daily. “They are still very much [in demand] in France, Spain, southern Europe, Turkey and a lot of other territories,” he says. “For most broadcasters, these are staples of their grid. They fill a huge amount of time in the schedule, and broadcasters know for sure that they’ll get an audience. Coming from a place of risk aversion, you need that in your catalog.”
PLAYING THE SLOTS
The game show What ’s the Word? has been a hit in Finland, and Rabbit Films is bringing the format to MIPCOM.
“Prime time is definitely the focus for game shows,” says Hat Trick’s Tong. “Although, to a lesser degree, there’s certainly a market for daytime or teatime shows, as well as shows for niche channels. Often a format will launch in prime time but needs to be repeatable in daytime, or it may be originally trialed in daytime before moving to prime time.” The key, she adds, is adaptability. “Most of our game shows are designed for prime time,” says Inter Medya’s Okan, pointing to the quizbased formats 19 and 1 vs. 10. “Our catalog also consists of reality shows that cover both daily and weekly strips such as The Perfect Couple and Oasis. We strongly believe that it’s advantageous to have a variety of genres that are adaptable to different time slots.” Global Agency is also a proponent of formats having scheduling flexibility. Keep It or Lose It, for example, has played in prime time in Turkey, Kazakhstan and Brazil. “But if it was produced in France or Germany, I can see it as an access-prime daily show,” says Pinto. He also believes that for a game show to travel widely, there should be flexibility within the budget. Tweaking the set is one way this can be achieved. “Using the same games, you can make a set with an audience of a thousand people for a bigger show or make it with a very small set, or even have it take place outdoors, to have a less expensive project,” says Pinto. “Most of the cost comes with the set; if you play with that, the budget can become bigger or smaller.” Armoza Formats’ Neumann agrees that scalability in game shows is largely related to the set. “You can make it bigger or smaller without changing the essence of the gameplay,” he says. “Look at Who’s Asking?: in India, it was a huge production, with Bollywood stars and a massive studio. Meanwhile, in Thailand it was a relatively small production, and the Swiss adaptation took a middle road. The show is at almost 500 episodes now.” However, in some cases, the grand scale of the set is what makes a game show unique. This is where creating a centralized production hub can be particularly useful to help with the costs, Neumann says. “If the set is something that you’re saying to the clients is ‘a must, you have to do it big,’ you should provide a hub. But if you allow your broadcasters to scale it up or down according to their needs, then the hub is less necessary.” Armoza Formats had a hub in Belgium for Still Standing that served as the home for the Belgian version as well as a French version and a pilot for Africa. Neumann says that a big part of the attraction with game shows is that these series have the potential to become long-running hits. “Especially 448 WORLD SCREEN 10/18
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Hat Trick’s Football Genius is a game show that features sportsrelated questions.
in these days of fragmentation, broadcasters are looking for loyalty,” he says. “If you can get a franchise that works for a long time, rather than just a one-off, you can achieve a strong following and viewer loyalty.”
MONEY TALKS And the longer a show is on the air, the better it can amortize costs. “With a game show, the main cost is the set and the décor; this is an expense that is spent only once,” explains Global Agency’s Pinto. “When you produce more episodes, you will divide the cost into that number, so it will shrink. For a well-run show, as long as it’s a success, the cost keeps getting smaller.” Along with being a cost-effective proposition, game shows have the ability to create noise for a network and make for watercooler fodder. Pinto recalls how a silly answer on the Turkish version of Keep It or Lose It became a national sensation. “Millions of people watched [the clip] and were laughing at it,” he says. “You’re able to get these viral moments, and it really helps the show to be watched by more people.” “For the big prime-time shows, they can be something that defines a channel or a brand,” adds Rabbit’s Tuovinen. “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in Finland was the highest-rated show of all time on Nelonen, which is the second-biggest commercial channel in the country. It’s the most important show that they produce on the whole channel. Shows like that can definitely take your channel to new heights.” To have that strong hook, though, a game show needs a special element to stand out from the competition, he says. “Whether it’s a very strong visual component or a really, really big cash prize, you need something that will grab people’s attention. In the last couple of years, we’ve been seeing more shows with an interactive element.” Tuovinen believes the marketplace will be seeing more and more of that in the future. “There have been several attempts at interactive game shows that have reached various levels of success,” he says. “I applaud those; they’re not easy to make. The technology doesn’t always
catch up with the production, but it’s only a matter of time before one of the interactive formats really breaks through.” In Tuovinen’s opinion, “interactivity is great, but I don’t think it’s entirely necessary. Sometimes part of the fun of watching a game show is shouting at the screen and thinking that you know the answers, instead of actually having to play the game,” he says. “Especially in shows where the tempo is very fast, it can be stressful for a viewer to try to play along or to answer the questions at the same time as the contestants in the studio. In some cases, they just prefer to enjoy the viewing experience. Part of the fun of watching a game show is to learn something by having other people answer the questions.”
PLACING BETS Armoza Formats’ Neumann believes that the next wave of game shows will allow the audience to feel like they can change the course of the show while it’s still airing. “It’s not just about voting or playing along; I’m talking about real interactivity,” he says. “This is a huge challenge for creatives. Game shows are highly edited. It’s very hard to do them live, but it’s not impossible and is very rewarding when it’s done right.” The People’s Choice, part of the Armoza Formats catalog, provides an opportunity for the viewers watching at home to insert their points of view and their answers live while the game is being played, and this determines the trajectory of the episode itself. “We’ll begin to see this type of engagement more often, and it will also be taken even further in the future,” Neumann says. He also sees prospects for OTT and digital players to up their game when it comes to these types of shows. “At the moment, it’s not their first choice of content, but it can work,” says Neumann. “When the content is compelling enough, the platforms will want it. Just like with traditional broadcasters, the benefits of game shows [for OTT platforms] are the same: the cost-effectiveness and the potential for many episodes—it’s a win-win situation. You can get great production value and great audience loyalty, all for a reasonable expense.”
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Twofour Rights’ What Would Your Kid Do?
Formats featuring children are popular in familyoriented prime-time slots. By Joanna Padovano Tong hows demonstrating the comedic wisdom of children—from variety series to sitcoms to home-video compilations—have been ratings winners for decades. As of late, a new subset of formats has emerged with kids placed front and center—dancing, singing, cooking and endearing themselves to prime-time viewers across the globe. “Viewers like the honest, upfront reactions that you get from kids,” says Harry Gamsu, the VP of non-scripted at Red Arrow Studios International. “In shows like Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds, kids are incredibly loving, caring and also really funny. It’s difficult to get honest reactions on television and children do that.” Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds is a social experiment that first aired on Channel 4 in the U.K. The show, which recently won an Edinburgh TV Award in the category of best popular factual series, sends youngsters into care homes for senior citizens. “There are loads of positive effects on the older people, who become more mobile, sociable and their happiness levels increase,” says Gamsu. Other prime-time formats in the Red Arrow catalog involving kids include Don’t Stop the Music, which addresses the diminishing presence of music education in schools, and A Star Is Born, spotlighting talented youngsters. “There is always an interest in formats featuring kids for prime-time slots,” says Nick Tanner, the director of sales
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and co-productions at Passion Distribution, which launched The Class Next Door (also known as Class of Mum and Dad) during MIPCOM 2017 and will be introducing Postcode Playdates this year. The Class Next Door looks on as a group of parents are sent back to school, with their children in the classroom adjacent to them. Postcode Playdates sees neighbors from different social statuses invite each other’s children into their homes. Both hail from Firecracker for Channel 4 in the U.K.
CHILD’S PLAY “These shows take the format out of the studios and into real life,” Tanner says. “They provide entertaining, thoughtful and at times moving viewing for the family. With humor as well as relatable scenarios, they appeal to audiences of all ages.” Twofour Rights distributes What Would Your Kid Do?, an entertainment format in which parents attempt to predict how their little ones will respond to a range of psychological tests. What Would Your Kid Do? originated on ITV earlier this year and is being adapted in Turkey and Hungary, with a second installment in the works for the U.K. It also has a significant digital presence via the What Would Your Kid Do? YouTube channel. “Children make formats all-inclusive for viewers,” says Holly Hodges, the head of sales operations and a VP of sales at Twofour Rights. “Family-based shows with children at the core deliver value and ratings for broadcasters globally.”
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Passion is shopping the format rights to Class of Mum and Dad, which originated on Channel 4.
Indeed, in a television landscape that’s overpopulated with dark dramas and nonstop disheartening news coverage, it’s refreshing for families to still be able to sit down together to watch feel-good programming. Even competition formats featuring children are much more lighthearted than their harsher adult counterparts.
LET THERE BE LIGHT “The days of very negative shows, especially around talent and judging people, are numbered,” says Red Arrow’s Gamsu. “We’ve seen the growth of much more positive shows.” The musical talent contest Master Class, which is part of Keshet International’s catalog, boasts the tagline: “A show full of heart, and no heartbreak!” Keren Shahar, the company’s COO and president of distribution, notes, “There is no ruthlessness, desperation or despair, only the excitement and delight of seeing brilliant, fresh, young talent offering new interpretations of songs that are a heritage of that country.” Originating in Israel, Master Class has been licensed for local versions in China, Hungary, Greece, Slovenia and Uruguay, among other countries. The show not only resonates around the world, it can also be enjoyed by viewers of all ages, according to Shahar. “It crosses generations—kids love it, their parents love it and their grandparents love it. Even teenagers and young adults who don’t have kids love this show.” However, in order for the same concept to work well in various territories, there are many factors to take into consideration. For Master Class, “all local adaptations remain true to the essence of the format,” says Shahar. “The whole set-up of the format is designed to allow a positive experience for the kids. We will not see a child crying on this show unless it’s from excitement—never from rejection. There are only positive scores, from good to excellent. And there are no eliminations. The drama comes from the performances themselves and the experiences the children go through.”
But adaptations don’t have to keep every detail exactly the same. “There are adjustments in order to adapt the format to the local culture or to diversify in advanced seasons,” adds Shahar. “In China, for example, Beijing Satellite TV wanted [Master Class] to be a class competition rather than one featuring individuals, and in Uruguay, Teledoce opted for families.” The amount of leeway for changes depends on the type of show that is being remade. “Easier formats can be adapted to fit the local market while still staying true to their core structure,” says Red Arrow’s Gamsu. “Old People’s Home is a social experiment, so most of those versions will have the same starting point. But as with all social experiments, we don’t really know where it’s going to go; what makes it so engaging is that the results will vary country by country.” Gamsu continues: “On the other hand, the more formatted studio talent shows like A Star Is Born are a little bit more rigid in how they’re structured. What we’re selling there is essentially the know-how to produce it and the track record of producing these kinds of shows, which is important not just to ensure a really great show, but also, with kids involved, to ensure their care and safety.” Other important factors for successful adaptations of formats featuring kids are easy-to-explain concepts that don’t cost an exorbitant amount of money for local producers to execute. “It’s the simple, universal ideas that travel,” says Twofour’s Hodges. She notes that broadcasters come to her company for mid-priced entertainment and that What Would Your Kid Do? “has the value of being much more affordable” when compared to bigger-budget prime-time entertainment formats.
KID GLOVES So how do kids affect the filming process? “When it comes to children, you always have to be extra cautious and expect the unexpected,” says Shahar. “A lot of thought went into developing [Master Class] by the team at Tedy Productions as well as Keshet in order to make sure the kids featured in it are nurtured and protected throughout production and beyond. This took time, and only when everyone agreed that this goal had been achieved was the show actually greenlit.” “Local production practices vary territory by territory, so you’ve got to be aware of that,” notes Gamsu. “You have to give a certain amount of leeway to local producers, who know the rules best in their territories.” While kids may make production slightly more complicated, it’s usually worth the reward. “Children are special to film with,” says Hodges. “How can you not be laughing at some of the things they say, their inquisitive minds and their understanding of right and wrong?”
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and then meeting the families and then overnight dates and then the finale. When I sold the show at first, it was only six one-hours. So the beats were: [introductions on] night one, group dates and single dates in episode two, mostly oneon-one dates in episode three, episode four was the hometowns and episode five was the overnight date and then episode six was the finale. So when I was treating it as a sixepisode arc, those beats were just natural. The first night is the first date, the finale is the finale, two and three had random dating stuff and the rest was much more structured. Now that we do 22 hours, there’s a lot more of everything. TV FORMATS: It seems like such a simple, clever idea—why do you think it was so hard to sell at first? FLEISS: You say people look at this as something that has the natural structure as a format, but people fought me on that initially. They thought, How the hell are you going to get one guy to go through all those dates? Is it speed dating? No one wants to watch that. I said, No, no, no! It’s going to be marathon dating. You’re going to go on one date and then another one. People talk about good formats being simple and repeatable. Even my own studio, Warner Bros., didn’t see this as simple and repeatable. They liked formats like Love Connection in this space. I thought ultimately this would become very repeatable. TV FORMATS: Has the casting approach changed over the years? FLEISS: I don’t think it’s changed too much. We still want sexy and sincere. That’s my Aaron Spelling-derived mantra,
By Mansha Daswani
Dating shows have been a television staple since the 1960s, but none have redefined and reinvigorated the genre more than The Bachelor. Created by Mike Fleiss, the show has been a mainstay of the ABC schedule since 2002 and has spawned a number of hit spin-offs, among them The Bachelorette, Bachelor in Paradise and The Bachelor Winter Games. And the concept has not only taken hold in the U.S.; Warner Bros. International Television Production has rolled the format out to a slew of international markets, among them the U.K.— where The Bachelor is returning to Channel 5 after a seven-year hiatus—Australia, Canada, France, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam and more. Fleiss tells TV Formats about how the show has evolved and weighs in on why it’s become a pop-culture phenomenon. TV FORMATS: How did you craft the pillars of The Bachelor that ultimately made it such a compelling and adaptable format for broadcasters across the globe? FLEISS: [In the U.S.] it didn’t sell right away. I took it everywhere, everybody passed. It took a year and a half to get someone to agree to do it and then that network passed. So in round two, I took it back [to ABC]. I wanted to mirror the stages of an actual relationship: first impression, first date, more romance down the road, then some physical connection
first sexy, then sincere, or sincere, then sexy. Do we always get that? No, but we’re always looking for it, not just in the lead but in the 25 [love interests] as well. It’s not the casting that has changed; it’s the cast. The advent of social media and its dominance in culture today has changed the way young people—I can say that now, I’ve been doing it for so long!— approach the show. They’re so much more comfortable in front of the camera and exposing their potentially vulnerable side. From a sociological standpoint that’s been the most fascinating thing to watch. In season one it felt impossible. Nobody understood what we were doing. “Why would I do [a show like this]? It’s so humiliating.” It was really, really hard to find the right kind of people to be on the show the first time. Now we have 600 people show up to an open casting in Illinois! So the casting is different in that we’re sifting through a lot more applicants than we did before. TV FORMATS: Talk about the evolution of the franchise, from The Bachelorette onwards. FLEISS: The Bachelorette was a back-channel promise to ABC so we could mitigate some of the cries of misogyny in The Bachelor format. It was always part of the plan if the
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show worked. Then we were thinking, we create all these celebrities on the show and then once they’re off the show we just say goodbye to them, yet the tabloids are still following them. We kept seeing former cast members show up in articles in In Touch Weekly, Us Weekly and People. So there was still an interest in these people who are part of our Bachelor family. We had to figure out some way of keeping them in our universe. So Rob Mills [senior VP of alternative series, specials and late night at ABC] and I wanted to create a show for those supporting cast members who were still interesting to the general public. We knew we wanted to keep it in the love area. So we created Bachelor Pad, which had a game element. Ultimately, I felt like the game element was overwhelming the love element, the relationship element. I had always argued that money corrupted the concept with Bachelor Pad. So I wanted to think of another show, without the prize money, another way to spin it—that’s what became Bachelor in Paradise. The key to Bachelor in Paradise was the tonal shift. We made it much more comedic. The way that happened was, we had that crazy incident with a cast member who was having an affair with one of the audio guys. We snuck up on him and he jumped out of the window [to avoid being caught] and broke both his ankles. Chris Harrison [the host] and I were at dinner and were getting reports of this crazy stuff as an emergency production issue. We have an injured crew member, a troubled cast member—pre-production headaches. Chris joked, Hey, we should reenact that. I said, That’s exactly what we’re going to do! The director came to me and said, How do you want this to look? I gave him a one-word answer: terrible. That’s what it was! We did the worst, cheesiest reenactment. It was terrible, by design. It had everyone laughing on the set. Most of the time [The Bachelor] is emotional. There are more tears than laughter, even among the crew. But that night everyone was laughing. So we said, This is the tone for the show. Let’s make sure the romance is romantic and deep, but the rest of the show should have a comedic feel to it. That was very liberating to the cast, and certainly to the production [crew], which deals in melodrama and romance nine months of the year. Bachelor in Paradise offered us a chance to break out of the tonal prison and do something different. And the audience loved it. They loved the cheeky approach to the material. And then we did Winter Games because the network needed something crazy to go up against the Winter Olympics on NBC. We were talking about doing a winter version of Bachelor in Paradise, but I didn’t feel good about that. I didn’t want to overuse the Bachelor in Paradise brand. But I said I would do an Olympics parody with the international cast members from all the territories that do The Bachelor. We didn’t get all of them, for different reasons—visa reasons, Trump reasons—but it was still a fun show to make.
FLEISS: Every year or year and a half we have these international symposiums. It sounds very prestigious, but it’s just a bunch of us Bachelor producers getting together to talk about casting and storylines and format devices. We share our secrets; they share their secrets. It mostly comes down to the differences in each culture. In Germany or Switzerland or Sweden [audiences] couldn’t care less if there’s an engagement at the end. In the U.S., the engagement is key. People will say, It’s bullshit that they didn’t get married! It makes everyone angry. And some of the territories have more risqué standards and practices, so they can get away with more sensuality. That’s been fun to watch. The show does really well in a lot of different countries. TV FORMATS: Is there an adaptation that you’ve particularly enjoyed or that surprised you in terms of how different it was from the American version? FLEISS: They all do certain things differently. One of the territories did a worst impression rose. I didn’t really understand that. There was another with a white rose, which meant you had immunity for two episodes. A lot of the territories don’t use a host. We have the great Chris Harrison. And a lot of them do their OTFs [on-the-fly interviews] in more of an on-the-go fashion, while they are walking or leaning against a wall or eating a sandwich. Everybody has their little differences, but it’s mostly the same show. It’s 95 percent exactly the same. TV FORMATS: My sisters are obsessed with The Bachelor! FLEISS: I live in Hawaii, the northernmost island, Kauai. There’s a beach that you can only hike to; it’s six miles of hiking in and six miles of hiking out. There are viewing parties on Kauai called Marry Me Mondays, and people get together and watch The Bachelor. Some women will leave their campgrounds [on the beach] and hike out six miles to watch The Bachelor and hike back in the next day. It’s really treacherous! That’s my favorite story [about Bachelor fans].
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Warner Bros. has inked format deals for The Bachelor in markets across the globe, including in Australia.
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Some of the biggest, best-known entertainment formats in the world have long had a place on ABC in the U.S. The Disney-owned network launched The Bachelor, now a global staple and significant reality franchise with multiple spin-offs, in 2002. It was among the first networks to adapt the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing, launching Dancing with the Stars in 2005. Shark Tank, based on a Japanese format, is in its tenth season this fall. And since the beginning of this year, ABC has been home to American Idol, rebooted on the network after a long stint on FOX. Robert Mills, ABC’s senior VP of alternative series, specials and late-night programming, speaks to TV Formats about franchise management, global trends and keeping an eye on what’s new and innovative in the genre. By Mansha Daswani TV FORMATS: Why did you feel American Idol was a good fit for ABC? MILLS: Not only is it a good fit for ABC, but it’s also a good fit for Disney. At the heart of everything that Disney and, by extension, ABC do are great storytelling, people you care about fulfilling their dreams and great music. American Idol felt like it fit us like a glove. And if you look at our brand of alternative programming with Shark Tank and Dancing with the Stars and even The Bachelor—although that’s less four-quadrant—these are stories about great journeys. It’s kind of a roller coaster, but at the end, the heroes have overcome adversity and there’s a lot of celebration. When we first started talking to Fremantle, it was fascinating how excited they were at the prospect. They really felt Idol, in its bones, felt like an ABC show. TV FORMATS: I know it’s a large-scale production to stage. What were some of the significant lessons from ABC’s first season that you can bring to next year’s edition? MILLS: The advantage we had was we had partners in Fremantle who knew this show inside and out, especially Cecile [Frot-Coutaz, former CEO], who was really close to it and always offered advice and counsel. They knew what worked, and that was helpful. We all went in with this mindset: it’s really about the contestants. When you care about these contestants, you care about the show. And when you don’t, it’s hard to get people to go on this journey. We’re talking about 38 hours of television [per season]. The biggest thing we want to do now for season two is look at how to make those stories even more emotionally resonant. What’s great about it is we have a truly magical judging panel. I’ve done enough of these shows to know that sometimes it just doesn’t work. It’s like making a cocktail, you have to get all the ingredients right. And these three [Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Luke Bryan] absolutely believe in this show. They’ve all been offered every other music show under the sun, and they truly believe in Idol because they know it’s about the process and it’s not them in competition with each other but instead working together. Now that they are comfortable in their roles, they’re going to be taking it to the next level. I said to Lionel that if season one is Lionel Richie, which was a big hit album, season two is going to be Can’t Slow Down, which was a huge hit album. That’s
what this feels like. We all know what we’re doing, we know it works, and we’re going to make it even bigger and better. TV FORMATS: The Bachelor has become such a pop-culture phenomenon. Why do you think it’s been able to build in popularity season after season? MILLS: We thought these things have life cycles the way comedies and dramas do. But we’ve seen from the really good, rock-solid reality formats, whether it’s Survivor, The Bachelor, Idol or Dancing with the Stars, that they can last forever if you take care of them. You have the familiarity of the format and then you’re basically rebooting it every season with a new cast. So if you do it right, you can have these things last for as long as you want them to. When The Bachelor started, it was this novel idea of a person who nobody would have a chance to date in real life, somebody who was very wealthy and unattainable, dating these women. That worked because it was so different. And then it wore off; we were airing it twice a year, so it felt like it was always on. Two things helped [turn the ratings around]. One was we started airing it once a year, so it felt more special, and the other thing was using people from prior seasons. So it was like a soap opera, where you see a character who maybe was back burner go front burner. It was somebody you already liked and somebody who the people on the show, whether the women on The Bachelor or the men on The Bachelorette, knew and were interested in getting to know better. They already have an investment in this person. And you’re now able to have somebody be the Bachelor who is just a regular person; it doesn’t have to be somebody who is the heir to a vast fortune or a Harvard-educated businessman. Also, the rise of social media has made the audience the silent producer. We’re all in it together. When somebody says on Twitter, “I want X to be the next Bachelor,” they feel like their voice is being heard. That’s unique to any broadcast TV show. TV FORMATS: I’m curious about the management of that particular franchise. Once you started extending with The Bachelorette and Winter Games and other shows, were you ever concerned about taking away from the popularity of the original?
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anywhere and those seats are theirs as long as they want them. But Shark Tank is a little bit like Saturday Night Live, where the core of the show is fantastic, and it’s about making sure that if for some reason somebody wants to leave, you can still do it. So we’re always putting in new people and it makes the show fresh as well. And it’s interesting to see them interact with different people. As long as you have a Shark that is complementary and isn’t filling the same bucket [as another one], then it’s made for great TV. This is our tenth season and it’s some of the best episodes we’ve ever done. One of the Sharks [in the new season] was an entrepreneur who pitched [a product] that ended up becoming Ring [a security system]. He’s now a Shark himself. He sat in and was fantastic. To me, that is the essence of Shark Tank. That’s the dream. We never would have thought when we started this show ten years ago that this would happen.
Fremantle’s American Idol returns for a second season on ABC in 2019.
MILLS: No, because we’ve taken such care with it. It’s a 24hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year job. We talk with Mike Fleiss [creator of The Bachelor] several times a day about every single one of these franchises. There’s so much care taken in making them different, that’s why it works. You can apply The Bachelor to almost anything and make it work. Bachelor Winter Games was a title, and then we somehow figured out how to retrofit it into something that feels like The Bachelor franchise, and many say it was one of the best things we’d ever done. I think as long as we’re careful with it, there’s no end to how long it will go and what we can do with it. TV FORMATS: We have to talk about Shark Tank. It’s one of the very few shows that my sister watches with her kids every week. MILLS: I’m on a call every day telling somebody it’s our most coviewed show, along with America’s Funniest Home Videos. And we get more requests from people asking for their kids to go for on-set visits. It is such a point of pride that this is something that kids are watching, enjoying and learning from. We’re somehow getting them to eat their vegetables without them knowing it. They know all these business terms now! It’s great, and it makes you hopeful—we’ve got these kids who are growing up to be budding entrepreneurs. TV FORMATS: You’ve got some new guest Sharks coming up this season. How do you determine how much you can experiment with the lineup of investors? MILLS: We love our core Sharks. Hopefully, they’re not going
TV FORMATS: Your other big returning juggernaut is Dancing with the Stars. How have you kept that format fresh, and what’s been the approach to casting each season? MILLS: It such a hard show to cast. There are only so many celebrities—although we now live in a world where we make celebrities every day. But it is difficult. We have enough collective muscle mass over 27 seasons that we know it’s about the mix. I talked about it with Idol’s judges and making that cocktail. There are so many great stories—redemption stories, discovery stories, all these things you need. The important thing is making sure you’ve got all those buckets filled for a successful season of Dancing. If you watched an episode from the first season, it wouldn’t look anything like this season. The Bachelor is like that too. And Shark Tank as well. You’ve always got to continue to evolve these shows. They can’t live in vacuums. Dancing is another one too that we’ve found little ways to keep making it feel more current and different, but still holding on to those core philosophies that you had from the beginning of the show.
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TV FORMATS: ABC has renewed its Sunday night lineup of classic game shows for summer 2019. How did that deal with Fremantle come about? MILLS: It was a happy accident! Steve Harvey had been doing Family Feud in syndication. And I watched it and these episodes were electric, you saw [clips] going viral. I just knew there was something there. When I started heading up this group, literally the first call I made was to Steve’s agent, and said, I want to figure out how we do this in prime time. He was immediately receptive. It took a little bit of doing for Fremantle. They didn’t want to water down how successful it had been in syndication. I totally respected that. I can’t say enough about what great partners Fremantle have been. They listened to me and took a chance on it. We did one season of Celebrity Family Feud and it worked out better than we could have dreamed. And then, ironically, Michael Strahan expressed interest in doing a new version of Pyramid (which is from Sony, not Fremantle). And we thought, this is the perfect pairing for Family Feud and Michael is the perfect host for it. And then a light bulb went off and we said, What if we did a three-hour [game-show] block? That’s when Match Game, the quintessential 10 p.m. show, came about. And Fremantle really worked with us and we all agreed we weren’t going to do it unless we found the right host. That old saying, Luck is when preparation meets inspiration? The fact that we got Alec Baldwin to say yes was such a coup. He’s been great. That’s how the ball got rolling on this. I’ve been so lucky. I’m as proud of these shows as anything I’ve done here. They make people happy. A lot of us grew up watching these shows. The fact that people say we’ve done right by them is the biggest compliment I could possibly get. TV FORMATS: How much do you track what’s happening in the non-scripted space internationally? Are you looking at new imported format concepts? MILLS: Absolutely. That’s the lifeblood of this business. That’s how these all started. The one format that is domestic
that has been a juggernaut is The Bachelor; everything else comes from international. I’ve been around this business—I was at CAA in 2000 and then came here—and the world has gotten so much smaller because we can all communicate with each other. It’s so much easier to find these things now. It’s fascinating to see what’s working and what isn’t. The biggest thing is finding things that are new. You have formats that are not going anywhere. What is the newest thing? What is the evolution of these shows? You have to look to see what’s working abroad. TV FORMATS: How do you see the health of the unscripted landscape at present? And what innovations are you excited about? MILLS: I think the state of reality TV is as strong as it’s ever been. Certainly broadcast is the one place where it’s thriving. For scripted it’s difficult because you’re competing with streamers and cable. It truly is the golden age of TV. When shows like Survivor and Idol and Bachelor started with massive, Super Bowl-type numbers, it led everyone to think that this was going to happen forever. Nothing lasts that long. And it’s the attrition rate of TV in general. The pie has gotten so big. But these are still among the biggest hits on TV. If I went on the street and asked ten people about The Bachelor, seven of them would be able to have a conversation with me about it. There are some exciting things [to come]—I don’t know what they are exactly—in live TV. One of the things that we did with Idol that I loved was a simulcast nationwide on our live shows. Everyone can vote at the same time, and to me, that was exciting, and that was a boundary that had never been [crossed]. No one thought it could be in broadcast TV. You’ve seen what the HQ app has done as a live game that everyone plays. Is there an interactive alternative show that can be done? People have been trying to crack it for years. I don’t know if they can, but that’s exciting to think about, that there’s undiscovered territory there.
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The Bachelorette is an extension of Warner Bros.’s wildly successful The Bachelor dating reality format.
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By Mansha Daswani
The number of registered formats in the Endemol Shine Group portfolio stands at more than 4,300, many of which hail from its network of 120 companies in 20-plus markets. They run the gamut from mega-brands like MasterChef and Big Brother to emerging formats like All Together Now. Peter Salmon, as the chief creative officer at Endemol Shine, has been championing All Together Now since its inception; a bet that has paid off with a series of high-profile deals on the format since its launch earlier this year. A veteran of the British broadcasting and production sectors, Salmon has been with Endemol Shine for the last two years, fostering creativity across its global footprint of producers. He tells TV Formats about managing global hits and taking bets on new ideas. TV FORMATS: Tell us about your role across the broad network of Endemol Shine Group companies. SALMON: I try to conduct the Endemol Shine orchestra. I don’t play any instruments myself, as we’ve got great people who do that all over the world. We have 120 companies in over 20 countries, [making] 800 productions which air in 70plus territories. We are all doing the same thing—making shows. We try to help teams work in the best possible environment. They do what they do and we try to connect the dots. The beauty of our business, the simplicity of it, is that 98 percent of everything we do is about telling great stories on video. So, the scripted network of producers all have the same challenges finding great writers and original storylines
and ideas and figuring out the new global platforms they’re increasingly working for. The same goes for non-scripted— the teams are looking at new format trends, cultural changes and social-policy issues and then how they can respond quickly to what may be in the zeitgeist. That’s a common thread right across the piece, from Brazil to Australia, from Stockholm to Los Angeles—our producers are talented people doing much the same thing and some are even working on the same shows. It could be MasterChef, it could be Big Brother, it could be All Together Now, it could be Pointless, it could be Bron. The wonderful thing is that we’re all involved in the same enterprise, which is inventing, developing, selling and distributing great programs. When you strip it back, though it can seem quite big, global and overwhelming on the surface, it’s a very simple idea. TV FORMATS: What do you keep an eye on when determining which shows have the greatest opportunity to be formatted in multiple markets? SALMON: The brilliant thing about operating in over 20 countries is that we have lots of on-the-ground R&D. Our teams offer a stunning feedback loop for us in the group as to how broadcasters are changing, how newer platforms are developing and what commissioning teams are looking for. We piece that intelligence together, we absorb the trades and we try to spot trends. We have a sense of what the world feels like at any
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one time and we have a series of global conversations about programs, from crime to dating, music to makeovers. When I started here two years ago I said, We’re this extraordinary global powerhouse, but we don’t have a new talent music-entertainment show. When we put out the call, Remarkable in the U.K. emerged with All Together Now. That show is now in eight territories and rising; we have new deals about to be signed. The Endemol Shine creative machine responded to the call brilliantly. We’re really good at food and have at least 100 food titles in our archive. We’re also the MasterChef people. People always ask us about making MasterChef, but we can only sell it to one platform in each territory. So what else are we going to do? The remarkable Fennessys [Mark and Carl] in Australia came up with Family Food Fight. The group got behind their new food format and it’s now away in America and Argentina, plus other territories are close to commissions. So, we look at areas where we feel we’re not up to scratch. And then we also look at areas where we think we’re rather good, because you shouldn’t overlook what you’re good at as well and double down [on it]. In the search for a global hit, let’s not overlook local proof of concept. Can you make something a hit in its own territory? All Together Now had to become a hit on the BBC in the U.K. before it could become a hit somewhere else. That’s delivering proof of concept with a demanding audience, and is important to us and to the markets that then want to buy it. TV FORMATS: Why do you think it was able to cut through in such a crowded space so quickly? SALMON: It works because it’s a joyful, euphoric experience wrapped in a fun concept—the 100 vote with their feet! It’s a big party show. If you look outside the U.K. at the series we’ve made in Brazil, it looks like Carnival every night in that studio. It forces you to interact, join in, get up and sing along, shout at the TV. It’s got those key elements and music is a beautiful, universal thing. The songs too are often ones that we all know—they are part of the global jukebox. And it’s not cynical in any way; we’re not trying to put anybody down. Just the reverse, it feels uplifting. The world has some amazing music-entertainment brands, from The X Factor to The Voice, but we also felt that they were all getting on a little bit, and at some point, one of them might falter. We needed to have a piece in the marketplace that could at least be a challenger. So, to be in eight markets in eight months is amazing. It promises a lot and we have some promising deals to come. The Talent Project is another music-entertainment piece that we loved and spotted way back. It’s coming to fruition now in the Netherlands. It’s going to be sitting in the same bit of the schedule that The Voice occupied previously, but it’s got a different approach to music and entertainment.
producers get together to showcase the good things and discuss the challenging things. But equally, we began the All Together Now process with brand management in place. We said, right from the outset, we’re going to attempt to create a global brand. With The Talent Project, we did something similar. More and more we are saying, Let’s begin the process as if this show is going to be on air for ten years. Let’s get communications, marketing, digital, the production teams themselves, all the key stakeholders [in front of] the key broadcasters in a unified fashion so we can all support what we’re launching. MasterChef is a perfect example of a well-managed global brand, but we are also super aware of local sensitivities. We love the fact that anywhere around the world, it’s most definitely MasterChef—wearing the same suit of clothes. But how it operates inside that suit of clothes is often very different [from market to market]. I was at our Copenhagen MasterChef summit recently. All of the MasterChef producers from around the group came to talk about what they are doing, what their key challenges are, what they’re most proud of and the different cultural tonalities [between markets]. In the U.S., [audiences] love strong, edgy competition and the judges are superstars. It’s the judges slugging it out, and it’s less about the actual food per se. The cooking remains important, but there is conflict or chemistry between the characters on that show and the warfare between the judges is what appeals to viewers. In Spain or Australia or Sweden, it’s much more about the emotion they invest in the cooking, about the local quirks. Each of these local formats has to have its own voice and speaks in a vernacular, in its own idiom, to stress things the producers on the ground feel are important for the conversation with their own audience. So it’s a balance, all over the world. In the case of MasterChef, one of the best-managed brands in the world and the best-traveling food format, I think we get it just right.
TV FORMATS: How do you maintain the momentum on your big returning brands? SALMON: We have strong managers of our key formats and, crucially, we have them for emerging formats as well. So, Big Brother and MasterChef have support [at the] group level and 10/18 WORLD SCREEN 463
Shine TV in the U.K. is producing Heist, a new factualentertainment format, for Sky.
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Since its launch on BBC One in the U.K., All Together Now has secured deals in Brazil and Australia, among other territories.
TV FORMATS: What role do you see entertainment shows playing on the OTT services? SALMON: There’s enormous potential. I don’t think it’s been fully realized yet. The OTTs are on the hunt. They’ve launched and been successful with some smart reboots like Queer Eye and originals like Nailed It! [both on Netflix]. We’re having lots of conversations now about our back catalog too. We have some gorgeous shows in the archive, from Wipeout to Beauty and the Geek, that have huge brand recognition. People know them, so they’re easy to launch and you can rethink them for a new era. And then we’re learning things ourselves on the job. We rebooted Operación Triunfo [Star Academy], the big entertainment show, in Spain. It was a multiplatform reboot, working with the public-service broadcaster RTVE, who wanted to reach a millennial audience. We put together a platform for YouTube highlights, a 14-hour live stream, and we worked with an OTT player. [We wanted to deliver] easy mobile access for that younger generation. We also wanted live interaction with the [contestants]. We’ve started to think more about that OTT model and how we can offer it to those FAANG services as well as linear broadcasters who are desperate to retain and attract younger audiences. There are a lot of great things happening in the entertainment space. We’ve always been strong in this space and we aim to build. TV FORMATS: What are some of your entertainment highlights for MIPCOM? SALMON: We’re certainly bringing our big three recent priority launches, which, remarkably, are all recommissioned and all traveling. Big Bounce Battle is the big physical entertainment show on trampolines in that Wipeout mold. We launched it in Germany, based on a Dutch piece of IP. We now also have it placed in France and there will be more announcements before the market. It’s a fun new entertainment format. All Together Now will be back at the market, of course. And Family Food Fight, which is
moving into a bunch of new markets too. Our triple-header! We have newer pieces too, like The Talent Project, coming through. But also another fact-ent stunner. Shine in the U.K. is really good at crafting beautiful factualentertainment formats like Hunted and The Island. We have a new one that Sky loves in the U.K. called Heist. That’s another innovative entertainment format—being made with groundbreaking tech, which is very important to us too. We’ve been introducing a lot of new tech around the group. We’ve got at least one additional territory that is already going to make Heist and it’s not even aired yet. TV FORMATS: We have to talk about scripted as well. SALMON: Yes, please! Non-scripted is the workhorse of the group—it’s probably 70 percent of our business—but in the last two years scripted has become mega for us, whether it’s Broadchurch or Bron or Black Mirror or Peaky Blinders. We’re thrilled that some of our biggest brands are now enjoyed on global platforms or are being remade for them, like Utopia for Amazon. We’re also remaking The Fall in France, which will air this autumn as Insoupçonnable. A lot of people can’t pull off the remaking of scripted formats, but we’ve become quite adept at it, alongside making new and original scripted for the world. Bron from Sweden taught us a lot about that and we’ve now adapted it in five territories, our first in Asia too. So we have some very good models in the group. We’re very, very proud of scripted, so look out for a new season of Peaky Blinders, now in preproduction. There’s more Black Mirror—again, look out, world! We’re also making The Good Karma Hospital out in Sri Lanka at the moment. Finally, Kudos is back, making Deep Water in the U.K., for ITV. The scripted phenomenon shows no sign of abating, which we’re grateful for on a daily basis. Long may it last!
An extension of the megahit franchise, MasterChef Junior has been adapted by FOX in the U.S. 464 WORLD SCREEN 10/18
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