TV Formats MIPTV 2015 by World Screen

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TVFORMATS

WWW.TVFORMATS.WS

APRIL 2015

MIPFORMATS & MIPTV EDITION

Interactive Formats / Cooking Competitions / NBC’s Paul Telegdy Jane the Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez & Jennie Snyder Urman

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TV FORMATS

CONTENTS FEATURES

The Blame Game The groans from the creative industry regarding fresh format concepts—or, the lack thereof—are becoming louder.

Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Editor Mansha Daswani Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Managing Editor Joanna Padovano Associate Editor Joel Marino Assistant Editor Simon Weaver Online Director Victor L. Cuevas Production & Design Director Phyllis Q. Busell Art Director Faustyna Hariasz Sales & Marketing Manager Dana Mattison Sales & Marketing Coordinator Erika Santana Sales & Marketing Assistant Terry Acunzo Business Affairs Manager

Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP & Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Formats © 2015 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tvformats.ws

Buyers around the world, from networks big and small, have been citing an absence of innovation in the format market for a few years now. Many claim that the shows they’re being pitched at the markets and meetings throughout the year are more derivative than they are daring. There are, indeed, many clones (and clones of those clones) when it comes to today’s crop of formats. Whether it’s singing, dancing or dating, there can only be so many successful variations out there before fatigue starts to set in. Judging from the lower ratings for what were some of the biggest entertainment franchises of years past, this may already be the case. But who’s really to blame here? Buyers will tell you that producers just aren’t being innovative enough. From their perspective, the formats they’re being offered are more like spin-offs of existing ideas. Producers and distributors, on the other hand, have argued that buyers are simply not willing to take risks. Many report that when they approach a buyer with something that’s original and inventive, they’re typically shot down. The out-of-the-box format concepts, perceived as riskier bets, are passed over for something safe (and perhaps stale). Regardless of which side is actually to blame—though it’s likely a bit from column A and a bit from column B—it’s clear that the format landscape is hungry for a global hit. But maybe it doesn’t have to be this elusive “next big thing” everybody seems to be talking about but nobody can get their hands on. Perhaps the industry should be looking for the “next small thing,” a simple, quiet idea that, when managed properly, can work in numerous international territories. In this issue of TV Formats, we explore interactivity and weigh in on whether or not digital extensions can re-energize the landscape. Another feature examines how new twists on cooking-competition formats are helping to revitalize the genre. We hear from NBC’s Paul Telegdy, who is continuously scouting for the best new concepts in the global marketplace. TV Formats also interviews Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez and showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman about how this show, based on a Venezuelan telenovela, has resonated with U.S. audiences. While all of this finger pointing hasn’t exactly advanced the cause, perhaps it will encourage producers, distributors and buyers to take more risks. —Kristin Brzoznowski

24 TALKING BACK

Is interactivity in formats just another buzzword or a critical component?

32 HOT!

Broadcasters across the globe are hungry for new twists on the cooking-competition genre.

50 GOT TALENT

A case study of the megahit entertainment format from FremantleMedia.

INTERVIEWS

NBC’s Paul Telegdy

Jane the Virgin’s Gina Rodriguez Plus: Showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman

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Armoza Formats Babushka / Yum Factor / I Can Do That! There are two new shiny-floor studio formats that Armoza Formats is promoting for MIPTV: Babushka and Yum Factor. Babushka is a high-risk game show that Armoza Formats developed in partnership with Ryan Seacrest Productions and France’s TF1. Yum Factor is a cooking format in which contestants must guess which juror liked their dish the most, after only seeing his/her reaction to tasting the food but not hearing anything they said. “The combination of testing your skills in the kitchen with how well you can read people’s reactions to your food makes Yum Factor an intriguing experience,” says Avi Armoza, the CEO of Armoza Formats. I Can Do That!, which has already notched up numerous sales, will be on offer as well.

“We are bringing strong new titles that will refresh prime time with a unique take on viewing experiences that will keep surprising the audience.” —Avi Armoza Yum Factor

BBC Worldwide You’re Back in the Room / The Edge / The Big Painting Challenge Promising a fresh take on the traditional game show, You’re Back in the Room sees five contestants engaging in a series of simple games, though all participants have been hypnotized. “It’s unlike anything that we’ve seen before, with broad primetime appeal for a family audience,” says Kate Phillips, BBC Worldwide’s creative director for formats. “It’s heartwarming, feel-good and, most of all, very funny.” BBC Worldwide is also presenting format buyers with the quiz show The Edge, which combines general knowledge with physical gameplay. “It’s high-volume, highly strippable entertainment that can easily be scaled up for prime time [by featuring] celebrities,” says Phillips. The Big Painting Challenge is a competition for amateur painters, who will face different artistic trials.

“The Big Painting Challenge is a compelling, character-driven and inspiring show that brings the world of art to prime-time schedules in an entertaining and engaging way.” —Kate Phillips The Big Painting Challenge

CJ E&M Corporation Three Meals a Day / I Can See Your Voice / The Dish of the Nation Two men try to find ingredients to use while living in a secluded countryside in Three Meals a Day, which is part of CJ E&M Corporation’s formats slate for MIPTV. “Putting the familiar and comfortable city life behind them, the hosts are expected to be the source of much entertainment as they struggle to search for food in the [wilderness] without receiving any help,” says Diane Min, the company’s senior sales manager. “Viewers will be able to enjoy watching the two city bachelors fight to survive in a place that seemingly has nothing.” Also being promoted by CJ E&M are I Can See Your Voice, which Min describes as “an ear-catching, musicentertainment format with a mysterious twist,” and The Dish of the Nation, a cooking competition.

“We are excited to present these three formats that have never been [shown] anywhere.” —Diane Min Three Meals a Day 312 World Screen 4/15

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FremantleMedia The Most Beautiful Woman / Chef on the Block / 10 Questions You Wouldn’t Ask on a First Date Women of all ages and backgrounds are invited to take part in the FremantleMedia format The Most Beautiful Woman, which promotes confidence, self-esteem and inner beauty. “Classic global formats need transferable content, and this format has an appeal that transcends cultural and geographic boundaries,” says Rob Clark, FremantleMedia’s director of global entertainment. “The 21st-century concept of inner beauty, and a beauty which has many faces, will resonate with viewers, sponsors and broadcasters across the world. The format is positive, engaging, uplifting and really showcases beauty as something that is more than just skin deep.” Chef on the Block sees professional chefs put their reputations on the line. “Chef on the Block appeals to three clear global trends: food, humor and regionalism,” Clark says. “This format is entertaining and funny, and it showcases a range of both gastronomic delights and regional delicacies. It’s a very positive format with lots of different characters, a good competition element and humor at its heart.” 10 Questions You Wouldn’t Ask on a First Date is a reality dating quiz show. “Dating with a difference is big news at the moment,” says Clark. “This format is hugely entertaining and is sure to have audiences squirming in their seats as they put themselves in the shoes of the contestants. It’s fun, at times shocking and totally addictive, so I’m certain it’s going to be a big hit with audiences and broadcasters.”

“We are a connected, creative, global company that cares passionately about the global brands we produce and has confidence in the new formats that we are bringing to this market.” —Rob Clark

Chef on the Block

Global Agency It’s Showtime / Stairway to Fame / Joker Global Agency is positioning It’s Showtime as “the next big thing in singing competitions,” according to CEO Izzet Pinto. “It is a unique show with its voting system. For the very first time, contestants will judge each other in a singing show.” The title was launched at DISCOP Istanbul, where it received “very encouraging feedback,” says Pinto. “It is a lively singing talent show that focuses on performers’ voices, stage presentation, song selection and styling. It is full of live music performances, where the stage is set up as a nightclub or pub concept. It really has innovation and originality. If you provide something different, I believe the audience will always follow you.” Pinto also believes that Stairway to Fame will impress buyers with its innovative visual structure. “The key point that distinguishes the format from other singing talent shows is that the contestants appear behind a frosted panel in the first stage,” he says. “They get their first votes from the judges according to their voice performance alone. It is truly a niche of creativity and it is clear that it will win enthusiastic audiences in many territories.” The quiz show Joker is getting a renewed push from Global Agency. Pinto says that the unique and fastpaced gameplay makes it a “real emotional roller coaster for each contestant and makes each episode a different story.”

“Our objective is to appeal to a variety of demands by providing products targeted to different audiences and budget requirements with our selective catalogue.” —Izzet Pinto

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ITV Studios Global Entertainment 10,000 BC / Get Your Act Together / Keep It in the Family How have humans changed since the Stone Age? That is the question that is asked in 10,000 BC, which looks on as 20 men and women give up modern-day luxuries to experience what life was like for our ancestors. “10,000 BC is a unique and compelling social experiment that brings history to life, making viewers all over the world think about everything we take for granted in the 21st century,” says Mike Beale, ITV Studios’ executive VP of global development and formats. ITV Studios Global Entertainment is highlighting that format for MIPTV buyers, alongside Get Your Act Together, featuring celebrities attempting to master variety acts, and Keep It in the Family, in which three generations of two families compete in a series of challenges.

“Get Your Act Together is a fun Saturday night entertainment show that the whole family can enjoy together.” —Mike Beale Get Your Act Together

MediaBiz Brave Girls / Shysters / Only You At MIPTV, distributor MediaBiz is offering a slate of new formats developed by Argentina’s Pol-ka Producciones. The company’s catalogue is made up of telenovelas and series that have found success in Argentina, with many of them already adapted in other territories. “Without a doubt, Latin America is an important market for the distribution of our catalogue,” says Alex Lagomarsino, the CEO of MediaBiz. “In regard to [the creators we represent], they’ve been able to develop original ideas for various TV channels across Latin America throughout all these years.” Among MediaBiz’s highlights are Brave Girls, about a group of women who become close friends after losing all their money; the drama Shysters, which follows the members of a ruthless law firm; and the dramatic comedy Only You.

“Our catalogue relies on telenovela and series formats from all genres that have been successful in Argentina.” —Alex Lagomarsino Only You

Secuoya Content Distribution Timebox / Something to Celebrate / Grupetto Spain’s Secuoya Content Distribution represents the rights for the programming and formats developed by the companies of Grupo Secuoya, as well as other Spanish and international producers. Vanessa Palacios, Secuoya Content Distribution’s content manager, says that the company has been increasing its footprint in Latin America. Recently, Secuoya reached a strategic agreement to represent Banijay International’s catalogue in Peru. At MIPTV, Secuoya is showcasing Timebox, a reality show in which messages are placed inside containers and locked away for up to a year; the competition series Grupetto, featuring two bike garages from different cities; and Something to Celebrate, with each episode centering on a big celebration.

“We are asked all the time for genres that can be easily adapted to each territory, and these [MIPTV titles] are a very good example of that.” —Vanessa Palacios Grupetto 316 World Screen 4/15

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Sony Pictures Television Prized Apart / Win Your Wish List / Man V Fly BBC One has a new Saturday night prime-time series in its spring lineup, Prized Apart, which is being sold as a format by Sony Pictures Television (SPT). “Prized Apart is an adventure game show, which is a brand-new genre that the market hasn’t seen before,” says Jane Dockery, the senior VP of international distribution for formats at SPT. “Mark Linsey, the controller of entertainment commissioning at the BBC, described it as a potential ‘game changer.’ We’re hugely excited about this title.” SPT is also presenting the game show Win Your Wish List, which comes with a proven track record of ratings success in the U.K., and Man V Fly, originally commissioned as a piece of online content.

“We really believe we have the right lineup of shows to make a big splash in the market.” —Jane Dockery Man V Fly

Studio Glam I Spy / The Selfie Challenge / Extreme Love Founded in 2013, Studio Glam is a relatively young company that has been steadily building up its catalogue of original formats. “Having expanded our collaboration with creators and showrunners, as well as international production and distribution companies, we have developed four new innovative formats,” says Ilan V. Glam, Studio Glam’s CEO and head of business development. The Selfie Challenge is a reality game show that draws its inspiration from the global phenomenon of the “selfie.” I Spy is a lighthearted thriller game show in which contestants turn into spies for a day. Extreme Love is a prime-time dating game show that sees ten men compete for the heart of one woman. Dance with Me brings together the worlds of professional and amateur dancing.

“Studio Glam has gradually become a home for creators from all over the world, and we are ready to take this collaborative work method to the next step.” —Ilan V. Glam I Spy

Talpa Global The Puppet Show / The Big Picture / Utopia Talpa’s newest variety talent competition, The Puppet Show, shines the spotlight on puppets. “The Puppet Show is a unique competition featuring an entirely new breed of talent,” says Maarten Meijs, the managing director of Talpa Global. “The show appeals to all demographics in all viewer touch points.” The Big Picture sees a player in the studio try to answer picture-based questions. If they are unsure of the response, the contestant can enlist help from a connected player selected from those playing along in real time with the Big Picture app. Utopia also offers a high degree of interaction. Its online platform gives viewers the opportunity to become part of the Utopia community, providing 24/7 access to live streams, premium content and the ability to cast their votes.

“Everyone’s looking for content that’s really different from what’s already out there; these three new titles [are] just that.” —Maarten Meijs The Puppet Show 318 World Screen 4/15

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TM International Catwalk 30+ / Big Stars: Celebrities Lose Weight / Most Wanted After having long been home to programs from Tele München Group, TM International is now also responsible for the international distribution of formats and productions from Odeon Entertainment and the Austrian broadcaster ATV. “This guarantees TM International a regular supply of entertaining, creative and successful new TV formats,” says Carlos Hertel, the head of international sales at TM International. Among these is the reality modeling show for women over 30, Catwalk 30+. Hertel says that the format is “totally different from any other model-casting show, as in each episode three female candidates aged over 30 compete against each other for one big modeling job. In the end, only one of them will get the job and win a modeling-agency contract.” Big Stars: Celebrities Lose Weight follows ten celebrities as they work to slim down, guided by professional nutritionists and health experts. “The audience has a front-row seat to celebrities’ battles with sweaty exercise and healthy diets, which are informative and entertaining,” says Hertel. Most Wanted is a dating show in which desirable bachelors finally find themselves steady girlfriends. “In each episode, five candidates try to conquer the heart of a ‘most wanted’ bachelor,” Hertel explains. “[Each bachelor] has to weigh his options, since he’s not looking for a flirt, but rather a woman who will share her life with him.”

“A reliable partner in fiction for the last seven years, TM International is now expanding its vast portfolio in partnership with Odeon Entertainment.”

—Carlos Hertel

Big Stars: Celebrities Lose Weight

Zodiak Rights Trash or Treasure / The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds / Wild Things The high-stakes studio game show Trash or Treasure, in which contestants must guess the value of collectibles and antiques, is produced by Mastiff Sweden and distributed by Zodiak Rights. After a successful first season on TV4 in Sweden, the show was instantly recommissioned, and is now also in production in Denmark and the Netherlands. Zodiak Rights also has The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds to offer, from RDF Television. The show was a ratings hit for Channel 4 in the U.K. “It’s a pioneering format, which takes us into the previously unseen world of 4-year-olds,” explains Andrew Sime, the VP of programming and sales for formats at Zodiak Rights. “It was beautifully made in the U.K., and it’s highly formattable, so we’ve got high hopes for it internationally.” A Danish version was recently commissioned, to launch on DR1 in the fall. The family entertainment game show Wild Things comes from IWC Media, Mad Monk and GroupM Entertainment for Sky 1 in the U.K. “It’s a big, fun, physical game show, like nothing you’ve ever seen before,” says Sime. “Couples work together to try to win a £10,000 prize that lies deep within the ‘Wild Wood.’ To do so, they will need to make it through a series of fantastic obstacle courses, while one of them is dressed as a cute woodland creature [unable to] see a thing.”

“Zodiak Rights will be taking a wide range of new formats to MIPTV, including game shows, factual entertainment and scripted reality.” —Andrew Sime

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Keshet’s Rising Star.

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TALKING BACK

Is interactivity in formats just another buzzword or a critical component? Joanna Stephens investigates. re we on the cusp of a revolution that will re-energize entertainment formats, stem the drift to digital and bring young audiences back to linear TV? Or is it another case of the emperor’s new clothes? It’s fair to say that the jury is still out on the question of interactivity in formats. Some believe it is an inevitable and indivisible part of the 21st-century entertainment experience and, as such, will only grow in scope, scale and sophistication. As Ran Telem, the senior VP of content at Keshet Media Group—the Israeli company responsible for the breakthrough interactive format Rising Star—puts it: “A TV show is just like a close friend or beloved brand. The opportunity to interact with it during broadcast and continue interacting with it afterwards is the first hint of an attachment from the viewer to the show. And we like to offer our viewers the best and most interesting ways to do that.” Others think interactivity works in some genres, some territories and some cases. “For young viewers, most of whom now watch television while using second, even third screens, interactivity is important,” says Izzet Pinto, the CEO of Global Agency. “It takes them inside a show and allows them to become part of it by answering questions, playing along at home or voting for their favorite act. So we’re seeing that in countries like Brazil, which has a youthful population, interactivity is an increasingly important factor. But in the U.S.,

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say, where the audience for formats skews older, it’s not yet a major consideration.” Then there are others—Eccho Rights’ managing director, Fredrik af Malmborg, is one—who have yet to be persuaded that interactivity is more than the latest buzzword from a formats industry attempting to reinvent itself as a digital proposition. Many entertainment shows are struggling in the online world, af Malmborg points out. “It’s difficult to see how the traditional game show, for example, can ever be made to work online. Also, drama is now incredibly powerful online and, unlike most formats, has inventory value because it can be watched over and over again. So I think the entertainment industry needs to find a completely new format—a new fundamental idea, if you like—that’s capable of attracting and holding both online and linear-TV audiences. I believe it will happen and that something revolutionary will come along and change the whole game, just like Big Brother changed everything back in the late ’90s. But I’m not convinced that, when it does, it will be interactivity that drives it.”

DIGITAL COMPANIONS So far, the Eccho Rights format that comes closest to delivering this step change in concept is My 5000 Friends, in which a celebrity host has one month to physically meet as many of his or her Facebook friends as possible. Not only is it a TV show based on the intrinsic interactivity of the social-

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Armoza Formats is offering a digital support package for The People’s Choice, a social-media-driven format.

media experience, but it also employs interactivity as a narrative device. “My 5000 Friends is funny, it’s original and it says a lot about our social-media-cluttered life,” af Malmborg says of the Veranda Film format, originally produced for SVT Play and SVT1 in Sweden and now being adapted for Belgium, Russia and the Netherlands. It has also been optioned by ZigZag for the U.S.

SECOND SCREENING Af Malmborg makes a distinction between interactivity and the second screen. The latter, he says, is a “genuine paradigm shift” that will change the whole business of content distribution completely and irrevocably. “In five years’ time, all television will be delivered online via tablets, apps and websites—and everybody knows that,” he says. “When the second screen becomes the first screen, entertainment formats will need to work on all screens, rather than as an add-on to a linear TV set that nobody’s watching any more.” But regardless of screen, entertainment remains a sit-back experience for the vast majority of viewers, says Simon Ingram, co-founder and chief executive of U.K. game-show technology pioneer ionoco, whose software solutions have appeared in such super-formats as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Deal or No Deal and Million Pound Drop. “We tell any client who comes to us with an interactive concept that if they get 3 percent of their audience to interact live with their show, they’ll be doing well—and if they get 20 percent, they’ll be doing fabulously well,” Ingram says. “But that still means 80 percent of the audience will be sitting passively on the sofa waiting to be entertained, so they had better make their show as creatively and editorially exciting as possible. In the end, you can’t make a bad format good with interactivity, but it can be used to enhance and enrich a good format.” Like af Malmborg, Ingram believes that the future isn’t here quite yet in terms of interactivity. But it is coming at us fast, thanks to next-generation technology that can deliver truly live interactivity. He points out that classic formats such as The X Factor and Got Talent invite viewers to vote via phone or app throughout the course of a week, revealing the

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outcome at a weekend results show. As successful as this has proved in terms of generating revenue, building creative tension and allowing shows to forge a direct relationship with a segment of their audience, it is a very different proposition to live, in-the-moment interactivity that can instantly impact the editorial direction and/or outcome. Without getting lost in technical thickets as to why true, live interactivity has so far proved elusive (“Let’s just say the digital world isn’t actual real time—it’s a fraction of a second or so behind real life”), Ingram identifies the “things that can go horribly wrong” with interactivity as scale, timing and inexperience. “What you have to bear in mind,” he says, “is that if you have 1 million people watching your game show and you tell them to do something, about 40,000 will, all at the same time. And if you haven’t anticipated that, the chances are your technology or format—and therefore your show—will fall over, and fall over very quickly.”

TECH INTEGRATION Also coming at interactivity from both a technical and creative standpoint is Eli Uzan, the CEO of Screenz, the crossmedia pioneer and “next-generation production company” that created the interactive technology behind Keshet’s Rising Star. The 33-year-old Israeli, himself something of a rising star in digital circles, agrees that the entertainment world is undergoing a tectonic shift as digital disrupts and expands the bedrock of the industry. It is not just that the players in the game are changing, Uzan maintains, but that the whole game is changing. His advice is succinct: stop fighting it and start preparing for it. “Maybe right now, [digital] is not the bread and butter of broadcasters, distributors and production companies,” he adds. “But it’s just a matter of two, three or four more years until it will be their main game.” Screenz’s response to the technological challenge of simultaneous mass-audience interaction is the Real Time Platform, designed to enable a two-way conversation between broadcasters and users, and capable of handling up to 2.8 million interactions per second and up to 100 million a minute. The technology made its market debut in Rising

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Talent competition shows, among them FremantleMedia’s The Heart of My Country, have been at the forefront of viewer interactivity in formats.

Star—and made headlines in the process by pioneering realtime voting by viewers via a mobile app integrated into the show. For the first time in a talent format, viewers could judge acts and see the results of their votes instantly on screen, while broadcasters could register, count, analyze and display live statistics during broadcast. But for all of Rising Star’s technical wizardry, Keshet’s Telem stresses that it evolved not from the desire to create an interactive show, “but from the craving to tell the story of a show that searches for a star in a new and groundbreaking way.” This, he adds, is always Keshet’s guiding principle when devising a new concept. “We don’t believe in the words ‘interactive show,’ ” he says. “A show is always interactive, whether [the viewer is] holding a second screen or ‘just’ watching and being tantalized by the screen. When we are developing, we put ourselves in the shoes—or better still, imagine being at the fingertips—of viewers and try to think about what we would like to know/do/react while we experience the show.” The trick, Telem adds, is to find each show’s right “engine for interaction.” In a cooking format, for example, food and/or the desire for food would be the first engine; in a talent show, the voting element and the viewer’s influence on the narrative would be the driver. “Like any aspect of a show, we try, while making it, to envisage what it will do to a viewer and what emotion it will generate—humor, criticism, etc.—and then we try to build the mechanism and/or platforms that will enable that response.”

VALUE ADD Fellow Israeli Avi Armoza, the CEO and founder of Armoza Formats, agrees that interactivity should never be added for the sake of ticking the interactive box. “It should only be used where it will improve the viewer experience and bring the format idea to life,” he says, pointing out that the vast majority of viewers just want to watch a good show. “They don’t care about industry trends, so unless the interactivity is adding value to their personal or social experience, they won’t want it.” Armoza also believes that interactivity has yet to come of age. “I think the industry is working on finding the right balance between engaging viewers with a combination of content, the

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most relevant form of interaction and sufficient monetization for broadcasters,” he says. And then there’s the whole question of viewer psychology. “We can anticipate what we think the audience wants but we can never be 100 percent certain with which genres or on which level they will want to engage.” The fact that Israel is second only to Silicon Valley in the size and vibrancy of its technology community is undoubtedly helping its indigenous producers to stay ahead of the interactive game. Increasingly, Israeli format shops, Armoza among them, are joining forces with tech companies to create fresh, surprising content, powered and inspired by technology. One such show is the social-media-driven The People’s Choice, developed in partnership with France’s TF1. In essence, the prime-time format turns the social-media experience into a live TV event by asking viewers to vote on trending, thought-provoking or entertaining dilemmas, such as whether they would prefer world peace or $1 million in cash. Once the nation has made its choice live, the studio audience attempts to guess what the country has decided.

FORMAT IDOLS Technologically, The People’s Choice would not have been possible even six months ago, Armoza says. Again, the credit goes to his company’s digital partner, Screenz, whose Real Time Platform technology is robust and stable enough to withstand this level of mass live interaction. At MIPTV, Armoza will be offering broadcasters a digital support package for The People’s Choice, saving them the time and trouble of developing such bleeding-edge technology themselves. It will also be remarketing another interactive format, The Frame, in which eight couples are filmed 24/7 in their own homes, with their lives reduced to one fixedcamera frame. “When we initially launched the show in 2009, there was a lot of interest,” Armoza says. “However, the format was ahead of its time and broadcasters didn’t have interactivity on the radar in the way they do today. We believe the time is now right for The Frame to reach its full potential.” With Idols, The X Factor, Family Feud and Got Talent in its portfolio, nobody would argue with Vasha Wallace’s claim that FremantleMedia is “a bit of a global leader” when it comes

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social platforms are forever appearing or gaining in popularity,” she observes. “So the ability to include these in interactive plans can contribute to keeping a show fresh, nurtured and alive.”

THE NEXT LEVEL

Applicaster worked with FremantleMedia on the app for Master Athletes. to interactivity in formats. “We certainly pride ourselves on being at the forefront,” says the company’s senior VP of global acquisitions and development. She runs through the production leviathan’s interactive “firsts”: American Idol revolutionized the TV voting landscape by being the first show to use Facebook and Google; the new season of The X Factor in the U.K. saw the launch of free in-app voting; the U.S. version of evergreen format Family Feud was the first game show to hold casting auditions on Facebook; and the new singing talent format The Heart of My Country sees performers canvass votes via social media. Another FremantleMedia first is the development of a ‘white label’ app to be sold alongside one of its latest formats, Master Athletes, in which 24 ultra-fit members of the public embark on a grueling, ten-week sports challenge. FremantleMedia partnered with Applicaster to develop and distribute the reality show’s app, which enables second-screeners to play prediction and trivia games, and access real-time content, including replays and commentary from contestants. Wallace echoes Screenz’s Uzan when she says that interactivity is best considered and implemented at the inception of a format. That said, nothing technological should be written in stone, given the vertiginous pace of digital development and the trend-driven nature of social media. “New

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Ionoco’s Ingram also makes the point that when many of the legacy formats—Family Feud is one—were conceived, interactivity had yet to be invented. “There’s absolutely no reason why the legacy formats can’t be revisited and retrofitted with interactivity,” he says. “It’s actually a very effective and relatively easy way to refresh your back catalogue.” Back at FremantleMedia, Wallace reports a huge surge in second-screen interactivity around the big entertainment formats, with audiences engaging enthusiastically in games, online content, inter-fan chat and YouTube clips. The last season of Britain’s Got Talent enjoyed its best-ever season in the digital space, attracting record-breaking downloads and interactions via the show’s official app, huge socialmedia buzz, heavy traffic to its website and literally millions of YouTube views from around the world. “Viewers like to have a centralized place to discuss, share and complain,” Wallace says, adding that, in these post-watercooler days, that centralized place is very often a social-media channel. “Interaction through social channels during a show really helps to amplify its visibility on air,” Wallace says. She warns, however, that social-media chatter is an unpredictable beast. “It allows viewers to have a real-time response, so that good and bad comments can come at once.” So what of the future? Where will interactivity take formats next? Wallace and Ingram both cite mobile as the next frontier, predicting that it will become a key platform for the launch of new content and services. Global Agency’s Pinto believes that live interactivity has the potential to transform the quiz show, which has been faltering in recent years. “It offers the possibility for everyone to be a player, not just the chosen few who make it into the television studio,” he says. He references Turkish game show Joker, now airing on France 2, in which contestants win and lose thousands of dollars at breakneck speed: “I see a big interactive future for quizzes like Joker, where people at home in their living rooms or on their mobiles on the train could win lifechanging amounts of money in real time. But it’s still early days. We haven’t seen any breakout successes in this area yet, but when we do, there will be no going back.” This, in essence, appears to be the takeaway: interactivity is here, there, but not yet everywhere. Everyone agrees, however, that it will be soon. At some point, a format will emerge that will fuse next-generation technology with left-field creativity to take interactivity to the next level. That will be good for everybody, ionoco’s Ingram predicts, not least broadcasters struggling to stem the hemorrhage from linear to online. “In today’s world, it’s harder to make appointment-to-view television profitable,” he says. “The ability to interact live will breathe new life into event programming and help bring revenues back to broadcasters by offering something that you have to be there in the moment to experience.” A final thought comes from Screenz’s Uzan. “It’s not about creating TV series any more,” he says. “We are creating content brands that need to live on all platforms, all the time. The best thing we can do is use the awareness of television to create digital assets together with our partners.”

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HOT! Broadcasters across the globe are hungry for new twists on the cooking-competition genre. By Kristin Brzoznowski

ust as a delicious home-cooked meal can bring together the whole family at the dinner table, series centered on culinary delights have proven their ability to gather viewers around the TV set. Indeed, cooking shows have translated into big business in the content market, particularly so within the format segment. Among the most successful food-based formats is ITV Studios’ Hell’s Kitchen, which has now been produced in 17 territories internationally. “Hell’s Kitchen has a very different approach to cooking,” says Mike Beale, the executive VP of global development and formats at ITV Studios. “It’s not necessarily about cooking; it’s more about the business of cooking. It’s about running a restaurant, how hard it is to do and the competitiveness within it.” This behind-the-scenes action, coupled with the emotionfilled backstories of the contestants and the drama of the challenges designed to test their skills, makes the show a perfect fusion of the food and reality genres. Many of the most popular cooking formats on the market today do, in fact, cross over into other genres. These hybrids have helped to invigorate the entire concept of watching food programming on TV, making it a much more entertaining proposition than the stand-and-stir recipe shows from the days of yore. Another example of a culinary hybrid format is Game of Chefs, which comes from The Lab, a joint venture between ITV Studios and Israel’s Reshet. The show is billed as a cooking competition, as it sees three top chefs battling to find their country’s next top culinary master. However, Beale likens it more to “the talent show of cooking.” He says, “It very much follows a beat and pacing that we recognize in talent shows. It’s on a big scale, set in a studio environment, with chefs, judges, mentors. It delivers something really different in that sense.”

MATTER OF TASTE From the Red Arrow International catalogue, The Taste is also part talent show and part cooking competition. The format, which originated in the U.S. and has been a hit in prime time on ABC, sees culinary superstar mentors use only their taste buds to select a team of cooks to coach through the season.

“What’s unique about The Taste is that it really is all about the actual taste of food,” says Harry Gamsu, the VP of format acquisitions and sales at Red Arrow International. The panel is made up of celebrity chefs who sample the contestants’ dishes without knowing who cooked them. Red Arrow International is also home to the formats My Restaurant Rocks and Midnight Feast, both of which feature strong competition elements. Given the popularity of watching restaurant battles and epic kitchen showdowns on TV, it’s no wonder that game shows have also become part of the food-programming mix. FremantleMedia recently cooked up an acquisition deal with Spain’s Mandarina for the fast-paced culinary game show My Mom Cooks Better Than Yours, which has gained quite a bit of traction in the international market in just a short span of time. “Of the slate that we launched at MIPCOM, I would say that My Mom has seen the most business in terms of sales,” says Chris O’Dell, the head of global entertainment production at FremantleMedia. “We’ve had five sales already, and I reckon it will be in the double figures in terms of global productions by the summer.”

GET IN THE GAME Nippon TV’s cooking game show GOCHI has been a primetime hit in Japan for more than a decade, with some 300 episodes produced to date. The format has done exceptionally well in Romania, and there has been interest in adapting the show in China as well. Shigeko “Cindy” Chino, the company’s senior director of international business development, says GOCHI “takes cooking shows to a new level by bringing the competition to the front of the restaurant.” She adds, “By mixing the behind-the-scenes culinary action with the amusing dinnerparty guests and the high stakes of competition, this show is fun for audiences of all ages.” While the game-show element on its own has a strong pull for food programming, adding in ingredients from reality series can up the attraction even more. Such is the case with FremantleMedia’s My Mom format, in which the key twist is all about family dynamics.

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Pressure Cooker, sold by BBC Worldwide, aims to appeal to everyday, at-home cooks.

“The thing about My Mom in terms of an international format is that the core concept of the relationship between a mother and child is universal,” says O’Dell. “People can relate to it. When audiences see the show, they instantly think, How would I be in that situation if it were my mom? Immediately you’ve got [an audience] trigger there.”

HOME COOKS Viewers can also easily relate to the central premise of the culinary competition Pressure Cooker, which is sold by BBC Worldwide. The format deals with the all-too-familiar dilemma of having to prepare a meal with only limited ingredients at your disposal. “We’ve all come home at least once and gone, Oh blimey, what am I going to make for dinner?” says Suzanne Kendrick, the acting head of formats at BBC Worldwide. “It’s quite a relatable show, because it’s all about making meals, in a short space of time, with ingredients you have lying around. It’s a bit more real and accessible for a different audience than might watch some of those very ‘foodie’ formats.” Comarex touts a similar appeal for its new format Kitchen to Fame, which sets out to find the country’s top new cooking celebrity. “One of the key hooks is that it’s targeted to the general population, not to foodies,” says Marcel Vinay Jr., the CEO of Comarex. “It’s for regular, everyday people who enjoy food. The show has a strong reality angle to it, where the contestants are going through training and learning how to cook for a weekly showdown. You see the drama inside their personal lives and go with them on the journey through their training program. The audience gets very personally acquainted with each of the contestants.” The audience hook of relatability is also central to Electus International’s game show/cooking hybrid Food Fighters.

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“Because it features home cooks competing against professional chefs, Food Fighters is the kind of show that when you’re watching it, you feel like you could [be competing] yourself,” says John Pollak, the president of Electus International. “With shows that have professional cooks, you enjoy them because it’s escapism, but with Food Fighters, it’s all about being able to relate to the contestants. It’s about seeing [people who are like] your next-door neighbor, your mother, your best friend—people who are just like you, who have been cooking a few meals their entire lives from recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation. Everybody has those recipes in their family.” The original U.S. version of Food Fighters, airing on NBC, features a host that possesses these same easy-to-relate-to qualities: Adam Richman, who is also the face of Travel Channel’s Man v. Food. “One of the reasons we love Adam so much is that he’s this amazing on-screen talent, but at the end of the day, he’s just a normal guy,” says Pollak. “He’s not a professional chef; he just loves food and loves to eat. Having somebody like that as a host is ideal for us internationally.”

CELEBRITY CHEFS Perhaps one of the most well-known hosts in the cookingformat sphere is Gordon Ramsay. The British celebrity chef and restaurateur, famous for his fiery temper and foul mouth, has presented a slew of competitive cookery and food shows, including the U.K.’s Hell’s Kitchen, The F Word and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, as well as the American versions of Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, MasterChef, MasterChef Junior and others. In Ramsay’s case, it’s not so much that audiences relate to him, but more that they can’t wait to see what he’s going to do (or say) next. “In the past, [local producers of Hell’s Kitchen] have been worried about always finding their Gordon Ramsay, but they don’t seem to have that problem anymore,” says ITV Studios’

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Red Arrow International’s The Taste airs in prime time in the U.S. on ABC.

Beale. “We’ve got a very interesting slate of chefs from around the world who manage to run a kitchen like Gordon does.” Having a compelling host attached—à la Gordon Ramsay— is paramount to the international success of the Hell’s Kitchen format, Beale explains. “The first thing we do before we even sell the format is identify the chef or we work with a partner to identify the chef,” he says. “We don’t even bother contracting until we’ve identified that talent.” The scale and celebrity of Hell’s Kitchen has helped position the format in prime time around the world. With existing format behemoths like Hell’s Kitchen filling these slots, Beale acknowledges that it’s tough for a new prime-time cookery show to break through. “It would need to have a new twist, what I call the ‘spinning-chair moment,’ that revitalizes the genre and launches it again,” he says.

DAILY DOSE According to Beale, there are more requests for cooking series in access prime nowadays. He believes that these shows have a strong proposition for daily strips or access prime, because “if you look at the tone of them, they are somewhat like soap operas. The cooking is the driving force, but what audiences are really enjoying is the people and the people’s interactions.” FremantleMedia’s O’Dell says that for My Mom, the fact that it’s a studio concept makes it easy to produce at a high volume, so it fits well for daily slots. “It’s not exclusively a daily show,” he says, “but cooking does sit naturally in that space. However, with the right talent and the right concept—and we think My Mom has that—cooking can be in prime time.” Comarex’s Kitchen to Fame features an innovative scheduling approach that includes daily and weekly broadcasts. The format has three- to five-minute daily capsules in which activities at the cooking center and the day’s recipes are

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broadcast, and a 30-minute daily program showing the progress made by the contestants, their response to the various challenges, how they deal with the conflicts of living together, etc. In the weekly program, contestants are evaluated in challenging tests and then eliminated by a panel of judges until three remain to compete in the final show. Viewers are also able to interact with Kitchen to Fame on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

TABLE SERVICE Vinay Jr. says that cooking shows, including Kitchen to Fame, can cast a wide net in terms of audience demographics, “appealing to males, females and even teens.” “Cooking is universal,” agrees Electus International’s Pollak, “but it does hit the female demographic very well, which is something that broadcasters want.” Keren Shahar, the managing director of distribution at Keshet International, says that the allure of featuring celebrities in the company’s new prime-time reality show Help! I Can’t Cook has boosted the format’s potential audience reach. “Each celebrity will already have a fan base that is drawn to the show, and they can vary in demographic,” she says. “Help! is oriented around family viewing: it is cast in a way that enables each viewer to find a celebrity they can identify with, from children to grandparents. The first series in Israel, for example, included a children’s TV presenter, a retired basketball star and a top model. Equally, some personalities who we perhaps ‘love to hate’ will attract viewers, too.” BBC Worldwide has seen local partners produce celebrity episodes of its The Great Bake Off format in a bid to attract a different set of viewers, according to Kendrick. Looking to perhaps skew a bit younger, a new “junior” version of Bake Off was recently launched as well.

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Electus International is distributing Food Fighters, which is part game show and part cooking series.

“Food programming tends to skew toward a demographic with disposable incomes, viewers who care about what they dish up on their families’ plates and who also have time to spend in the kitchen,” says Red Arrow’s Gamsu. “This is a valuable demographic for advertisers looking to promote their latest products to an audience that is interested in and engaged with food.” Another benefit for advertisers and broadcasters when it comes to cooking formats is product integration. “There’s always a demand for recipes, cookbooks, kitchenware and ingredients,” Gamsu says. “Cooking shows like The Taste prove ideal platforms for integrations, and they are getting more and more sophisticated as brands realize the power of being associated with these hugely popular shows.” While rules and regulations regarding product placement and branded sponsorships vary territory by territory, overall there are loads of opportunities available, from the kitchen sets to the cooking equipment to the ingredients being used. Cooking shows can also translate into a robust consumer-products business, with branded recipe books, utensils and more.

HUNGRY FOR MORE As viewers increasingly seek out take-home value from these big cooking brands, the opportunities for digital extensions are becoming a larger part of the overall 360degree package. “Audiences want to be able to consume cooking shows in different ways, not just on the television itself but on their second screens,” says FremantleMedia’s O’Dell. “Also, they want to be able to talk about the show [with friends and other fans] and interact with the show. For a series that is essentially showing you how to cook a dish (albeit in an entertaining way), it lends itself perfectly to people going to the website and downloading the recipe, but also swapping ideas on social media or posting pic-

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tures of themselves with the [completed dish]. Cooking is a very strong partner for all those digital components.” In terms of territory reach, O’Dell says, “Food formats pretty much work everywhere!” He adds, “With some of our formats, we will go to certain territories and they may say, That’s not really for us. I’ve never heard that said about a cooking show.”

THE RIGHT INGREDIENTS Gamsu echoes this sentiment. “Cooking formats seem to be an evergreen genre, and there is a constant demand for new food and cooking shows,” he says. “Whether you are interested in cooking or not, everyone has a relationship with food. “In terms of which territories are hottest for cooking formats, France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. seem to have the strongest appetite. The sale of The Taste to over 50 territories in Latin America [as a finished product] proves that there is a strong buying trend for these types of formats there, too.” Sharing his opinion on where the food-formats trend is headed next, Gamsu says, “I see this genre skewing toward a younger demographic. As food gets edgier, trendier and faster, we are seeing younger people who are increasingly more invested in their health and the food they eat. This trend is now being represented on our TV screens. “I think big, talent-based food competitions will continue to be a success, and there will be more combinations of food TV with other genres such as dating and reality,” he continues. While the introduction of blind taste tests previously put a fresh spin on the food genre, producers are now challenged to find the next innovative angle, says ITV Studios’ Beale. “It’s all a matter of evolution and how you can advance the genre into its next incarnation. Everybody is chasing that Holy Grail. Would we love a new cooking show tomorrow with a fantastic new twist? Absolutely.”

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imposed improvements—costumes, lighting, etc.—by hundreds of people wanting to do better work every time they come to the office. The format curation is driven by what we have more of than we ever had in the past, which is audience insight and ratings. Minute-by-minute ratings will tell you what people like and don’t like. Now we have a whole additional tier of analytics from the armchair experts who comment socially. It’s not just, “#iloveadam”—there’s a conversation about the show among its super-fans that will tell you what they want more of, what they want less of. We put that into a body of changes to the format, to the audience engagement tools and to the interactivity. Ten years ago when we did one of these [talent] shows, there was a toll-free number and people phoned and voted. Then you voted online. Now you probably download the Voice app and vote multiple times and live and breathe the show—not just while the show is on. The whole 24-hour environment around the show feeds the super-fan engagement. That’s all part of the sustain phase. Then there are the big things that could change the momentum of the show. Frequently that conversation surrounds who is going to be in one of those chairs. The combination of coaches is the subject of literal debate, including with the coaches themselves. The great thing about the show is that we can confidently go to top-flight artists and

PAUL TELEGDY NBC ENTERTAINMENT By Mansha Daswani

From The Voice to Got Talent to The Biggest Loser, NBC is the U.S. home to some of the world’s biggest entertainment format brands. Joining that mix soon will be the long-awaited American adaptation of the veteran British variety show Saturday Night Takeaway, fronted by Neil Patrick Harris, and a U.S. spin on the Israeli-originated I Can Do That!, hosted by comedian and actor Marlon Wayans with a celebrity lineup that includes Nicole Scherzinger, Ciara and Joe Jonas. As the president of alternative and late night programming at NBC Entertainment, Paul Telegdy is keeping an eye out for the best new concepts on the global market, while also making sure that his returning series continue to deliver, season after season. TV FORMATS: When we last spoke three years ago, The Voice was a huge brand for you, and it remains so today. What’s gone into maintaining its success? TELEGDY: The theory of franchise management is launch, grow, sustain. We are probably in the sustain part of the lifecycle of the show. In that phase, there are big changes, medium-sized changes and small changes. There are very few big changes, a few medium-sized changes and thousands of small changes that are imperceptible to anyone other than the people working on the show. There’s a lot that falls into the category of creative excellence and self-

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say, Trust me, there’s going to be a moment during the production of this show when you’ll say, Paul, this is the most fun I’ve ever had and I’m being paid for it! The big changes are also ones that relate to the business of show business: would we go to one season a year, stay at two a year, consider a different version of the show from a length and volume point of view? Those are really big decisions. The show is still massively successful; it’s a linchpin of NBC’s schedule. It’s 90 hours a year—that’s four full season orders of a drama or eight full season orders of a sitcom! We rely on it as a launch platform, as a social platform and for general relevance. It keeps us current, cool and part of the conversation with the music industry. TV FORMATS: When you do change the lineup of coaches, at what point in the process do you know if the chemistry among them is going to work? TELEGDY: This is such a strong format. We love formats that work. You can really tell in this form of program making when a concept is working for you creatively. Anyone who has reached a certain point in their life as a performer has a competitive streak. You seat [these performers] next to each other and the format works in delivering a kind of quasi-competitive chemistry and rivalry. You’ve got to get

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America’s Got Talent, based on the FremantleMedia format, heads into its tenth season this year on NBC.

people who are up for it. You look for that quality in people and it’s pretty easy to identify when you’re talking to them early on in the process. Nothing’s a dead certainty, but the format and the production process are designed to get the best from people. TV FORMATS: It’s actually the only show I can watch with my 12-year-old niece! TELEGDY: What you’re saying is actually really important. From a general, thematic point of view, The Voice is everything you would want a 12-year-old to be learning, going into the tough lessons of life. There’s no pompous higher purpose—it is an entertainment show. The themes are, it’s OK to fail and pick yourself up and try again, success is a hard-fought battle, hard work equals results. The general theme of inclusion that comes from the blind auditions [where contestants are judged on their abilities, not on their appearance] is not just applicable to the world of singing. My kids are not singers; I’m not encouraging them to be singers, but I am encouraging them to have the attitudes of this show. That’s why you can sit and watch it with your niece. It’s rarely going to be inappropriate. It could be saucy enough for you but will go over her head. It’s perfectly crafted for family viewing. TV FORMATS: Got Talent has been on your schedule for even longer than The Voice has. Has it been a similar process for you, maintaining the success of that franchise? TELEGDY: I think we learned from America’s Got Talent. It was a show that had changed its panel and its host—it wasn’t frightened of making talent changes. The irony is that I’m

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gladly heading into the third season with the same panel of judges. It’s a great mix. Nick Cannon, the host, is just lovely, warm and inclusive of the contestants. Howard Stern has dominated media for so many years and his longevity is not a coincidence. Howie Mandel, who has been a massive star on NBC for the better part of a decade, is beloved, well-liked and funny. Mel B and Heidi Klum are formidable women who are making their marks in life, raising kids, carrying on careers. We love that panel because it feels like a great dysfunctional sitcom. These panels work when you see the kind of strange mixes of people that you’d find at a family dinner party. A bit of the randomness is what makes it so special. I’m always keen to remind people that Got Talent is by far the most successful global format. We’re really proud that the global market leader from a content and quality point of view is the U.S. version of the show. It started here and then has been hugely successfully merchandised all across the planet [by FremantleMedia]. It’s a great show that has absolutely played into the evolving way in which people watch TV. The America’s Got Talent audition episode has a pace fit for Millennial attention deficit disorder! [Laughs] There’s something that comes along every few minutes that makes you chuckle. If you didn’t like what you just watched, you may like what you watch next. We love Got Talent, and it’s an absolute cornerstone of this network’s year-round schedule. We put it on between May and September, which is a sleepy time for TV in the U.S., but it’s been a juggernaut ten years running— the number one show of the summer. That’s really important when it comes to [using the show as a platform to] promote the fall launches.

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most extraordinary and logistically complex shows and they make it look effortless. So we’re hoping to replicate that, with Neil as our ringmaster. TV FORMATS: What are some of the other format adaptations you’re working on? TELEGDY: We are going into production on I Can Do That! from Armoza Formats. I saw this show a while ago. I optioned it because I believed there was a strong kernel of an idea there. I had looked at the pilot that Avi [Armoza] and his team had made in Israel. We have taken a casting approach and a creative approach to it that I would say is a pretty radical evolution of the starting point of the format, which has at its heart an excellent idea. We’ve got a different type of cast, and we’re not eliminating people. It’s everything we’ve learned, frankly, from The Voice and Got Talent and Dancing with the Stars rolled into a new kind of experience. We’re very excited about it because it’s got great variety acts coming in—and when I say variety, I mean the world that includes Cirque du Soleil and Blue Man Group, not a bloke pulling flowers out of his pocket. It’s a bigscale spectacle, coupled with great cast chemistry and will-they-or-won’t-theypull-it-off stakes weekly.

The Voice, originated by Talpa in the Netherlands, continues to be one of NBC’s biggest hits, airing in both the winter and the fall seasons.

TV FORMATS: Let’s talk about Saturday Night Takeaway. It’s taken a long time to come to the U.S. Why now? TELEGDY: I’ve known Ant and Dec [the hosts of ITV’s Saturday Night Takeaway] since they were on a kids’ TV drama called Byker Grove! Part of the show’s value in the U.K., and why it rates, is because it’s a platform for these two beloved stars. We put together a very, very short list of people we felt had the characteristics that would lift this format to where Ant and Dec had lifted it. I have to tip my hat off to [ITV Studios]—they got the one person who was at the top of our list: Neil Patrick Harris. He loves it. He has immersed himself in it. He gets it and gets the tradition of circus shows—shows where a bit of everything can happen. He’s multitalented in a way that is broad and accessible. He transcends the narrow connotations of stage song and dance man. He’s an outright TV star and movie star. It is a great format, and every year someone from ITV had come to pitch it to me. It was on a list of shows I thought, There’s a reason this works. It’s a really joyous, fun playground for the right talent. We’re super excited about it. It’s a very hard show to make. That’s the show that people will think is effortless and easy to pull off, but it’s one of the

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TV FORMATS: How important is live viewer engagement in formats that are being pitched to you? TELEGDY: This is going to sound controversial: it is of zero importance going into a pitch. I tell people, when pitching to us, to please take out the following two slides. One: anything to do with interactivity. Think of the level of assets and resources that a company like NBCUniversal has in the area of interactivity! We have a digital team of several hundred people. We assume everything is going to have a massive level of interactivity. Two: that this format is going to be advertiser-friendly. If it isn’t advertiser-friendly, you’re in the wrong place! If the storytelling doesn’t work, don’t bother building an expensive app that is not going to do anything for you. Start with a TV story; if on its merits it feels like it’s going to be [a hit], it’ll get anything and everything that makes it engage with audiences. Yes, interactivity is important. We want our apps to be incredible experiences that augment viewing. They’re not meant to be distractions from what’s going on onscreen, they’re meant to be complementary. Having said that, we are actively experimenting, and we will continue to look for the best ideas that combine TV screen and device. Affecting the outcome of the show is still something that’s important to people, but it shouldn’t override their overall enjoyment of the experience. And technical challenges are the last thing you want going into the incredibly technically fraught world of producing live television. Interactivity is table stakes—it’s not a unique selling point for any show.

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TV FORMATS: How did you first hear about the show? RODRIGUEZ: When I first heard about Jane it was pilot season, and I was going on a lot of auditions during that time. When they called me and said, You have an audition for Jane the Virgin on Tuesday, I thought, Oh, Jane the Virgin, that is quite the title! What role am I coming in for? And they said, Jane, and I thought, Awesome! Awesome! Jane! They know I’m brown, right? Everybody’s aware of it? [Laughs] They sent me the script and within five pages I was wondering, Who is this woman? Who is Jennie Urman? How is she able to write about my experience growing up, which was one of having a dual identity: I had a super American lifestyle, a super American upbringing, but my grandma spoke Spanish and we had these small customs [at home] that were different from American customs. For me, it was such a breath of fresh air to read something about a girl having dreams and trying to get her stuff together. How could this crazy accident happen? So I fell in love—fell in love—with the script and auditioned like everyone else. I went in and I met Jennie. Then I did three tests with the studio and the network, and the rest is history. TV FORMATS: What do you like about Jane? As a viewer, I love her honesty. I also love that she looks like most normal women on the street and not like someone in a fashion magazine that most of us will never resemble. RODRIGUEZ: That’s very similar to how I feel. Growing up, not only did I not see myself as a girl with a Latino background, but I didn’t see myself beauty-wise. It’s very interesting. As a woman, growing up there is a process you go through to accept yourself. We get to a point in life where we say, I’m done living for everybody else; I need to love myself. I think, depending on your upbringing, depending on what you’re around and the influences you have, that journey can take a very long time in our society. Society says you have to look a certain way, you have to talk a certain way, you have to come from a certain economic background.

GINA RODRIGUEZ By Anna Carugati

Loosely based on the Venezuelan telenovela Juana la virgen, the American show Jane the Virgin has developed a following of passionate fans—as all good novelas do. The show on The CW, about a young woman who decides to remain chaste until marriage but is accidentally artificially inseminated during a routine check-up, has also caught the attention of critics. In fact, its star, Gina Rodriguez, won a Golden Globe for best actress in a TV comedy, beating out seasoned actors such as Julia LouisDreyfus and Edie Falco. Part of the appeal of the show, besides Rodriguez’s empathetic performance as sweet-yet-determined Jane, is that it lovingly pokes fun at the many stereotypes of the telenovela genre. Rodriguez and showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman talk about this season’s surprise hit TV series. 344 World Screen 4/15

I see Jane as a person who perseveres through any kind of obstacle. She’s not driven by power and status; on the contrary, she’s driven by love and connection and honesty and realness. She’s not a girl who has outlandish dreams; they are very realistic dreams. And she’s the product of a mistake as well [her mother got pregnant as a teenager]. Jane makes mistakes and she fails, but she tries and tries again. I love that about her because that is Jane’s hard-learned journey. She has to fight, whether it’s her desire to be a writer or finding out about her unfortunate situation and then having to make tough choices. She is ultimately the woman I would love to be and the woman at times I wish I were

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more like: she is patient and faithful and understanding, but at the same time she is imperfect and she isn’t a saint. She has flaws and is real. She is considered beautiful in her virginity, and even though she’s not a size 2, she is still beautiful and she still has men after her and that’s not a discussion. Her weight is not a discussion. Her ethnicity is not a discussion. It’s not a discussion because she is close to what exists out there in real life. If art is supposed to reflect our daily lives and inspire us to connect and relate, then that’s the project I want to do. I want to be part of that. There is no part of Jane that is uncool for not having sex. There is no part of Jane that isn’t beautiful for not being a size 2. That’s awesome. That’s going to help the younger girl [in the audience] who doesn’t have the influences in her house to tell her, You’re beautiful the way you are. You don’t have to put makeup on to hide yourself, but instead use it to accentuate the beauty you have. Now we have this girl on screen, Jane, who is saying all of that just by being who she is.

TV FORMATS: You were on the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. Did the intense pace of the daily production help hone your skills as an actor? RODRIGUEZ: One hundred percent, one hundred percent! People would say, What? You’re on a soap opera? I’d say, Don’t knock it! You would not believe how intense the memorizing has to be, how quickly you are getting scripts the day you shoot—upwards of 40, 50 pages to memorize and you have one or two takes, period. The end. I went to NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and I swear [being on a soap opera] is like a master class in acting: memorize, make choices, go. What helped me so much on The Bold and the Beautiful was learning how to memorize so quickly. And now, to be the lead on a TV show and work five days a week and then do press and fly out of the city on the weekends—memorizing so quickly and making choices, just committing to a choice, has helped me tremendously.

Jennie Snyder Urman and all of a sudden her life becomes one of the telenovelas that she watches on TV! Her life takes on the outrageous proportions of telenovelas and then she [has to deal with] the reality of [becoming pregnant]. I thought maybe I could find a tone that was both outlandish and grounded at the same time. I love knowing all the telenovela tropes so we can play with them. Our whole approach was that we were never going to make a satire of a telenovela or mock it in any way. It was always going to be a love letter to the telenovela. TV FORMATS: What are some of the tropes you want to honor? URMAN: A man and a woman usually are destined to be together. There is the gold-digging wife, the evil twins and somebody who you thought was dead but isn’t dead. You can easily call them soapopera tropes, but ours are specific to telenovelas. One of my writers is a creator of many telenovelas and created the original Devious Maids, and she’s always telling me, Ah, this would happen here! I really try to mine as much as I can from her.

Jennie Snyder Urman had already created the series Emily Owens, M.D. for The CW when she heard about an unusual project, one based on a Venezuelan telenovela. Intrigued, she quickly fell in love with the genre and jumped right into creating an American adaptation, Jane the Virgin. TV FORMATS: How did you start adapting Juana la virgen? URMAN: One of the big differences right away was that The CW didn’t want to have a teenage girl [as the main character] and in the original it was a 16-year-old girl. My Jane is 24, and I feel like a 24year-old virgin is just inherently a different creature than a 16-yearold virgin. [Being a virgin at 24] is more of a choice and it’s probably going to challenge a lot more. So I had an older character and I started to think, Why has she made this choice? Who was her mom? The mom character emerged and then the grandmother, and each generation has its own course correction. It all started to come to me. They said, You can use anything you like from the original, but you don’t have to; use what works for you. I just knew I also wanted to play with the telenovela form and have my characters be real fans of the genre. Jane is an ordinary girl

TV FORMATS: What made the show connect so well with critics and the audience? The average viewer of The CW probably does not watch telenovelas. URMAN: I think the biggest, biggest, biggest reason is Gina, because she just does not hit a false note. She is so authentic. She is so likable. I wanted Jane to be a kind, optimistic, likable person who is trying to do the right thing in a really crazy situation. I don’t think you have to be necessarily dark and twisted to be interesting, and Gina has shown people that because she plays an interesting character who is inherently good, there is something nice about the optimism of the show that viewers respond to. As for the audience and telenovelas, we do watch them; we just call them something else. I’m a huge Scandal fan and to me that’s a telenovela: the President of the United States can’t be with the woman he really wants to be with! There’s comedy and drama and sex and intrigue! And you’re hoping that at the end of the day these two people will find each other. I think we are familiar with the telenovela genre; we just don’t call it that.

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past year alone, [versions in] markets as diverse as Mexico, Denmark, South Africa, Thailand and the Middle East have been exciting audiences on a weekly basis. This format truly transcends cultures.” Indeed, the Got Talent format is present in one form or another in all corners of the globe. There’s even a treatment in Mongolia coming later this year, which was one of the few remaining territories left to shore up. “We haven’t done a North Pole’s Got Talent yet, but maybe that’s not far off,” jokes FremantleMedia’s O’Dell. “We’ve pretty much been everywhere; it’s a show that has no boundaries.” The American and French versions are the longest running, heading into their tenth seasons this year. In the U.K., Britain’s Got Talent is entering its ninth season. “In most places, we’re up to seasons four, five or six,” says O’Dell. “It’s actually harder to find a season one than it is to find seasons further down the line. We did season one in Mexico last year and that was a big success. We’re planning for season two in the fall. “Last year we also did season one of Iceland’s Got Talent. Iceland has a population of 350,000 people, but we did a very successful show there. They’ve launched season two. It’s a show that continues to grow and grow. For us, it’s one of, if not the most robust format that we’ve got in the market.” Throughout all of these various international treatments, the core of the Got Talent concept has remained the same: a variety of acts audition in front of a live audience and a celebrity judg-

Britain’s Got Talent.

GOT TALENT By Kristin Brzoznowski

ith 67 local versions around the world, Got Talent has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s most successful reality TV format. Co-owned by FremantleMedia and Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment, the format is gearing up to celebrate its tenth anniversary in the U.S., which was the first country where it launched. The longevity of the format can be pinned to several key factors, says Chris O’Dell, the head of global entertainment production at FremantleMedia, “but number one is that it’s a great show!” He continues, “There are not many shows in the entertainment genre that can have you laughing one minute, crying the next minute and hiding behind the sofa the minute after that. In a good episode of Got Talent, all of those things will happen.” George Levendis, the head of international at Syco TV, adds, “Got Talent beautifully celebrates the unique aspects of each individual country’s culture through its talent on display, from the phenomenal to the humorous and just plain outrageous. The format is adaptable to each market no matter the size and it has broad appeal, being one of the few global formats that continues to be entertaining event television, bringing the entire family together.” Ten years on, Got Talent continues to create “watercooler moments, delivering massive ratings and millions of views, going viral globally on social media,” Levendis says. “In the

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ing panel. The best move on through to the live semifinals and finals, until one act is ultimately crowned the winner. While the local versions generally remain faithful to the original format, there have been a few variations along the way. One example is the introduction of the “golden buzzer” in Germany in 2012. The idea is that each judge can press this special buzzer at any time during the audition phase to send an act directly through to the live shows, regardless of what the other judges have to say. This new element worked so well in the German version that it was integrated into various other international iterations, including in the U.S. and the U.K. O’Dell says that in the future, FremantleMedia is looking increasingly at how the voting is done for Got Talent. “In some countries, there’s already the introduction of voting via an app or online. The traditional ways of voting through SMS and telephone line are certainly not going to be phased out, but there are alternate ways of doing it that offer quite interesting opportunities for producers.” Syco TV’s Levendis adds, “Along with our partners at FremantleMedia, we continually assess the current status of the format in each market, always improving the local productions and exchanging best practices globally. Our team of flying producers are best in class and work very closely with each production, ensuring that every aspect of the show is constantly evolving.”

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