TV Formats MIPTV 2010

MIPTVEDITION

The State of FormatsDating and Marriage ShowsBBC Worldwide’sWayne GarvieEndemol’s Tom Toumaziswww.tvformats.ws THE MAGAZINE FOR THE FORMAT BUSINESS APRIL 2010

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Banijay Entertainment Group has recently created a newdistribution division, Banijay International, incorporatingNordisk Film TV World, which it acquired last October.This brings into the fold, from Nordisk, Who’s Who, inwhich two celebrity teams battle it out to try to reveal theprofessions of six ordinary people.There’s also My ParentsAre Gonna Love You,which watches as parents react to theirson or daughter bringing home a celebrity fiancé. Skew-ing factual is The 7 Killings, while 71 Degrees North goesthe reality route.Topping off the slate is Guides in Paradise.“We are presenting a wide range of excellent quality pro-gramming from different genres, all with great trackrecords,” says Karoline Spodsberg, the managing directorof the new outfit.“Our formats are highly adaptable andhave universal appeal.”

• Who’s Who• The 7 Killings• Guides in Paradise• 71 Degrees North• My Parents Are Gonna Love You

The 7 Killings

Banijay Internationalwww.banijayinternational.com

“With Scandinavianformats, the productionbudgets are quite lowcompared to the highproduction value.”

—Karoline Spodsberg

Billed as “the next generation of reality TV,”The Frame isan hour-long biweekly show that lives 24 hours a day onthe web.The series features eight couples who reducetheir living space to just one camera frame and mustcompete to be the last couple standing.“There is a needfor new TV content that will translate smoothly andintelligently to other media platforms in order to capturethe multi-screen viewing audience,” says Avi Armoza, theCEO of Armoza Formats.“The Frame, our brand-newcross-platform reality show, provides broadcasters withthe ideal solution—a riveting reality show, infused withsuspense and drama, that can be watched, enhanced anddiscussed via 24-hour online and cellular transmissions.It’s a truly groundbreaking new show.”Adding to Armoza’sofferings are the game-show formats The Bubble andUpgrade and the drama titles The Ran Quadruplets andThe Na ked Truth.

• The Frame• The Bubble• The Ran Quadruplets• Upgrade• The Naked Truth

Armoza Formatswww.armozaformats.com

9TV FORMATS

IN THIS ISSUE

A Healthy StartA good idea, executedcorrectly, remains the keyto success in the formatbusiness 22

Hungry for LoveDating and relationshipformats are doing wellworldwide 30

InterviewsBBC Worldwide’s Wayne Garvie 38Endemol’sTom Toumazis 44

ProfileGlobal Agency’sgrowth path 46

The Frame

“There is a need for new TV content that willtranslate smoothly and intelligently to othermedia platforms in order to capture the multi-screen viewing audience.”

—Avi Armoza

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E! NETWORKS

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Born with it – or bought it?

From fake modeling competitionsto faux family swaps, it’s the

ultimate reality TV hoax.

The search for the hottest person in paradise.

When footballers’ wives get together, the real competition begins!

Everyone’s got baggage.How much can you handle

in the name of love?

© 2010 E! Entertainment Television, Inc.

E! EntertainmentCycle 1 133 Line Screen

CMY

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E! NETWORKS

5750 Wilshire Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA

90036

Description: 4C - Gatefold

Publication:

File Name / Job #:

E! Contact: Telephone: Email:

Date:

Trim [ ] Live [ ] Bleed [ ]Issue Date:

VISIT US AT MIP STAND G3.14 Comcastintl.com

Born with it – or bought it?

From fake modeling competitionsto faux family swaps, it’s the

ultimate reality TV hoax.

The search for the hottest person in paradise.

When footballers’ wives get together, the real competition begins!

Everyone’s got baggage.How much can you handle

in the name of love?

© 2010 E! Entertainment Television, Inc.

E! EntertainmentCycle 1 133 Line Screen

CMY

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Ricardo Seguin GuisePublisher

Anna CarugatiEditor

Mansha DaswaniExecutive Editor

Kristin BrzoznowskiManaging Editor

Lauren M. UdaProduction and Design

DirectorSimon Weaver

Online DirectorPhyllis Q. Busell

Art DirectorTatiana Rozza

Sales and MarketingDirector

Kelly QuirozSales and Marketing

ManagerRae Matthew

Business Affairs ManagerCesar Suero

Sales and MarketingCoordinator

Ricardo Seguin GuisePresident

Anna CarugatiExecutive VP and

Group Editorial DirectorMansha DaswaniVP of StrategicDevelopment

TV Formats© 2010 WSN INC.

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Comcast International Media Group (CIMG) has foundearly success with Reality Hell, having licensed the format infive territories. Jene Elzie, the VP of international sales andstrategic planning at CIMG, says the format further demon-strates the notion that “viewers just cannot get enough real-ity.The genre has proved so powerful year-in, year-out, andthe Reality Hell format has been able to capture it and turnit on its ear.”Also generating buzz for CIMG is WAG Wars,a spin-off of the popular Perfect Catch format.“The term‘WAG’ [meaning wives and girlfriends of someone famous]was made popular some years back in the U.K., but WAGmania has now spread across borders,” notes Elzie. CIMG isalso putting the spotlight on Instant Beauty Pageant, in whicheveryday women compete for the chance to live out theirbeauty-pageant dreams, and Baggage, a new dating show.

• Perfect Catch• Reality Hell• Instant Beauty Pageant• Baggage• WAG Wars

Perfect Catch

Comcast InternationalMedia Groupwww.comcastintl.com

“Our formatsdeliver exactlywhat a formatshould: theyare clear,relatable and,most of all,universal.”

—Jene Elzie

• Push the Button•Young Professionals of the Year• Give Us a Clue• Take Me Out• Let’s Dance

FremantleMedia

Airing to strong ratings on ITV1, Push the Button is a “revi-talized,supersized version of a traditional family game show,”according to Rob Clark, the president of entertainment atFremantleMedia,which is launching the series for the inter-national market. FremantleMedia’s catalogue also includesthe hit Dutch comedy game show Give Us a Clue, whichfeatures celebrity teams miming in a studio-based charadesgame. Young Professionals of the Year is a BBC format that cel-ebrates young workers, following real people as they strive tobe the best in their field.“It won an enthusiastic audience inthe U.K. and is sure to do the same elsewhere,” says Clark.The dating format Take Me Out has been a ratings winnerin many territories.Let’s Dance was number one in its prime-time slot in its first season in the U.K., leading to a second-season order.

www.fremantlemedia.com

Take Me Out

“We have a fantastic variety ofexciting new entertainment,game shows and factual-entertainment formats joiningour proven world-leading showslike Got Talent, The X Factor,Idols, The Farmer Wants a Wifeand Family Feud.”

—Rob Clark

TV FORMATS10

by visiting www.tvformats.wsGet daily news on the formats business


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12 TV FORMATS

362 World Screen 4/10

La Presse Télé has gained a reputation as a leader inTV creation and production in Quebec. AndréProvencher, the company’s president, says its Canadianlocation provides certain benefits. “La Presse Télé islocated in Montreal, and we believe that gives us agreat advantage. Because Quebec’s first language isFrench and it is surrounded by English territories, wehave been creating our own television for decades.By sharing a border with the U.S.A. and workingclosely with English Canada we are also keeping upwith new trends.” He adds, “Quebec is truly a nicheof creativity, and La Presse Télé is a perfect example ofthis.”The company will be at MIPTV launching itsnew prime-time entertainment show A Star’s Life inLyrics. The Parents, which Provencher calls the “front-runner format” when it comes to sales, is a warm-hearted comedy made up of vignettes ranging from30 seconds to three minutes.The company is also pre-senting Seduction.

• The Parents• A Star’s Life in Lyrics• Seduction

La Presse Télé

A stalwart in the novelas landscape,Globo TV Internationalhas embarked on a foray into the formats arena.The com-pany has been building out its nonscripted-format slate,andheads to MIPTV with titles such as Profession Reporter,which it launched at NATPE.“We’ve had very good feed-back so far,” says Raphael Corrêa Netto, the internationalsales director, of the show’s reception thus far. Sketch It Outtakes real stories sent in by everyday women and transformsthem into skits, performed by a well-known comedicactress.The daily quiz show The Video Game has been astrong performer in Brazil as the top-rated afternoon TVshow for a record seven years.There’s also The Spelling Gameand Laugh-O-Meter on offer.Corrêa Netto says of the com-pany’s formats push,“We are not here to compete with thebig nonscripted-format players.We are here to strengthenour catalogue, to have another opportunity to work witheither current customers or open new possibilities.”

• Sketch It Out• Profession Reporter• The Spelling Game• The Video Game• Laugh-O-Meter

Globo TV International

Profession Reporter

“We are not here to compete with the bignonscripted-format players. We are here tostrengthen our catalogue.”

—Raphael Corrêa Netto

www.globotvinternational.com

A Star’s Lifein Lyrics

“We are convinced that the format businesswill pick up. This is a time when every dollarcounts and needs to be well spent.”

—André Provencher

www.lapressetele.ca


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14 TV FORMATS

In November 2009, the Scandinavian-based distributorMedia Entertainment Group (MEG) announced a keyexpansion with the creation of MEG Formats.The newformat-sales division has been expanding its catalogue ina variety of genres and heads to MIPTV with a slate thatincludes Ghosthunting With…. Sarah Coursey, the VP ofMEG Formats, says that the show is appealing for the inter-national market because “it hits the celebrity reality genrewhere it hurts:fear,bloodcurdling screams,ghosts,things thatgo bump in the night.” Miss Lingerie Model has a draw forboth sexes, Coursey notes.“Female audiences will appreci-ate the strong and confident women and the new styles ondisplay, while men watch for obvious reasons.”There’s alsoCamping with the In-Laws,Catch Me and Smile.TV. “Its high-quality production values, matched with hilarious scripts,create the perfect solution to a comedy-slot request,” saysCoursey of Smile.TV.“Be prepared to laugh out loud.”

• Ghosthunting With ...• Miss Lingerie Model• Camping with the In-laws• Catch Me• Smile.TV

Media Entertainment Group

Cash in the Attic continues to be a strong global sellerfor Leopard International,which will also be bringing tothe market the spin-off Cash in the Celebrity Attic. Leop-ard is also unveiling two new formats for buyers: TheDay the Immigrants Left and Forces Reunited.“The Day theImmigrants Left is a prime-time documentary formatwhich has recently attracted widespread media cover-age in the U.K., coinciding with its transmission on theBBC,” says Sarah Diggins, the head of sales at Leopard.“The program explores the hotly debated issues aroundimmigration in an innovative and engaging format byasking the question, Can the local workforce do the jobof immigrants?”Forces Reunited is a feel-good, studio for-mat, says Diggins.The format “has relevance and appealin the current climate by telling the amazing stories ofthe brave men and women of the armed forces.The pro-gram stages unforgettable reunions between families andfriends, celebrating their bravery.”

• The Day the Immigrants Left• Forces Reunited• Missing • Cash in the Celebrity Attic

Leopard InternationalThe Day theImmigrantsLeft

“We have high hopes for The Day the Immigrants Left and Forces Reunited, whichwill be unveiled at MIPTV for the first time.”

—Sarah Diggins

www.leopardfilms.com

Miss Lingerie Model

“As we’ve been hard atwork since November creating MEG’s first formatcatalogue, our goal forMIPTV is to introduce it tothe international market-place.”

—Sarah Coursey

www.megnetwork.com


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16 TV FORMATS

In Battle of the Blades,members of Canada’s male hockey élitepair up with world-famous female figure skaters for a show-down on the ice.“Battle of the Blades was a huge success forCBC in Canada, and aired in the fall of 2009, scoring anaverage 1.5 million viewers compared to CBC’s normalprime-time average of 713,000,” says Fredrik af Malmborg,the managing director of Sparks Network, which pickedup the title from Insight Productions.“Battle of the Blades isa great prime-time event for any country with an ice-sportstradition,” he says. Sparks is also presenting Tourist Guides, aworkplace reality show.Malmborg says that the show couldalso be “a great way to build the ratings in prime time bydominating access.The format almost tripled the averageshare of the broadcaster in Finland, and we are now offer-ing a location package for back-to-back production.”Further titles are Country Women Cooking, Ezel and theget-rich-quick reality show How to Become a Millionaire.

• Tourist Guides• Battle of the Blades• Country Women Cooking• Ezel• How to Become a Millionaire

Sparks Networkwww.sparksnetwork.com

Providing innovative and cost-effective formats for theinternational market is the goal for ohm:tv.“The PrettiestGirl in the Class, from the Netherlands, and Hit Me, I’ma Celebrity, from Ireland, have already proved to be ahuge success in their home countries,” explains JorisEckelkamp, the company’s CEO and co-founder.“WithDate Your Neighbour,Six Degrees of Separation and Living Withthe Enemies we are offering new ideas to the market as buy-ers have stated that there has been a lack of innovation andoriginality for some time now.” Date Your Neighbour bringstogether singles living in the same area to see if they canfind their next great love. Six Degrees of Separation plays onthe theory that anyone in the world can be connected toanother person through a chain of no more than four peo-ple.Living with the Enemies is a reality show that puts contest-ants under the same roof together with someone from theirpast that they may not have been so friendly with.

• The Prettiest Girl in the Class• Hit Me, I’m a Celebrity• Date Your Neighbour• Six Degrees of Separation• Living with the Enemies

ohm:tv

“We intend to maintain andimprove our corporate identityas a niche player bringingfresh format ideas to the marketplace.”

—Joris Eckelkamp

www.ohmtv.com

Battle of the Blades

“Broadcasters are starting toexperiment a bit again anddaring to try new ideas. Thisis needed, as the creativityhas been rather low the lastyear.”

—Fredrik af Malmborg

The PrettiestGirl in theClass


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18 TV FORMATS

Entertainment tops the roster for Talpa Distribution atMIPTV, with titles such as Sing It, which gives contestantsthe chance to express emotions—anger, love, regret, grati-tude—by singing. I Love My Country is also in the enter-tainment genre.The show is filled with humor, amid atouch of competitiveness, and includes facts, nostalgic TVexcerpts and more. Dating in the Dark is a unique datingexperience,which places participants in complete darknesswhile they get to know each other.“Apart from our strongstudio entertainment shows and reality dating formats, weare now also well represented in the factual-entertainmentgenre, of which our shows Trouble with the Neighbours andHelp! My Child Has a Sixth Sense are good examples,” saysMaarten Meijs, the managing director of Talpa Distribu-tion.Also in the catalogue is Know Your Nation, a light-hearted take on current affairs and social issues with enter-taining need-to-know facts and unexpected results.

• Dating in the Dark• Sing It• Trouble with the Neighbours• I Love My Country• Know Your Nation

Talpa Distributionwww.talpa.tv

Strix Television touts the tagline “Passionate Storytellers,”and the formats in its catalogue exemplify why this mantrarings true.“The formats have a good mix of engaging sto-ries as well as great commercial possibilities,” says MiaEngström, the director of Strix International. She points toThe Bar,“with its interactivity foundation for several plat-forms, live 24-hour delay, open arena, open casting, openparticipation, open subplots, etc.”Also in the mix is FallenAngels, in which a top prize-winning chef takes on sevenunemployed girls on the verge of criminality to give thema second chance in life.Harem is a dating format.The Outletlets viewers get to know some of the people visiting GekåsUllared, Scandinavia’s largest department store, as well asfollows some key characters working in the different depart-ments.The show’s launch in Sweden on Kanal 5 in Novem-ber scored an all-time high viewing record for the channel.Topping off the lineup is A League of Their Own.

• A League of Their Own• The Outlet• Harem• Fallen Angels• The Bar

Strix TelevisionThe Bar

“The formats have a goodmix of engaging stories aswell as great commercialpossibilities.”

—Mia Engström

www.strix.tv

Know Your Nation

“Our clients value and distinguish Talpa forits creativity and its formats with a proventrack record.”

—Maarten Meijs


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20 TV FORMATS

Among the newest formats on offer from Televisa Inter-nacional is Decades,which is full of live-music performances,famous guests and memories from some of the most rel-evant music moments from the last 50 years. I’m Search-ing For… helps a celebrity find that special person he orshe is missing in his or her life. “Besides the fact thatthese are strong formats, they aim at a very specific audi-ence angle: emotive stories,” says José Luis Romero, thedirector of formats and new content at Televisa.“It doesn’tmatter if you touch these topics from a funny side or ina more serious way, if you appeal to emotions and feel-ings, the audience will always follow you.That’s whatmakes our formats successful.” He adds,“Our main pur-pose is to be near our current and new clients to keepdeveloping the business alliances that have made it pos-sible for our formats to travel around the world and putTelevisa as one of the most important companies in themedia world.We really enjoy working with our clients,building strong and successful formats to achieve greatresults beyond our territory.”

• Decades• I’m Searching For…

Televisa Internacionalwww.televisainternacional.tv

“If you appeal to emotions and feelings, theaudience will always follow you. That’s whatmakes our formats successful.”

—José Luis Romero

Decades

The extreme reality series Snow Rescue is based on thestory of the book Alive, in which a Uruguayan rugbyteam is stranded in the snow-swept Andes after a planecrash and are forced to use desperate measures to sur-vive.The format was done in collaboration with CarlosPáez, one of the survivors who was also the focus of a1993 feature film. TOAC will present the format tointernational buyers at MIPTV, along with RememberWhen…, a drama title. The fast-paced game-show for-mat The Million Game watches as three contestants dis-play their current-events and general knowledge. Theviewers at home play an essential role; by sending lettersor instant messages to the show they can have access tothe millionaire panel, where they can win a big prize.The series is a proven success in 19 countries, with morethan $30 million given away to date. Bet for Life is billedas reality emotainment because of its emotional back-stories about people facing life’s difficulties.

• Snow Rescue• Remember When…• The Million Game• Bet for Life

TOACwww.toac.tv

Remember When...

Snow Rescue


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Ask most format executives about the future of the industryand they will point to the market’s recent growth as the bestguide to its future.

“It doesn’t seem like that long ago when no one knewwhat a format was,” says Remy Blumenfeld, the director offormats at ITV Studios.

In the last 15 or 20 years, however, the format industry hasarguably been the fastest-growing part of the internationalprogramming business, and today big prime-time formats likeIdols, Dancing with the Stars, Deal or No Deal and Who Wantsto Be a Millionaire? often out-rate the movies, dramas, sportsand comedies that have dominated TV ratings since thebeginning of television.

Just last fall, the industry’s trade association, the Format Recog-nition and Protection Association (FRAPA), estimated that theformat business produced €9.3 billion ($12.6 billion) in rev-enues between 2006 and 2008 in just 14 countries, a 45-percentincrease over the €6.4 billion ($8.6 billion) in revenues the indus-try produced in the period between 2002 and 2004.

“To me a format is just like a recipe card in cooking,” Blu-menfeld notes.“Before formats there were lots of ingredients to

make a successful show but not a recipe.The format is a recipecard that tells you how to prepare those ingredients and how tomix and match them to make them work so that you can takea recipe that works in one country and adapt it brilliantly toanother by adjusting the seasonings and ingredients.”

And those recipes seem to be in even greater demand thesedays,when cash-strapped broadcasters have been slashing pro-gramming budgets.“From a FremantleMedia point of view,in 2009 and 2010 we sold a lot more entertainment series andwe saw the ratings in prime time for the right shows defi-nitely go up, often by very big margins,” says Rob Clark, thepresident of worldwide entertainment at FremantleMedia.He sees no slowdown in the willingness of broadcasters tospend heavily on major formats.“If you have a big entertain-ment show and you produce it well and the broadcasterschedules it well, it will increase its audience.”

Yet, the very success of the format business, coupled withthe recent economic traumas, poses some major challengesfor the industry’s future.

“At the moment, broadcasters don’t have the money toinvest in the level of content that they once did,” notes MikeMorley, the executive VP and chief creative officer for inter-national production at Sony Pictures Television.“Not onlyhave they been suffering from the downturn in advertising,

TV FORMATS22

By George Winslow

World Screen 4/10372

A good idea, executed correctly, remains the key tosuccess in the format business.

A Healthy StartEndemol’s XXS in Turkey.

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they’ve been swept off their feet by the rise of digital channelsand are losing audience share.”

These economic problems were recently highlighted by thebig media-buying firm Magna Global.It estimates that TV adver-tising in many countries will see an uptick this year—thanks toslightly improved economic conditions,the Winter Olympics andthe World Cup—but it’s also predicting that TV ad spend willremain sluggish in most major territories for years to come.

So far, those problems haven’t seriously hurt the format busi-ness—at least in the short run—because cash-strapped channelssee formats as a safer way to program their schedule.

“We had a little bit of slowness last year, but things have beenquite frantic over the last few months, and I think others areexperiencing the same thing,” says Stephanie Hartog, the exec-utive VP of format sales at ALL3MEDIA International.“If theidea is good enough it will sell, and we’ve been blessed withsome very appealing ideas from our content creators.”

Lighthearted concepts have been particularly popular.“In thelast year or so there has been a return to the kind of feel-goodprogramming and old-fashioned family shows,” says YvonnePilkington, the VP of international formats at NBC Universal.“We’re seeing that people want a bit of escape.They want tosee dreams come true.That is why the big talent shows like TheX Factor and Idols remain so popular.”

SevenOne International is similarly seeing a demand for big-event shows, says Jens Richter, the company’s managing direc-tor.“They are big and they’re spectacular,” he says.“You airthem tonight and they’re going to be the talk of the towntomorrow.Those kinds of shows are very important for thebig free-TV channels all over the world.That is one of the bigadvantages of free TV—you can reach big audiences at thesame time all over the nation.You can create events.That makesa big difference between pay TV and free TV and online:instant great audience reach.The channels can use that bybuilding events.”

Still, the economic downturn facing many major broadcast-ers “is a double-edged sword,” according to Colin Jarvis, thedirector of international formats at BBC Worldwide. “Less

money means less appetite for risk. On the plusside, when you have a hit, like we do with Danc-ing with the Stars, people are continuing to pro-duce it and commission it because they know itworks extremely well. On the other hand,though, people don’t have the appetite theywould have had to try things out.”

That creates challenges for producers launchingnew formats. “There is tremendous pressure onbudgets and the willingness to take risks,”adds PaulRömer, the chief creative officer at Endemol.“It isharder now to sell a new format and formats thatare not already a success.And if your show doesmake it to air and it does not score a really great rat-ing in the first two or three episodes, it is pulled offand gone.It is becoming more and more difficult todevelop a show and the next big hit.”

MORE FOR THE MONEYWhile the big money still comes from majorbroadcasters, their tight programming budgetsare making lower-cost formats increasinglyattractive, both for broadcasters and the rapidly

growing cable and satellite market.“We have free-TV channels looking for volume,” says

SevenOne’s Richter.“Some are looking for shows that cancreate volume at reasonable costs.That is one of the reasonswhy Love Bites works extremely well. It’s cooking and dat-ing, it’s a reality show, it’s a show that you can produce at avery reasonable budget level. It’s perfect for daily stripping. Soyou can build a brand, you can cover big volume in your gridand it’s very cost-efficient, plus you have great ratings.”


Bollywood bound:Dancing with theStars remains one of BBC Worldwide’sbiggest format hits,with adaptations innumerous markets,including India asJhalak Dikhhla Jaa onSony EntertainmentTelevision.

TV FORMATS24

Suited for success: Canada’s CBC is among the networks thathave opted for Sony’s Dragons’ Den format.


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“Cable channels worldwide are just starting to take theirfirst steps into original programming and starting to makeshows with budgets that would have been unachievable forthem only three or four years ago,” observes NBC Univer-sal’s Pilkington.

COST CONTROLSFinding ways to be flexible in the cost of producing for-mats—always an important issue when trying to translate bigprime-time events to smaller territories—is also likely tobecome more important.Pilkington notes that when TMC inFrance commissioned its For Love or Money format, it endedup shooting it in Miami to save money.

Likewise, Endemol’s Römer notes that his company has beenusing central production facilities in Argentina for its formats101 Ways to Leave a Gameshow and XXS. “101 Ways to Leave aGameshow is a huge spectacular game show that would be unaf-fordable if they had to pay for the facilities,”he says.“But becausewe’ve built a central facility, it is affordable for individual buyers.”

Faced with risk-averse broadcasters, format producers arealso increasingly investing their own money to get concepts

off the ground, a trend that is likely to become even moreimportant in years ahead.

Römer explains that Endemol has been spending moremoney to commission pilots,which increases the chances thata broadcaster will pick up a show, and FremantleMedia’sClark says that his company has used a central fund to developshows from local production companies that could not finda home in their originating market.

The concept for Take Me Out, for example, was developedin France, but “France didn’t want it,” Clark says.“At manycompanies it would have died at birth because its originat-ing territory didn’t want it, but we believed in it and, by usingcentrally funded money, have developed it to the point whereit is now in 15 territories.”

New revenues will also have to be part of the mix.“Thebiggest challenge will be seeing how the business models arealtered as we come out of the recession and taking advan-tage of those changes,” declares Sony’s Morley.

He believes producers will have to become much moreactive in raising money for shows and look beyond the tra-ditional broadcast-license fee for funding.That means theywill need to work more closely with advertisers on things likeproduct placement.

“The smart producer is going to need to be equipped for aconversation to bring in extra revenue from the multiple streamsthat a show can create from merchandising, interactive,off-screenlicensing, etc.,” he says.

GEOGRAPHIC EXPANSIONThis hunt for new revenues will also extend to regions like

Latin America and Asia, where the TV markets aresmaller but likely to see faster growth in the next five

years. Magna Global sees TV ad spend grow-ing by 8.4 percent a year between 2010 and2015 in the Asia Pacific and a healthy 6.5

percent in Latin America. Both regions willsee TV advertising expand by more than 12 percent

in 2010.ALL3MEDIA’s Hartog notes, for example, that Saudi Ara-

bia has recently changed the law to allow game shows,which made it possible for the company to sell its for-

mat The Cube into the territory.“I think a lot of theMiddle East will start opening up for single-territory acquisitions, which is something theyhaven’t done traditionally,” she says.

These territories are also likely to becomean increasingly important source of new for-mats. Early this year, ITV Studios cut a dealwith Hunan Satellite Television in China todevelop and license a series of formats thatwill air initially in China on Hunan Televi-sion and then be exported worldwide.

“If it is popular with 58 million peoplewho watch it in China, we think it will

inspire confidence that it will work in othercountries,” Blumenfeld says.

The format industry continues to look forways to capitalize on the rapid spread of high-

speed Internet connections and the growingpopularity of social networking sites and other

digital media.


Star seekers:Got Talent is amongthe powerhouse global formats in theFremantleMedia catalogue, continuingto deliver huge ratings for the likes of ITV1.

TV FORMATS26


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“I’m convinced that the next wave of television shows will bea convergence of television and the Internet,” states Endemol’sRömer.“It is a major topic of discussion at the moment.”

As producers face tighter budgets, revenues from digitalmedia could play a larger role in financing big-budget prime-time events, Römer adds.

Some distributors are also eyeing 3-D or stereoscopic tele-vision. Sony, for example, has joined with Discovery Com-munications and IMAX to launch an as-yet-unnamed 3-Dchannel in 2011 in the U.S. Some satellite providers, notablyBSkyB in the U.K. and DIRECTV in the U.S., are also plan-ning to roll out 3-D channels this year.

“3-D is a great leap forward because it has the potential tomake TV an occasion again and to bring things to life andengage viewers in a way that hasn’t happened in decades,”notes Sony’s Morley,who adds that Sony is already looking todevelop 3-D formats.

THE TECH FACTORFor the moment, however, the widespread discussion of howtechnology might transform the format business has nottranslated into a breakout hit.While format producers havecreated a number of compelling web and mobile applications,most admit that the long-predicted promise of digital mediahas yet to fundamentally transform the business.

“Technology is important but not that important in thegreat scheme of things,” says FremantleMedia’s Clark.“If youare talking about entertainment formats [like Idols], you needto have a very clear multiplatform strategy.But it is still a mar-ginal part of the business.What drives a format is still thebroadcast-TV platform.”

Some of the biggest upcoming trends, in fact, may be thesame ones that have shaped the industry over the last decade.For starters, having a hit in one of the major territories is likelyto remain an extremely important factor in a format’s initiallaunch.While formats are increasingly percolating into globalmarkets from a wide range of countries, FremantleMedia’sClark estimates that “about 32 percent of all formats comefrom the U.K., the Netherlands and the U.S.

“A format idea can start from somewhere else but it hasjet boosters on once it has a U.S. or a U.K. broadcast,” Clarksays.“Likewise, if it fails miserably in those territories thenyou are looking at the death of your format.”

Distribution clout and having an extensive network oflocal production companies or allied channels that can gen-

erate new ideas is also likely to remain extremelyimportant.

“Size does matter,” says Clark.“A format idea cancome from anywhere, but you have to have thecapacity to launch it.”As a result, a number of com-panies have been following the lead of Fremantle-Media and Endemol in setting up a global networkof production companies.

ProSiebenSat.1 Media, for example, recently setup Red Arrow Entertainment Group as a newcontent division that will acquire and launch pro-duction companies and seek out development part-nerships.“We want to create new properties withthese production companies,” says Richter atSevenOne, which is part of the new Red Arrowgroup.“Within Red Arrow we also do have devel-

opment deals, like the ones with Phil Gurin, the creator ofThe Singing Bee, and with Dick de Rijk, who is the inventorof Deal or No Deal.Dick has a great image in the internationalmarket, and with him we are developing new show ideas inthe fields of game shows and reality TV.”

“When we started out in the format business, over tenyears ago, we were effectively a licensing business, going tomarket and getting the best format fee we could,” says Jarvisof the BBC, which has expanded its local production activi-ties into nine territories in recent years.“But [over time] youplateau out because there is a limit to what you can get fromjust format fees. From a strategic point of view, you neednot only to own the shows to license them.You also needto be able to produce them and have some ownership of theancillary rights.”

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Man of the people: ALL3MEDIA’s Undercover Boss premiered tohuge numbers in the U.S. on CBS following the Super Bowl.

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Transformational TV:ITV Studios’ new format Popstar toOperastar wrapped itsfirst season in theU.K. earlier this year.

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By Kristin Brzoznowski Finding love is hard enough—imagine doing so under theglare of the spotlight.The end result is a mix of pure-heartedemotion and mild embarrassment played out entertaininglyon the TV screen.This has been the driving force behindmany dating and marriage formats, which have been gainingpopularity worldwide by putting an innovative spin on anage-old concept.

Some dating formats, such as FremantleMedia’s The FarmerWants a Wife, have a feel-good story at their core, with con-testants who are truly looking to find a soul mate.Rob Clark,the president of worldwide entertainment at FremantleMedia,says the format is one of his favorites in the company’s cata-logue because it tells a story rooted in the “real reality” ofsomeone genuinely searching for a partner.“A lot of datingshows are not about a love story,” he says.“They’re about funand entertainment, and that’s fine if that’s what they want tobe. The Farmer Wants a Wife doesn’t set out to be that. It setsout to be a quite emotional, romantic, interesting, warm,friendly experience, and at the end we do normally find a

partner for the farmer.The whole nation sits there and sobstheir eyes out. It’s a great show!”

FremantleMedia has sold the format in 19 territories, andClark expects this number to continue to grow.“In someplaces now we’re on season five or season six.There are nosigns that it’s letting up either, it’s a fixture.” Indeed, TheFarmer Wants a Wife is the number one show in its time periodin ten territories, including Australia,Croatia, Finland,France,Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.

True love is also the foundation for one of Talpa Distribu-tion’s most successful international formats, Dating in theDark.While the series may revolve around dating and find-ing a mate, the contestants are thrown a curve ball: absolutedarkness. Maarten Meijs, the managing director of Talpa Dis-tribution, explains,“The format is considered to be a freshtake on the dating game. Story lines evolve around peoplewho are seriously looking for real love and a relationship,

We all want to be loved, which is why formats that dealwith relationships are finding success around the world.

SevenOne International’sLove Bites.

Hungry for


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but who do all their dating in a dark room, preventing themfrom actually seeing the person they are on a date with.”

Since its launch last year, the show has been picked up inmore than 20 countries.Among other territories, the seriesis currently on air in the U.K., the Netherlands, a host ofScandinavian countries and in Latin America. In the U.S.,Dating in the Dark was recently commissioned for a secondseason on ABC.“We are continuing to build the brand’s pres-ence all over the world,” Meijs adds.

RECIPE FOR LOVESevenOne International’s Love Bites also features a twist ontraditional dating and still keeps with the trend towards feel-good programming. The show presents four single men,armed with only their cooking talents and charm, as theyattempt to seduce one woman with a three-course meal.“Love Bites is the perfect combination of dating and dining,”says Jens Richter, SevenOne’s managing director.

“The old stereotype of ‘women cook, men eat’ works greatfor Love Bites, especiallywhen such a format trav-els to countr ies with amore macho attitudetowards cooking. It’sjust hilar ious to watchthe Greek version, wherewomen usually cook forthe family and men nowhave to impress the girlwith their cooking skills.”He adds,“The format alsoplays very well with[looking at] men/womenflirting strategies: whereasgirls tend to start catfightswhen fighting for a man,the men rather try toleave a mark and outdotheir competitors.”

Rather than competingfor affection, sometimeslove is quite simply found

close to home.This is the premise of ohm:tv’s DateYour Neighbour.The half-hour series plays on the real-ity of countless singles living alone in high-risebuildings and residential areas in every city: perhapstheir next great love is just a doorstep away.

On the other end of the dating spectrum, there area host of formats in which finding love is far from theactual focus.One example is FremantleMedia’s Take MeOut.“The show does not set out, in any way, shape orform,to find romance for somebody,”says Clark.“If youcome on Take Me Out,you’re not looking for a husbandor a wife.You’re probably looking for a date or just tohave a good time. It’s more about entertainment.”

Armoza Formats also features a number of titles inits catalogue that have a more playful, entertainment-based approach to dating. Some of the shows, likeBuzz Off and Foreplay, even incorporate game-show-style elements.

“Buzz Off ’s 21st-century twist involves the use ofelectric buzzer technology,” explains Avi Armoza, the CEO ofArmoza Formats.“Each of the 20 bachelors must wear a buzzeron his arm; he’ll be at the mercy of the dater, who can give himan electric jolt if she wants to move on to the next [guy]. It’sbasically a 21st-century single’s dream—blind dates condensedto speed dating with the ability to tell the most boring guys to‘buzz off ’ in a hilarious and effective manner!”

ALL IN THE FAMILYOther formats, like Armoza’s Approved for Love, bring fami-lies and friends into the selection process.“We’ve had a lotof success with Approved for Love in territories in which fam-ily is a cultural keystone,” says Armoza.“The format allowsfamilies to take over the dating process of a single person.Cultures in which the families are very involved in the dat-ing process, such as in the Mediterranean and Asian territo-ries, find the show very appealing.”

Global Agency has also found this type of format to be quitesuccessful, according to Izzet Pinto, the company’s CEO.“Our


Subtle seduction:ohm:tv’s Date YourNeighbour watches assingles look for lovewith other membersin their community.

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Eligible bachelors: FremantleMedia’s The Farmer Wants a Wife first launched in the U.K. and has nowaired in 19 territories, including Australia on Nine Network.


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best-selling wedding format is The Perfect Bride,” he says.“Theshow was first broadcast in Turkey in 2004, and broke all previ-ous ratings records by reaching a 71-percent share. It’s our pride.”

The series has been sold in 20 territories, including Italy,the Middle East,Korea and India.“The Perfect Bride focuses onthe relationship of brides and their future mothers-in-law.There are jokes about mothers-in-law in every country, inall societies.We witness this live on TV.”

Another Global Agency format, My Wedding Witness Is MyEx!, features former partners who are brought in to live along-side couples on their path to marriage.Pinto says that this out-of-the-ordinary scenario sets the stage for plenty of drama,which lures in audiences and generates buzz.“All these for-mats are so edgy that, the minute [broadcasters] air theseshows, they would receive incredible publicity. In today’s mar-ket, it’s all about creating buzz.The more people talk aboutyour show, the more advertising revenue you receive.”

BATTLE OF THE BRIDES There’s also a crop of wedding formats that cross over into thecompetition arena, like ITV Studios Global Entertainment’sFour Weddings.The show, originally commissioned by LIVINGin the U.K., features four competitive brides and fourextremely different nuptials.While one contestant is gettingmarried, the other three guest brides cast judgment andsecretly score the special day.The bride with the highest scoreat the end of each episode wins the ultimate prize, a five-stardream honeymoon.

In Armoza’s Extreme Wedding Album, one couple is tasked ontheir special day to perform a variety of challenges.For each chal-lenge they complete, a part of their wedding will be funded.

There’s also a competition premise in Televisa Internacional’sDancing for the Wedding of My Dreams, where ten couples battleit out to win an unforgettable wedding.“This format wasconceived just a couple of years ago,” says José Luis Romero,Televisa’s director of formats and new content. “Since thebeginning,we have tried to involve all kind of media resourcesto enhance the content.To give an example, the web portalsof the format give you a lot of information about the couples,fan polls, blogs and many other tools related to the currentmedia.At the end, we try to use all [possible] resources to givethe audience a unique entertainment experience.”

CULTURE CLASHA rather large hurdle in dealing with dating and marriage for-mats is taking into consideration cultural and religious dif-ferences around the world.These elements add an extra levelof difficulty to the adaptation process.

“While love may be universal, dating and weddings cer-tainly are not,” says Armoza.“Our show Till Our Parents DoUs Part is based on the premise that there are engaged coupleswhose parents have not yet met and that the reason for thatis that the parents come from completely different worlds—religions, political views, socioeconomic status, etc. Inhomogenous societies, it would be very difficult to find thesecouples. In countries that engage in very formal datingprocesses, in which the parents of an engaged couple wouldhave to meet before an engagement, the format would work,but would have to be adapted.”

There are some formats in the genre that even have con-cepts too salacious to be translated.“Some of our titles can’tenter all the markets,” says Global Agency’s Pinto, pointingto the controversial new series Rent a Mama, in which couplesvie for a free surrogacy service, while potential surrotatemothers compete for a cash prize.

For Karoline Spodsberg, the managing director of BanijayInternational, differences in religion and culture haven’t posedmuch of a problem.“We actually haven’t found that to be anissue.Love, relationships and their problems are very similar nomatter what country you come from.”

Other distributors, like Televisa, view these challenges as apositive opportunity. “Dealing with traditions and cultural issuesgives us the chance to be flexible with our formats,” saysRomero.“We keep learning with every twist and change thatwe [make] in an effort to achieve the best local adaptation foreach country.We believe in format evolution,and this evolutioncomes from experience, not only domestic, but international.”

Picture perfect:Armoza Formats’Extreme WeddingAlbum combinescompetition challengeswith the marriagegenre.


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A white wedding:The Perfect Bride fromGlobal Agency brokeratings records inTurkey with its launchin 2004.


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Talpa’s Meijs shares this sentiment.“It is challenging, butthat is also the fun part of international distribution.WithinTalpa we have a team of professional creatives and producerswho are aware of the need to respect and adapt to culturaldifferences worldwide.Our vision is to create formats suitablefor international distribution. For the local production, westrongly believe in using the local knowledge of the relevantculture.We partner together with our clients to see whatadjustments are needed to guarantee a good match with theirspecific TV audience.”

MATCH MADE IN HEAVENDating and marriage shows are actually quite adept at hittingthe target with specific audience segments. Inparticular, Clark at FremantleMedia hasnoticed that entertainment-style shows havea pull with the younger demographic.“Veryfew older people will watch Take Me Out,”he notes.“The young target audience will sitthere and watch it in millions.That’s the inter-esting thing about Take Me Out: from anadvertiser’s point of view, it’s almost a puremarket. It has an ability, because of its funnature and the lack of seriousness, to bringhome vast numbers of young people.”

Additionally, Banijay’s Spodsberg pointsout, dating and marriage shows are veryappealing to the female segment,“whichin many territories is more than 60 per-cent of the viewers,” she says.

However, it’s the juggling actbetween audience targets and schedul-ing that can make or break the show’ssuccess. FremantleMedia’s Clark notes,“There’s a general belief that dating andmarriage is the kiss of death for some chan-nels, and I don’t believe that’s true. I believethat on every channel, if it’s scheduled cor-rectly and targeted correctly, a good datingformat can work. It has to be handled with

care.You can’t just put it anywhere in your schedule; you needto be quite careful where you put a dating show. If it’s sched-uled right, then the target audience will come to that.”

Aside from their ability to hone in on a specific audiencesegment, dating and marriage formats are attractive to broad-casters because they are relatively inexpensive options.“Youget a lot of bang for the buck,” says Banijay’s Spodsberg.“Dat-ing shows, especially ones in a studio, are pretty cheap to pro-duce and still create strong emotions in a tense and excitingatmosphere.”

Since these shows are often stripped, they are produced inhigh volume so broadcasters can fill an extended number ofslots.“With the daily shows, they reduce the cost of total pro-duction budget per episode,” says Global Agency’s Pinto.“Itbecomes like an unscripted telenovela and the viewers can’tmiss a single episode.”

Indeed, shows in the dating and marriage genre havegained a reputation for keeping up loyal viewership. Manycredit the genuine, emotional stories being told as the reasonaudiences continue to tune in episode after episode.

“Viewers identify with the real-life emotions that the par-ticipants of the shows have to deal with,” says Televisa’sRomero.“The audience will always be willing to get involvedwith other people’s feelings.”

Love is unquestionably a universal emotion, making theappeal of these formats global in scope.“Dating shows havebeen and always will be extremely popular,” Spodsberg says.“Love is something everybody can relate to. No matter if youare single or in a relationship, you know the feelings goingthrough the minds of the contestants on a dating show, andyou want them to succeed and find the one true love…or failif they aren’t your cup of tea.” She adds,“These shows bringstrong positive emotions, which in the end will create verywatchable and entertaining feel-good content.”

World Screen

Goin’ to the chapel: ITV Studios’ Four Weddings, originally commissioned in theU.K. by LIVING, follows four competing brides and their nuptials.

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I now pronounce you:Couples head to thedance floor to win adream wedding inTelevisa’s Dancing forthe Wedding of MyDreams.

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As managing director of content and production at BBC World-wide, Wayne Garvie is responsible for securing the best possibleprogramming, whether by investing in independent productioncompanies or overseeing BBC Worldwide’s production activity.The company has wholly owned studios in New York, Paris andMumbai; joint-venture production outfits in Sydney, Toronto andBerlin; and local partnerships in Russia, Brazil and Argentina. Allthis production prowess is dedicated to finding good ideas forshows and adapting them properly to the tastes of local markets.

TV FORMATS: What has given the Dancing with the Stars for-mat its longevity and such success?GARVIE: First of all, it’s clearly a formula that works: it’s asimple format that is easily understood. Second, it’s a feel-good show. It was the first show that said,You know what?We’ve forgotten how much people really like to dance. Ithink everyone loves to dance!

It’s a show in which people are striving to be better at whatthey do, which is very important.Then of course it’s got theelement of reality—the backstage stories, the celebrity part ofit—mixed with traditional entertainment.That’s why it works.

It’s been licensed to more than 30 countries and we’verecently done deals with Albania and Greece. And thething about Dancing, it’s not a cheap show to do.This isone show that if you are going to do it you’ve got to doit properly, and it will work for you.You really have to havethe highest production standards. It shines in any network’sportfolio of programs because it’s live and it’s got the high-est production standards.

TV FORMATS: I’m hearing that there are two main types offormats that are doing well right now:either prime-time event-TV productions that will yield a large audience,or smaller nicheshows that can be placed anywhere in the schedule.GARVIE: I think you are right. First of all, every broadcasterwants that must-see live show,which Dancing clearly is.This isnot a show that you are going to record to watch later onyour TiVo.This is a show that you have to watch tonightbecause tomorrow you are going to talk about it with yourfriends.That carries a higher premium for advertisers.

The second thing broadcasters want is good content in therest of the schedule at a lower price.This isn’t one of ourshows, but Come Dine with Me, which is a British format thathas worked very well in Britain and around the world, is aperfect example. It’s a show that has a very good format, it’svery original and it can be executed at a lower price.Theone we’ve got in our portfolio is What Not to Wear; it’s on inthe U.S.,Russia and Italy.These are what we in Britain wouldcall factual-entertainment pieces that can be made in vol-ume and at a lower cost.

There is a third format and it’s a classic entertainment for-mat: quizzes and game shows, which are always there and arealways produced in volume.

And a fourth kind is scripted formats.We are finding nowthat there is a big appetite around the world for scripted for-mats, and we’ve seen this with telenovelas.We’re finding alot of interest in our scripted shows, of which the best exam-ple is The Office. It is in production in Israel, France, Canada,Chile, Russia and of course the U.S. version with SteveCarell, which is a fantastic piece of television.

TV FORMATS: What is the key to tailoring a format to dif-ferent territories? Is Dancing easier to tailor because it is sostraightforward and you know exactly what it is than per-haps a different format?GARVIE: Doing this job for the last three years, I have comeup with a very simple motto, which is, in Britain we havethe very best television in the world, and in Israel they have thevery best television in the world, and in Poland they havethe best television in the world. And you know what? Weare all right. Every country believes their television is thebest in the world. And if you are going to be successfulin the international formats business you have to under-stand the nuances, and often it’s just very subtle nuancesof how you can take a format and make it work in a dif-ferent territory.

If you look at Dancing, there is not really much differencebetween the U.S. version, the U.K. version, the Polish ver-sion and the Australian version. They are all just slightlynuanced.The biggest difference is probably India becausemusic and dance in India are very different from the ballroomdancing that you see in other countries.

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By Anna Carugati

Finding the Right Fit

BBC Worldwide’sWayne Garvie

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I think it is quite interesting that some formats work insome territories and others don’t work. We have a U.K.show called Baby Borrowers, which has played in Germany,the Netherlands, Belgium and India. It started in the U.K.when the company Love Productions was thinking aboutdoing an interesting television take on teenage pregnancy.Since teenage pregnancy isn’t an issue in India, our team inIndia adapted the format to the cultural sensibilities andtastes of the Indian market.They used celebrity couples whoare either married or engaged but without children, insteadof teenage couples, and it worked really well. I think it wasthe number-two-rated show in its time slot and got audi-ences of around 49 million people.

If you have an idea for a show you have to be aware of thenuances.And one of the reasons we like to have productionoutfits in different territories is that they are specialists in theirmarket. If you give a format to our Indian production team,they’ll look at it, and they’ll say,This doesn’t work, but if wedid this to it, we think it would.

TV FORMATS: This leads to my next question: your pro-duction companies in various territories.Why was it impor-tant to have one in Germany?GARVIE: We had been looking at Germany for a coupleof years, and we talked to various people.We couldn’t findthe right sort of fit.When you set up a company, you haveto find the right people who share your values and yourvision and we couldn’t find the right person, althoughthere was someone I really liked, a guy called Stefan Oelzewho had set up Granada’s business in Germany. But Ste-fan then left Granada and went to work for ALL3MEDIA,and I was thinking, Damn, I wish I had Stefan! And thenwe were approached by ALL3MEDIA, who said, “Look,Stefan likes you guys, you like Stefan, we’ve got a company

in Germany, what if we made this a joint venture?”And wethought that was really exciting.We like to partner withother people; that’s something we think we are quite goodat and we wanted to work with Stefan, so it was a bril-liant moment for us. Together with ALL3MEDIA weformed Tower Productions, one of the largest productioncompanies in Germany and it’s run by Germans whounderstand the market.

TV FORMATS: Are you looking to expand in other territo-ries as well? GARVIE: We’ve got a number of companies and the nextstage is making sure that they survive and become the leadingplayers in their individual markets. So now we are just look-ing for the right opportunities. Many companies have alreadybeen bought and sold internationally, particularly in the moredeveloped European markets. But if the right thing camealong with the right people and we thought the market wasa priority for us, yes, we would be interested.

TV FORMATS: What formats will you be highlighting at MIPTV?GARVIE: We’ve got a lot of shows from Love Productions.We just sold Filthy Rich & Homeless in the Netherlands.Famous, Rich & Homeless is in production in Spain.These areshows that take well-known people and make them see therealities of life on the breadline, in a way that is educationaland entertaining.

The Week the Women Win is a format that has played invarious places around Europe and Canada and we’ve donea U.S. version as well.We’re looking at some of our scriptedformats and deciding if now is the time to give them anextra push, as we have with The Office.We’ve got a showcalled Tonight’s the Night, which is getting a lot of interestinternationally.


Battle of the bulge: Fat Family Diet is one of the new format titles from BBC Worldwide.

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Home to such international hits as Big Brother and Deal or NoDeal, Endemol consists of a global network of 80 companies in 26countries and has a growing library of over 2,000 formats. Thecompany’s strategy of setting up production hubs with one mainset from which numerous local productions are shot has beenextremely successful, yielding, for instance, 23 versions of the hitWipeout. Tom Toumazis, the company’s chief commercial officer,highlights new shows, more hubs and new business opportunities.

TV FORMATS: Tell us about some of the big formats Ende-mol is working on.TOUMAZIS: One of the things we think is giving us a com-petitive advantage is the production-hub approach and thework we’ve done in Buenos Aires with Endemol Argentinato produce a number of very exciting shows.We did that firstwith Wipeout, where we’ve made 23 versions from the sameset. Most recently, Wipeout launched in Russia on Channel 1,and the original broadcast delivered a 25 share and a 16 rating.

These production hubs allow us to invest heavily in theshow’s infrastructure and deliver high-quality programmingthat you wouldn’t otherwise be able to replicate country bycountry.We’ve proven that with Wipeout, and we are nowbringing two other shows to the market. One is 101 Ways toLeave a Gameshow, which was co-developed by EndemolUSA and U.K., and we’re also presenting XXS at MIPTV,which is an Endemol Argentina property.

TV FORMATS:The production model in Argentina is unique.TOUMAZIS: It is the kind of approach that creates strong tele-vision at more affordable prices around the world.We can putmore on the screen than we would be able to if we built thesame set in each country,and many broadcasters just wouldn’t beable to do it.We put significant capital investment into thesetwo shows because they are huge sets. I can tell you that for 101Ways we constructed a building that allows us to shoot the gameshow on three different floors, and the top floor at the highestpoint is 75 feet.We are producing 101 Ways for the BBC,whichhas picked up eight episodes, and we already have a lot of inter-est from countries around the world.The other show is XXS.It’s a family game show where dads are pitted against dads,mumsagainst mums and kids against kids. It’s predicated on taking atraditional family environment like a living room or a kitchenwhere everything is around 100 times bigger than the contestants.Three families vie for cash prizes by competing against eachother.Therefore you create this great experience for families towatch.We’ve already shot the Turkish version and we have Brazil,Chile,Turkey and Portugal signed up as well.

TV FORMATS: What challenges and opportunities do yousee in the next 12 to 24 months? TOUMAZIS: We’re putting a lot of effort and energy intogame shows because we have seen a lot of demand for accessprime-time game shows.

We’re also excited about what we’ve achieved at EndemolSport. It’s the fastest-growing sports media company in Europe.We have relationships with the International Rugby Board,Man-chester City, with Eredivisie Live, our Dutch football channel,Ajax, Inter Milan, Goodwood and Superleague Formula.We’rebringing a number of formats to the market, including Football’sNext Star, which aired on Sky 1 and saw José Mourinho awardthe winning boy with a one-year contract with Inter Milan.

I would also point out our continued commitment to orig-inal digital productions.A great example is Endemol USA’sMarried on MySpace, which is returning for its second season.This is a show that was launched last year and proved to beincredibly successful, with 1 million votes cast online. Itreceived 15 million views and it’s the most-watched-everseries on MySpace. One lucky couple was selected to be theMySpace Wedding Couple, and everything from the cake tothe dress, honeymoon, venue, car, even the rings, were selectedby the MySpace community.The winning couple in seasonone, Elle and Tito, were such a big hit on MySpace they nowhave a show on the Latino network Sí TV in America. Soyou’ve got an original digital production, whose charactershave now migrated to the cable world.

Overall, I’d say our portfolio for this MIPTV is our mostdiverse ever, especially in view of our increased output inareas such as drama and sport.We’re looking forward to a busyweek in Cannes.

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By Anna Carugati

Tailor-Made Hits

Endemol’sTom Toumazis


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Fulfilling its mantra of “Formats that create buzz,” GlobalAgency has brought forth a number of contentious projectsintended to get the international market chattering.“We rep-resent probably the most controversial formats in the TVindustry,” asserts Izzet Pinto, the CEO of the Turkish outfit.“In order to stand out, you have to be different.”

Global Agency received a lot of attention at MIPCOM withits Choosing My Religion format.“That show generated an enor-mous buzz very quickly indeed, and was promptly snapped upin several major territories,” notes Andrew Sime, the head ofacquisitions at Global Agency.“We’re expecting it to be readyto launch in the near future, and that’s something that is veryimportant to us: it’s easy to come up with a controversial for-mat, but it takes a lot of hard work to get a show on the air.”

From the same creator as Choosing My Religion comes yetanother edgy format, Rent a Mama.The show features five cou-ples who are searching for surrogate mothers and get to live underthe same roof as 12 potential candidates. Over the course of 13weeks, the couples battle it out to win a free surrogacy service,while the chosen surrogacy candidate stands to win 250,000 euros.“Surrogacy is a big issue around the world right now, so as well asbeing a hugely entertaining format, Rent a Mama is also a timelylook at a fascinating and increasingly relevant subject,”Sime adds.

Further titles in Global Agency’s format portfolio includeThe Perfect Bride, My Wedding Witness is My Ex!, Super Talentedand The Big Challenge.

Pinto notes that the company has also been building out itscatalogue.“We recently opened two new divisions in our com-pany focusing on the sale of telenovelas and movies.When wefirst stepped into the entertainment business three and a halfyears ago at MIPCOM, we just had one format.We were noteven sure if we would be able to attend a second market. So farwe have attended 13 markets.We’ll be here for good!”

Today,Global Agency has 18 titles to offer, eight of which areformats, three are telenovelas and seven are movies.“Formatsdistribution is our main business,” says Pinto,“but we are plan-ning to grow in the movie industry as well.We acquired therights to the multi-award-winning movie Love in a DifferentLanguage. It’s a compelling love story about a deaf mute.Weare hoping to release it in 40 territories and also license theTV rights during MIPTV.” He adds,“We’ll be attending theCannes Film Festival as a buyer for the first time.”

Telenovelas are another area where Global Agency is makingfast progress.“Last year we started representing 1,001 Nights, atelenovela that had been making a big splash in its native Turkey,”says Sime.“We recognized its quality, and were soon able to sellit into neighboring Bulgaria,where its massive popularity—audi-ence shares frequently topped 50 percent—ensured that it quicklyspread throughout Central and Eastern Europe,and in the processsparked a trend in the region for Turkish telenovelas.The show hasnow been sold throughout Central and Eastern Europe, as wellas into other key territories such as the Middle East.”

Sime continues,“We’re currently building on this success,and have spent a lot of time looking for equally well-madetelenovelas and dramas that we think deserve a wider audi-ence. It’s a difficult process, but one we think will reap bigdividends, and we’re hoping to be able to announce someexciting new partnerships in this genre at MIPTV.”

Global Agency also recently picked up the format rightsto the telenovela Forbidden Love.“It’s probably one of the besttelenovelas I have ever watched,” says Pinto. “Millions ofviewers stay at home each Thursday evening in order to notmiss a single episode.We have confidence in this project andare passionate about turning it into a global franchise.”

Though its eye is toward expansion,Global Agency is quiteselective about what it adds to its slate.“When we decide torepresent a new project, we make sure that it fits everyregion,” says Pinto.“We are not interested in selling our titlesto only neighboring countries.When we first set up the com-pany, our goal was to be a global company, and that’s whywe picked the name Global Agency.”

Pinto expects brisk business with international buyers atMIPTV because,he says,“Everybody is looking for unique pro-jects. People are tired of walking around the Palais and watch-ing the trailers of simple formats.When we pitch our projectsto clients, we see surprise or laughter on their faces.”

TV FORMATS46

By Kristin Brzoznowski

World Screen 4/10396

Global Agency’s crop ofcontroversial formats has broughtthe company a flurry of attention,leaving it ripe for expansion.

The BuzzBringing

Rent a Mama

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TV Formats MIPTV 2010