TV Formats MIPTV 2011

MIPTVEDITION

Production ModelsTalent FormatsSPT’s KeesAbrahamsRed Arrow’s Jan FroumanStephen Lambertwww.tvformats.ws THE MAGAZINE FOR THE FORMAT BUSINESS APRIL 2011

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08 TV FORMATS

Banijay International has been working hard to get the mes-sage out to clients that “we are at the forefront of the globalcontent business and an essential stop in their busy marketdiary,” says Karoline Spodsberg, managing director. Thecompany has a range of new formats to offer its clients aswell, each with its own set of strengths. “Both Try Sleepingin My Bed and Night Life have already aired to excellent rat-ings,” says Spodsberg. “One Night Stand puts a fresh, mod-ern spin on the dating format...and is a great cost-effectivechoice for broadcasters targeting a young audience. Back onthe Job taps into our fascination with celebrities and how theylive their lives when they are just being ‘ordinary people,’humbling them and bringing fascinating insight into theirearly lives and upbringings.” There’s also the game showHoney, Pack the Bags!

• Try Sleeping in My Bed• One Night Stand• Back on the Job• Night Life• Honey, Pack the Bags!

One Night Stand

Banijay International

“With an expanded salesteam and diverse slate oftitles, we are confident wewill deliver strong sales atthe market.”

—Karoline Spodsberg

For this MIPTV, Armoza Formats has developed program-ming “according to what we view as today’s current trendsand the broadcasters’ programming needs for 2011,” saysCEO Avi Armoza. This includes the prime-time gameshow Still Standing, which has been picked up by NBC inthe U.S. Following the success of Connected, which debutedat MIPCOM, Armoza is highlighting four new factual-entertainment formats. These are With This Ring, an in-depth study of marriage; A Star Is Reborn, a docu-realityshow about celebrity has-beens trying to get back on top;TLV, featuring young professionals trying to conquer thebig city; and the kids’ cooking format Delicious. “And ofcourse we’re bringing with us two new scripted formats,”Armoza says, pointing to Danny Hollywood and Pick-Up.“Israel’s TV industry is so creative, and the dramas thatemerge from the market are provocative and daring andextremely well conceived.”

• Still Standing• TLV• With This Ring• Delicious• A Star Is Reborn

Armoza Formatswww.armozaformats.com

IN THIS ISSUE

Taking the PlungeProduction hubs areamong the models being used by the format majors 18

Got the TalentDancing and singing talent shows are all the rage 26

InterviewsSPT’s Kees Abrahams 32Red Arrow’s Jan Frouman 34Stephen Lambert 36

ProfileBanijay’s Sold! 38

Delicious

“The format industry continues to grow atan incredible rate, and we’re very happy tocontribute to its growth and to the innovationin today’s international market.”

—Avi Armoza

www.banijayinternational.com

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Ricardo Seguin GuisePublisher

Anna CarugatiEditor

Mansha DaswaniExecutive EditorKristin BrzoznowskiManaging EditorMorgan Grice

Editorial AssistantMatthew Rippetoe

Lauren UdaProduction and Design

DirectorsSimon WeaverOnline DirectorPhyllis Q. BusellArt DirectorCesar Suero

Sales and MarketingManager

Terry AcunzoBusiness Affairs Manager

Alyssa MenardSales and MarketingCoordinator

Ricardo Seguin GuisePresident

Anna CarugatiExecutive VP and

Group Editorial DirectorMansha DaswaniVP of StrategicDevelopment

TV Formats© 2011 WSN INC.1123 Broadway, #1207New York, NY 10010

Phone: (212) 924-7620

Fax: (212) 924-6940

Website: www.tvformats.ws

While Fox LOOK has announced it is restructuring, it willwrap up deals on its slate of non-scripted reality series fromthe FOX stable, Fox-owned channels and Hasbro Studios.Included in the lineup is The Glee Project, in which peoplecompete for a spot on the third season of FOX’s hit prime-time show Glee.World’s Most Wanted is also based on a FOXhit. The prime-time show Mobbed, which showcases the flash-mob phenomenon, is also in the mix. From Fuel TV, FoxLOOK has Slam!, featuring a variety of sports crashes. FromHasbro comesThe Game of Life, based on the board game.David Lyle, the president, said in a memo to Fox LOOK

staff: “After thorough evaluation and much discussion withinFox Networks Group, we’ve decided there will be better waysfor the group to realize the value of our unscripted program-ming internationally.”

• The Glee Project• World’s Most Wanted• Mobbed• Slam!• The Game of Life

The Glee Project

Fox LOOK

“Thesetitles reflectthe richdiversity ofFox LOOK’scatalogue.”

—David Lyle

• Dream School • Four Rooms • Walk the Line • Total Blackout • Do the Right Thing

FremantleMedia

FremantleMedia has a roster of global megahits such as The XFactor and Idols, as well as two of the most successful travelingformats of 2010, Got Talent and Take Me Out. New to the slateis Dream School, in which leading figures work with pupilswho have failed in the traditional school system. Four Roomsfollows ordinary salespeople who are given a once-in-a-life-time chance to sell precious possessions. Walk the Line is partreality series, part game show, while Total Blackout is a gameshow that takes place in complete darkness. Do the Right Thinghas contestants competing for the opportunity to change theworld for the better. “MIPCOM proved that broadcastersare buying again, and with the range of quality program-ming that we are bringing to MIPTV we’re confident thatwe’ll continue to see very strong demand,” says Rob Clark,the president of worldwide entertainment.

www.fremantlemedia.com

Dream School

“FremantleMedia hasa broad-based slate ofproven hits and freshoriginal formats, and Iam confident that thiswill be a very successfulmarket for us.”

—Rob Clark

TV FORMATS10

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

www.foxlook.com

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12 TV FORMATS

278 World Screen 4/11

The demand for formats that have been proven hits is alwaysstrong, and ITV Studios Global Entertainment has a roster ofthese to offer up. “When broadcasters acquire our formats,they are not just buying into innovative ideas, they are gain-ing a proven hit, often in multiple territories, and the verysignificant benefit of our vast experience in producing theseshows,” says Tobias de Graaff, the director of global televisiondistribution. For MIPTV, de Graaff is highlighting the titlesThe Chase and Perfection. He is also keen to promote thestrengths of Coach Trip, a travel-meets-reality show featuringseven pairs of strangers traveling together on a bus tour, andFour Weddings, a competition between brides who are plan-ning four extremely different nuptials. Popstar to Opera star, anITV Studios production for ITV1, challenges brave pop starsto enter a new musical genre in the hopes of becoming abona fide opera sensation. “As ever we are expecting a busyand very productive market,” de Graaff remarks.

• Popstar to Operastar • The Chase • Four Weddings • Coach Trip • Perfection

ITV Studios GlobalEntertainmentwww.itvstudios.com

Generating “buzz” has been a key focus for the Turk-ish outfit Global Agency since its inception. With astrong content lineup and a dedicated sales team, thecompany has seen tremendous growth in the past fiveyears. “Global Agency believes in creativity withoutlimits, but we are very selective about the formatswe take on,” says Izzet Pinto, CEO. “We make surethat only the best projects with the highest chanceof commercial success are presented to our buyers.”For this market, these titles include Perfect Bride andForbidden Love. “Our dating format My Ex Is My Wit-ness! is in the spotlight now as it heads into produc-tion in the U.S.,” adds Pinto. “The King’s Jungle is agreat adventure format that combines strategy andendurance. Our latest addition is Shopping Monsters,which will offer buyers a really fresh approach to aperennial theme.”

• My Ex Is My Witness! • Shopping Monsters • The King’s Jungle• Perfect Bride• Forbidden Love

Global Agency

My Ex Is My Witness!

“Global Agency has earned its reputation byrepresenting highly original formats, and wecontinue to add to our portfolio.”

—Izzet Pinto

www.theglobalagency.tv

Coach Trip

“Our strength as a distributor is deliveringwell-established entertainment and factual-entertainment formats which offer broad-casters content with longevity.”

—Tobias de Graaff


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14 TV FORMATS

After having established itself as a supplier of reality pro-gramming, Rive Gauche Television is stepping into theformats arena. This effort is being launched with thegame shows Cyber Smarts, Style Diva and Hunch. “Theyare all simple, clear and promotable concepts that willenable our partners to produce low-cost, original pro-gramming that targets key demos,” says David Auerbach,the president of Rive Gauche. The company got off toa solid start, with its studio-based game show Hunch get-ting picked up by Endemol in France. “My goal is toincrease awareness for Rive Gauche as a supplier of orig-inal and innovative formats,” says Auerbach. “While thecompany may be a relative newcomer to the formatsbusiness, I’m fortunate to have been involved in creat-ing a wide variety of successful formats during my 17years with Warner Bros.” His expectations of MIPTV“are that I will meet some smart commissioning edi-tors, enjoy hearing them laugh when they play ourgames and close a few deals.”

• Cyber Smarts• Style Diva• Hunch

www.rivegauchetelevision.com

Following the enormous success of The King’s Speech,winner of this year’s Academy Award for best picture,Leopard is bringing to the market My Life: StammerSchool. Katie Stephenson, an international sales executive,says the half-hour production is a “timely and engagingdocumentary, which will appeal across internationalmarkets.” Leopard is also bringing the brand-new showTrade Your Way to the USA, which recently premiered tostrong ratings on CBBC. “The program’s central themeof the importance of learning business skills in today’sworld offers universal appeal,” Stephenson notes. Areturning hit in Leopard’s catalogue, Cash in the Attic,continues to attract global interest and is currently airingin 167 countries. “Its relevance is increased today in thisera of global austerity,” adds Stephenson. The slate isrounded out with the youth format Freshly Squeezed,which features interviews with celebrities and live per-formances from some of today’s hottest acts.

• Trade Your Way to the USA• Freshly Squeezed• My Life: Stammer School• Cash in the Attic

Leopard InternationalMy Life: Stammer School

“We have significantly increased the numberof formats and programs in our catalogue,supplementing the Leopard Films productionslate by signing a number of third-party deals.”

—Katie Stephenson

www.leopardinternational.com

Cyber Smarts

“[All our formats] havegreat cross-platformopportunities built in;there is nothing like themcurrently on the air.”

—David Auerbach

Rive Gauche Television


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16 TV FORMATS

Truly a global operation, Sparks Network harnesses thecombined strength of its various member companies fromall corners of the globe. Recently, the company set its sightson further expansion in Latin America, Asia and otheremerging markets. Nicola Söderlund, president, is alsofocused on meeting with clients year-round, rather thanjust at MIPTV or MIPCOM. “MIPTV has become moreof a meeting place to get new acquaintances and deepenongoing relations. And it’s a lot about branding your com-pany. Having said that, at MIPTV you can obviously strikedeals and spark interest for new shows.” Söderlund isbetting on titles such as Clash of the Nations, Pirates and Super-market Challenge to spark that interest from buyers in Cannes.There’s also the family entertainment show Hide & Seekand Just Married, which has been a big success in Korea. Hesays these shows tout original concepts, with appealingstory telling qualities, “and all [have] hit potential.”

• Clash of the Nations• Pirates• Supermarket Challenge• Hide & Seek• Just Married

Sparks Network

Toac is highlighting a number of series from its formatcatalogue, including the award-winning RememberWhen, a leading prime-time drama on Spanish TVsince 2001. The series is set during the last years ofFrancoist rule and the transition to democracy in Spainand features original footage of events from those years,focusing on times that are part of the country’s collec-tive memory. Toac will present the format at MIPTV,along with the extreme reality series Snow Rescue,which is based on the story of the Uruguayan rugbyteam that was stranded in the snowy Andes Mountainsand forced to resort to desperate measures to survive.The game-show format The Million Game featuresthree contestants competing for a cash prize byexhibiting their current-affairs and general knowledge.Also on offer will be the docu-reality series One Morein the Family and the dating show Twins.

• Remember When• Snow Rescue• The Million Game• One More in the Family• Twins

Toacwww.toac.tv

Clash of the Nations

“[These] are well-devised,strong formats with originalityand appealing storytelling.”

—Nicola Söderlund

Snow Rescue

Remember When

www.sparksnetwork.com


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World Screen 4/11284

Thousands of contestants have suf-fered through bruised limbs and the public humiliation of

being bounced, unflatteringly, off an oversized red ball in thequest for a cash prize on Wipeout. Most walk away no richerthan they were when they arrived. But there is a consolationprize: they did score themselves a free trip to Buenos Aires. The Argentinean capital is the home to the international set

for the hit Endemol format, with a total of 29 versions havingbeen produced at the central location. “Wipeout is probably ourbest-known example of a show produced from an internationalhub,” says Tom Toumazis, the chief commercial officer at Endemol. The attention afforded to it is not surprising, given the pedi-

gree of the show—following its initial rollout on ABC in theU.S., the obstacle-course format has been adapted for the U.K.(BBC), Canada (TVtropolis), Australia (Nine Network) andIndia (Imagine TV), among others. But Wipeout is certainly notthe first format to have used this production model to efficientlyproduce multiple versions. “We already [use a production hub] with Fort Boyard, which

is one of the most successful adventure game shows in theworld, and have been doing so since the early 1990s,” says Barn-aby Shingleton, the head of entertainment at Zodiak Rights.

Produced in France by the Zodiak-owned Adventure LineProductions (ALP), Fort Boyard is a “geographically specific for-mat,” Shingleton notes, tied to the structure of the same nameoff the coast of France. The case is similar with Banijay International’s 71 Degrees

North, produced in Norway, where contestants must trek to alocation 71 degrees north of the equator. “You can’t buy theformat without producing it with us in Norway,” says KarolineSpodsberg, the managing director of Banijay International. “Thelocation is keyed to the format.”

DOLLARS AND SENSEThe most compelling case for setting up a hub, distributors agree,is if it makes financial sense for both the producer and the broad-caster. Clearly, the types of shows best suited to the production-hub approach are those that require a large, expensive set.“ABC was able to get behind a set being built on the scaleneeded,” says Toumazis on the initial U.S. deal for Wipeout.“However, there aren’t that many markets that would havedelivered the necessary return on that kind of investment.There were a number of territories that wanted the showand were all interested at the same time, so it became clearto us that instead of building what is a capital-intensive

structure in three or four territories, we would put allour focus into one location and fly in the contest-ants and the production crew from everywhere.”Even if a market can afford that initial outlay,

Zodiak’s Shingleton says, “Sharing productionfacilities can help improve margins and lowercosts…. Production hubs help maintain or

improve production values by amortizing costs acrossa number of productions.” Zodiak is currently setting up a hubfor its new adventure game show, Family Explorer.“You tend to want to do this on big shows with big sets,”

Toumazis adds. “It tends to be on properties that we’re pitch-ing to numerous territories across the world at the same time.We want to make sure that when something is working well wecan quickly bring in other markets.”For Wipeout, the hub means that broadcasters have all been

able to access new obstacle courses that were added to the setas versions have gone into new seasons. The hub approach requires a tremendous level of efficiency,

Toumazis says. “When you go there, it’s incredible, you’ve gotthe Canadian crew coming in, the British crew going out, theUkrainian crew preparing to land, and each one of them isassigned a certain number of days to produce each episode.Making sure that the set is fully utilized on an ongoing basis iskey. The logistics of getting people in and out is one of thethings that you’ve really got to get right.”The expertise that is developed when the model is well

thought out is a big part of the format package sold to theclient, notes Banijay’s Spodsberg. “Nordisk Film TV, which is aBanijay company, has been producing 71 Degrees North formany years, with amazing success year after year. They havemore or less almost tried it all; there is no stone unturned in that

The establishment of production hubsis just one of the models being used

by the format majors to efficiently rollout titles across multiple markets.

TV FORMATS18

By Mansha Daswani

theTaking

Zodiak’sFort Boyard.

Plunge

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pretty severe, dangerous, scary route that the crew is taking.When a broadcaster and production company fly in with theirhost, cast and some key creative staff, everything is up and run-ning from day one. They don’t have to do their own learning,they don’t have to make all the mistakes that the local crew havemade and corrected! The production will be more effectiveand the client will have a better chance of hitting the target, get-ting it right on camera first time round.”

The model has worked so well for Banijay, Spodsberg says,that it is evaluating a hub approach for Dilemma, its hit Frenchformat that puts its contestants under surveillance in a housefor 24 hours a day.

JUST CAUSE“When you’re investing in a centralized hub, you have to bepretty certain that the format has either an economic or a cre-ative need for a centralized hub,” says Rob Clark, the presidentof worldwide entertainment at FremantleMedia, a companythat historically has not made great use of the production-hubconcept. “We don’t have a central production hub in a corner ofLatin America,” quips Clark. “However, we do make multipleshows on the same set if it’s appropriate.”

It was appropriate in one instance for Total Blackout,Clark says, with the Danish, Swedish and Norwegian ver-sions all being produced in Copenhagen. “We had threesales that were made at the same time, three differentbroadcasters, roughly in the same part of the world,” saysClark. That set, however, would not be used by otherbroadcasters for their own versions of Total Blackout. “It’sonly a studio, it makes no economic sense, no creativesense” to use that hub for other territories.

“I’m not anti-hub,” Clark continues, “but if you make thesorts of shows we make at the moment, then it’s pointless hav-ing a hub.”

FremantleMedia’s big brands, Clark notes, including Idols, GotTalent, The X Factor and The Price Is Right, which require live stu-dio audiences, don’t need a centralized location and, moreimportantly, would not work with one. “You couldn’t build oneset for The X Factor in the whole of Europe.”

What does make sense for FremantleMedia—indeed, for allthe format majors—is the use of flying producers, who are dis-patched to sets around the world to make sure that all goes wellwith a local adaptation.

“If you don’t have the same production company making ashow then you need a system of best practices and a system ofenthusiasm and passion that is passed down the line from theoriginating producers,” Clark explains. “The flying producersare not policemen. They do not walk round the world with atruncheon or a gun telling people that they can’t do this andthey can’t do that. The flying producers fly in during the pre-production stage and do workshops with the people that aremaking the show, and they try to instill a vision of what thatshow is. Then they fly out and let the people get on with it.They will come back for the first series day of production. Theymonitor, they correct things that are going wrong, they advise,they cajole. And then we see the finished version, and we passon notes; we expect them to be acted on. It’s not a police role,we try to win people over. It’s sort of carrot and stick. There’san awful lot of carrot and I suppose a little bit of stick. I’m oftenthe big stick!”

SHARED LEARNINGAt Endemol, Iris Boelhouwer, the managing director of creativeoperations, oversees what Toumazis calls the “creative supportteam. This is a very important component of our business. Ulti-mately, we need to ensure that the integrity and identity of ourbrands is maintained. These producers play a key role in shar-ing best practices from around the world. As many of our showsevolve, it’s up to this team to introduce that shared learning ineach territory.”

Distributors note that flying producers are an integral part ofthe overall package sold to a production company or broad-caster; a package that also includes bibles, graphics, branding andmore. “We want to provide maximum service to our local part-ners in each place,” says Kees Abrahams, the president of inter-national production at Sony Pictures Television (SPT). “Thetraveling producers have so much knowledge of the format—they are there to explain what it says in the production bible,


The big picture: SPT is using its network of production companies and a stable of travelling consultants to roll out hit new titlessuch as Stand Out from the Crowd.

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to implement the materials in terms of graphics, music, software,set design, a certain way of directing a show.”

In addition to maintaining the integrity of an adaptation,flying producers can sometimes “lead to new adaptations aswell,” Abrahams adds. “For example, we have a traveling pro-ducer named Rod Taylor who when working with Nine Net-work in Australia invented a new spin-off of Who Wants to Be aMillionaire? called Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Hot Seat. It’s anew, different version that has been traveling to various territo-ries. There’s a lot of creativity in that process.”

Zodiak’s Shingleton has found that in markets where localpartners do not take full advantage of the input from the for-mat rights-owner, “the success rate of a format is much lower.Production consultants help ensure our shows are produced aswell as possible. Sometimes local producers can feel threatenedby production consultants, but it is important to remember thatour consultants are not there to ‘teach’ producers how to maketelevision shows; they’re there to help producers avoid the pit-falls and mistakes made in the original production, and to iden-tify the shortcuts to make productions more efficient. Thesearen’t always obvious to experienced producers. A couple ofdays on the ground can mean the difference between a suc-cessful and profitable production and a costly show which failsto meet its potential.”

Ensuring the success of an adaptation, however, starts muchearlier in the process; before flying producers have been dis-patched, format owners need to find the right production houseto handle the local version.

This is where having a network of production companiescomes in handy, distributors note. “If you own a production com-pany, then all the revenues and profits flow into your group,” saysSPT’s Abrahams. “But there are territories where we have tobring in other people. Providing a high-quality compelling prod-uct that can be a signature for the client is the ultimate goal.Whether it goes to a wholly owned production company, a partlyowned production company, or an individual that you knowthat you can set something up with or hire as an employee—theone thing that is important is that the people who execute ourintellectual properties are top-notch creators and producers.”

COOPERATIVE APPROACHEndemol has a presence in 30-plus territories, Toumazis says.Outside of the network, “we find like-minded partners whohave the same core values of strong creativity and a reputation forbeing reliable and delivering strong programming that worksfor our clients. There are also examples where we work withbroadcasters who have their own production capabilities, but inevery instance, we would have our own creative producers thereto help ensure that the DNA of the property is maintained.”

Zodiak also owns a large pool of production outlets world-wide, Shingleton says. “Ongoing relationships between ZodiakRights and our partners in the Zodiak Media Group meanthere is an easy flow of production expertise from one terri-tory to another. Ultimately, this means a better product for ourbroadcaster clients. Although we enjoy working with new pro-duction companies in territories where we are not present,there’s nothing like working with established colleagues tomake a great show.”

When Zodiak has to a select a partner, it looks for outletsthat have a “track record in producing similar sorts of shows.For example, if we’re looking for a production partner forSecret Millionaire, we need to find a company that has the pas-sion, understanding, experience and sensitivity to replicatethe success of the format in their own territory. We areunlikely to choose a producer that has never made a factual-entertainment show before.”

Ultimately, choosing the wrong partner can be costly,resulting in poor ratings for an adaptation, which coulddamage the value of the franchise as a whole. “If you don’tprotect and stick to the soul of the format, it can lose itsstrength very fast,” says Banijay’s Spodsberg.

That doesn’t mean, however, that rights-owners aren’t beingflexible when it comes to local adaptations. “You can take a day-time game show that maybe is successful in a market like theU.K. and then you can adapt it to a local market and make itinto a prime-time show, but the core of the game show muststay the same,” Spodsberg says.

Winter wonderland:Broadcasters who signup for Banijay’s 71 Degrees North mustfilm their versions inNorway.


Head first:More than 20 versionsof Endemol’s Wipeouthave been produced at a central hub inBuenos Aires.

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Such is the case with Deal or No Deal, Toumazis says. “The U.S.version, U.K. version and the Australian version all have the samebasic construct, but all are tailored specifically to their market,their broadcaster and their time slot: a major U.S. prime-timeshow, a stripped daily U.K. show that is made for late afternoon,and a 30-minute daily strip in access prime time in Australia.”

Even more flexibility is required for factual-entertainmentformats, Spodsberg says. “You often have to be quite open to localadaptations, because the local culture, local tone, local way oftelling a story, local way of getting a message across, is key to cre-ating a success. It’s about creating those clear format pillars thatcan be taken to whatever local adaptation you might choose.”

SOLID STRUCTUREFremantleMedia’s Clark takes a firm view on making changesto a format. “A format is a structure which the show actually sitsin. The content of the show is the local element. We don’t letpeople just change formats willy-nilly because you’ve got someclever producer who thinks he knows better. We’re not a pro-duction company that sits there with one or two shows thathave sold in a few territories. In this office, we’re looking afterhundreds of shows around the world, and quite often they’reshows that have been made very well over a number of yearsand are still selling and are still gaining more viewers. So on thewhole we don’t change formats. However, if somebody has gota very good idea, and they’re passionate about it and they reallybelieve it’s the right way to do it, then they have to talk to aflying producer and then they have to talk to me and, if it’s athird-party format, with our partners. We will discuss it. Theprocess isn’t static, but there are lots of checks in there. I was aproducer and I love producers, but they think every idea they’vegot is fantastic, and it’s not always the case. These shows have tobe loved and cared for because they are very valuable.”

Evolution, however, is natural for formats that have beenon the market for a long time, Clark adds. “If you look atThe Price Is Right, it’s hardly changed from 1956 to presentday, but if you look at the way it’s made now in most ter-ritories, it’s made very differently. The technology used andthe speed of the game and the way it’s edited is very dif-ferent, but the format is the same.”

As SPT’s Abrahams stresses, the degree of flexibility you canhave with a local adaptation is entirely dependent on thenature of the format itself. He uses as an example the scriptedcomedy Everybody Loves Raymond and how it was formattedin Russia. “The way the set looks is completely different fromthe original American version, so the living room and thekitchen are Rus sian rather than American. We make sure thatthe characters culturally fit the Russian society. There aresome jokes in the original that we have to adapt to the Russ-ian marketplace and the script has to be adjusted accordingly.But the fundamentals of the show are the same. It’s a greatshow because of the way it was composed, because of the waythe episodes work, the way the jokes are done and how theconfrontations between the different characters work. Thereis a certain level [of changes] you can make, but once you starttouching the fundamentals of the show, you have to say stop.In the scripted world the scripts are the essence and they arewritten in a certain way for a very good reason. They’ve beentried out in multiple territories, so you can’t just change itcompletely and believe that you still have the same qualityof show.”

Ultimately, whatever model is used, respecting the originalformat is crucial, Abrahams adds. “A good show is a good showfor a reason. There is a structure, there is a certain look andfeel, there are entertainment brand values you have to respect soas not to kill the original idea.”


24 TV FORMATS

Dating down under:The Australian versionof FremantleMedia’sFarmer Wants a Wifeis produced by itslocal operation forNine Network.

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TV FORMATS26

Week after week, season after season, talent com-petitions continue to take top billing on a num-ber of the world’s biggest broadcasters. These

shows have proved their staying power by consistentlydrawing huge numbers of viewers, making them must-havetent-pole programs for advertiser-hungry networks.

The genre’s enduring appeal is epitomized by Idols. One ofthe most successful entertainment formats ever launched, Idolshit the air in 2001 and has since broadcast 167 series across 44territories, scoring a solid track record of success in each coun-try along the way. The singing competition is currently themost-watched TV series in the U.S. and is the only programto hold on to that coveted spot for seven consecutive seasons.

In order to maintain its success over the years, the format hashad a few facelifts. “Idols has its tenth birthday this year, which isactually fairly old for a format, but it certainly doesn’t look itsage,” says Rob Clark, the president of worldwide entertainmentat FremantleMedia. “Any format within that period of time willhave had tweaks and changes, and Idols remails enormously pop-ular because we’ve made sure it still feels fresh,” he says, notingthat the core structure has always remained intact.

“In terms of the people, what they sing, how it’s shot, howit’s edited, it looks very different,” explains Clark. “That’s

because the industry has moved on. What viewers expect hasmoved on. If you look at the live shows, they have used newsets, new technology, new camera angles, new songs.” Otherchanges have included expanding the age limit for contestantsand adjusting the number of judges on the panel. “You’re look-ing at a format which has not been kept in formaldehyde,which has been allowed to be tweaked to keep it relevantaround the world,” Clark adds.

THE TOTAL PACKAGEFremantleMedia’s catalogue features a number of formats witha talent-competition angle, many of which have becomemegahits. The X Factor, a search for the next pop star, is amongthe biggest TV talent competitions in Europe. The format hasaired in 23 countries, often rating as the number one show. Aftermore than half a decade at the top of British television, The XFactor is making its way to the U.S. this fall.

“The X Factor is an enormous entertainment spectacle,”Clark says. “It’s driven at its heart by the competition betweenthe judges and the scale of the production. The auditions inAmerica will take place in huge arenas. People who have neversung on a stage before, they’ll come out and face those super-star judges, the thousands of people in the arena, and it’s daunt-ing. From a viewer experience, it’s spectacular.”


Singing and dancing competitions have remained popular prime-time staples,

and are entering their next phase of evolution. By Kristin BrzoznowskiTalentGot the

Televisa’sSinging for a Dream and

Dancing for a Dream.

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Another FremantleMedia format, Got Talent, features contest-ants showcasing a broader range of skills and performance styles.“It has huge figures around the world,” says Clark. “It’s prettymuch in every major market and most minor markets at themoment and was 2010’s most successful travelling format.” While talent competitions have proved to be successful forFremantleMedia, Clark admits that there was a time whenmany believed the song-and-dance showcase was gone fromTV for good. “When I was a young producer, I was told thatwe’d never have singing or dancing on television again, by verywise people,” he recalls. “Look how wrong they were.”

DANCE FEVERIndeed, dancing competitions have shown themselves as a forceto be reckoned with. Among the most successful is BBC World-wide’s Strictly Come Dancing, sold internationally as Dancing with theStars. Having started as an amateur competition for ballroom danc-ing, the show was catapulted to new heights with the idea to usecelebrity contestants. In 2010, the popular dance show wasinducted into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’smost successful reality-TV format. It has been sold to more than35 countries around the world, with more than a quarter of a bil-lion people estimated to have watched some version of the pro-gram since it was launched.“It’s sold to some of the biggest broad-casters in the world,” says Elin Thomas, the VP of format sales forEurope, the Middle East and Africa at BBC Worldwide. “An inter-esting thing about the format is that here we are quite a number ofyears since the original show premiered and we’re still doing firsts,”adds Duncan Cooper, the executive producer for formats and localproductions at BBC Worldwide. “We had Albania, Greece andVietnam last year, and we’ve got France and Indonesia coming outin a couple of months. It’s still selling!”Along with the celebrity allure, a key part of the format’ssuccess is its universal themes. “The music is a big element,

and one of the things that makes it work is acombination of the traditional dancing and themodern music,” says Cooper. Each country has its own unique flavor in thisregard, and the show is easily adapted to incorpo-rate the local styles. Cooper notes examples ofIndia’s Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, which features Bolly-wood dance numbers, and Bulgaria’s DancingStars, which has traditional folk dancing alongsidemore modern routines. Televisa Internacional has put its own spin onthe music-and-dance competition genre, withtitles such as Singing for a Dream, Dancing for a Dreamand Dancing for the Wedding of My Dreams. “If youwin any of these competitions, you will have thechance to change the life of a loved one,” explainsJosé Luis Romero, the director of formats and newcontent at Televisa. “There is no money or flashyprizes involved, just the goodwill to make a dif-ference in someone’s life. That’s our plus.” These formats have been produced in a range ofterritories, from Latin America (Ecuador, CostaRica, Peru) to Eastern Europe (Slovakia, the CzechRepublic, Romania). Most of the pickups havebeen from free-TV stations, Romero notes, andthe formats are nearly always placed in prime time. Romero says the shows get a great response

from audiences, since they tap into viewers’ personal dreamsand motivations. Maintaining a loyal audience is just one of thebenefits these formats can offer a broadcaster, he points out.“They open a wide window for ancillary business, and theyalso promote the broadcaster’s altruistic and goodwill image.”

GO TO THE PROSThe combination of music and dance has also translatedinto success for Strix International’s Floor Filler. The showfeatures 12 young men and women who hone their talentswith the help of professionals at a dance academy. “Floor Filler is vastly different compared to other dance andtalent shows on the market,” says Mia Engström, the director ofStrix International. “Most dance-based formats consist of aweekly prime-time show, but with Floor Filler the format isstripped five days a week with a weekly prime-time dance-off.” She adds, “By offering viewers shiny floors, glamour andsetting up a dance academy with professional dance teachers,we get to know and follow the dancers’ hardships and theirdaily struggles to become the nation’s best dancer.”Engström says that the format can play across daytime, accessprime or prime time, and is suitable for either free TV or payTV. “The show provides a strong lead-in to the right targetgroups and builds a strong brand that hopefully will last for sev-eral seasons, thus giving the broadcaster a faithful audiencethat tunes in every day on various platforms.”In an evolution of the dance genre, ITV Studios GlobalEntertainment’s Dancing on Ice takes contestants away fromthe dance floor and onto a more challenging performancespace. Tobi de Graaff, ITV’s director of global television distri-bution, explains: “Dancing on Ice takes celebrities through anincredible journey; most of them have never even dancedbefore, let alone on ice.The show is an impressive investmentof time and energy; we see celebrities’ triumphs, their disap-


28 TV FORMATS

The right moves:BBC Worldwide’s hitcelebrity-based danceformat Dancing withthe Stars is in itsfourth season in India.

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pointments and their physical transformation. For many, wealso witness them overcoming their fear of performing on ice,something the audience can easily relate to.”

He continues, “It is this, along with the scale and quality ofproduction and pure show-business glamour, that sets Dancingon Ice apart from other formats in the genre.”

SIZE MATTERSDancing on Ice is an ambitious large-scale production, which iswhy its broadcasters use it as a prime-time anchor for the sea-son. However, producing a show of this size isn’t feasible for allbroadcasters, de Graaff admits. “Not everyone can work on thesame budget. However, our expectations for the programremain high. So our job is to go the extra mile to come upwith a budget and a show which delivers on the quality of pro-duction we and our customers expect from the Dancingon Ice brand and ITV Studios’ formats.”

Not all dance formats are as costly to produce. Anexample of this is MTV Networks International’s(MTVNI) Dance Cam Slam, a new multiplatform compe-tition series from VH1 making its debut at MIPTV. “ForVH1 and all our broadcast licensees around the world, it’sfantastic because they can actually get into the forum ofdoing talent shows in a way that’s [less risky],” says Caro-line Beaton, MTVNI’s senior VP of international programsales. “Dance Cam Slam has got a proven track record.We’ve got the infrastructure to cast it and run it and cando it in a way that’s cost-effective, and then broadcasterscan make the in-studio piece as ambitious as they want,depending on what slot they’re looking at.”

Unlike most dance shows on the market, Dance CamSlam has its genesis in the digital world. Contestants uploadtheir dance auditions to the show’s website and ten arechosen to compete live each week using their home webcam. The at-home audience votes via text message, and canalso comment through Twitter and possibly even have theirtweets appear during the show.

Beaton says, however, that even though it’s not as costlyto produce, “there’s no reason this wouldn’t go head-to-headwith some of the really ambitious and established danceformats around the world and talent slots. It could also be amuch more kind of niche, late-night play. There’s no mar-

ket where it wouldn’t work....The fact that it’s so affordable[means] there’s not going to be a shortage of materials. So for abroadcaster who wants a daily slot filled and who wants to buildup loyalty in that way, this would be a really good show.”

At-home interactivity is a trend that’s been increasingly popu-lar for TV’s singing-and-dancing talent competitions. For itstenth season, American Idol extended its audition process onlineto MySpace for the first time ever. Also, The X Factor is in talksto open up voting to the web via Facebook and its more than500 million members.

As technology continues to shape the way viewers interactwith programming, these formats will no doubt also adapt totheir media-savvy audiences, adding another innovative ele-ment to keep the talent-competition genre fresh and viewersplugged in to their favorite formats.


Blades of glory: ITVStudios’ Dancing on Icefeatures celebritycontestants trainingwith professionalice skaters.

X marks the spot: FremantleMedia’s The X Factor airs in a number ofcountries, including Germany, and will soon launch in the U.S.

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The first Hollywood studio toembrace the model of produc-ing content outside of the U.S.,Sony Pictures Television (SPT)has built up a broad network ofwholly owned and joint-ventureproduction partners across theglobe. Historically a leader inscripted formats based on itsdeep catalogue of dramas andcomedies, SPT extended itslibrary and its productionexpertise with its 2008 acqui-sition of the Dutch-based 2way-traffic. That deal brought a hostof hit formats to the SPT cata-logue, as well as the formatexperience of 2waytraffic’sCEO, Kees Abrahams, todaythe president of internationalproduction at SPT. He speaksto TV Formats about thegrowth prospects for SPT’sglobal production business.

TV FORMATS: Your most recent joint-venture partnershipwas in Brazil. Do you see opportunities in other territoriesfor acquiring a company or setting up a joint venture?ABRAHAMS:With Elisabetta Zenatti [we set up] SPT’s Flo-resta in Brazil. We’re constantly on the lookout for additionsto the international network of production companies. We’realso constantly looking out for people we can hire asemployees, who can help us extend the catalogue and pro-duce more shows. So, the answer is yes, yes, yes. All top-notchtalent is most welcome in our business.

TV FORMATS:What criteria do you look for in a productioncompany if you’re thinking about buying or partnering withthem?ABRAHAMS: There are three criteria that are absolutelykey for us. We’re looking for local partners who can sellour shows to the local clients, the broadcast networks andthe cable stations. Someone that has a good track recordand has been in the business for a long period of time andhas consistently sold original TV shows to local clients issomeone we would eye. We would also eye that person orthat company or joint-venture partner if they have aproven track record of creating new intellectual propertyrights. And then, obviously, if we find that the creative slateof such an individual or such a company has the opportu-nity to travel somewhere else, then we are even more keen.The third criterion is that we’re looking for people whoproduce high-quality shows. If we find those three ele-ments together—and, by the way, if we also see an oppor-tunity to make some money!—then yes, we’d be lookingfor that person or company.

TV FORMATS: Given the breadth of your network, how doyou ensure that best practices and creative ideas are sharedacross the group?ABRAHAMS: What we have is a format-protection system,processes we go through and criteria that must be met beforewe move forward with a format. There is a big effort madecoordinating all our international companies and partners. Weorganize a global creative council meeting, a get-togetherbetween all the creators and the producers in the group, andwe compare notes. We prioritize what formats we believehave the biggest potential and we inform each other [aboutthe projects each company is working on]. Sometimes youget a buy-in from multiple territories on a certain idea, andthen that idea will become a more global priority on the listof creative ideas.

There’s lots of communication going on, which is aggre-gated by Mike Morley, [executive VP and chief creative officer,international production], and his group, and so he will pri-oritize the more strategic formats, whether they are internal orexternal, and take them to the next level.

TV FORMATS: It’s all much more complicated than sellingcompleted programming!ABRAHAMS: This business is like a bakery; we make freshshows every day! It’s good and it’s bad. It’s bad because it’scomplicated, but it’s good because the community that wehave, which includes creators, producers and the local salespeople, are all people that are so passionate about makingtelevision and they are all so creative in the whole process.Until the very last minute they try to make it better, morebeautiful, more compelling.

TV FORMATS: What are the greatest challenges you seegoing forward, and what are the greatest opportunities, inthe format business?ABRAHAMS: I feel that at this point there is more opportu-nity than there was a year ago, with the economic recoveryslowly kicking in. You see an additional demand for daytimetelevision rather than just the demand for prime-time signatureshows. The budgets are slightly opening up again, which isgood for game shows, good for shows like Dr. Oz and othertalk-magazine formats. You see more and more brands want-ing to directly invest in television production, like P&G[Procter & Gamble] or Google. And last but certainly not least,if you look at the digital world, there’s a raft of opportunitiesthere. Off the air, there’s a lot you can do with your content,and we’re only scratching the surface.

The challenge we have is increased competition. There’sconsolidation taking place in Europe among TV produc-tion companies, and the usual suspects are continuing tohunt talent, like we do. In addition, we’re all competing forthe same time slots. But I’m quite confident that, as wehave a very good creative slate in both scripted and non-scripted and we have a nice balanced catalogue, and digi-tal opportunities, we’re well positioned. I’m quite confi-dent about the marketplace.

By Mansha Daswani

Sony Pictures Television’s

Kees Abrahams

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With investments in TV production companies and part-nerships with leading format creators, Red Arrow Enter-tainment Group has already, in the little more than a yearthat it has been around, offered a number of hit shows tothe international market. As part of the ProSiebenSat.1Group, Red Arrow also has access to stations acrossEurope and can benefit from SevenOne International’s dis-tribution expertise. Jan Frouman, Red Arrow’s managingdirector, talks about his growth strategy for the company.

TV FORMATS: What has been your strategy forfinding formats from many different territories?FROUMAN: We tend to have three primary sourcesfor formats. The first would be the production com-panies within our group. We have looked for partnersand production companies where local developmentis very much a part of the company’s DNA. We arenot simply interested in having an execution house in aterritory that waits for new shows to get delivered. Wewant to see ideas come out of those companies as well.

My Man Can is a perfect example. It was created byour German production company, and it has nowbeen sold to 20-plus countries, and we’re going intoproduction in three of our own channel countries.When I say channel countries, I mean the ProSieben-Sat.1 Group’s countries where a Red Arrow companywill be producing the local version of My Man Can. Sothat’s a great rollout story for us, with its roots in thelocal development of a group production company. The other place we’ve been sourcing product is with

exclusive development deals, primarily the deal we did withDick de Rijk [the creator of Deal or No Deal]. We’re findingcreative partners who we believe can really put some gas inthe tank. We’ve now sold the first of Dick’s latest creationsto ABC in the States. And Kinetic Content [run by ChrisCoelen], our company in the U.S., will produce it. So that’sgreat news for us. That’s a big step forward.We also have a development partner in Israel, a very young,

creative, comedy-focused executive named Omri Marcus, andwe’re seeing that some of his formats are already generating dis-cussions among our production companies—i.e., one or more ofthem is getting excited about them for their local territories. Iexpect to see his formats being taken to networks this year. The third source is from third parties. Our distribution

house has a nice footing in both camps. That is, formats thatwe own and control and then formats we represent. So, if Itake something like Benidorm Bastards, it’s a Belgian showthat was brought to our attention via our network in Bel-gium because it was airing against them on a competing net-work. And we got into a discussion with the producer andreached an arrangement to distribute the show around theworld. That’s only possible if third-party producers know thatthey are going to be well treated within a distribution house.I think SevenOne International, under Jens [Richter]’s lead-ership, has been excellent at doing that. Producers don’t getburied in our catalogue. They’re taken care of in a properway and they don’t bump into our agenda elsewhere, whetherit be in the production space or the broadcast space.

TV FORMATS: Having a station group behind you and a dis-tribution company in place must be very convenient.

FROUMAN: Yes, they underpinned a lot of the strategic think-ing from the get-go. When we launched the company, we said,we’re no longer just a German group. We’re a 12-country, 25-channel group. We are already in the distribution business. Weare already, to a certain degree, in the production business. Doesit not make sense to start making more strategic moves withrespect to development, production and distribution? And that’s why we set up Red Arrow. We basically took

SevenOne and brought it into Red Arrow. It’s the sales houseand the anchor for the group. We also took our existing pro-duction companies and brought them under the roof, and thenstarted to build out. I would say we’ve built from the insideout. The inside being the channel territories and the outsidebeing those territories that we really thought were must-have toput us on the map. So, the [investment in] Kinetic in the U.S.—great partner, great team, just the right point of time in its lifein an absolutely must-have market. We’re going to do the samething in the U.K. We’ve already partnered with two very sea-soned executives there and we’re going to build out a non-scripted and scripted presence. That’s another territory wherewe really think we need to be active.We did a co-production deal with Granada in Australia, a ter-

ritory that we think is very important. In other territories, likeScandinavia, we’ve already launched, rolled out from Swedeninto Denmark, and then the next step would be to add Nor-way to the group’s footprint. But again, that’s channel territoryand also a fantastically interesting creative territory.We’re in “evaluation mode” in a number of [other] countries.

I think Israel is on a lot of people’s lists as a really interesting cre-ative market. We see it from our development partner there and,who knows, maybe we’ll do something more substantial in thatterritory just because it’s so creatively vibrant.

By Anna Carugati

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Best known for such hits asWife Swap, Secret Million-aire and, more recently,Undercover Boss for Chan-nel 4 in the U.K. and CBS inthe U.S., Stephen Lamberthas been in the business of successfully formattingshows for some time now.With his latest venture, Stu-dio Lambert, set up withALL3MEDIA some threeyears ago, Lambert is contin-uing his legacy with a newcrop of shows, including TheFairy Jobmother, whichwas commissioned by Life-time in the U.S. and Channel4 in the U.K. As CEO of thetransatlantic outfit, he iskeen to ensure that all StudioLambert titles have stronginternational legs. He talksto TV Formats about exe-cuting that strategy.

TV FORMATS: How much of an advantage is it to have pro-duction offices in both the U.K. and the U.S.?LAMBERT: If your focus is to make programs in America,then to have a pipeline of ideas coming from the U.K. makesall the difference. I think that Britain is the best place in theworld to sell a paper idea for a format, probably because ofthe way in which British broadcasting has developed over thelast 30 or 40 years. There’s a great pressure to innovate, andbroadcasters expect to buy formats from paper. Also, because of the way in which the relationship

between the independent producers and the broadcastershas developed, the rights situation on those ideas is verygood for the independents. They’re in a position wherethey can then take those format rights and sell them aroundthe world, and if you have production capacity in theStates, you can then make those formats in the States. It’s atremendous advantage for producers in the U.S. who havethat connection to the U.K., compared to producers inAmerica who don’t. If you’re developing a paper format inthe U.S. and pitch to American buyers, they’re pretty resis-tant to recognizing a paper format as a format.

TV FORMATS: How are the development and pitchingprocesses different in the U.S. and Britain?LAMBERT: The pitching process and the developmentprocesses are quite different. In the British market, a lot of thebuyers like to develop the program with you, so you willoften have meetings with broadcasters where you prettymuch create an idea together. You might have a notion andthen they like working it through with you. As a result,

understandably, they expect you to keep the idea just withthem while you’re developing it. Whereas in the States, there’s much more of a sense that

you have to have your idea very clearly defined, and that youwill then take that idea to all the buyers at once. In fact, buy-ers in the U.S. expect to hear all ideas, and they get very irri-tated if they haven’t had an opportunity to bid for an idea.In Britain, that isn’t the case; you would expect that lots ofideas are only offered to one buyer. If that buyer wants onethey will start working on it with you and the other broad-casters never get to hear [about] it.

TV FORMATS: What are the greatest differences between theBritish and American adaptations of your formats?LAMBERT: In terms of adapting, there are obvious stylisticdifferences. Broadcast networks in America generally don’tlike having commentary, with a narrator explaining what’sgoing on. They like to have the characters tell their own sto-ries. The programs are also shorter, so consequently they haveto move that much faster. And there are more commercialbreaks, so there’s a greater need to have cliff-hangers that willtake you across those ad breaks. When adapting formats for American TV, everything in the

show has to be directly communicated to the audience; there’sless tolerance of ambiguity in America. It has to be very clear asto what point, factual or emotional, that you’re trying to make. There’s also a big difference as to what kinds of programs

work. The British audience tends to be more cynical. Britaincould never have a show like The West Wing, for instance. Youcouldn’t do a drama about the British Prime Minister thatwas essentially a celebration of “the gang” around the PrimeMinister. In Britain you could only do a scripted show aboutthe Prime Minister that was a satire or that was essentiallycritical of the political system. You couldn’t have somethingthat was celebratory of it. I think that is one of the reasons that Undercover Boss is such

a big show in America, because the American public has agreater capacity for wanting to believe in their corporationsthan a lot of British viewers do.

TV FORMATS: How did The Fairy Jobmother manage tostrike a chord with audiences on both sides of the Atlantic?LAMBERT: There are differences [in the appeal of theshow in both territories]. The British tabloid newspapershave a long tradition of running stories on people who areliving on [welfare] benefits and questioning whether theyare “scroungers” refusing to work and living off benefits.That doesn’t exist in the same way in America. So, it makesthe shows different and the appeal of The Fairy Jobmotherin both territories is different.In Britain people like to make a judgment about whether

these people are serious about wanting to find a job orwhether they are actually happy to stay on benefits. That isof less interest to American viewers because people aren’tthinking that way. There is a much greater assumption inAmerica that everyone wants to get a job.

By Kristin Brzoznowski

Studio Lambert’s

Stephen Lambert

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As the saying goes, what’s old is new again. Indeed, BanijayInternational certainly believes in leveraging the potential of aclassic format to secure continued sales by reinvigorating theconcept. Such is the case with the property guessing game Sold!

The original format watches as two teams of professionalreal estate agents try to guess the price of houses that havejust been sold. The show takes audiences inside all sortsof housing in different parts of the country, feeding view-ers’ inquisitive minds. “I think [everyone] is very curiousto see how their neighbors are actually living,” says Karo-line Spodsberg, the managing director of Banijay Inter-national. “The format…gives a sneak peek into otherpeople’s homes. That basic curiosity on how other peo-ple live and what their houses look like is the main driver ofthis format,” she adds.

Originally created in Denmark, Sold! is set to enter its17th season on DR, and is distributed as part of BanijayInternational’s overall deal with the Danish broadcaster. Theshow was recently recommissioned for a second season byNorway’s NRK, where its first run consistently outper-formed the channel’s average share, peaking with 49.4 percentduring its Wednesday time slot. As a result of this success, theNorwegian pubcaster has signed on for a further 12episodes, six of which aired at the end of 2010 and a fur-ther six are slated for spring 2011.

Sold! has also been recommissioned in Sweden, wherethe fourth season on TV4 has been expanded to a fullcommercial hour (44 minutes) and has new features inte-grated for the next eight-episode run. Banijay relaunchedthe format, extended and reversioned, at NATPE earlierthis year.

As part of the revamp, Sold! now has the international ele-ment that some of the episodes will take place abroad, withthe agents guessing the price of real estate in a foreign city.Spodsberg believes this adds to the show’s appeal because“more and more people are choosing to invest in housesabroad, with vacation homes or houses where they live duringthe wintertime.” She is also upbeat about the show’s extendedrunning time. “To have a commercial hour can be easier toschedule and adapt abroad than a half-hour slot,” she explains.

Ultimately, what Spodsberg believes is the best selling pointfor Sold! is its established track record. “There is proven successof the format, and the world will get their eyes open to thisonce again. It’s very cheap to produce and is very cost efficient.The main driver, what makes this format work, is somethingthat is quite universal: human beings are, by definition, curious!”

The rollout schedule for the revamped format kicked off atNATPE, continuing throughout the year and is part of Ban-ijay’s MIPTV slate. Spodsberg says the format will also betop of mind for Banijay’s sales executives who are constantlyon the road. “Because this format has been around for awhile, it’s something that when visiting a client, discussingtheir scheduling and what they’re looking for, is easy to bringup again and rediscuss. I think the sales will very much bebased on the local visits from our sales team.”

Spodsberg adds that a “solid, classic format with a goodproduction value and good record” is always something ofinterest for buyers. “There are many slots to be filled and buy-ers want security in every time slot they are filling. It’s veryimportant to have a broad range of formats in your portfo-lio; a smaller but more classic and solid format is often some-thing that is good for business in the long run.”


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Banijay’s Sold!

Case study:

By Kristin Brzoznowski

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