TV Formats MIPCOM 2011 Edition

MIPCOMEDITION

Feel-Good FormatsCreative PartnershipsNigel LythgoeFremantleMedia’sGary Carterwww.tvformats.ws THE MAGAZINE FOR THE FORMAT BUSINESS OCTOBER 2011

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06 TV FORMATS

After three years of activity in the scripted-formats business,Mediaset Distribution has managed to close deals foroptions and adaptations in 11 different markets, includingthe U.S. and France. “In a few years we have reached manymarkets with our scripted formats and are the first companyin non-English speaking Europe to have closed deals for aU.S. adaptation (four options with three different compa-nies),” notes Patricio Teubal, the head of sales. “We will workhard in order to maintain this trend.” Girlfriends, featuringcontemporary women in their late 30s, has been optionedin the U.S., as have Antimafia Squad and Intelligence. Mediasetis also pitching the scripted family titles Follow Your Dreamsand Beyond the Lake. Further highlights include The Mall,which has been adapted for Poland and Russia. Police Districthas also been adapted for Russia.

• Follow Your Dreams• Beyond the Lake• Girlfriends• The Mall• Police District

Girlfriends

Mediaset Distribution

“Our company has proved to be not only asupplier of ready-made programs, but also aprovider of successful and profitable storiesand ideas for producers.” —Patricio Teubal

This marks Banijay International’s fourth MIP market, andthe company is heading in with a bigger team and widercatalogue than ever before. “A key goal is to meet withclients from new territories and new types of broadcasters,as well as to continue exploring innovative ways to formcreative partnerships in order to grow our catalogue fur-ther,” says Karoline Spodsberg, the company’s managingdirector. Tempted is the company’s big format launch. “It’sone of the most exciting formats we’ve ever worked with,”she says. Celebrity Stand-Up meets the trend for shows aboutstand-up comedy but has a personal feel. We’ll Always BeMum & Dad is a relationship-driven factual-entertainmentformat. “We’re really excited to represent this acquisitionon behalf of Keshet; Israel is really exploding creativelyright now and it’s great to get a partnership there,” saysSpodsberg. Though Love Games is an older title in theBanijay catalogue, Spodsberg says, “There are many moreplaces for this format and finished series to go.”

• Tempted• Celebrity Stand-Up• We’ll Always Be Mum & Dad• Love Games

Banijay Internationalwww.banijayinternational.com

IN THIS ISSUE

Feelin’ GoodShows with a feel-goodfactor are winning overaudiences 12

A Match Made in HeavenDistributors are usingcreative partnerships tosecure new formats 24

InterviewsNigel Lythgoe 34FremantleMedia’s Gary Carter 38Armoza Formats’Avi Armoza 42Global Agency’s Izzet Pinto 44

Case StudyWho Wants to Be aMillionaire? 46

Tempted

“We are always looking forshows that meet currentprogramming appetites in termsof genre and tone but offer anew twist.”

—Karoline Spodsberg

www.mediasetdistribution.com

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Ricardo Seguin GuisePublisher

Anna CarugatiEditor

Mansha DaswaniExecutive EditorKristin BrzoznowskiManaging EditorMarissa GraziadioEditorial AssistantSimon Weaver

Online DirectorCraig BrownMichelle Villas

Production & DesignDirectors

Phyllis Q. BusellArt DirectorCesar Suero

Sales & Marketing Director

Terry AcunzoBusiness Affairs Manager

Vanessa BrandSales & Marketing

Assistant

Ricardo Seguin GuisePresident

Anna CarugatiExecutive VP &

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

With I Want to Have a Million Friends, ohm:tv is offering atrue cross-media format, with 24-hour online coverage, adaily half-hour TV show and a weekly live gala. “It’s ashow that explores the concepts of traditional friendshipversus virtual friendship,” says Joris Eckelkamp, ohm:tv’sCEO and co-founder. Eckelkamp also points to TheImpostor, saying it’s “a great new idea and one that is easyto produce.” Sell Me Your Style is another easy-to-produceshow, according to Eckelkamp. Contestants win money,then hit the streets and approach unsuspecting passersby toliterally buy the clothes off their backs. The company isheading to MIPCOM looking to build out its alreadywell-established network by forging new contacts, partic-ularly in the cross-media sector. “With our overallapproach to combine traditional TV with other platforms,we would like to continue to develop new cross-mediaideas that we are bringing to Cannes,” Eckelkamp says.

• I Want to Have a Million Friends• The Impostor • Sell Me Your Style

The Impostor

ohm:tv

“These shows areinnovative, fun andengaging, and willappeal to everyone.”

—Joris Eckelkamp

• Speed Dancing• Hurricane• Wanted• Phenomenon• Bedtime Stories

Sparks Network

With a global network of international production compa-nies, Sparks Network has offerings that come from all cor-ners of the globe. From its France-based partner, Elephant &Cie, comes Speed Dancing. The format shows hopeful singlesusing dance to get to know potential mates. Hurricane, aboutpeople wrongfully convicted of a crime, is from Amygdala ofItaly. Trio Orange of Canada has brought to the Sparks cata-logue Wanted, a dating show that uses police sketches tomatch ideal partners, and Bedtime Stories, featuring famoussingers and their children. Along with its member compa-nies, Sparks has a growing base of producers worldwide thatit represents through third-party distribution, notes Fredrik afMalmborg, the managing director. Among them is KuulProductions of Slovakia, which has brought to the Sparksslate the studio game show Phenomenon.

www.sparksnetwork.com

Phenomenon

“A production companythat is not development-focused is stagnating.”

—Fredrik af Malmborg

TV FORMATS8

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For a free subscription, visit: www.worldscreen.com

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410 World Screen 10/11

The comedies Modern Family and How I Met YourMother have been hits in the U.S., and throughTwentieth Century Fox Television Distribution theshows can be given an international treatment for localmarkets. The company also offers the crime dramaBones, which airs in the U.S. on FOX, for global treat-ment. The drama serial Prison Break aired on FOX forfour seasons, ending its run in 2009. Internationalbroadcasters can now pick up the show for their ownadaptation. The supernatural drama Marchlands is avail-able as a format after having aired with just one season.“At Twentieth Century Fox, our goal is to bring thestorytelling and creative powerhouse that is TwentiethCentury Fox Television to our clients and provide themthe opportunity to produce exciting local hit series fortheir audiences,” says Marion Edwards, the president ofinternational television.

• Modern Family• How I Met Your Mother• Bones• Prison Break• Marchlands

Twentieth Century FoxTelevision Distributionwww.foxfast.com

The long-running series Crime Detectives, which haseight seasons produced, is being offered by TVN forlocal production. In each installment of the detectiveseries a new criminal case is presented that draws uponthe common fears of modern-day urban life: insecurity,indifference surrounding victims, and the impunity ofthe offenders. “TVN’s offer during this year’s MIPCOMnot only does include our trusted formats such as CrimeDetectives, but also the second season of our tasty dramaseries Recipe for Life and a brand-new crime series witha touch of humor, Diamond Deal,” notes Renata Mecina,the head of acquisitions. Recipe for Life tells the story ofa woman who is trying to balance her dreams, passionsand freedoms. Diamond Deal is a comedic drama that alsohas a detective spin. TVN is also offering format rightsfor Marked, a mystery series; Face to Face, a crime drama;and Magda M., a modern drama.

• Diamond Deal• Recipe for Life• Marked• Crime Detectives• Face to Face

TVN

Recipe for Life

www.distribution.tvn.pl

“Our goal is to bring the storytelling and creative powerhouse that is Twentieth CenturyFox Television to our clients and provide themthe opportunity to produce exciting local hitseries for their audiences.”

—Marion Edwards

“[TVN has] a growing library of scripted formatscovering all genres of theentertainment spectrum, with the focus on modern drama, crime and mysteryTV series.”

—Renata Mecina

Bones

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Shows with a feel-good factor

have been winning over audiences

and providing broadcasters with

big ratings, wide demographic

reach and built-in sponsorship

opportunities. By Kristin Brzoznowski

It’s a tough world out there. Between the doomand gloom of the economy, high worldwideunemployment rates and the current state ofthe housing market, many people are leftlooking for a pick-me-up. It’s no wonder,

then, that consumers are flocking to their TVsets for feel-good shows that can whisk themaway to a happy place. “Viewers like to see uplifting stories where

people who deserve a break get what theyneed,” says Trish Kinane, the acting presidentof worldwide entertainment at Fremantle-Media. “That can be cash, romance, or thesupport of their family and friends.” FremantleMedia has seen demand for shows

with a feel-good factor, says Kinane. WelcomeHome, for instance, is a family-oriented formatabout community, friendship and giving backto the ones we love. “It’s filled with all theemotion of life’s good deeds, as those in needof a special treat leave for a weekend away,while their willing band of friends worktirelessly to reinvigorate their homes forthem,” explains Kinane. “What is partic-ularly moving are the reactions of thefamilies as they come back to theirsurprise welcome-home party, andsee what their loved ones have donefor them.” Kinane also says viewers like to see

people working passionately to makethe world a better place—whether byvolunteering, as is the case in Do the Right

Thing, or through education and access toopportunities, as in Dream School.

TV FORMATS12

World Screen 10/11412

Televisa’sSinging for a Dream.

GoodFeelin’

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In the U.K., Dream School was the highest-rated program ofthe day when it launched on Channel 4, with 2.9 millionviewers tuning in to watch Jamie Oliver help students whohave failed in the traditional school system.

STARGAZING Banijay International’s Star Save Our School also sees celebri-ties giving back. Launching at MIPCOM, the format fea-tures a star joining his or her former classmates to restore theirschool to a place where the current students feel safe, enthu-siastic and ready to learn.

“There is a sense of joy that comes from seeing childrenrediscovering their pride in their school, and it is touching tosee how happy they are to receive things that should be basic forany schoolkid, such as well-maintained buildings, furnishingsand facilities, a range of modern, functional sporting and audio-visual equipment,” says Karoline Spodsberg, the managingdirector at Banijay International. “It’s also always heart-warmingto see stars using their celebrity status to do good in the worldand to give back to the community they came from.”

Also launching at MIPCOM, BBC Worldwide’s Home IsWhere the Heart Is offers disadvantaged people the chanceto be mentored by a well-known personality. Elin Thomas,the VP of format licensing for Europe, the Middle East andAfrica at BBC Worldwide, says, “This format is full oftouching moments, as celebrities realize the hardship somepeople have to face, while the [person being mentored] isoffered life-changing opportunities.” She adds, “The con-trasting lifestyles, personal kindness and the lingering sense

of hope and future success makes this a touch-ing program.”

BBC Worldwide’s Tonight’s the Night, mean-while, surprises deserving members of thepublic with a one-night-only opportunity toperform in front of millions of viewers. “It’struly a format that can make you laugh and cryat the same time,” says Thomas.

The performance angle ups the entertain-ment factor, and adding in competition ele-ments provides another exciting twist. Such isthe case with Televisa Internacional’s Dancing fora Dream, Singing for a Dream and Dancing for theWedding of My Dreams.

THE WINNER’S CIRCLE “The main purpose of these shows is to win acompetition in order to obtain the prize:change the life of a loved one through veryspecific help—health issues resolved, financialcrisis support, special medical therapies forpeople in need,” says José Luis Romero, thedirector of formats and new content at Televisa.“They help people who don’t have the chanceto solve their many problems by themselves.”

SevenOne International’s You Deserve It, bornfrom the partnership between Red Arrow Enter-tainment Group and Dick de Rijk, also plays offthe emotional elements a competition brings.The hybrid format—part reality series, part gameshow—sees individuals playing on behalf ofsomeone else who could use the extra help.

Jens Richter, the managing director of SevenOne, says theshow engages viewers by presenting a strong back story at


14 TV FORMATS

Going hog wild:Try Sleeping in My Bed,sold by Banijay, hasrecently been renewedfor a second season onTV2 in Denmark.

Looking for love: FremantleMedia’s The Farmer Wants a Wifehas been a hit in more than 20 countries, including Australia.


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the top of the program. “My engagement as a viewer is muchhigher from the beginning,” he notes. “I’m not only watch-ing the show because the game play is catchy and smart, butalso because at the beginning of each episode there is a linkbuilt up between the viewer and the person the contestantis playing for, and therefore there’s a link between me theviewer and the contestant who actually plays.”Adding to the format’s allure is the element of surprise. The

worthy recipient doesn’t know until the end that they areeven part of a game show or that someone has been playingfor their benefit. Richter says this keeps viewers glued tillthe end, since they want to stick around for the finale. The emotional end to Holding Out for a Hero, a new for-

mat from 12 Yard Productions that ITV Studios GlobalEntertainment is launching at MIPCOM, also sees a winnerhanding over a life-changing amount of money. “Holding Outfor a Hero is a fresh twist on the quiz-show format and inmany ways reflects what we are seeing in societies aroundthe world,” says Andy Culpin, the managing director of the

ITV-owned 12 Yard Productions. “Thereare heroes all over society doing their littlebit to help, and Holding Out for a Heroreflects this. The show is fresh, relevantand combines the best moments of tensequiz shows with the excitement of bigentertainment formats, combined withmo ments of stunning generosity andheart-warming emotion.”

TRUE TRANSFORMERSThe idea of winning a large sum of moneythat changes your life is something nearly allviewers have fantasized about. And there areother types of transformations that audi-ences are touched to witness as well.ALL3MEDIA International has shows thatfocus on personal changes, with Too Fat toFight, Expat Seeks Love and The Fairy Job-mother, as well as makeovers for an entirecommunity, as seen in Desperate Neighbours,The Village, Wa$ted and Village on a Diet. “There’s a lot of takeaway for the viewer,”

says Stephanie Hartog, the executive VP offormats at ALL3MEDIA. “If you look atsomething like 8 Weeks to Happiness or Des-perate Neighbours, there’s potential for you tolearn [lessons] that you can take away andapply to your own life. Same as in The FairyJobmother—there’s a lot of that.”Witnessing someone else’s personal

transformations can provide great practi-cal tips that viewers themselves can use,especially when it comes to gettingfinancial advice in these cash-strappedtimes. For example, ohm:tv’s The Poor-house watches a group of people who’velost their jobs, had their credit cards can-celled by their bank or their houses soldin forced auctions. Through coaching,education, training, makeovers andlifestyle changes, the families are given

new opportunities to develop their potential. Another ohm:tv show is The Baroness Takes Over. “If a

mother can’t cope with everyday life and the family situa-tion anymore and needs some recovery time, then theBaroness takes over and the mother moves into the Baroness’scastle for a well-deserved and luxurious break away from thefamily,” explains Joris Eckelkamp, the CEO and a co-founderof ohm:tv. “With a very positive mindset, the Baroness thenredecorates the house and improves the family’s sense oftogetherness and well-being and sets the family back ontrack. The feel-good element involves the Baroness offeringhelp and making a real difference in peoples’ ordinary lives bygiving them a taste of luxury, downtime and counseling.”The human stories behind these transformations give the

shows a personal feel. Armoza Formats has tapped into thepower of human storytelling with its feel-good title The Pack-age. “In a way, it’s a format that created a formula for humanstorytelling,” says Avi Armoza, the CEO of Armoza Formats.“The premise is that if you dig deep enough, in every per-


Primed for success:ohm:tv’s lifestyleformat The BaronessTakes Over has been on the air for three seasons in Denmark onSBS’s Kanal 4.

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son there is a story that’s worthwhile telling. You can lookback two years, or go back 30 years, and something happenedthat you want to tell the story of. The Package created a for-mula for that.”

UNIVERSAL TRUTHS Armoza explains that there’s much flexibility in the format,giving each territory the ability to do its necessary adaptation.“In some territories, like Israel, Finland and Poland, it workedvery well just as documentary storytelling. In the Netherlandsthey were able to combine a host. In Greece, their culture isbased on big studio-based shows, so they were able to bringThe Package into the studio.” ALL3MEDIA’s Hartog, too, has found that the feel-good

genre travels easily, though some tweaks are needed to satisfythe emotional tone of various cultures. “If you look at Undercover Boss in the U.S., it’s got this big

finale, with a presentation to the workers where the boss talksto them all about [the experience] and shows highlights,”Hartog says. “We don’t have that in the U.K. show at all,which is the original version. It doesn’t feel right for the U.K.audience, which is naturally much more cynical anyway. It’sa much smaller way of dealing with it, and is much more per-sonal.” She adds, “Those sort of things are market-led, andwe have to be very respectful of the cultures we’re workingwith and their needs and requirements.” Hartog has also recognized the added value for broadcast-

ers that feel-good shows bring, as viewers form a positiveassociation between the network and the contributions beingmade in the series. Televisa’s Romero echoes that sentiment. “The broadcaster

gets a good perception from the audience,” he says. “Beinginvolved in a good-will project is always a great way for thebroadcasters to say, We care about our audiences. The audi-ence recognizes when the broadcasters care about helping,making them sensitive about different issues that need to be solved.”

Another benefit for broadcasters,Romero points out, is that they canattract several audience targets withthese shows. While some feel-goodprograms skew slightly female, most areaimed at providing a co-viewing expe-rience the whole family can enjoy. FremantleMedia’s Kinane also

acknowledges the broad demographicappeal, as well as the big ratings theseseries can draw.“The Farmer Wants a Wifein particular [garners] huge ratings,” saysKinane. “In many cases it’s the numberone show on the channel and some-times in the whole country. Forinstance, the latest series in the Nether-lands broke new audience records onNed 1, and it’s the highest-rated enter-tainment show in the country since1995! The show is also breaking recordsin France—its current season is the mostwatched to date and the highest-ratedentertainment program for broadcasterM6. It’s also hugely popular in Germany,

where it’s one of the top entertainment shows for RTL, and it’sa similar story elsewhere.”Banijay’s Spodsberg is also quick to point out the ratings suc-

cess of feel-good shows as a definite pull for broadcasters. “Audi-ences obviously feel powerfully drawn to positive messages thatreinforce values they may feel are lacking in some other kindsof programming,” she adds.“Very often there are also easy spon-sorship tie-ins for these formats as well, which, as we all know,is a real bonus for commercial broadcasters in this climate.”

A BOO$T FOR BROADCASTERSThe use of giveaways and makeovers common to these showsoffers many promotional opportunities. “Star Save Our Schoolcould be easily tied in with a building and/or decorating mate-rials supplier,” says Spodsberg. “My Big Fat Parents could be spon -sored by a gym chain, sports-gear manufacturer or diet-foodbrand; Honestly, Mum and Dad requires audio-visual equipment,so that is an immediately relevant sponsorship opportunity. Ireally think the possibilities are endless and that this genre pres-ents a fantastic opportunity for commercial broadcasters.” Spodsberg says Banijay pitches these sorts of formats as

prime-time shows, but a plus point is that they can easily beadapted to fit an access prime-time or weekend night slot, too.Likewise, while most of these formats have been developedto air as weekly stand-alone episodes, there is potential to cre-ate serialized shows that could be stripped. Budget-wise, theycan be produced for daytime as well, Spodsberg says.ALL3MEDIA’s Hartog says that most of these programs are

dealing with such important issues that broadcasters want toput them in prime time to have the biggest possible reach. “The prime-time slot and positive skew to these shows

certainly make them very appealing to possible sponsors andadvertisers,” says BBC Worldwide’s Thomas. Given the potential for added revenue from sponsors and

advertisers, along with the good-will association these shows canbring, broadcasters around the globe are certain to continuegiving coveted prime-time slots to feel-good programs.


18 TV FORMATS

Help wanted: TheALL3MEDIA formatThe Fairy Jobmotherhelps the unemployedget back on track.


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In the elusive quest for the next big global hit, format dis-tributors are using a variety of methods to secure access tothe best new ideas out there. For the last few years, con-solidation seemed to be the go-to route, with the likesof Endemol, FremantleMedia, Banijay Group, ZodiakMedia Group and ALL3MEDIA, among others,snapping up production houses—and their libraries—worldwide. For smaller boutique distributors, mean-while, there have been plenty of committed independ-ents to sign piecemeal third-party representation

deals with.In between those two extremes are avariety of partnerships that can involveequity, joint development, first-lookpacts or output deals—or a hybridof some or all of the above.“Intellectual property is the fuel of

all of our growth and therefore of ourambition,” says Gary Carter, the COOof FremantleMedia, which owns abroad network of production compa-nies worldwide. “Creative allegiances

with third parties are very much part ofthat strategy, so we are always looking toform relationships that would gener-ate intellectual property for bothsides’ benefit.”

AN EXCHANGE OF IDEAS“There is a gap if you continuously just develop for yourown local needs and what your direct broadcaster clientsimmediately need,” notes Michael Schmidt, the groupdirector of creative operations and business developmentat Red Arrow Entertainment Group on the need to some-times look outside of your own network. “You do seem tohave a harder time [finding] the big shots that travel theworld instantly.”FremantleMedia is no stranger to spotting and developing

concepts that will translate well to multiple territories. Histori-cally, the company’s library has been generated largely from

TV FORMATS24


Sparks’sBrides on a Bus.

A MatchMade in Heaven

Format distributors large and smallare looking at creative pacts as a

smart, flexible way to develop ideasthat will travel. By Mansha Daswani

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Europe and North America, but among its most recent hits is aformat that originated as a segment on a variety show in Japan.“On the Internet we spotted a little fragment of people jump-ing through a wall and we tracked it back to [the Japanese broad-caster] Fuji Television Network and we redeveloped it as a singleprogram that went on to become one of the world’s fastest-traveling formats,” Carter says. “Hole in the Wall has now been soldto more than 40 countries.”The show, Carter notes, “proved thatit was possible to have a great deal of format success in the Asianregion and then use that success as a springboard for Europe.”On the heels of that experience, Carter says that Fremantle-Media “believed that the time was right for more Japaneseshows [to be available in the international marketplace] andthat we could bring them to the world. I think our partnersat Fuji also realized the enormous potential and indeed com-mercial benefits in transforming Japanese content into enter-tainment that appeals to the international market.”

The key, says Carter, was developing a new working rela-tionship with Fuji that would go beyond a distributionalliance and leverage each of the companies’ strengths. “It’s atrue exchange of creative talent,” Carter says of the pact.In the first year of the relationship, a producer at Fuji, SoFujinuma, spent three months within FremantleMedia’s var-ious global production offices, primarily in the Los Angelesbase. “We then sent three different producers—one fromHolland, one from Australia and one from Los Angeles—toTokyo at different stages last year and they all worked on dif-ferent programs,” Carter says.The first title to emerge from the collaboration was Total

Blackout, which was launched at MIPCOM 2010 with pre-sales in three countries already secured. “It went to air withspectacular ratings and has since been among our most-traveled shows, launching in seven markets in the first half ofthis year alone,” Carter says. “So far it has been in Denmark,Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Ukraine andIndonesia, it’s aired in Japan, and there are a significant num-ber of upcoming launches on the way.”Emboldened by that format’s rapid rollout, FremantleMediais introducing at MIPCOM the Fuji TV format Body Bowling.Meanwhile, another set of producers is set to take part in thecreative exchange. One of Fuji’s producers spent time at talk-backTHAMES’s comedy-entertainment department this year,while someone from that team will soon be heading off to Tokyo.

TARGETING TALENTA newer entrant to the format business, Red Arrow Enter-tainment Group—formed by ProSiebenSat.1 Media in 2010—has spent the last two years building a portfolio of whollyowned and joint-venture production outfits, while also liningup a string of deals with well-known producers in variousstrategic markets.The willingness to team up with top-level talent is part ofthe DNA of the company, says Schmidt, noting that the alliancewith the Dutch creator Dick de Rijk was in the works evenas Red Arrow was in its infancy. At the time, the creator of Dealor No Deal had just ended his relationship with Endemol. Thepartnership with him would serve as a “cornerstone for thestrategic development” of Red Arrow, Schmidt says.“There are not that many creators in the world who cansay they created a worldwide hit that still is contributing toEndemol. That spoke for itself, quite frankly. Dick is verycreative; he has a very high output. [The deal with him] isabout identifying the ideas that can work for the global mar-ket, [while] also helping us as a group to grow and further thecapabilities of our producers.”Red Arrow and its distribution arm, SevenOne Interna-tional, have already seen the benefits of the pact with de Rijk;his creation You Deserve It has clinched deals in several majorterritories, including the U.S. with ABC and Spain withAntena 3. Five other de Rijk concepts are in active develop-ment, Schmidt says, and three are in the presales phase.Another key creative partnership for Red Arrow is withOmri Marcus, a well-known writer and producer in Israel.“With Dick we focus on broad properties, things that cantravel far quickly,” Schmidt says. “With Omri we focus on themore edgy ideas that fit to what the cable space needs, that areinteresting for the U.K. market, and also the scripted realityshows that dominate German daytime programming.”


Feeling the heat:Zodiak complementsits portfolio of productions from itsown companies, suchas Restaurant Race, bypartnering with third-party producers.

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While those relationships exist on what Schmidt calls “theholding level” at Red Arrow, there are other partnerships thathave been entered into by the company’s individual produc-tion outlets. Its German production company Red Seven, forexample, has a co-development pact with the American pro-ducer Phil Gurin. “They collaborate on creating ideas andthey also look for ideas that work in both of their markets. Ifyou have two producers crazy about an idea in two markets, [itmay be easier to] roll it out strategically into other territo-ries” than if it were targeted to just one market, Schmidt says.Also in the U.S., Red Arrow has signed a first-look deal withthe Los Angeles-based Genetic Entertainment, set up by LincolnHiatt, David Wyler and Curt Northrup. “When we pick [a titleup] for our territories, we create sales materials and together withthem go out and [pitch the concept to] our broadcasters.”These relationships complement the third-party distribution

deals that SevenOne International has been doing for years now,scoring the rights to formats like Benidorm Bastards, which is slated for a U.S. debut on NBC this year.

SPOTTING A HITLike SevenOne International, Zodiak Rights,the distribution arm of Zodiak Media Group,has a long history of aligning itself with produc-tion houses not owned by its parent company.“The reality of our distribution-and-productionbusiness means we constantly have to look out-side the Zodiak Media Group for new formats,”says Barnaby Shingleton, the head of entertain-ment. “Unfortunately, we don’t yet have amonopoly on great ideas!”The company is currently looking into tie-ups

with third-party entities “outside the traditionalformat-export markets,” Shingleton says. “We areparticularly interested in exploring opportunitiesin Asia. It feels [as if] there is untapped potentialin a number of territories in the Far East, notleast because producers and broadcasters thereare open to different types of relationships.”Describing the alliances Zodiak Rights has

with external producers as well as broadcast-

ers, Shingleton explains, “While we don’t necessar-ily co-develop formats, we certainly provide inputto producers who want to ensure their show willmake an impact on the international market. Thismay be as simple as helping to refine a developmentslate to make it more distributable to a more detaileddiscussion around the development of specific ele-ments within a format which will add valueto that show’s IP. This type of input can provide avaluable additional perspective in a developmentprocess that may otherwise be dominated by a sin-gle broadcaster.”

SPARK OF CREATIVITYUnlike many of its major competitors, Sparks Net-work has decided to stay out of the consolidationfrenzy, sticking to its original mission of developing aformal network of top independent productioncompanies worldwide. For Fredrik af Malmborg, themanaging director of the company, Sparks Network

offers producers similar kinds of benefits they would gain frombeing part of a larger conglomerate.“Instead of developing for broadcasters in your territory, you

are developing for the world,” says af Malmborg. “You’re alsogetting access to all the other development companies in thenetwork.” Sparks members, af Malmborg says, benefit fromaccess to the group catalogue as well as joint development ini-tiatives, while still being able to remain independent. Sparks’s distribution operation has a first-look deal for the

output of member companies, and also represents third-partyproduct, including the Wedding TV catalogue. “We will workhard to get [a format] sold to anyone in the countries” thatare part of the Sparks network, af Malmborg says. “The big[format] companies, they’ll pick something up and they sit onit. They have no interest in selling it to someone other thantheir own entities.”Recently, Asia has been a key growth area for Sparks, partic-

ularly since the creation of its Hong Kong office at the end of


Rest stop: GlobalAgency is working withMiditech to convincebroadcasters to filmThe Big Challengeformat in India.

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Hole in one: FremantleMedia began its collaboration with Fuji with Hole in theWall, which has rolled out in 40 markets.


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last year. Another distributor that has looked to the Asia Pacificfor expansion opportunities is Turkey’s Global Agency, which lastyear entered into an alliance with India’s Miditech. “I’m repre-senting their formats, they are representing mine,” says Izzet Pinto, the CEO of Global Agency, on the nature of the rela-tionship, which began with Miditech adapting Perfect Bride forthe Indian market. For Pinto, the relationship is not just abouthaving his own formats produced by Miditech for Indian broad-casters. He believes that the Indian production company canproduce Global Agency’s own travel reality format The Big Chal-lenge for channels worldwide. “Sending contestants to India fora reality show would be very colorful,” Pinto says. “India is a greatplace for production—the crews are so creative, and at the sametime, the budgets are low compared with Europe or America.”

LOST IN TRANSLATIONWhether co-producing, co-developing or just working withthird-party producers to sell their titles, distributors often have toovercome cultural differences in order to make these relationshipswork. FremantleMedia’s Carter points to the differences in toneand style between content from Japan and what comes out ofEurope or the U.S. “Typically, in Japan, they work a lot with semi-professional reality performers and they’re very celebrity-driven.

The issue of the onscreen presentation is quite differentthan in the West—there’s lots of text on the screen, lotsof exclamation marks, animation. There’s also a sense inwhich certain Japanese entertainment can be quiteextreme in cases, going to the edge of how peoplesquirm in quite uncomfortable positions. While this canwork very well for Japanese viewers, it perhaps does nottranslate as well to other cultures. So the challengebecomes about holding true to the inherent concept—capturing the humor, the fun, the energy and entertain-ment in Japanese programming—but refining the flavorof the content for global audiences. The other thing is, alot of Japanese programs are very long and we Westernerscan get very lost in the structure. From our point of view,the programs are often bouquets of smaller programs, aswe would see them, so they may need to be tightenedand more clearly formatted for the international market.”The success of the relationship with Fuji rests on

three points for Carter, beginning with the constantpresence of a translator. “Additionally, there has to be asense of mutual creative or professional respect betweenthe individuals involved. The third thing is that one hasto be very precise about what you’re looking for, whatthe parameters are. We want a clear format. We want onethat is repeatable, transferable and scalable.”At Zodiak, Shingleton believes that developing

successful cross-border creative partnerships boilsdown to “reconciling objectives; both parties have topull in the same direction even if they have differ-ent pressures placed upon them in the short term.Balancing the needs of a local audience versus thedesire to produce an international hit can be partic-ularly challenging, and that’s as true of partnershipswith producers in your own territory as it is withproducers on the other side of the world. But a gooddistributor should be able to distill the internationalvalue from local hits.”

PERFECT PARTNERSIn a market where competition for ideas is intense, distribu-tors are keen to showcase their sales abilities to potential pro-duction partners. “We are in the format-and-production busi-ness as a broadcasting group,” says Schmidt. “We have acertain reputation having been, especially in Germany, peoplewho picked ideas up early off paper, even from Americanproducers. That’s the spirit we want to continue with: werespect the idea, we respect the creativity.We are not trying tohide what we acquire in a drawer; we put it out there. We donot necessarily buy as much as others. We focus on thingswe believe in and we can put on a pedestal. It’s helpful thatwe have a broadcasting group that’s backing us—you canmake clever and intelligent deals across all genres, not onlyin the format space, but in the end it’s that we have a verygood distribution engine where things don’t fall through thecracks, and that’s something that creators respect.”Schmidt says that Red Arrow is particularly keen to develop

more relationships in the U.S., the U.K. and Scandinavia. From acontent-acquisition perspective, however, “I don’t care if [a cre-ator] comes from Hungary or from the U.K. or from Mexico. Youneed to have an understanding of the international format mar-ket, you need to have some credibility and a track record.”

Senior moment: BettyWhite’s Off Their Rockersfor NBC is adapted fromthe SevenOne formatBenidorm Bastards.


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Nigel Lythgoe has been a pioneer of themodern talent-competition show. Startingwith Popstars and Pop Idol in the U.K.and then American Idol and So YouThink You Can Dance, whether as ajudge or an executive producer, Lythgoehas shaped the genre. He began his careeras a dancer, a discipline so dear to hisheart that he is actively involved in pro-moting and supporting dance.

TV FORMATS: American Idol will go intoits 11th season next year. What has con-tributed to its success and longevity?LYTHGOE: I think it’s the very strong tal-ent that is here in America. It’s the factthat we’ve grabbed an audience that lovesto feel that they are a part of giving some-body the break of their life and turningthem into a star. Obviously, Simon Cow-ell was a major part of it when we origi-nated the show and the new judges nowhave energized it in the tenth season.

TV FORMATS: When you knewSimon was leaving, how did you main-tain the core features of the show andcome out with a very strong show?LYTHGOE: It needed reenergizing; ithad been around nine seasons. So wewanted to change things around. Wehad wanted to do that for a long time, but of course whileanything is successful nobody wants you to touch it! So thisgave us an opportunity to relook at the middle rounds of thecompetition; it also gave us the opportunity to sweeten theshow up. If we had found another baddy like Simon it wouldhave only been a pale imitation of Simon, so what we endedup with was two artistic judges [ Jennifer Lopez and StevenTyler] that could see the contestants from a different angleand who were much warmer and much kinder.

TV FORMATS: So You Think You Can Dance is also very suc-cessful, and it has won much critical acclaim. What are thesecrets to that show’s success?LYTHGOE: It is about the art of dancing. People have cometo realize just how wonderful dance is and how it has pro-gressed over the years. It has a new integrity to it, it’s athletic,and I think people are actually loving the fact that choreog-raphers are creating these wonderful numbers as well. So itcomes from different angles. It comes from obviously a judg-ing angle. It comes from the young dancers attempting stuffthat is not in their genre, and succeeding most of the time,and it comes from the artistic choreographer.

TV FORMATS: Early in your career you choreographed forShirley Bassey and Gene Kelly. I certainly agree that dance hasbecome more athletic. How else do you think dance hasevolved over the years?LYTHGOE: It’s evolved so much I would hate to be a dancer now!It’s just become so much more technical. I was a dancer whenI first started in the business and if I did three pirouettes I’d be

jumping up and down for weeks, saying, “Hey, I did threepirouettes!” Now they can do 10, 11, 12 pirouettes and notthink anything about it. Dance has grown technically. Boysare much more relaxed now going into dance. Fathers nowaccept the fact that boys are going to dance and realize thatit’s tougher than being a quarterback in football here inAmerica. Physically it is so much more demanding than it wasin my day. My idea of a warm-up was to sit on a radiator witha hot cup of chocolate and a cigarette.

TV FORMATS: And a cigarette, I love that! I actually dancedin my early years, too, and I remember the saying “Not allathletes are dancers, but all dancers are athletes.” But nowa-days that has been taken to the nth degree, hasn’t it?LYTHGOE: Hasn’t it? So did you used to do a morning classto warm up or did you used to sit on the radiator with a cig-arette, too?

TV FORMATS: I did a lot of sitting on the radiator, too, but legwarmers were great—they could do the warming up for you!LYTHGOE: Yeah, leg warmers were great!

TV FORMATS: How have live talent-competition showsevolved in the last ten years? What has the audience come toexpect from these shows?LYTHGOE: They’ve come to expect the very best talent andthe very worthiest talent. They still enjoy those auditions thatshow the deluded contestants that come along and have beentold all their life that they are a good singer and they areabsolutely tone deaf! The audience enjoys that in the first part

By Anna Carugati

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of the competition, but at the end of the day, they just wantreally great talent. It’s a bit like horse racing: you bet on yourfavorite and you continually vote for that person; you areinvested in them and you are invested in how they developacross the series. It’s also just the same as following a soapopera, or following a drama. The characters on dramas havebeen written by somebody, while the characters on realitytelevision are real—that’s the only difference, but it’s just asappealing. People ask me all the time, “Will reality televisionremain?” Absolutely, it’s part of our television diet.

TV FORMATS: And there is an emotional investment that ismade between the viewers and their favorite contestants.LYTHGOE: It really is an acutely emotional investment. Andwhen the judge is tough or harsh on that person, goodness me,viewers weigh in on those judges. If you read Facebook or Twit-ter or websites, you see they are very, very heavily invested.

TV FORMATS: As a viewer, I feel the pain of that contestantwhen he hears that harsh judgment.LYTHGOE: Yes, and it’s also that we would all like to be in aposition to be given an opportunity, because there are a lotof talented people out there; many of them are never giventhe opportunity to better themselves. And I think we as anaudience see the opportunity that’s being given and we canassociate it with our own lives. If I had been given the chanceI would have done it. Mind you, I would have never goneon So You Think You Can Dance because I would have neverthought I could dance with these kids.

TV FORMATS: No, I think you would have done fine. Tell meabout your dedication to keeping dance and the arts in gen-eral at the forefront of the public’s attention. LYTHGOE: I started National Dance Day, that got picked upby Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. She put itthrough the House of Representatives and now every last Sat-urday in July we are going to have a National Dance Day inAmerica. Hopefully that will just get people up having a bit

of fun; even if one or two of them startdancing through that, then it’s all beenworthwhile. But the idea is to use theinitiative to raise money for differentcharities. As well as that I’ve started theDizzy Feet Foundation with [director]Adam Shankman, Carrie Ann Inabafrom Dancing with the Stars and KatieHolmes. That is to try to give young,very talented students scholarships sothey can remain in school and continuetheir work. We call up Juilliard, AlvinAiley, the American Ballet Theatre andother schools in ballroom and tap danc-ing and ask what students they havewho need a scholarship, who needmoney to continue, and we’ll supplythat money.

TV FORMATS: That must make youfeel very good.LYTHGOE: It does make us feel veryproud. We gave something like 200

pairs of tap shoes to a school down in New Orleans, whichwas really important as well. I remember as a little kid doingEnglish country dancing and it just allowed me to hold thegirl’s hand and dance around with her and know how to treather and not punch her! It just gives you social skills, it givesyou confidence, it improves your rhythm, which we all needin our lives, and whether you go on to be a dancer or not,that doesn’t really matter to me, the fact that you’ve accepteddance into your life does.

TV FORMATS: Later this year you will be receiving theInternational Emmy Founders Award. What does thisacknowledgement mean to you?LYTHGOE: It means a great deal. I would very much like anEmmy for either American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance,too! I’ve received the Primetime Emmy Governors Award forIdol Gives Back, and I will receive the Founders Award inNovember. I’m delighted. With the Founders Award they’verecognized not just my work in television, but also the chari-ties I’m involved in and being the chairman of the British Acad-emy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) here in Los Angeles.

TV FORMATS:There certainly is a ton of British talent on Amer-ican television these days. It’s like the Brits want to recolonize!LYTHGOE: We’re playing the long game! They thought theyhad won back in 1776, but no, we thought we would comeback a couple hundred years later and start to take over!

TV FORMATS:What can you tell us about season 11 ofAmerican Idol?LYTHGOE: We are not making any huge changes that we’vethought about at the moment. We are continually talking aboutwhat we can do, what we can improve and what new ideaswe can bring. Last year we did away with all those middlerounds. We did a shoot in an aircraft hanger. We did a shoot atCirque du Soleil’s The Beatles LOVE in Las Vegas, and we willneed to replace those this year. We are being very creative everytime we sit down and talk with the entire team.


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Dance fever: So You Think You CanDance, created byLythgoe and SimonFuller, recentlywrapped season eighton FOX in the U.S.,while the format has been adapted in a number of territories worldwide.

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While perhaps best known for its mammoth entertainmentbrands, FremantleMedia is the biggest producer of daily drama inEurope—an expertise that the company is keen to export intoother regions. With long-running hits like Gute Zeiten,schlechte Zeiten, which has been on the air on RTL in Germanysince 1992, under its belt, FremantleMedia continues to developits scripted-drama business, most recently announcing a commis-sion for the daily series The Clan to launch on RTL Croatia thisfall. Meanwhile, FremantleMedia’s powerhouse entertainmentbrands—Idols, Got Talent and The X Factor—remain amongthe world’s top-rated shows. One of the company’s newest hits isTotal Blackout, created as part of an alliance with the Japanesebroadcaster Fuji Television. Securing top-notch intellectual prop-erty from across the globe is at the heart of FremantleMedia’sstrategy, its COO, Gary Carter, tells TV Formats. With oversightfor the creative networks division—combining the worldwidedrama and entertainment departments—as well as serving aschief creative officer of FMX, the digital-content arm, Carter isworking to ensure that FremantleMedia builds quality brandsacross multiple platforms.

TV FORMATS: What led to the recent restructure of yourEuropean and Asian operations, and what are the opportuni-ties for growth in these regions?CARTER:We’ve restructured in order to redirect our focus inregional Europe and Asia Pacific. The growth has been con-siderable, and our new structure will better enable us to con-tinue developing our business in these regions. The Asiancountries are now being managed by our former Australianmanaging director [Ian Hogg]; he spent a good decade work-ing in television from India to Singapore, and he is now ourAsia Pacific CEO. The opportunity for us is a mixture of ourown productions [in countries] where we have companies,like in Indonesia, and licensed formats. In particular we see alot of opportunity for our Enterprises division. The growth inproduction driven by brand relationships—advertiser-fundedprogramming or sponsorship of various forms—is very big.We’ve already started to explore that in recent years. Thailand’sGot Talent was fully funded by brands and we supervised theproduction. Their brands were very integrated and the showwas very successful for the local broadcaster. [We’re making a] big strategic push into India [where]

we’ve had a presence in various guises over the last 15 years.We’re producing The X Factor and India’s Got Talent, and Idolshas also aired in the country. We believe that scripted [drama] is a big way forward in

the Asian region. Most people don’t know this aboutFremantleMedia, but a significant part of our business is inscripted in Europe. We’re the largest producer of daily dramasacross the European continent. We have that expertise. [InAsia] we’ve been pushing what we call soft scripted, the kindof scripted reality shows that have been so big in Germany. Europe, with the exception of Germany and a few terri-

tories like Switzerland and Hungary, reports to me. OurEuropean businesses are very mature, most of them, and verystable, but we have two big important focuses from astrategic point of view. The first is Spain and the second isItaly, where we’re big in drama but we need to move fur-ther into entertainment. France is a key European businessfor FremantleMedia, and one with a considerable amount ofcorporate focus. The French business has grown enormouslyover the last couple of years. We have working relationships,not just with M6 but with TF1 and with other broadcasters.Shows like The Farmer Wants a Wife and the French versionof Idols have been very successful for us. We have The Price IsRight on air. The French operation, led by Monica Galer, isan important company for FremantleMedia. We are proud ofits performance in recent years, and we will be focused onfurther growth in the next few years.We’re very focused at the moment on the Scandinavian

territories. We’ve been doing a lot of format licensing suc-cessfully all across Eastern Europe and into Russia and we’relaunching a daily drama for one of the Croatian broadcastersin October, and that’s important for us because we want tointroduce more scripted programming into Eastern Europe.

TV FORMATS: Is it tougher to roll out scripted-formatideas than entertainment concepts like Got Talent or TheFarmer Wants a Wife?CARTER:The way I look at it is, the daily dramas tend to becousins of each other as opposed to brothers and sisters.Neighbours in Australia and Unter Uns in Germany and Un posto

By Mansha Daswani

FremantleMedia’s

Gary Carter

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al sole in Italy, all daily dramas produced by us, all have essen-tially the same starting point. But as soon as you produce a dailydrama and it gets beyond the first 100 episodes, things start totake on a life of their own. If you looked at them now you’dsay, “What do you mean they’re related?” but if I showed youthem 15 years ago you would understand that they were. Thekey to developing daily drama is to get what the Americans callthe precinct right—the circumstances in which it’s happening,the locality, what keeps this group of people together. Europeandaily dramas tend to be far closer to real life than the Americanbig-shoulder, big-hair traditional daily soaps.

TV FORMATS: You’ve been working with Fuji Television inJapan to develop new concepts. How do you negotiate cul-tural differences and differences in working ethics? CARTER: It’s really not easy but it’s a fascinating challenge.In the case of the Fuji exchange, the producers work with atranslator all the time, as language is the biggest barrier.Additionally, there has to be a sense of mutual creative orprofessional respect between the individuals involved andthat’s very important. When we select the individuals to dothis exchange from our side, we are very careful that wematch the Japanese side in terms of status and experience.Our experience is that what keeps the individuals in theroom working on the idea is their sense of learning andrespect in the process. The third thing is that one has to bevery precise about what you’re looking for, what the param-eters are. We want a clear format. We want one that is repeat-able, transferable, and scalable.

TV FORMATS: What gains have you seen in your digital-content division over the last year?CARTER: I think it’s fair to say we were quite far-thinking asa company—we got into digital from a corporate point ofview about six years ago and we’ve used our entertainmenttelevision formats and our drama formats to capitalize onsome of the most important trends in this field. We cementedour relationship in the digital space and in working closely with

brands when we acquired @radical.media last year, thecommercials and contentcompany based in New York.They’re very strong in brandedonline entertainment.Additionally, we’ve moved

into other kinds of digitalactivities, so last year weacquired the Canadian digitalgames company Ludia, withwhom we’d enjoyed a veryfruitful partnership developinggames for some of our keybrands, and because of thatwe’ve made strong inroadsinto the world of social andmobile games. Our televisiongame-show brands haveshown again how strong theyare on any platform. If youlook at the Price Is Right socialgame on Facebook, among

others, you’ll see how those brands have started to live again onemerging digital networks. The other activity is really trying tocement the relationship and future-proof the relationshipbetween our big talent shows and their core audiences. The XFactor, Idols and Got Talent are inherently social formats in thesense that there’s a high level of audience control over the out-come and a high level of emotional investment in the showsthemselves. Things like [the popularity of] Susan Boyle are veryindicative of that connection. So we’ve worked hard to leveragesome of the social buzz. On America’s Got Talent and Britain’s GotTalent, we run auditions on YouTube, The X Factor launched asecond screen app in a number of countries, and Idols has beenthe pioneer of Facebook voting and iTunes musical downloads.We also continue to produce web originals; these are shows thathave nothing to do with our existing television brands. This yearI’m happy to say we won an Interactive Rockie Award at Banfffor SORTED, which is a fast-growing cooking communityaimed at 18- to 34-year-olds. It’s our second win at Banff—ouronline drama Freak was named the best online program at the2010 awards. And we won [an International] Digital Emmy[nomination] for PrintFriends last year as well. We also launchedScoreboard, our first Facebook show/game, and our German sub-sidiary launched an exciting, truly 360-degree drama on ZDFcalled Wer rettet Dina Foxx?

TV FORMATS: Can you give us an example of online con-tent that has enhanced an existing television brand?CARTER: We make Take Me Out, a dating show developed byFremantleMedia France, and in the U.K., the digital team pro-duced an online companion program called The Gossip, whichhas become an integral part of the main show. It was a shoul-der program on digital and online, and it’s been enormouslysuccessful in its own right, while also enhancing the fan’s expe-rience of the main program. We’re doing that more and more.Another example is The X Factor U.K.’s spin-off series The FFactor. Where we have those big shows we tend to produce dig-ital [companion] programming so that fans can immerse them-selves even further in the experience.


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Good times: One ofFremantleMedia’sbiggest scripted format hits is Gute Zeiten,schlechte Zeiten, produced for RTL.

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The fall and mid-season sched-ules of two major U.S. broad-casters feature titles fromArmoza Formats: NBC withWho’s Still Standing? andThe CW with The Frame. TheTel Aviv-based company hassecured a string of commis-sions and recommissionsrecently, demonstrating thestrength of Israel as a hotbedof creative concepts that cantravel globally. Avi Armoza,the CEO of Armoza Formats,discusses how the boutiqueoutfit’s emphasis on innova-tion with its multiplatform“Armoza 3.0” formats hascontributed to its success.

TV FORMATS: What’s been the approach to incorporatingmultiplatform elements into your formats?ARMOZA: Our cross-platform philosophy begins with a strongcontent brand. Once that is in place, you need to create a pres-ence on every possible platform with the goal of generatingtraffic from one platform to another. The brand needs to havea solid, independent presence on each of the platforms, givingthe viewer the ability to watch the show or follow the brandwherever they are and on whichever device they choose.

TV FORMATS: What have been some of your best-performingmultiplatform titles?ARMOZA: What we found out within this market is thatyou need to go parallel. On one hand, you need to start witha solid, existing format, and then enhance it by exploringnew content areas. One of our most successful models wasThe Frame, our 24/7 reality show, but we also tried to usethis model within both the scripted and game-show gen-res. 7-Question Millionaire is one of our game shows that existsboth online [and on television]; the way for contestants to getinto the prime-time television show is through first partici-pating in the online game. We also have Restart, our Facebook-generation scripted drama that has a daily presence on theInternet and on cell phones, and at the end of the week accu-mulates to a half-hour television show.

TV FORMATS: Are scripted formats still selling well?ARMOZA: Scripted is selling well, notably The Naked Truth,which we have in development at HBO with Lionsgate andClyde Phillips. It’s very tough to tell a good story and in thescripted world it’s not so much that you sell the format, yousell the script. If you have a show that’s been successful onthe air and the story is strong, you can still sell the scriptedshow. It’s an ongoing business and there’s always a need fornew shows—game shows, reality shows—and we try and do

our best every few months to come up with new productsto feed our markets and our clients and to place them on theair. We were able to do two direct-to-license deals—one withNBC for Still Standing, or, as it’s called in the U.S., Who’s StillStanding?, and then another show that was commissioned byThe CW, The Frame, which is on the reality side.

TV FORMATS: How important was it for you to get U.S.commissions on these shows?ARMOZA: Although the U.S. market is important financially,from our point of view it’s one of many markets. We try tocreate and distribute good formats, and at the same time asStill Standing can do well in the U.S., it has also launchedsuccessfully in Spain, winning the evening there and doinggreat, with a new season commissioned immediately afterthe launch. At the end of the day, you need to be creativeand you need to make good television, and you will make itboth in the U.S. and elsewhere as well.

TV FORMATS: What doyou look for whenadding new formats toyour catalogue?ARMOZA: Our goal is tobring to the marketshows that we can brand

strongly enough and independently enough to stand as solidinternational brands. The formats that we select to bring toeach market—The Bubble, The Package, Still Standing or Con-nected—we bring because we are able to use our knowledgeand strength as a distribution company to successfully brandthe formats as unique properties in the market. We pickvery few shows to add to the catalogue every year, andthese are the shows we strongly believe in creatively and weknow have a solid independent brand that can be placedin any territory.

TV FORMATS: What has contributed to Israel’s strength inthe creative sector?ARMOZA: It’s a combination of two key elements. One is thematurity of the market. It is, in television terms, quite a youngmarket. Commercial television in Israel was only launchedin 1993, so in the last few years the market has matured andbecome very sophisticated. Also, Israel is a melting pot ofcreativity. It’s a country of immigrants and this all contributesto being a very creative society.

It’s also a small country with very limited television bud -gets, and when you operate with a limited budget, it calls foradded creative value because the demands for productionquality are still high. It’s an open Western society and every-body’s looking at the American level of television and tryingto meet that level. What makes us different is really that lim-ited budget, which renders all formats relatively cost-effectiveto reproduce. What we can’t pay for in production costs, wecan make up for in creativity, so we need to focus on the storyand the characters and creative elements, making each uniquebecause you can’t just spend money and make it big.

The other element that is part of our work at Armoza For-mats is that we were able to create a distribution platform tobring this Israeli creativity into the international market andmake it known.

By Kristin Brzoznowski

Armoza Formats’

Avi Armoza

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Celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, Global Agency is keen toput Turkey on the global content map. The company made its forayinto the format business when it picked up the local hit PerfectBride, which has been adapted in markets around the world. It hassince assembled a portfolio of unscripted formats as well as Turk-ish soaps and feature films. Izzet Pinto, Global Agency’s CEO, tellsTV Formats what his company has to offer the worldwide market.

TV FORMATS: How did you get into the format business?PINTO: Before I got into the TV business I was a literary agent,representing some of the well-known writers in Turkey. And atthat time my cousin suggested to me, why don’t you representTV formats? And I said, what does a format mean? [Laughs] Isaid OK, why not? I was introduced to the owner and creator ofPerfect Bride, which was a big success in Turkey. The owner said,try it! So I took a tiny stand at MIPCOM and it worked reallywell. I licensed the show to production companies in Italy andthe Middle East. And I closed many option deals with other ter-ritories. Then I saw the potential of Turkish TV series. I wantedto export them, especially into the Balkan countries. I found1001 Nights and I focused it on [Central and Eastern Europe].I sold it to Bulgaria, where it was such a huge success. Withthis [deal] I was then able to license [the series] to Serbia,Greece, Bosnia, Croatia, all over Central and Eastern Europe.

Then I started representing Turkish films and sold them as pack-ages in territories where the Turkish series had performed well.In Turkey there are a couple of companies who sell TV series,but I am the only company selling formats, films and series. AndGlobal Agency is the one and only company in Turkey thatsells formats internationally. This has brought us a very goodreputation, so when people have good ideas they come to us. Ifwe feel excited about it, we represent it.

TV FORMATS: How are Turkish dramas selling as formats?PINTO: The Turkish series are doing very well as finishedepisodes, but it’s not that easy to exploit the rights as scriptedformats. It is possible. We represent Forbidden Love, which wasone of the biggest series in Turkey. We were able to option itto Mediaset in Italy and recently we closed a deal with Tele-mundo, so hopefully there will be a Spanish version very soon.

TV FORMATS: What can Global Agency offer producerswho are looking for a home for their ideas?PINTO: If I were a creator, I would not give my stuff to thebig companies. At each market they have 50 to 100 newthings and only 25 minutes to make the perfect pitch to aclient. How many projects can you pitch in that time? Maybethree or four? If you as a creator give your [show] to the bigcompanies, it could [end up in their] library. With us, there areeight people on the sales team, so that’s eight people pitch-ing the same thing to hundreds of clients. It has a higherchance of getting sales. It makes sense for a creator to workwith a smaller, boutique-style agency.

TV FORMATS: What are your goals for the company in thenext year?PINTO: My plan is to focus on acquisitions and sales. We aresearching for great formats from Croatia, Serbia, Australia,the U.K., all over the world. We have a slogan, “Content That Creates Buzz.” We want to

stick to our image and to our slogan, so we are looking for for-mats that everyone is talking about. We would like to have moreclients, more product, more sales—this is how I want toprogress. I want to keep growing 100 percent a year. In the pastmy dream was to sell my company to a big company, but now,the more I grow, the more passion I have for my company. Iwant to stay independent for quite a long time. I want tobecome a $100-million company in the next couple ofyears.Our goal is to become a much bigger distributor, butalways be a boutique, where we have not too many ideas but ateach market we have four or five great formats and a couple ofseries. We want to focus on quality and giving the best service toour clients.

TV FORMATS: What new shows are you offering?PINTO: One of my highlights is Paparazzi Academy, which isthe search for the company’s best paparazzo. The second high-light is Social Exposure. Each week there’s a theme: for exam-ple, stories about being caught cheating. The whole nationsends their best stories and we choose the best five and thenwe film them. People vote for the best story and whoever sentit wins a weekly prize. At MIPTV we achieved great successwith the Magnificent Century series and the Shopping Monstersformat. We are hoping to achieve similar success with ourlatest formats.


By Mansha Daswani

Global Agency’s

Izzet Pinto

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With countless international iterations and a slew of brandextensions, the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (WWTBAM?)format has been a massive hit for Sony Pictures Television’s2waytraffic. It’s among the most well-known titles in the for-mat business, and for good reason; it’s been more than adecade since the show first launched and the brand is still asstrong as ever, and is constantly growing.“Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? was conceived by David

Briggs, Steve Knight and Mike Whitehall—who used towork together at London’s Capital Radio—over a publunch,” explains Ed Louwerse, the managing director of2waytraffic International. “The original title they came upwith was Cash Mountain and they took the idea to U.K. produc-tion company Celador. Managing director Paul Smith saw thepotential in the format, but had to face enormous challenges ingetting the show on air, and took huge financial risks to do so.” He continues, “The show was first pitched by Paul to Clau-

dia Rosencrantz at ITV in 1996 who liked the idea, but itwasn’t until David Liddiment joined in 1997 that the showwas finally commissioned. It began broadcasting in 1998 andthe rest is history.”The first international version launched in Holland in 1999,

and since then, the show has been formatted in more than 116countries, with 83 productions in different languages. The simple game play of WWTBAM? lends itself quite

naturally to brand extensions. Board games, quiz books andin-show competitions surrounding the show first launched in2000. The same year, a deal was signed with Ceefax to hostthe game, marking the first deal of its kind for the Britishteletext service. The brand has since expanded to includeinteractive DVDs, console games, Internet games and mobileapps in more than 39 territories. Louwerse says that selling the canned versions of a game

show is usually a challenge, but WWTBAM? “has broken themold and sold successfully around the world.” Completed ver-sions of the show have been licensed to the U.K. (on Chal-lenge), Africa, Poland, Russia, New Zealand and Ireland. “The concept is simple yet gripping and aspirational, striking

a chord with viewers from all walks of life and all around theworld,” says Louwerse. “We also manage the brand very carefully.” He says the team works constantly to refresh and update

the show in each territory while always staying true to thebrand values. The updates vary from simple changes, such as

introducing a new lifeline, to a more complex rollout of afaster-paced version of the format. “In Australia, following years of success as the classic for-

mat, the Hot Seat version of WWTBAM? launched on NineNetwork in 2009 and was an instant hit, boosting the audi-ences of its weekday slot by around a third,” Louwerse explains.“With an average share of 23 percent, Hot Seat became one ofAustralia’s top game shows and now regularly outscores theslower-paced Network Ten rival Deal or No Deal. “Likewise, the introduction of Hot Seat on RTP1 in Por-

tugal refreshed interest in the show,” he continues. “Its 2010run peaked with 1 million viewers and a 31-percent share,40-percent above the prime-time channel average.”

THAT FRESH FEELINGThe show is in its 13th year in the U.K., and innovation andadaptation have helped keep it fresh and interesting for viewers,says Louwerse. “In 2010 a number of changes to the show wereintroduced, such as the introduction of a ticking clock. Thisincreased audiences by 13 percent among individuals and by 23percent among the key commercial group, 16- to 34-year-olds.The first-ever live broadcast of the show in the U.K., at Christ-mas 2010, attracted nearly 7 million viewers, a 26-percent share.This year, ITV has scheduled a number of live celebrityWWTBAM? specials. The last one, in which celebrities playedwith their children, drew an audience of 4.6 million (a 22.51-percent share) for ITV1.” On average, WWTBAM? is airing in at least 30 interna-

tional territories at any one time. New countries continueto sign up for the format as well, including recent deals inGhana, Ivory Coast, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka (two different lan-guage versions) and Ecuador. It also gets recommissionedconstantly, says Louwerse. “Even in markets where the for-mat has taken a break, we see it come back and [get]relaunched,” he adds, pointing to recent examples in Roma-nia, the Netherlands, Turkey, Hungary, Switzerland and India. “The brand is already very strong, but we’re continuing to

secure new territories and will soon be in a position to announceeven more new deals,” says Louwerse. “We have our eye on rollingout the finished U.K. show in more markets, but we’re alwayscareful not to jeopardize the local format opportunities, as ourultimate goal is to maintain WWTBAM? as one of the most suc-cessful locally adapted game shows in the world.”


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Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?Case study:

By Kristin Brzoznowski

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Documents

TV Formats MIPCOM 2011 Edition