"NBC is close to picking up a cast-contingent pilot from Endemol USA that breaks down the barriers between scripted and reality fare.Read the story on Variety.comHybrid family sitcom, tentatively titled "Traveling Salesman," contains an unscripted element in which the show's fictional main character interacts with real-life people via hidden camera."
Steven Bochco, the veteran Hollywood producer behind series including Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue and LA Law, is turning his storytelling expertise to the internet, developing a new channel for online video site Metacafe.
"(...) We could feel it coming during last MIP but this past MIPCOM was definitely where the establishment of the genre became noticeable the most. Even tracking agency The Wit featured a full section to the rising popularity of scripted formats around the world. This undoubtedly confirms that far from being a fad, formats are an important part of many broadcasters’ chase for higher ratings and they are expanding into genres that go well beyond light entertainment series. In an environment where audiences are fragmenting and embracing new ways to watch their favorite shows, producing and broadcasting drama series on primetime also comes with its share of challenges for many broadcasters around the world. Scripted formats offer an alternative to mitigate the financial risks and to increase the probability of success: in scripted comedies, the international success of Love Bugs after nine years and 30 countries, has paved the way, and others have made their way since : The Office, Betty, la Fea (Ugly Betty, which hits the #1 spot on US television) are now the driving force on the back of which the US studios are stretching their production arm into the scripted format market. NBCU’s Law & Order is being remade in Russia and France, any a slew of US dramas including telenovelas are being shopped by Fox World. (...)"
about RDF Media Group plc
Since 1993, RDF has developed, produced and distributed a range of outstanding programming in entertainment, factual entertainment, features and drama. RDF has been one of the UK’s fastest growing companies appearing in The Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track top 100 in 2001, 2002, and 2003 and The Sunday Times PricewaterhouseCoopers Profit Track top 100 in 2005. The company was successfully listed at 144p on the London AIM market in May 2005.
Through its group members RDF Television, RDF Rights, RDF USA, IWC Media, Touchpaper Television, Presentable, Radar TV, The Foundation & The Comedy Unit the RDF Group makes television programmes for all the UK terrestrial broadcasters, a number of secondary UK channels as well as several US Network and cable broadcasters. It also sells programmes and formats to broadcasters worldwide and exploits secondary rights such as DVDs and merchandising through RDF Rights. Key shows include: Wife Swap - Channel Four/ ABC (US); Holiday Showdown - ITV1/ ABC (US); Location, Location, Location and Relocation, Relocation – Channel 4; The Basil Brush Show – CBBC; Rock School – Channel 4/VH1 (US); Ian Wright’s Unfit Kids - Channel 4/ABC (US); Ladette to Lady – ITV1; Scrapheap Challenge – Channel Four; A Harlot’s Progress – Channel 4; Shipwrecked: Battle of the Islands – Channel Four; Still Game – BBC Two; The Red Arrows – BBC One & The Queen’s Castle – BBC One.
RDF has won numerous awards for its programming including a number of BAFTAs, RTS awards, the Rose d’Or at Montreux and an International Emmy. In 2003, 2004 and 2005 RDF was voted the most respected and admired independent producer by its peers and won Broadcast’s Best Independent Production Company award in 2002, 2004 and 2006. RDF is the only indie to win this award more than once. IWC Media won the award in 2003
RDF Rights is the vehicle through which the group exploits the rights it creates in its programmes. RDF Rights also acts as agent on behalf of over 50 third party independent producers. Since the Communications Act 2003, independent producers in the UK have owned and controlled most of the secondary rights in their programmes made for terrestrial broadcasters.
RDF has offices in London, Glasgow, Bristol, Cardiff, Maidstone, New York and Los Angeles and the group employs about 600 people.
In the year to 31 January 2006, group sales were £59.5m and adjusted pre-tax profits were £5.4m.
The Gurin Company has reached a deal to bring the Japanese game show NEP League, from Fuji Television Network, to the U.S. market.
"Making it their own, in fact, is the newest trend catching on among U.S. television studios trying to find new ways to push their programming in foreign markets. From local music tie-ins like Larage's to new versions of American hits produced overseas with local casts, studios are thinking globally but acting locally.
Disney announced a deal last week to produce four versions of Desperate Housewives in Latin America. The ladies of Wisteria Lane will be more than dubbed in Spanish. Hoping to replicate the worldwide success of the ABC dramedy the local editions will each have their own casts and cultural flavors in Spanish and Portuguese. "The script of the series perfectly fit the profile of what the Latin American audience looks like," Buena Vista International Television senior vice president Fernando Barbosa said. "It looks similar to telenovelas." Each local Desperate Housewives will follow the format of the U.S. show but be adapted to reflect local culture.
Producing local versions of popular American shows with local casts all over the world, known in the industry as "reversioning", could be a bonanza for studios, which count on sales to international markets to recoup the high cost of producing episodic television at home. In the 1990s Sony Television International pioneered reversioning with local productions of hits such as Married With Children and The Nanny as a way to counter a trend of scheduling U.S. shows in undesirable time slots far away from primetime. Today, Sony is expanding its productions throughout the world in markets as culturally different as Russia and China."
Celador International Chairman, Paul Smith, concluded the deal with Steve Askew, Chief Operating Officer, STAR Group and Gaurav Gandhi, Vice President – Commercial & Planning, STAR India, at Mipcom in Cannes today. The multi-million dollar contract also incorporates the license for the finished Hindi programmes to be broadcast in a further six territories – Hong Kong, the Middle East, Singapore, Pakistan, the UK, and the USA – on STAR PLUS’ international channels.Cannes/MIPCOM, October 9, 2006: Nominations for the 34th International Emmy® Awards were announced today by The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences at a press conference at MIPCOM. There are 36 nominees in 9 categories.
“We are proud of the diversity and the geographic range of our nominees. They come from nine different countries, with multiple nominees from Asia, Europe and South America.” said Academy President & CEO Bruce Paisner also President of Hearst Entertainment. “Once again the “best” will set a new high standard of excellence for the worldwide television community.”
ARTS PROGRAMMING
I Am Dali: Secrets of a Genius
NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation)
Japan
John Peel's Record Box
Initial
United Kingdom
Knowledge is the Beginning
A production of EuroArts Music international in co-production with ZDF/ARTE
Germany
Soul Deep: The Story of Black Popular Music
BBC Bristol
United Kingdom
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
De Gaulle
GMT Productions with the participation of France 2, ARTE France with the support of Région Ile-de-France, with the participation of Centre National de la Cinématographie, INA - Institut National de l'Audiovisuel
France
A Very Social Secretary
A Mentorn Production for Channel 4
United Kingdom
Feng Qi's Confession
Beijing Rosat Film & TV Production Co. Ltd./CTV - China Television Media Ltd.
PR China
Vincent
Granada Drama and Comedy
United Kingdom
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE
Boys Will Be Boys
Monster Film for NRK
Elias - The Little Rescue Boat
Filmkameratene AS
Johnny and the Bomb
Childsplay Television (UK)
Sugar Rush
A Shine Production for Channel 4 (UK)
COMEDY
Little Britain
BBC Comedy (UK)
Paare
Sony Pictures Film und Fernseh Produktions GmbH
The Amateurs
Globo TV
The I.T. Crowd
A Talkback Thames Production for Channel 4 (UK)
DOCUMENTARY
9/11 The Falling Man
A Darlow Smithson Production (UK)
Hiroshima
A BBC/TFI/ZDF/Discovery Channel co-production in association with the Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc. with thanks to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (UK)
How Putin Came To Power
Wilton Films/Quark Productions/ARTE France
The Search for Happiness
Filmquadrat GmbH/ Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Life on Mars
Kudos Film & TV Ltd. (UK)
Little Missy
Globo TV (Brazil)
Vincent
Granada Drama and Comedy (UK)
NON-SCRIPTED ENTERTAINMENT
TV Globo/Endemol (Brazil)
Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares
An Optomen Television Production for Channel 4 (UK)
Supernanny
Ricochet (UK)
The Strict School of the Fifties
ZDF German Television (Germany)
TV MOVIE/MINI-SERIES
HBO Ole Originals/O2 Filmes (
Nuit Noire, October 17, 1961
Cipango (France)
The Crown Princess
Produced by AB Svensk Filmindustri in co-production with Sveriges Television – SVT Fiktion for SVT, in co-operation with YLE, TV2 AS and DR-TV, with support by Nordisk Film & TV Fond and the Media Plus Programme of the European Community (Sweden)
The Virgin Queen
A BBC/Power Co-Production (UK)
The format business is very healthy in the U.S. television business. From Network hits such as American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Biggest Loser, Deal or No Deal, Hell’s Kitchen, Wife Swap, Apprentice, etc., to cable fare like Real World. The next few months will see the launch of traditional formats in game shows and non-traditional formats (for the U.S.) of telenovelas. The on-air presence and ratings success of formats is encouraging for their owners - - many from outside the U.S.A. However, the U.S. business practices surrounding formats is less rosy. U.S. buyers (for the most part, broadcaster and cable channels) recognize formats as existing, in a business sense, only in previously produced programs. The concept of a paper format is not recognized by the buyers’ business affairs departments.
A detailed written description of a show, its production peculiarities and rules, etc. is simply a pitch document for a U.S. broadcaster. Furthermore, they claim the format is not “created” until they produce the show. The logic of this, from their point of view, is since their money turns the abstract concept or pitch document into a show and a format, they believe they should own the majority of the format. The creator should be a minority shareholder in any future format exploitation which will, most likely, be controlled by a distribution company, vertically integrated and owned by the buyers’ parent company.
In some respects, it is better for a paper format to become a tape format in Estonia, Portugal, or New Zealand before it is launched in the U.S. The troubles with the U.S. business affairs departments do not stop there. It is rare, though not unknown, for a U.S. buyer to recognize a line item in the budget called “format fee”, say 4%. The fee for any underlying rights holders is expected to come out of some overhead line. To some extent, this goes to the heart of the problem that U.S. broadcasters and their business affairs departments have with the idea of formats. They recognize some of the practical format attributes that are acknowledged the world over, yet they are suspicious of the more abstract intellectual property issues.
In formats, broadcasters see that shows which have already been made somewhere else (and have been a success) are to some extent “debugged”. As well, formats previously made have proven appeal for certain demographics. The proven nature of imported formats also provides one of their greatest appeals for the buyer: validation of the buyer’s choice. This can be useful up the executive chain should a format fail to rate in the U.S.
On the more intellectual property side of the format, since broadcasters have all the money and all the power, it is difficult for them (and especially their business affaires departments) to sympathize with the concept of a creator devising an original format to which the creator maintains the ownership control.
U.S. Summer Season’s Latest
So far, the Summer season of formats has opened strongly on U.S. Network TV, with So You Think You Can Dance (Season 2), and Hell’s Kitchen (Season 2), strong on Fox. Treasure Hunt is doing OK on NBC, and ABC soon to unveil its’ version of the Japanese format Master of Champions. More sub-Idol talent shows are coming with NBC’s America’s Got Talent, and Rock Star, and Endemol’s America’s Fame Academy on ABC. The battle of the game show formats (Set For Life, 1 vs 100) will not take place until Fall or mid-season…so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
"You have to make a lot of noise in reality. It helps to have a very interesting set of concepts to begin with. Whereas for a sitcom or a drama sometimes you can grow the audience over the course of a few episodes, in reality TV it works better if you have a provocativ or talked-about concept before you even get the show on the air. After that, it's important that the show does the same as a scripted show - entertain and pull emotions out of you. It has to make you feel sad, happy, excited or terrified, the same way that comedies and dramas work to pull those emotions out. I've always thought that reality shows have to do the same thing."
Josef Adalian, Reality titans tying the knot - Eyeworks catches 3 Ball,
said on Variety.com (2006/09/26)
"Dutch reality factory Eyeworks is shelling out a large eight-figure sumRead the whole story on Variety.com
for 3 Ball Prods., the production company behind "Beauty and the Geek"
and "The Biggest Loser."Pact calls for Eyeworks to take a 50% stake in the U.S. company, with 3
Ball founders J.D. Roth and Todd Nelson becoming major equity holders in
Eyeworks. Roth and Nelson will continue to run 3 Ball, working in
partnership with Eyeworks founder-CEO Reinout Oerlemans.
Deal instantly transforms midsize U.S. production house 3 Ball into a
potential international player. In addition to giving 3 Ball "some
working capital to scale the company up," Roth said the ties to Eyeworks
means his company will now have the ability to test and grow formats
overseas -- a big advantage when pitching projects to U.S. networks.
"We really need to have a pipeline going both ways to grow our
business," Roth said. "This lets us create a laboratory for our ideas.
If a network says, 'We like this show, but we want to know more,' we can
say, 'We'll put it on in New Zealand, and it won't cost you a dime.' "
Roth said 3 Ball is now "a complete turnkey operation. We can create,
sell, produce and distribute ideas internationally."
Eyeworks is the No. 2 TV producer in Holland, behind only Endemol, with
Oerlemans estimating his company's sales last year at about $200
million. Now that the company has a toehold in the U.S. -- along with
Germany, Belgium, Sweden and New Zealand -- Oerlemans said he next plans
to extend the Eyeworks brand to Blighty, France and Italy.
"We want to be in important territories, and we want to be creative
players that come up with new, fresh formats," he said, outlining plans
for a global "family" of reality companies where ideas are freely
traded. (...)"
US company Ultimate Blackjack Tour (UBT), creator of the TV gambling
format of the same name that goes to air on CBS this fall, has filed a
lawsuit against cable channel GSN over alleged format theft.
The long list of allegations in the lawsuit, filed in the LA Supreme
Court on Tuesday by UBT's attorneys Andrew White, David Fink and Amanda Leith of White O'Connor Curry in Los Angeles, includes breach of implied contract, breach of confidence, unfair competition and unjust enrichment in connection with GSN's show, World Series of Blackjack.
Read more on C21media.net
After initially declining to comment on the matter, GSN issued a brief statement Friday that, in its entirety, read:
“This lawsuit is completely baseless and without merit, and we will be vindicated in court.”More on Mediaweek.com
The case is Ultimate Blackjack Tour v. Game Show Network, BC356637, The HollywoodReporter said.
Das Wall Street Journal berichtet am 12. August 2006 über eine andere Art der Formatentwicklung. Piloten, die eigentlich nur für das Pitching gedacht sind, gelangen über diverse Umwege über Tauschbörsen zu den Zuschauern. So passiert mit dem TV-Piloten “Nobody’s Watching”:
“In many cases, the pilots appear to have been “ripped” from official DVDs made for reviewers and company executives.
It’s unclear whether the leaks resulted from security breaches or quiet efforts to promote the shows. In either case, Internet leaks can sometimes pay off for TV shows. In June, a TV pilot called “Nobody’s Watching,” which the WB network had passed on, was leaked to the video-sharing site YouTube. It generated enough of an audience online that NBC decided to pick up the show for development.
At least four of CBS’s fall pilots have been circulated on the Web, a development that CBS spokesman Chris Ender calls “both flattering and frightening.” He adds: “We’re pleased that there’s an early demand for our shows but the marketing benefits can’t excuse what is illegal theft of our programming.”
In diesem Fall ist der Spagat zwischen Geheimnisschutz und Offenlegung gut gegangen. Vielleicht ist das die neue Kunst des Pitchings?
Zum ganzen Beitrag geht es hier: WSJ.com - Online: Fall TV
Schaut man nach Amerika, so scheint die Zeit der Shows - insbesondere die der Reality-Shows - vorbei zu sein. Jedenfalls nach Meinung von USA Today (14.8.2006):
“… Promise appears to have overshadowed potential drawbacks. Networks are rolling out the largest number of continuing stories in recent memory. ABC’s The Nine and Day Break, CBS’ Jericho and NBC’s Kidnapped join Vanished as dramas with mysteries that will unfold over the season.
They join a broad range of series, from soapy Desperate Housewives to veteran ER, that feature some form of continuing stories that demand — and often reward — a degree of weekly vigilance from viewers.
“We’re all going to learn a lot about what works and what doesn’t,” says Fox entertainment chief Peter Liguori.
TV executives say this is likely the peak year for serials, and NBC entertainment chief Kevin Reilly acknowledges there are probably more than viewers can handle. But he considers the surplus a healthy sign. “We should applaud the range of creativity. It would be more distressing for the business if we had a lot of traditional franchise shows.” (USA Today 2006/8/14)
Zum ganzen Beitrag geht es hier: USATODAY.com - TV gambles on more serials
Die BBC bittet um Zusendung von Programmvorschlägen und stellt dafür einen Format Guide zur Verfügung: BBC - Commissioning - Proposal Requirements
Die BBC hat sich dem Code of Practice for submission of Programme Proposals as agreed between the Alliance for the Protection of Copyright and BBC, ITV, C4 and Channel 5 verpflichtet.
Der Trend geht weiter: Die beiden Töchter von Fremantle Grundy Television und Crackerjack werden zusammen Fremantle Media Australia. Zum bisherigen Katalog der beiden Produktionsfirmen gehören erfolgreiche Formate wie “Temptation”, “Australian Idol 2006″, “Neighbours”, “Family Feud“, “The Biggest Loser” oder “Jamie’s Kitchen Australia”. „Der Zusammenschluss bringt ein dynamisches Unternehmen für einen sich verändernden Markt hervor – in diesem Fall ergibt eins und eins tatsächlich drei”, so die Überzeugung von Mark Fennessy. (benet)
Gefunden im BeNet
Eine Anmerkung zu The Biggest Loser: Die Show ist eine Produktion von Reveille Production, produziert für NBC. Reveille Production hat hierfür den FRAPA Reality Show Format Award 2006 erhalten. The Biggest Loser Australia ist eine Produktion von crackerjack und FremantleMedia für ten
