MIPFormats 2013 PREVIEW

MARCH 2013

mipformats

www.mipformats.com The ofﬁcial MIPFormats magazine

preVieW MIPFORMATS KEYNOTE

INTERNATIONAL FORMATS PITCH

PROGRAMMES FOR SALE

Stephen Lambert

Warner Bros.’ Andrew Zein

What’s new in formats?

SEE PAGE 4

SEE PAGE 16

Also inside: • Treasure Box Japan • Nordic World • Formats from Korea • Hear from the formats experts • Strategies for tough times • MIPFormats events and conferences • And more...

EVERYONE TURNS US ON

Our formats deliver what they promise: bold, captivating entertainment that audiences can’t get enough of. We have a special chemistry with our viewers and it’s getting more passionate by the day.

MIPTV Booth G3-18

MIPFormats 2013 Conferences & Events Programme Saturday 6 - Sunday 7 April 2013 – Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France

The world’s largest gathering for the TV format community will feature a full programme of conferences and screenings, as well as a digital library for the 250 international buyers in attendance. MIPFormats Keynote The chairman of newly-created ALL3MEDIA America, Stephen Lambert, creator of successful formats such as “Wife Swap”, “Secret Millionaire”, and “Undercover Boss”, will be sharing his vision of this rapidly-evolving sector in a keynote address at MIPFormats.

MIPFormats International Pitch New Ideas. New Talents. New Formats. The unique pitching competition for new concepts of non-scripted entertainment. On the heels of the success of the 2012 MIPFormats International Pitch, Warner Bros. International Television Production is back as exclusive sponsor committing up to €25,000 to develop the winning project.

Stephen Lambert Chairman/Chief Executive, Studio Lambert and Chairman, All3Media America

10.30-11.00

SATURDAY 6 APRIL

SUNDAY 7 APRIL

DIGITAL SCREENING LIBRARY opens on Saturday 6 April from 9.30 to 19.00

DIGITAL SCREENING LIBRARY opens on Sunday 7 April from 8.30 to 19.00

Exclusive! Fresh Formats Screenings: Entertainment & Game Shows, New Hits and Pilots

GRAND AUDI

9.00-9.30

Be inspired by the new breed of content creators Breakfast served - Followed by Meet the speakers

Presented by Virginia Mouseler, The WIT 11.10-11.50

How to Format your Programme for the Chinese Market?

AUDI A

9.35-10.15

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Schedule Watch

In partnership with FRAPA 12.00-12.30

AUDI A

Talented Indies

What do Buyers Want? AUDI A

The Best Independent Formats from Scandinavia and the Nordic Region

10.20-11.35

GRAND AUDI

The MIPFormats International Pitch New Ideas. New Talent. New Formats.

In partnership with Nordic World

Sponsored by Warner Bros. International Television Production

12.40-13.10

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10 Things You Should Know Before Creating Your Own Format

14.00-15.00

11.40-12.10

GRAND AUDI

Format Futures Report th

The 4 annual edition of the C21 in-depth market analysis charting 2013 and beyond 15.10-15.50

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Branded Entertainment Case Study

Spotlight on a dynamic & fast-developing market In partnership with KOCCA 16.50-17.30

16.10-16.40

AUDI C

How to Make Your Format Transmedia?

Format Deals: How to Negociate the New Financial & Multiplatform Parameters

From 19.00

Meet the French Talents In partnership with Club Galilée

13.10-14.00 14.15-14.45

Followed by snack lunch & networking

Presented by Virginia Mouseler, The WIT 15.00-15.45

AUDI A

15.00-15.45

AUDI C

Innova Basque Audiovisual:

16.00-16.45 MARTINEZ BEACH

From Paper Format to the Screen In partnership with Basque Audiovisual AUDI A

“The Taste” A Format Case Study

16.00-16.45

AUDI C

How to Format Your Reality Show? Increasing the value of your show In partnership with Entertainment Master Class

17.00-17.45 MIPFormats thanks its Sponsors & Partners MIPFormats International Pitch Sponsor

GRAND AUDI

AUDI A

Sponsored by INCCA

MIPFormats Global Sponsors

MIPFORMATS LOUNGE

Exclusive! Fresh Formats Screenings: New Factual Entertainment & Reality Formats

GRAND AUDI

MIPFormats & MIPDoc Opening Cocktail Party

AUDI A

Japanese Formats Showcase

New Perspectives for Scripted Reality

Format of the Future: Will it Come from Social Media?

AUDI C

Treasure Box Japan: World Premiere – Brand New Formats!

In partnership with Entertainment Master Class

In partnership with FRAPA 17.40-18.30

12.20-13.10

Pitch your winning formula AUDI A

Focus on Korea

MIPFORMATS LOUNGE

11.40-12.10

Hints & tips to capture the audience In partnership with Entertainment Master Class

The Buyers’ Matchmaking

Working with brands & agencies 16.00-16.40

15.10-16.10

AUDI A

How to Understand What your Audience Wants?

GRAND AUDI

MIPFormats Keynote Stephen Lambert, Studio-Lambert/ALL3MEDIA America

MIPFormats Premium Partner

From 18.00

Screenings

MIPFormats Closing Drinks

Pitching

Boot camps

Keynote

As of 22nd February 2013, subject to change.

Visit www.mipformats.com for detailed programme.

Sessions

COntents i nEWs

i productneWs

Stephen Lambert gives the MIPFormats keynote address; the MIPFormats International Pitch; Treasure Box Japan; focus on formats from Korea and Scandinavia

Formats for sale

i features

What’s new? Talent quests, quirky game shows and emotionally engaging factual entertainment look set to be the must-have format genres of 2013. Joanna Stephens previews this year’s MIPTV hopefuls

The economics of formats 16 In a challenging economic climate, budgets are squeezed, decisions put on hold and innovation can occasionally suffer. So do non-scripted formats provide a more sellable, risk-free option in difﬁcult times? Juliana Koranteng reports Ask the experts Traditional TV is being re-shaped by social media; China, India and Latin America are snapping at the heels of the traditional format territories; technology is enabling and inspiring new forms of content. Against this backdrop, where’s the formats business going? And who’s in the driving seat? Joanna Stephens asks some of the leaders in the ﬁeld…

16 mipformats preVieW The ofﬁcial MIPFormats preview magazine March 2013. Director of Publications Paul Zilk Director of Communication Mike Williams EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor in Chief Julian Newby Technical Editor in Chief Hervé Traisnel Deputy Technical Editor in Chief Frédéric Beauseigneur Graphic Designer Carole Peres Sub Editor Clive Bull Proof Reader Debbie Lincoln Contributors Juliana Koranteng, Joanna Stephens Editorial Management Boutique Editions PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Publishing Director Martin Screpel Publishing Co-ordinators Nour Ezzedeen, Emilie Lambert, Amrane Lamiri Production Assistant, Cannes Office Eric Laurent Printer Riccobono Imprimeurs, Le Muy (France) MANAGEMENT & SALES TEAM Director of the Entertainment Division Jérome Delhaye Director of the Television Division Laurine Garaude Director of Market Development Ted Baracos Sales Director Frédéric Vaulpré Conference Director Lucy Smith Marketing Director Stéphane Gambetta Programme Director Tania Dugaro Director of the Buyers’ Department Bénédicte Touchard Sales Manager Europe excluding Scandinavia & Eastern Europe, Buyers Cyriane Accolas Sales Manager Latin America, Middle East, Africa, Buyers Andry Ramilia Sales Manager Eastern Europe, Oceania, Asia excluding Japan & Korea, Buyers Yi-Ping Gerard Managing Director (UK / Australia / New Zealand) Peter Rhodes OBE Sales Manager David Hedges Vice President Sales and Business Development, Americas Robert Marking Sales Director Latin America José-Luis Sanchez Vice President Business Development, North America JP Bommel Sales Executive Panayiota Pagoulatos Sales Managers Paul Barbaro, Nathalie Gastone Regional Sales Director Fabienne Germond Sales Executives Liliane Dacruz, Cyril Szczerbakow Sales Manager Samira Haddi Digital Media Sales Manager Nancy Denole New Media Development Manager Bastien Gave Australia and New Zealand Representative Natalie Apostolou China Representatives Anke Redl, Tammy Zhao CIS Representatives Alexandra Modestova, Igor Shibanov English Speaking Africa Representative Arnaud de Nanteuil India Representative Anil Wanvari Israel Representative Guy Martinovsky Japan Representative Lily Ono Middle-East Representative Bassil Hajjar Poland Representative Monika Bednarek South Korea Representative Sunny Kim Taiwan Representative Irene Liu Germany Representative (Digital Media Sector) Renate Radke Adam Reed MIDEM, a joint stock company (SAS), with a capital of €310.000, 662 003 557 R.C.S. NANTERRE, having offices located at 27-33 Quai Alphonse Le Gallo - 92100 BOULOGNE-BILLANCOURT (FRANCE), VAT number FR91 662 003 557. Contents © 2013, Reed MIDEM Market Publications. Publication registered 1st quarter 2013. ISSN 1963-2258. ®

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i nEWs NEWS IN BRIEF

MIPFORMATS KEYNOTE

WARNER BACKS INTERNATIONAL FORMATS PITCH

Lambert to discuss creativity and the deﬁnition of a format

CREATORS and producers from around the world have once again been invited to present innovative concepts for new, non-scripted entertainment formats for the MIPFormats International Pitch. Exclusive sponsor of the event, Warner Bros. International Television Production (WBITVP) will invest up to €25,000 to develop the winning project. “We are in an incredibly competitive market for great ideas; there are dozens of us,” said Andrew Zein, senior vice-president of creative format development and sales at WBITVP. “There are the new studios, the big media groups — Shine, FremantleMedia, Endemol — and the big distribution companies, all out there competing to try and find a third party to produce their formats. And so it’s a great platform for us to make clear that we’re in the business of working with producers from whatever country, whatever size, and of course a range of genres.” He added: “There aren’t many places where a producer can walk into a room, pitch their idea and know that at the end of it there is going to be one of the world’s leading movie and TV studios on board as a partner with a reasonably significant amount of development money, so it’s a really good event for us to be associated with.” The MIPFormats Pitch live pitching event takes place during MIPFormats in Cannes, April 7

WBITVP’s Andrew Zein 4I

TEPHEN Lambert, creator of a number of hit global formats including Wife Swap, Undercover Boss, Faking It and Secret Millionaire, gives this year’s MIPFormats keynote. The CEO of Studio Lambert also became chairman of All3Media America when Studio Lambert was acquired by All3Media at the end of 2012. He now divides his time between London and Los Angeles. One of the areas Lambert will be discussing during the keynote is “scale and creativity” which he believes is “a really interesting intellectual challenge. We’ve seen this massive consolidation of the sector over the past five or seven years and there is now a number of large groups on the international scene and everybody is struggling with how to get the benefits of scale and at the same time how to maximise creativity and individual relationships between sellers and buyers.” Lambert believes that All3Media America offers a new model which attempts to “combine the benefits of scale with a multi-headed creative and selling approach”. That approach sees all the small companies under the All3Media umbrella operating small creative and sales operations, but enjoying the scale of the All3Media America production infrastructure, once in production. “I think that is an interesting approach, because on the whole the other companies tend to go for scale at both ends… so we’ll have the benefit of lots of little creative units working within All3Media and I think that will maximise creativity.” All3Media America is focusing equally on scripted and unscripted formats — but Lambert says that the concept of what a format is has been “stretched” in recent times. “I think the traditional notion that a format was a piece of editorial design that was unique and that’s what you were buying, has changed,” he said. “Back then you also had the bible and the individual knowledge of the people who had made it for the first time. I think now sometimes it can be just about the particular technique of how to make the show even if the editorial isn’t very proscribed. If you’re making an American version of The Only Way Is Essex, for instance.

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MIPFormats keynote: Stephen Lambert

That’s more about buying a format of a technique rather than a format of a piece of editorial design.” He cites the difference between a format such as Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, for which the bible is strictly laid out, and a number of formats today which apply a far looser set of guidelines. “When is it right to be obsessive about trying to make sure that a format is exactly the same everywhere and expressed in the same way, and when is it better to allow local variation? With more documentary-style formats like Undercover Boss and Wife Swap, I think it’s a mistake to try to be too proscriptive about how it’s made in different territories. I think there are different territories and different sensibilities and if you try and impose one sensibility on all of them it doesn’t necessarily make it more successful in those different markets.” Prior to launching Studio Lambert in 2008, Lambert was the creative head of the RDF Media Group for nine years as it grew from being a small UK independent into a major production house on both sides of the Atlantic. The MIPFormats keynote discussion with Stephen Lambert is at 16.40 on Sunday, April 7

Cooking Competition Show www.redarrowinternational.tv sales@redarrowinternational.tv

i nEWs NEWS IN BRIEF

JAPAN

KOREAN FORMAT PRODUCERS DO IT THEIR WAY

Treasure Box Japan brings more formats to Cannes

KOCCA, the Korea Creative Content Agency, will highlight Korean formats at a MIPFormats session on Saturday April 6. Speakers from Korea will give an insight on how to work with Korean format producers, and will preset a number of hit formats that originated in the country. A recent example is MY Way from Eccho Rights which has been localised for a number of countries including France, with production house Coyote, and Germany with DEF Media. My Way is a singing competition format, but unlike The Voice, Idol and X Factor, it focuses exclusively on cover versions of big hit songs. In each episode, a star sings the original version of a well-known hit. A group of young aspiring singers then compete against each other, singing their own renditions of the same tune.

My Way (KBS)

The series has been a ratings winner for broadcaster KBS in Korea. Eccho Rights first introduced the format to international buyers at MIPCOM last year. KOCCA’s presentation of new Korean formats will be followed by a networking session with format producers from Korea. The KOCCA Formats session is on Saturday, April 6 at 16.10

EVEN major Japanese broadcasters and two Japanese government Ministries came together in Cannes during MIPCOM, to promote new TV format ideas to senior executives from all over the world. The Treasure Box Japan New Formats Dinner, was the ﬁrst event of its kind. “Up until that time we had never really co-operated in this way as a group of broadcasters,” said Eito Teshiba, sales manager, international business development at NTV Tokyo. “So we formed a team with help from the government, and we held a gala party. We invited format buyers from around the world to show them how creative and innovative Japanese formats are.” And the Treasure Box Japan group of companies is returning to Cannes, to further the project, which is designed to raise awareness of Japanese formats in the minds of buyers and

The Japanese Formats Showcase is at 12.20, followed by lunch, Sunday, April 7

America’s Funniest Home Videos (TBS) / Iron Chef (Fuji TV) / Dragons’ Den UK (NTV) / Ranking The Stars Indonesia (TV Asahi)

Kids teach Mum and Dad a lesson THE BEST independent formats from Scandinavia and the Nordic Region are being presented at a session sponsored by Nordic World, and presented by the company’s COO Jan Salling.

DIGITAL LIBRARY PRODUCERS, broadcasters and distributors can showcase their programmes to 250+ buyers through the new digital library in the Palais. Buyers can rate the programmes, take personal notes and leave comments for the companies presenting their productions. The library is available from 09.30, Saturday, and 08.30, Sunday, closing both days at 19.00.

broadcasters around the world. Hit formats to have come out of Japan include NTV’s Dragon’s Den, known as Shark Tank on ABC in the US; TBS’ Takeshi’s Castle, seen in Taiwan; and Fuji TV’s Iron Chef, seen in countries including the US, UK, Australia and Vietnam. The participating broadcasters are: Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV), TV Asahi Corporation (TV Asahi), Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc (TBS), TV Tokyo Corporation (TV Tokyo), Fuji Television Network Inc., (Fuji TV), Asahi Broadcasting Corporation (A BC), and Yomiuri TV Enterprises (YTV). Treasure Box Japan is assisted by the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Economy, Trade and Industry.

Nordic World’s Honestly, Mum and Dad!

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“The Nordic Region has a unique format ecosystem,” Salling said. “It’s a system that is characterised by creativity, innovation and exceptional production values. If formats succeed here, they will succeed anywhere.” Recent titles from the region include a number of formats with life-afﬁrming messages. One example is Nordic World’s Honestly, Mum and Dad! where career-driven parents get the opportunity to watch a frank ﬁlm about their lives as seen from their children’s perspective. Flyon-the-wall footage, interviews with affected children, as well as animations based on children’s drawings, build a picture of a home where the parents are largely absent. The Best Independent Formats From Scandinavia And The Nordic Region is at 12.00, Saturday, April 6

Sketch Comedy Show MIPTV Booth: H4.12 www.redarrowinternational.tv sales@redarrowinternational.tv

PrOductnEWs The MIPFormats Preview highlights some of the content on sale from around the world at MIPFormats and onwards at MIPTV... ARMOZA FORMATS

NEW DOCU-reality format Family Time strips the family unit of all external distractions sends them across country in an RV. Without their daily routine the families are given the chance to air out stormy issues and make peace. The format is brought to MIPTV by TelAviv-based Armoza Formats. Family Time (Armoza Formats)

WARNER BROS. INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION DISTRIBUTION

AMONG the formats brought to Cannes by Warner Bros. International Television Distribution is Food CIA (177 x 30 mins) — known as Food Unwrapped (16 x 30 mins) in the UK. CIA stands for Consumer Investigation Agency, and the show features three food-industry journalists who challenge our assumptions about food, from “fresh” minced meat that has been deep-frozen, to ham that’s more water than pig. In Celebrity Wedding Planner (13 x 60 mins) ordinary couples give over total control of their celebrations to a celebrity, without knowing which celebrity it will be. Gok’s Style Secrets features the fashion expert and relationship guru who aims to overhaul and reinvent despairing daters to help them succeed, and Operation Transformation sees volunteers on a weight-loss programme encompassing the web, radio and TV.

Food CIA (Warner Bros. International Television Distribution) 8I

OPTOMEN INTERNATIONAL

FOOD, Glorious Food! (9 x 60 mins) is a new competition series that scours the country in search of the best in family recipes, and dishes that have become legends in their own families are demonstrated to everyone. Hopeful contestants battle it out for the chance to have their dish on sale in the UK’s M&S stores. The show, brought to Cannes by Optomen International, is available as a format or a completed series.

BANIJAY INTERNATIONAL

THE ILLUSIONIST is a magic talent competition. The one-hour format was created by Italy’s Showlab, and is brought to Cannes by Banijay International. To win a residency in one of the country’s top entertainment venues amateur magicians have to prove themselves over several rounds in front of a panel of judges.

Food, Glorious Food! (Optomen International)

ENDEMOL

ENDEMOL’s line-up of entertainment formats includes: Your Face Sounds Familiar, from Endemol Spain’s Gestmusic, which sees celebrities perform as iconic singers, the catch being they could find themselves transformed into someone far older, younger or of the opposite sex; Endemol UK’s Pointless, in which contestants try and score the fewest general knowledge points possible by coming up with answers no one else can think of; and The Brain, originally produced by Endemol Germany, in which contestants compete for a cash prize by performing mental challenges.

Turkey’s Your Face Sounds Familiar (Endemol)

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The Illusionist (Banijay International)

STRIX TELEVISION

PRODUCTION and formats company Strix Television is launching new format 5 Things I Hate About Your Home (6 or 12 x 45 mins) at Cannes. Produced by Strix Denmark the series helps families make the changes needed in order to sell their home. Two hosts who are experts in home improvements invite 50 potential buyers to view and identify what is wrong with the home. Their observations form five overall factors, which the family rectifies with the help of the hosts and the series’ team of tradesmen.

5 Things I Hate About Your House (Strix Television)

Innova Basque Audiovisual: from paper format to the screen

Riviera Hall 31.29

z Discover the outcome of an innovative commitment to talent. z 4 ideas selected by an international jury. z 4 pilots produced and broadcast in 2012.

The 2nd edition is underway!

* * Winning project in 2012: Mom, vote4me, by Pausoka.

www.eikencluster.com Innova Basque Audiovisual is an initiative by Eiken - Cluster Audiovisual Vasco (Basque Audiovisual Cluster) in cooperation with EiTB (Basque Public Broadcasting Company).

iproductneWs ARGONON INTERNATIONAL

HOUR-long format A Restaurant Divided is a programme featuring families who are in conflict over the future of their restaurants. Two distinct restaurants are created sitting side by side, each run by competing factions of the family. Over one week, whichever side attracts more customers and earns more money wins the right to lead the business into the future. Each episode focuses on a different family restaurant somewhere in the US.

RED ARROW INTERNATIONAL

COOKING competition The Taste is open to home cooks and professionals. Each week mentors Anthony Bourdain, Nigella Lawson, Ludo Lefebvre and Brian Malarkey judge the food blind. They don’t know who cooked the food, how it was prepared, or what the ingredients are. They don’t even see the full presentation of the dish — it’s only the taste that matters. Red Arrow also brings scripted reality format Patchwork Family. The show follows the daily life of driving instructor Michael and policewoman Christina’s 10-member family in Berlin.

KESHET INTERNATIONAL

IN THE reality dating show Girlfri3nds, three single women go on a nationwide search for love. Starting with hundreds of auditions for potential mates from all over country, the women narrow down potential suitors until they find their soul mates. The original Israeli version of the unscripted format premiered on Israel’s Keshet Channel 2 in 2011. In the UK, ITV2 has just commissioned a second season and international versions have aired on CBS in the US and are planned for Germany, Austria, Alto Adige, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg via Prosieben.Sat1.

NHK

JAPAN’s NHK brings a game-show format to Cannes. BrainFlash! is a family show in which 12 contestants, divided into two groups, compete in three to four games each show using their intuition and communication skills. The producers have developed a library of original games to choose from.

Restaurant Divided (Argonon International)

ONLY LIFESTYLE

PARIS-based distribution company Only Lifestyle brings a range of formats to Cannes, including: the launch of Le Chef En France (10 x 52 mins), a gourmet travelogue series, broadcast on M6; cooking contest Close To The Stars, adapted also for Belgium; and gardening formats Garden Party, Urban Natures, The City Turns Green, Urban Heroes and The Gentleman Gardener.

The Taste (Red Arrow International)

MISTRAL FRANCE

CRAZY Games is the latest production from Mistral in France. The six-part series features winter games with four teams competing from different regions of France to win a place in the final. Coached by celebrities the team taking part in the final has to go up against a group from the local mountain community, well-used to winter sports. BrainFlash! (NHK)

ZIG ZAG PRODUCTIONS

SPLIT/Second is a new 30-minute game show from the UK’s Zig Zag Productions and Sony Pictures Television. The show pits contestants against each other in an elimination game of general knowledge, observation and lightning-fast reactions. The game begins with 10 contestants and a series of quickfire rounds until just one player remains — to play against the clock for £100,000. Another game show, It Takes Balls, comes from Zig Zag and Red Arrow. The 60-minute show sees two teams of four take part in a series of rounds where successful catches of a ball, skillful dodges and mental teasers translate into cash for the team. Le Chef En France (Only Lifestyle) 10 I

Crazy Games (Mistral)

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i feature WHAT’S NEW IN FORMATS?

The next big hit

Talent quests, quirky game shows and emotionally engaging factual entertainment look set to be the must-have format genres of 2013. Joanna Stephens previews this year’s MIPTV hopefuls The Hit (Vision Independent Productions/Warner Bros. International)

T MAY be a sign of market maturity — or perhaps series is built around the experiences of Silas Holst, a proa comment on our risk-averse world, which craves fessional dancer on the Danish version of Strictly Come groundbreaking ideas while cowering from their un- Dancing, who was bullied mercilessly as a teenager for predictable consequences — but the format industry in being gay, plump and bespectacled. Fortunately, Silas early 2013 appears to be less interested in doing some- discovered he could dance, which gave him the conﬁthing new than doing everything better. The Next Big dence to deal with his persecutors. Beat The Bullies, in which the dancThing in formats is likely to look quite er mentors six victimised 14-yearlike the Last Big Thing in formats, but olds, premiered in early January on with unexpected twists and turns, and “The important TV2 Demark to “excellent ratings”, richer layers of social and emotional Majholm says. He believes the forengagement. thing is to keep mat has huge international potential, “We’re doing things more organically,” surprising if only for the depressing reason that says Joachim Majholm, managing dipeople” bullying is a truly universal phenomerector of the Danish format company Joachim Majholm non. “Everybody has a story about bulGong Media, whose recent credits inlying,” he observes. “Every second ceclude Shop Amok, The Greatest Gift lebrity in the country will have shared and Too Fat To Fight. “We’re seeing a less rigid adherence to the format bible and more unpre- Silas’ experience to some degree.” Majholm believes presenter-led shows will continue to do dictability about how the story ends. The important thing well this season — but cautions that a well-known face is is to keep surprising people.” Gong’s MIPTV line-up should certainly do that. not enough in itself. “You need real meat on the story,” Headlining the nice group subsidiary’s slate is a power- he says. “You need your celebrities to be doing something ful factual format called Beat The Bullies. The eight-part genuinely interesting.”

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The next big hit He points to another new Gong format, Tuk Tuk Challenge, by way of an example. The nine-part series, which premiered in late January on Denmark’s TV 2 Zulu, sees three teams of celebs compete in a wacky auto-rickshaw rally around Sri Lanka. The event, now in its fourth incarnation, takes place every year, attracting growing numbers of contestants eager to test their resourcefulness, endurance and sense of humour. Gong is presenting Tuk Tuk Challenge as a ‘plug-and play’ solution. “In other words, we can take the concept to any country and slot teams of national celebrities into the event,” Majholm explains. If anybody knows how to take a good idea and make it better – or more accurately, better suited to the competitive French market — it is Thierry Lachkar, CEO of Shine France. The ex-Endemol format exec has launched more than 15 A-list formats in just three years on France’s biggest broadcasters, including The Voice, MasterChef, One Born Every Minute, I Love My Country, Amazing Race and 24 Hours In A&E. Shine France also produces Minute To Win It, which was a primetime hit for M6 last summer and, alongside Biggest Loser, is one of Shine International’s MIPTV priorities. “And we have just announced that we will be doing our ﬁrst drama format this year,” Lachkar says. “We’re making a French adaptation of the Danish crime series Bron [The Bridge] for Canal+, which will be set in the Channel Tunnel rather than on the bridge between Denmark and Sweden.” Lachkar admits that France is “a very peculiar market” when it comes to formats, having one foot in Anglo-Saxon northern Europe and the other in the Latin cultures of the Mediterranean. As a result, to reversion an international format for the Gallic market requires considerable ‘Frenchiﬁcation’. Lachkar cites MasterChef, explaining that Shine France’s version of the global cookery franchise is, at 120 minutes per episode, not only considerably longer than any of its international cousins but, uniquely, includes a section devoted to culinary factoids, tips and recipes. “The French like learning things while they are being entertained,” he adds. “And that’s particularly true of cookery.” Meanwhile, MasterChef continues to travel well, its popularity kept fresh by such spin-offs as MasterChef: The Professionals, which launched in January on

Food Glorious Food (Optomen International)

Beat The Bullies (Gong Media)

Network Ten Australia. The Voice, which airs on TF1, has also been significantly tweaked, with 50% of the songs drawn from France’s repertoire of ‘chansons’. “We’ve also included songs from as far back as the Fifties, which means we have Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf next to Beyonce and Lady Gaga. I think that’s contributed to The Voice attracting such huge cross-generational audiences — it peaked at 10.2 million viewers, which is the highest audience ever for a talent show on French TV.” Lachkar believes that, in tough economic times, television “has a responsibility to help people feel better with shows that have positive characters and values”. Talent quests fall into this category — Shine International’s MIPTV launch “The next few years slate includes the Naomi Campbellwill see an explosion led model-search The Face, produced by Shine America for Oxygen — as do digital and platformcomedy quizzes such as Anything Goes. based formats” The late-night celebrity-driven format Avi Armoza from France’s Satisfaction, which delivered a 38% market share for TF1, created a stir at MIPCOM last year and has subsequently been sold into a slew of territories, including Australia, Portugal, Denmark and Quebec. Anything Goes, Lachkar adds, is a prime example of Shine’s ability to bring together the best talent to produce and distribute “well-executed formats that have energy, emotion and universal appeal”. Nadine Nohr, CEO of Shine International, agrees: “As a group, Shine aims to be home to brilliant talent and help them to produce their finest work, be it distinctive factual shows, new entertainment formats or exceptional scripted content.” And increasingly, “the brilliant dramas that find audiences and dominate and define broadcasters’ schedules” will be formatted, Nohr predicts.

Another believer in entertainment that illuminates is Avi Armoza, CEO of Israel’s Armoza Formats, whose www.mipformats.com I preview magazine I March 2013 I 13

i feature headline act for MIPTV is an emotionally charged docureality format called Family Time. The series examines a growing social issue — the widening generation gap — by loading a family into a cramped and claustrophobic RV and sending them on an extended road trip. “Family values haves shifted dramatically,” Armoza says. “This show forces family members to talk and listen to one another, deny or accept one another, hurt or heal one another… It goes deep and we’re particularly proud of it.” Israel has become a format power-player in recent years — a phenomenon that Armoza ascribes to his country’s ingrained culture of storytelling, its melting-pot society, its “desire to break out into the world”, its ﬁckle, impatient audiences, its slick distribution model and, increasingly, its technological prowess. “We are second only to Silicon Valley in the size and vibrancy of our technology community,” says Armoza, who believes that the merging of tech start-ups and TV formats — two of Israel’s most buoyant export sectors — is set to transform his country into a “hub for technology-based entertainment”. “I believe this is where the future of the Israeli format industry lies,” he adds. “Our industry is at the beginning of an historic transition as a result of the rapid changes in technology, connectivity and viewing habits. New media is enabling new forms of interactivity, which is giving rise to new forms of content. The next few years will see an explosion of digital and platform-based formats, which is why we have recently implemented a new digital division at Armoza.”

broadcasters and production companies from Brazil to Berlin; and opened satellite ofﬁces in the Netherlands, Portugal and the US. At press time, it had just appointed broadcast veteran Farrell Meisel to drive forward its growth strategy in both formats and ﬁnished programming. At MIPTV, Global Agency is showcasing a Turkishoriginated game show called Attention, Please!, which launched in January on TRT, tripling the Turkish public broadcaster’s share. The gameplay has contestants bom-

The Voice (Shine France)

“There are a too many hybrid shows — people doing a bit of this and a bit of that and hoping for best” Philip Kampff

Like Israel, Turkey is another fast-rising format territory — in large part thanks to the efforts of Istanbul-based Global Agency. The company burst on to the international scene in 2009 with the controversial format Choosing My Religion, which had priests, rabbis, imams and Buddhist monks attempting to ‘sell’ their brand of faith to 10 non-believers. Choosing My Religion was optioned in more than 10 territories, including Latin America, Germany and the Benelux. “It’s a brave concept,” said Global Agency’s founder and CEO, Izzet Pinto, at the time. “And it helped to brand us. That was when people began to say, ‘If it’s a crazy format, it must be Global Agency…’” In the intervening years, Global Agency has added a string of “formats that create a buzz” to its portfolio, including Shopping Monsters, Blind Taste, Rise Or Fall and the ﬁrst Turkish-originated scripted format to sell into the US (A Forbidden Love, which debuted in January on NBCUniversal’s Telemundo); forged partnerships with 14 I

MasterChef (Shine France)

barded with confusing and irrelevant information, buried among which is the correct answer to a question. Like all the best game shows, “the concept is strong, simple and fun”, Pinto says, adding: “We believe it has international appeal and would perform well in any country.” Pinto is a ﬁrm believer in the power of marketing when it comes to creating his trademark ‘buzz’ around format launches. “For Shopping Monsters, for example, we hired ﬁve models, dressed them in red-carpet dresses and sent them around the Palais with giant shopping bags,” he says. “And for Blind Taste, we put up posters in the restrooms, which had never before been used for

preview magazine I March 2013 I www.mipformats.com

The next big hit many hybrid shows; people doing a bit of this and a bit of that and hoping for best. I think the format industry needs to be braver, particularly about game shows, where a lot of the thinking is very old hat. To engage today’s audiences, I believe we have to treat them as individuals. That means we’re going to have to be more niche — to stop trying to be all things to all men.”

Also positioning itself as a formats hot spot is Ireland, which has long punched above its weight in comedy, music, literature and film. Public broadcaster RTE recently intensified its focus on the formats industry, backed by a five-year investment programme aimed at fostering original concepts. RTE’s annual Format Farm incuba- Over the Irish sea in London, Caroline Stephenson, dition project, which brings together Irish talent and glob- rector of sales at Optomen International, believes the al distributors, has also become a must-go event for the secret is to keep it simple. “People overthink formats,” likes of Sony, Warner Bros., FremantleMedia, Nordic she says. “What you want are simple building blocks that are easily transferable, brilliantly done with the right World and DRG. Several Irish formats are already on air from China people.” (Super Star Ding Dong) to the US (Take The Money And It’s a recipe that appears to work for Optomen, whose Run). Other strong Irish concepts to have been picked portfolio includes the culinary superstars Gordon up recently include Good Company Productions’ Farm Ramsay (“Almost a programming genre in his own Factor and Happy Ending Productions’ Dirty Old Town. right…”), Two Fat Ladies, Bill Granger, The Hairy Both formats are repped by Nordic World and have been Bikers and Heston Blumenthal. The latest addition to the menu is Simon Cowell, whose cooking competition Food, optioned across Europe. Glorious Food!, co-produced And now, Warner Bros. has with Optomen, soft launched at thrown its weight behind Vision MIPCOM last October. Independent Productions’ (VIP) “What you want are Stephenson has spent the past hotly tipped songwriting consimple building six months licensing the finished test The Hit, which lived up to its blocks that are easily show, which is set to debut on the name when it piloted on RTE last transferable” UK’s ITV1 in late April, starSeptember. “We’ve been playing ring Carol Vorderman, Lloyd around with the idea of a format Caroline Stephenson Grossman and Anne Harrison, about songwriting for some time,” vice-chair of the UK’s voluntary says VIP’s managing director, and campaigning organisation Philip Kampff. “But the difficulThe Women’s Institute. At MIPTV, she will be rolling ty was that watching people write songs is like watching paint dry.” The moment of inspiration came from New out the format of the Syco Entertainment/Optomen seYork’s Brill Building, which hot-housed some of the fin- ries, which sets out to scour the country for a family reciest songwriters of Sixties. Such legends as Carole King, pe — “Anything from beans on toast to beef Wellington” Burt Bacharach and Neil Diamond would pitch their — good enough to be sold in Marks & Spencer’s upmarcompositions to artists and producers — a device that ket food stores. “We think it’s going to be huge,” Stephenson adds. Kampff borrowed for The Hit. “It’s warm, it’s funny, it’s easily adapted to any territo“Each episode has a couple of songwriters pitching to well-known artists,” he says. “If the artists like what they ry and it’s about the essence of the national character. hear, they take the songs away and produce them. And The UK version is very ‘tea and scones’, but I could see then, if the public likes the songs, they can download the US, for example, adopting a more gutsy, God-BlessAmerica approach.” them there and then.” In the case of the RTE pilot, the viewers liked them so much that they propelled rock band Stephenson believes Optomen’s skill lies in marrying Royseven and Westlife heartthrob Brian McFadden to the right talent to the right vehicle. “We’re inundated with potential stars,” she says. “The problem is finding the top of that week’s singles chart. Kampff says it has been a long time since he has been the right showcases for them. That’s where the alchemy comes in.” genuinely surprised by a new format: “There are a too

Blind Taste (Global Agency)

VIP’s Philip Kampff: “stop trying to be all things to all men”

Optomen International’s Caroline Stephenson: keep it simple

Gong Media’s Joachim Majholm: “you need real meat on the story” Thomas Vollaire/Capa Pictures

advertising. As a consequence, we succeeded in closing deals in over 20 territories.”

Shine France’s Thierry Lachkar: “wellexecuted formats that have energy, emotion and universal appeal”

Global Agency’s Izzet Pinto: “formats that create a buzz”

Armoza Formats’ Avi Armoza: “an historic transition”

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i feature NON-SCRIPTED FORMATS

Taking risks in difﬁcult times In a challenging economic climate, budgets are squeezed, decisions put on hold and innovation can occasionally suffer. So do non-scripted formats provide a more saleable, risk-free option in difﬁcult times? Juliana Koranteng reports

ECESSIONS, like the current one that has stricken the eurozone in particular, can affect every part of the TV food chain. Advertisers, broadcasters, commissioners, producers, buyers all become more acutely aware of their fiscal responsibilities — and don’t forget the beleaguered audiences, too, looking for escapism. But when non-scripted formats work, they appear to be reliable for all parties, whatever the state of the economy. “TV doesn’t exist in the ether. It exists in the real world, and broadcasters are driven by audiences’ demands, by economics and by their financial circumstances,” Rob Clark, FremantleMedia International’s (FMI) Londonbased director of global entertainment development, says. “Non-scripted formats are popular with broadcasters and networks, which are populated with event TV, game shows, and soft-scripted reality shows. They can be cheaper to produce as most territories don’t have the resources to make original scripted drama. They can be made in the local language. They involve real people and so can be engaging. And when made very well, some of the bigger formats transcend any recession.” FMI’s biggest global non-scripted hits include the Pop Idol, Got Talent and The X Factor talent shows, the Take Me Out dating show, plus even longer established game shows like Family Feud (called Family Fortunes in the UK) and The Price Is Right. Such non-travelling, non-scripted ‘tent pole’ shows, which take place in studios or at a single location, make great primetime viewing, Clark says. In the US in January, Family Feud had its highest weekly ratings in 30 years — a 70% year-on-year increase. Clark admits that most of the FMI-produced non-scripted programmes are “mature”. But, as brands, they endure. The eight-year-old X Factor’s UK ratings dropped last year, yet it officially remains the country’s largest TV show. FMI, however, is not resting. New in the non-scripted pipeline is Everybody Dance Now, which is produced by Dutch production subsidiary Blue Circle for Dutch network RTL 4. The format comes to MIPTV this year. There is more to a non-scripted format’s success than just a great idea, Clark says. “You need the resources of a 16 I

Travis Pastrana competes in X Games, a staple of Chello Zone’s Extreme Sports Channel

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Taking risks in difﬁcult times

The Wall (Nordic World)

good development team, you need a big budget, you need broadcasters willing to share the ﬁnancial risk, you need an audience that will go for it, and advertisers that want that audience. It’s not just a case of having a great idea and hoping. The dominoes have got to line up.” The Netherlands-originated Endemol, now an international powerhouse thanks to its groundbreaking nonscripted formats like Big Brother, continues to target primetime audiences. Iris Boelhouwer, the company’s Amsterdam-based managing director of creative operations, says that Big Brother, which originated in the Netherlands, is still going strong. “There were 19 series in 66 countries airing in 2012. It remains a breakout hit in major markets such as the UK, USA, France, Italy and Spain.” Another Endemol ratings buster is The Money Drop, the on-air/online game show. It has been sold to 45 countries, including Nigeria and the Philippines, since its UK launch. “We have a strong track record of (non-scripted) hit formats. Our most recent show that is travelling is Your Face Sounds Familiar; it is from Spain and has been sold to 16 countries with deals in major markets to be announced soon.” The doors of the big content buyers readily open to the content-sales divisions of international media conglomerates such as FMI. Super-independents like Zodiak Media, All3Media, Endemol and, until it was acquired by News Corp in 2011, Shine Group, are in a powerful position to roll out international format hits via sister companies abroad. Amid that format-distribution maelstrom are the smaller indies, eager to snap up innovative ideas

by production companies to target the same broadcasters and buyers. Imagine that feverish, competitive setup during a recession. “When times get harder, broadcasters try to reduce their risks and buy formats with proven track records,” says Andrew Zein, senior vice-president, creative, format development and sales at Warner Bros. International Television Production (WBITVP), partner of this year’s MIPFormats International Pitch competition). “Non-scripted formats are also easier to reproduce. There are fewer complications because you have an idea of what the sets will look like, know the mechanics of the games, and can see how it can be piloted, broadcast and extended easily.” WBITVP is helping Toronto-based Antica Productions, last year’s MIPFormats pitching winner, develop dating format Looking 4 Love. Antica president/executive producer Stuart Coxe admits the competition can be fearsome. “It’s increasingly international and it can be difﬁcult for a lone producer to keep on top of what’s on the air, let alone what’s in development,” Coxe says. “That anxiety can be crippling. All you can do is create and pitch shows about what you care deeply about — the universe sorts out the rest.”

Antica’s Stuart Coxe

Another boutique operation that never rests, irrespective of the global economy’s state, is Small World IFT. It was co-founded by its president Tim Crescenti, a former Sony Pictures Television International executive who acquired Dragons’ Den, the Japan-originated investment-pitching contest, for the international market in 2002. Crescenti spends most of his time visiting non-scripted producers in far-ﬂung places, including Thailand, Finland, Romania, Singapore and Japan. www.mipformats.com I preview magazine I March 2013 I 17

i feature “You must realise people will do anything to get a show on air. So, first, find a successful model then, improve the details once you have an audience,” he says. “But to find the right ideas in the first place, you need to be on the ground, in whichever country, talking to people.” Among the titles in Small World’s portfolio is The Fan, which originates from Thailand-based Workpoint Entertainment and features contestants battling to show who is the most obsessed and knowledgeable celebrity fan. The format has been acquired by an as-yet unnamed US cable network and is in post-production at Sweden’s TV4. Small World believes game shows are a reliable bet and is working on reviving Rhyme And Reason, a 1970s US game show. “It is for broadcasters seeking something strippable across the schedule, easy to produce and easy to watch,” Crescenti says. “During an economic downturn, non-scripted programming can make audiences’ immediate problems vanish for 30 to 60 minutes at a time,” says Oslo-based Ann Christin Siljan, director, sales and acquisitions at Nordic World, the non-scripted formats specialist. The company, which launched in 2011, already represents 45 independent producers and six major broadcasters. “The formats need to reflect the world we live in, the uncertain economic landscape. And, traditionally, in hard times, audiences seek escapism, to leave the world behind for an hour or two. And surely at the moment there is absolutely a huge demand for big entertainment shows to meet this need.” She believes that is why The Wall, its fastpaced interactive game show, produced by Finland-based Emmy-award winner Intervisio, has already sold “all over

the world”, including major markets like the UK and US. Stephanie Hartog, executive vice-president, international formats at UK media group All3Media, highlights the importance of winning audience’s empathy to give non-scripted formats a chance in even more competitive times. “In TV, the only person that decides which programmes will work is the viewer.” This means developing strong bonds with the broadcasters, who know their audiences best. “We work with the broadcaster, asking if there is anything we can do to support the marketing because we know what is happening to the brand in other countries,” Hartog says. All3Media’s most popular formats include Berlin Tag & Nacht on Germany’s RTL 2. Its mental-challenge game show The Cube has been bought worldwide, including the Middle East and China. Other All3Media hits include reality show Undercover Boss. Non-scripted formats appear to be doing for Scandinavia what the ‘Nordic noir’ phenomenon did for the region’s scripted formats. “Non-scripted formats are very popular in the Nordic territory,” says Denmark-based Henrik Biskjaer, head of acquisitions at nice entertainment group, the Nordic media-and-entertainment group. Being sensitive to the local public’s changing tastes can make or break the fortunes of a company’s non-scripted formats business. “The classic US and Hollywood series, which used to dominate our primetime schedule, aren’t as popular as they used to be because of the demand for local productions. There is a big demand for local characters speaking the local language. That makes formats a

The Ultimate Entertainer (Endemol) 18 I

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Nordic World’s Ann Christin Siljan

Taking risks in difficult times “However, the most ingreat way of striking a chord with the ternationally successnative audiences.” “Economic downturns ful format in the world When those formats find an audiforce us to be smarter won’t perform well for ence locally, nice begins thinking of and faster in the way we a local licensee unless approaching broadcasters abroad, they ensure it is adaptBiskjaer says. perform our business” ed according to loNice’s Babes On The Bus, which was Jonas Linnander-Manfred cal cultural needs and produced by its production companorms.” ny Monster, is in its second season on She cites Banijay’s TVNorge and distributed internalive-music entertainment format Taratata, which originattionally by Endemol. It has been sold to Vox in Germany, France’s TF1, Kanal 5 in Denmark and sales to other ed in France, but has been localised for Dubai TV, the panArab channel in the United Arab Emirates. “This is a case markets are predicted for this year. The Ultimate Entertainer, nice’s shiny-floor music ex- where care has been taken to make sure the adaptation is travaganza also distributed internationally by Endemol, culturally relevant and it absolutely works,” she says. is broadcast on NRK Norway. It was NRK’s best-rat- Yoni Cohen, senior vice-president of international developed show during its debut season and it beat TV2 rival ment and sales at Twentieth Century Fox, says: “A successStrictly Come Dancing, which was a national favourite. ful non-scripted format can slot into a schedule quite quickAlso from nice’s non-scripted production slate are the ly, feel local and pick up viewers. While this can also be said cuisine-themed Dinner Disasters, and Closure, which of scripted formats, it is usually the case that the drama and comedy development and adaptation process takes longer.” helps participants find missing loved ones. However, he offers a word of caution. “In success, a Creating formats with an international audience in mind popular non-scripted show can cost nearly as much as can still generate revenue, even if some markets are suffer- a scripted drama.” This begs the question about the fuing. Jon Sechrist, New York-based vice-president of produc- ture. Recessions might end, but they do return and can tion and development at Discovery Networks International strike anytime. (DNI), vouches for that by noting that certain topics travel With that prospect in mind, nice’s Biskjaer argues that inwell. Food, travel, weddings, family issues and health mat- ternational non-scripted format developers owe it to the industry to formulate more robust guidelines about the ters have been intriguing audiences on the network. DNI’s TLC international network has been transmitting ownership of ideas. “At some point, we need to figure out My Naked Secret, a reality-TV format on extreme health what we can and cannot do when it comes to determining who owns the idea for a format.” issues produced by UK-based Maverick Television, and the fashion and shopping series Ultimate Shopper by “Creating, producing and distributing great content UK production house Betty. “While we know one size is the core of everything we do,” MTG Studios’ Jonas doesn’t fit all, we try to find shows that work in most of Linnander-Manfred says. “There will always be challengour regions, which include Latin America, Asia-Pacific, es and economic doldrums is one of them. But economCentral and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East and ic downturns force us to be smarter and faster in the way Africa,” Sechrist says. “If it works in 75% of our regions, we perform our business.” we consider that a success.” Some buyers point out that, in such an aggressively driven THEY SOLD THE FARM business, an economic downturn can even be beneficial. NORDIC format-development and production powerhouse Strix — part of MTG Studios, which is a subsidiary of Swedish media multinational Modern Times “I think the slow economy has actually helped us in terms Group — is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Strix TV formats have of commissioning,” Tim MacMullen, general manager been sold, produced and transmitted in more than 80 countries. for Chello Zone’s Extreme Sports Channel says. “Before Since launching in 2001, Strix’s The Farm, a reality show centred 2008, there was a lot of money flying around and producon rural life, has been seen in ers were able to do some very good business. As we’re a more than 52 territories. “It is a niche channel, our budget often couldn’t compete with ratings success on Norway’s TV2, where it launched, and on the rates being paid at the time. Now that there are fewer Sweden’s TV4,” Jonas commissions coming out of the big channels, we’re findLinnander-Manfred, managing ing that there’s more opportunity for us to work on prodirector of international sales MTG Studios, says. jects with producers at an affordable rate.” In Latin America, The Farm has Karoline Spodsberg, managing director of Londonbeen breaking ratings records based Banijay International, advises rights owners to be during its sixth season on the TV Record network. It has also flexible and allow buyers to localise their concepts. “By been on Slovakia’s TV Markiza choosing a tried-and-tested format with a strong ratings since 2011. Another Strix hit history and multiple commissions in other territories, Stalkers, a reality-crime series, has caught the attention of channel buyers minimise the risk associated with brand European broadcasters. new original ideas,” she says.

Twentieth Century Fox’s Yoni Cohen

MTG Studios’ Jonas Linnander-Manfred

The Farm (Strix)

www.mipformats.com I preview magazine I March 2013 I 19

i feature ASK THE EXPERTS

The changing face of formats Traditional TV is being re-shaped by social media; China, India and Latin America are snapping at the heels of the traditional format territories; technology is enabling and inspiring new forms of content. Against this backdrop, where’s the formats business going? And who’s in the driving seat? Joanna Stephens asks some of the leaders in the ﬁeld Nordic World’s anti-bullying format Mygind’s Mission: “entertainment with a higher purpose”

PATTY GENESTE CEO, ABSOLUTELY INDEPENDENT

“What still excites me is great, feel-good entertainment” “DRAMA formats are about to become seriously huge, driven by series like Homeland, which started life as an Israeli show before migrating to the US, and the massive success of Nordic Noir dramas like The Killing and The Bridge. The ﬁrst US deal for a Dutch drama — Penoza — will see the Endemol series about the widow of an assassinated criminal debut on ABC this spring. And we’re also in negotiations in the US and Russia for a couple of our own drama formats. So that’s deﬁnitely an upcoming 20 I

trend and one that we intend to be part of. “But although the formats market has changed out of all recognition over the past 10 years, it’s mostly the business models that have changed. The content — certainly successful content — has remained pretty much the same. What I was passionate about when I founded Absolutely Independent in 1996 and what still excites me today is great, feel-good entertainment. An example from our present catalogue is The Exit List, which is an intelligent, interactive, edge-of-seat contest that reinvents the classic Q&A game show. It debuted successfully in the UK and is doing really well in Hungary at the moment, with more territories about to come on board. “What really doesn’t do it for me are constructed-reality shows like Honey Boo Boo and Oh Oh Cherso, which

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Absolutely Independent’s Patty Geneste: “Drama is definitely an upcoming trend”

The changing face of formats follows young Dutch partygoers to the Greek resort of Chersonissos. The producers set the scene and create an atmosphere that encourages people to loose control, and then sit back and ﬁlm the worst of human nature — getting drunk, starting cat-ﬁghts, throwing up... It’s carcrash television and it’s not pretty. “But there’s plenty of good stuff going on. I’m excited about South Africa, for example, which is not only a super-creative territory but also a market that’s really eager to play the international game. I think we’re about to see interesting opportunities coming out of South Africa. “And I’m also excited about taking over the chair of FRAPA. FRAPA is about to move up a gear, not only in terms of its mediation and IP protection activities, but also in its mission to serve its members, large and small, in the best way possible. Watch this space!”

GRANT ROSS GLOBAL HEAD OF FORMATS ACQUISTIONS, ENDEMOL

“It’s always about the idea” “AT ENDEMOL, we believe a good idea can come from anywhere. Our own internal creativity has proved that to be the case with the success of Big Brother from the Netherlands, Wipeout from the US, The Money Drop from the UK and, most recently, Your Face Sounds Familiar from Spain.

Endemol Spain’s Your Face Sounds Familiar has now been sold to 11 territories

On the set of the Hungarian version of Absolutely Independent’s The Exit List

“But we’re also realistic. Last year, 164 of the formats sold in one territory or more came from the UK and 90 from the US. Add the consistency of the Netherlands with 36 formats last year, the rapid emergence of Israel and the comeback of Scandinavia — we’ve recently had great success with the Norwegian format Babes On The Bus from Monster — and you have the lion’s share of the format export business. But through our network of operating companies, we like to think we have our ears to the ground around the globe. “No one organisation has a monopoly on great ideas. That’s why, while 80% of Endemol’s output is created internally, we also look to partner with other format creators. On the acquisitions front, we’re always looking for potentially long-running access or primetime series, no matter what the genre. We produced 64 third-party formats in 2012, up from 47 in 2011, and our door is always open to creatives. “In terms of how technology is inﬂuencing format development, we’re extremely conscious that, with second screens, play-alongs, social media, etc, viewers are now consuming television in a different way. But you can’t lose sight of the fundamentals: at the end of the day, it’s always about the idea. For example, The Money Drop has a fantastic play-along game that has around 17 million players worldwide. But if we were to take that element away, it would still be an incredibly successful and compelling game show. “Technology was also the inspiration for a new multiplatform idea we recently acquired from 7Yaccion called Plan B. The format uses online crowdsourcing and social media to create music tracks that are immediately available to download. But although technology is a core part of the concept, we’re very aware we need to get the TV show right if it is to be an international success. “As to where the formats industry is headed, alas, we don’t have a crystal ball. I’m just hoping the next big format will come out of the Bahamas...”

Endemol’s Grant Ross: “ears to the ground around the globe”

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i feature PAUL GILBERT SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL FORMATS, CBS STUDIOS INTERNATIONAL (CBSSI)

“The playing field is quite even today” “THE US doesn’t have exclusivity on format innovation. Many countries from around the world are developing original formats and offering them to US outlets after they ﬁrst get traction in their home country, or as original productions in the US. The playing ﬁeld is quite even today. “The main difference is that the US offers comfort in licensing formats — if it plays in the US, an international channel will likely have a greater sense of security that it could work in their country too. CBS Studios International is looking for international partners who are willing to take some risk in unproven formats, as we have many original concepts to offer. “Our goal is to be able to work with local producers to make shows their audiences will enjoy and stay engaged

with, whether it’s the ﬁrst season or a long-running format. We work closely with our licensees as well as the original show producers in order to keep our formats fresh by adding new concepts and technology. Besides our locomotives — America’s Next Top Model, Wheel Of Fortune and Jeopardy! — we have The Doctors, I Get That A Lot and Hollywood Squares, just to name a few. Also, we are introducing a couple of scripted formats from the CBS Library: Medium and Harper’s Island. That now brings our total number of scripted formats to 39. “Geographically speaking, the UK is still a hot bed of format ideas and, over the past couple of years, Israel has made a big impact with many successful shows. At one time, most formats came from the US, the UK and the Netherlands. Today, great ideas seem to be crisscrossing the world, from Scandinavia to Japan to Thailand to Latin America. “Piracy continues to be a big issue for formats, but I have no doubt this business will continue to grow and thrive. New content is being created daily on all continents and these shows can and will be exported around the globe.”

OMRI MARCUS CREATIVE PARTNER, RED ARROW ENTERTAINMENT GROUP

“It’s a new world with new rules” “FORMAT people live and breathe one basic question: how to create a local experience that will appeal to audiences everywhere? The entire formats business model is based on the assumption that certain things are interesting to all people and can cross, with local ﬁne-tuning, all boundaries. Studio Lambert’s Wife Swap is a great example of that — ‘the mother’ is a fascinating topic to everyone, everywhere. “The challenge now is to look beyond the western world and to start thinking about Africa, India and China. Everybody’s talking about the amazing Chinese market, and rightly so. It’s a new, exciting and different world. And while the sales people are learning how to do business with China, we’re learning about the audience there, and what content interests them. On a personal level, I’ve fallen in love with Scandinavian entertainment — Norway’s Ylvis Brothers, Babyfoot in Denmark, our guys at Snowman in Stockholm — which I don’t think gets nearly enough appreciation globally. “In a world where Google and smartphones are so accessible, I think we’ll see fewer knowledge-based game shows on primetime. But like any other genre, I believe game shows will make a comeback one day, just in a different form, with people competing with skills that are more relevant to this day and age. 22 I

Red Arrow Entertainment Group’s Omri Marcus: “The discussion at the water-cooler now never stops”

“We tend to underestimate the importance of the exciting period we are living in. The transformation that media is undergoing is unprecedented. It’s a new world with new rules, and it’s generating a whole new approach to content. The theoretical discussion at the water-cooler now never stops. Also, the shows we now choose to watch reflect how we perceive ourselves — and I believe this new reflexive arena will change the content and structure of formats in coming years. “I guess the most important skill for us ‘formateers’ is to remain enthusiastic viewers. Beyond all the studies I read, the lectures I hear and the websites I visit, I am first and foremost a passionate viewer. I’m also extremely lucky to have the opportunity to create programmes that I want to watch. I get up every morning and thank God for allowing me to do what I find the most thrilling thing in the world — create interesting content.”

preview magazine I March 2013 I www.mipformats.com

CBS Studios International’s Paul Gilbert: “great ideas are crisscrossing the world”

The changing face of formats JAMES ROSS CEO, LIGHTNING INTERNATIONAL

“Asia is a huge opportunity” “THE ASIAN formats market is really hotting up, both in terms of acquiring content and creating it. The region has learned a great deal about formats from the rest of the world, which means it’s leapfrogged a lot of the learning phases the West has been through. That’s enabling Asia to take the cream of the big international formats — The Voice, The Amazing Race and The Apprentice — and bring them to fruition very quickly. “In terms of creativity, Asia is very good at coming up with quirky, different ideas — indeed, the Japanese have led the ﬁeld at quirky and interesting for years — so I definitely think we’ll be a seeing a lot more Asian-originated formats on western screens. “The key message to anyone looking to do business in Asia is to realise that it’s not one market. It’s 18 or 20 different markets, each with different languages, cultures, regulatory environments and TV preferences. India is totally different from Indonesia, which is totally different from Japan, Korea or the Philippines. We must guard

JAN SALLING CHIEF OPERATION OFFICER AND DIRECTOR OF SALES, NORDIC WORLD

“The trick is to find a new twist on a reliable ‘banker’” “THE BIG challenge for distributors in today’s riskaverse world is how to make buyers feel safe while bringing something new to the table. Very few people have the guts to take on a mould-breaking, stand-out format, even though that’s what everybody’s screaming for. So as a distributor, you have to be much more creative in terms of how you package, position and promote your shows. The trick is to ﬁnd a new twist on a reliable ‘banker’ — which is what we’re doing with Zimmerfrei, one of our headline formats for MIPTV. It’s a hilarious improv comedy from Denmark’s Immergut, which we’re branding as ‘Schillerstrasse meets Fawlty Towers’. Everybody instantly gets that and feels reassured. But at the same time, it’s an intriguing concept, and feels fresh, edgy and different. “In fact, I think a lot of trends are being driven by the global downturn. It’s the same with the ﬂight to Asia. Everybody in the West wants to sell their formats to Asia,

against treating Asia as one entity — it just doesn’t work like that. “That said, big, shiny-ﬂoor entertainment shows are popular across the region, especially in China, where The Voice is currently a huge success. On the ﬂip side, formats like The Moment Of Truth [in which contestants must answer highly personal questions] don’t do so well, I think because embarrassment makes many in Asia feel uncomfortable. Generally speaking, shows with good, strong family values providing good, clean family fun work well. The Chinese in particular are very interested in cross-generational formats that bring families together. “Asia is also fascinated by business, so formats like The Apprentice and Undercover Boss tend to do well too. In fact, The Apprentice Asia is about to air on AXN, starring Tony Fernandes, the Malaysian entrepreneur who founded AirAsia. “Half the world’s population live in Asia. It has a TV industry that’s still under-developed and relatively unregulated, along with low penetration and a massive appetite for good, innovative, exciting content from audiences who haven’t perhaps had a great selection of programming in the past. It’s a bit of a cliche, I know, but Asia really is a huge opportunity.”

because Asia — particularly China and India — is where the money is. Also, Asia is now gearing up to sell its own formats to the West, which means that it’s showing more respect for the concept of IP, which is great news for all of us in formats. “But the trouble with Asia — and it’s the same with Latin America, another buoyant, fast-moving market — is that you need a local presence to do proper business there. Both territories are so far away from Europe and their business cultures are so different that it’s impossible to break into them without an on-the-ground partner with excellent local contacts. “There’s been a lot of speculation about the Nordic content wave and what it is that makes our programming so successful. In the end, I think it’s a combination of critical viewers and low budgets. The only way to make a quality show on a shoestring is to be cleverer and more creative than the competition. Also, we Nordics love being entertained, but we feel better about being entertained if there’s a higher purpose. I think that’s why so many strong factual formats come out of this region. Take STV’s Mygind’s Mission, which tackles the painful subject of bullying. Emotional, topical and universally appealing, it’s one of the strongest formats I’ve seen in a long time.”

Lightning International’s James Ross: “Asia is not one market”

Nordic World’s Jan Salling: “cleverer and more creative than the competition”

www.mipformats.com I preview magazine I March 2013 I 23

tips & serVices Welcome to MIPFormats! Thank you for attending the show this year. There is much to think about to be fully prepared, so we’ve designed this tips & services section to help you make the most out of your show. To ensure you start off with a bang, please refer to our Quick Checklist

INSIDE:

Things to do before the Show: Have you prepared your transportation? Have you arranged your transfer to Cannes? Have you booked your accommodation? (If not, call our accommodations department for preferential pricing on your lodging: +33 (0)1 79 71 99 43 / 94 54) Remember to print out your e-ticket before the show to save time on your badge collection at Registration.

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Have you visited the Online Database on my-mip.com to ﬁnd out in advance who else is attending the show, to set up meetings and discover projects? Have you checked the show programme to plan the week around events not to be missed? Find answers to all those questions on the following tips & services section. For more details please refer to my-mip.com.

GETTING TO CANNES BY AIR: The nearest airport is Nice Côte d’Azur International (NCE), which provides direct flights to many cities around the world. Book your flight with Air France and KLM Global Meetings and benefit from preferential rates using discount code 17899AF. www.airfranceklm-globalmeetings.com BY TRAIN: The Cannes train station is a short walk away from the Palais des Festivals. Book your tickets or check departure times at www.tgv-europe.com or by calling +33 (0)8 92 35 35 35.

GETTING TO CANNES FROM THE AIRPORT You have six options: s 4!8) Taxis are available at the Nice Côte d’Azur International Airport. Where to catch one: Terminal 1 (Gate A1) and Terminal 2 (Gate A3)

Reserve a taxi in advance at no extra cost: call +33 (0) 8 90 71 22 27 (24 hours) or +33 (0) 492 99 39 23 or send an email to taxi.allo@wanadoo.fr

24 I

The journey takes around 30 minutes and fare varies between €70 and €90. Fare includes motorway taxes, but baggage charges must be added to the driver’s meter reading. It is normal practice in France to tip the driver (about 10%). Please note that a night rate applies between 19.00 and 7.00. If you have a query or concern about your taxi journey, please note the taxi licence number and contact our customer service helpdesk upon arrival with your receipt.

s "53 You have several options for bus travel. Tickets must be bought beforehand. Where to get tickets: Desk at Terminal 1: outside arrivals, Gate A0. Opening hours: 08.00 – 23.00 Desk at Terminal 2: outside arrivals, between gates A1 and A2. Opening hours: 08.00 – 24.00 s 4HE .ICE !IRPORT8PRESS line to Cannes (bus N°210)

goes to and from Nice Côte d’Azur International Airport and the Cannes bus station via Le Cannet everyday from 8.00 to 20.00 every 30 minutes. Journey takes 50 minutes. A one-way ticket costs €17,50 and a return ticket costs €28,50.

Where to catch it: Terminal 1: gate A0, platform 3. Terminal 2: between gates A1 and A2, platform 3.

preview magazine I March 2013 I www.mipformats.com

s Bus N°200 also goes to Cannes from Monday-

Saturday at 20.45 and 21.55 Where to catch it: Terminal 1: platform 3.

s .OCTAM "US . will get you to Cannes in the evenings. It is available Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and travels from 23.30 to 04.10 every hour and a half. Where to catch it: Terminal 1: platform 3.

s 42!). To get to the Nice train station from the airport, go to Terminal 1, gate 6, take bus 23, direction Vallon des Fleurs (€1). Buses depart every 5 to 12 minutes. Disembark at Gare SNCF Saint Augustin (second stop). The station is just a few meters walk. Trains for Cannes depart every 5 minutes. A one-way train ticket costs from €6.40. Book your train tickets at www.tgv-europe.com or by calling +33 (0)8 92 35 35 35. s #!2 2%.4!, If you wish to rent a car, our partner 3IXT 2ENT A #AR can provide you with preferential rates mentioning promotion code 9963828.

Terminal 1: arrivals, Gates A1/A2

$O NOT EXCHANGE YOUR BADGE WITH ANYONE Even if your photo does not appear on the badge, it will appear on security guardsâ€™ monitors when they scan it. Shared badges will be conďŹ scated and not returned.

Terminal 2: arrivals, between gates A2 and A3. Motorway toll from Nice to Cannes: â‚Ź2.70. Visa cards accepted.

*As a MIPFormats participant, you can access MIPDoc conferences in the limit of space available

Book in advance at www.sixt.com or call +33 (0)8 20 00 74 98. Where to rent (Nice Airport):

s (%,)#/04%2 !ZUR (ELICOPTĂĄRE is available at the Arrivals #ONCOURSE in both Terminals 1 and 2. The ďŹ‚ight duration is 6 minutes to Cannes. A free shuttle service is available in Cannes for transfers between the Palm Beach heliport and your ďŹ nal destination downtown. A one-way ticket costs roughly â‚Ź99 per person for Reed MIDEM event participants (+15â‚Ź heliport tax). Note that there is a 2-person minimum for helicopter service.

s ,)-/53).% 2%.4!, ,E 0RIVILĂĄGE ,IMOUSINE is a Reed MIDEM preferred partner. The company specialises in airport transfers as well as charters for private or business engagements. A one-way journey from Nice Airport for 1-3 people costs approximately 90â‚Ź. For 4-8 people, it will cost around 130â‚Ź.

Contact StĂŠphanie Plot: Tel: +33 (0)6 25 75 34 54 - Email:stephanie@le-privilege.com Website: www.le-privilege.com

COLLECTING YOUR BADGE s 2%')342!4)/. Registration can be found at the Gare Maritime, next to the Palais des Festivals. If you are a buyer, donâ€™t forget to pick up your viewing smartcard with your badge before proceeding to the screening rooms. Press representatives can pick up their badges at Protocol. Important: E-ticket holders: E-tickets will be sent to you via email a few days

before the show. They include a barcode for ID recognition. Donâ€™t forget to print it out to save time at the Registration area. Nonbuyer participants will be able to collect their badge by scanning the barcode at a self-service badge delivery point. You may also make corrections to your name and photos (identiďŹ cation will be required)

s 2%')342!4)/. /0%.).' (/523 s 3ATURDAY !PRIL s 3UNDAY !PRIL

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SHUTTLES TO OUR PARTNER HOTELS

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MIPFormats offers you free shuttle service to and from your hotel if you are staying outside Cannes during the market.

PLAN YOUR WEEK

UPON YOUR ARRIVAL s 53%&5, ).&/2-!4)/. !"/54 #!..%3 The Palais des Festivals is on the seafront at the end of the famous Croisette. It is clearly signposted throughout Cannes. Address: Palais des Festivals Esplanade Georges Pompidou 06400 Cannes #OUNTRY DIALLING CODE +33 Time zone: GMT +1 %LECTRICITY 220 volts AC, 50 Hz. Round two-pin plugs are standard. -EASUREMENT SYSTEM Metric. #URRENCY Euro. s 9/52 "!$'% !CCESS TO -)0&ORMATS IS WITH YOUR -)046 BADGE Your Badge is your primary means of identiďŹ cation during the market. It provides access to the conference sessions, networking events and the DIGITAL LIBRARY BUYERS ONLY DURING OPENING HOURS Please carry it at all times, and be ready to show it at entry points and security checks around the area.

s 3UNDAY !PRIL

BE SURE YOUR SCHEDULE IS SET

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3CREENING HOURS s 3ATURDAY !PRIL s 3UNDAY !PRIL

Buyers Access the screening library with your smartcard, distributed at Registration. If you donâ€™t have your smartcard, please consult the $IGITAL 3CREENING ,IBRARY 7ELCOME $ESK You can review A LIST OF THE CONTENT YOU HAVE screened during the event. This list is available at the dedicated stations in the lounge (Level 3). Sellers To view A LIST OF THE BUYERS WHO HAVE SCREENED YOUR PROGRAMMES please request your company smartcard at the Digital Screening Library Welcome Desk. This list can be printed in the lounge. Important: Final lists of buyers who have screened your programmes during MIPFormats and content lists for buyers will be available by request as from Monday 8 April (14.00) to Thursday 11 April (18.00), at the Help Desk (Level 0). s #,5"3 #/.&%2%.#% 2//-3 in association with s -)0&ORMATS ,OUNGE 0ALAIS DES &ESTIVALS n ,EVEL Open to all participants. Features include a meeting area, free coffee service and Wi-Fi access. s #ONFERENCE ROOMS 'RAND !UDITORIUM ,EVEL !UDI ! # ,EVEL s $IGITAL ,IBRARY !UDI ' ( ,EVEL s &!#),)4)%3

Pro tip: Connect to the Online Database, the best way to schedule meetings in advance! Visit my.mip.com to: s Identify and contact the right people to meet among all attendees s Increase your own visibility by completing your company and personal proďŹ les s Showcase and identify projects of interest s Schedule and plan meetings s Select the conferences and events you want to attend

s (ELP $ESK 0ALAIS DES &ESTIVALS n ,EVEL Staff are on hand at this desk to assist you throughout the market. Donâ€™t hesitate to ask them your questions.

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s #LOAKROOM A cloakroom for coats and small bags is located on ,EVEL .

s -)0&ORMATS /PENING #OCKTAIL n 3ATURDAY April, Martinez Beach. s -)0&ORMATS 3NACK 3CREEN IN PARTNERSHIP WITH 4REASURE "OX *APAN n 3UNDAY !PRIL s -)0&ORMATS #LOSING $RINKS n 3UNDAY !PRIL

ON-SITE SERVICES s $)')4!, ,)"2!29 The Digital Library for international non-scripted and format programmes via individual screening booths.

s )NFORMATION POINT Information point with hostesses can be found at ,EVEL . s ,EFT ,UGGAGE A left-luggage service is available on the main concourse between the two buildings. Open from Saturday 6 April at 8.00 to Thursday 11 April at 19.00.

s #ONNECTIVITY - Wi-Fi Free Wi-Fi is available at the MIPFormats Lounge and conference venues. Alternatively, Wi-Fi sessions are available for purchase on the â€œPalaisdesfestivalsâ€? network for all other areas. - Mobile rental If you wish to rent a smartphone, SIM card or 3G data card during MIPFormats, please contact Cellhire at www.cellhire.fr/reedmidem.