Channel21 International: Spring 2022 - FORMATS

The Masked Singer creator Wonwoo Park

Formats Everything about content

Spring 2022

Thailand finds its place in global formats

3-Year Plan: ITVSGE looks beyond Covid

PLUS: Amazon Studios Europe prospects for unscripted Branded content specialist Gramafilm eyes fact ent

CAN YOU OUTSING AND OUTSMART YOUR RIVALS?

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16/03/2022 17:21

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Wonwoo Park

Channel21 International | Spring 2022

Behind the mask M Masked Singer creator Wonwoo Park, recipient of this year’s Gold Award at the th International Format Awards, reflects on the impact of his hit format, Korea’s growth as an IP supplier and the plight of its indies. By Ed Waller Ko

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I’m lucky to be a producer in Korea owning most of my IP, and I get income from that IP. But I’m an unusal case as I created The Masked Singer. In Korea, the priority is traditionally given to the broadcasting studio, rather than the writers and producers.

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Wonwoo Park

ine years ago, Korean TV producer Wonwoo Park was working on a singing show and noticed how the good-looking contestants were getting more votes than the other contestants, even if they couldn’t sing as well, and that struck him as unfair. An idea was born.

After three years of development and pitching, his idea – of having the singers wearing masks so they were judged only on their singing abilities, not their looks – eventually became King of Mask Singer, which debuted to huge numbers on South Korean network MBC in April 2015.

The rest is history as Park has since created 350 more episodes for MBC and the international version of the format, The Masked Singer, has been licensed into local production in more than 50 markets, most notably on Fox in the US and ITV in the UK. Even for Park, who had been in the unscripted development and production game for 25 years and had seen major success with the Korean version of UK format Top Gear, not to mention 17 hit unscripted shows in Korea, it was a step change in terms of domestic and international success.

Reflecting on the impact of the show, Park says: “Back then, Korea didn’t have the capability to sell formats to the global market. The only place we could sell them was to China and places like Thailand and Vietnam. The only person who believed Korea could create formats for the global market was [Something Special president and former CJ ENM exec] Jinwoo Hwang. And it was only after he suggested I should go to Cannes for Mipcom that I realised how much impact the Masked Singer format was having on the international market.”

As well as boosting Park’s profile

Wonwoo Park’s King of Mask Singer debuted on MBC in 2015

and MBC’s fortunes, The Masked Singer has also helped drive up South Korea’s export figures over the past three years. Figures from export agency Kocca reveal sales of Korean TV content grew from US$478.5m in 2018, the year before the Fox deal for The Masked Singer, to US$692.8m in 2020 (up 44.8%), the latest year for Kocca’s data.

The success of The Masked Singer on Fox, and also ABC’s adaptation of The Good Doctor (KBS) in the scripted space, certainly put K-formats on the global map and cemented South Korea as one of the hottest markets for new programming, with formats like I Can See Your Voice (CJ ENM) and drama Squid Game (Netflix) gaining global success soon after.

But interrogate those Kocca numbers a little further and another trend emerges: the growth of the independent TV producer. A few Korean prodcos, particularly in the scripted space, have been able to retain rights to their content and are doing international deals themselves.

In 2016, these indie prodcos accounted for US$63.9m (15.5%) of

South Korea’s total broadcast content exports, with that figure rising to US$76.8m (21.2%) in 2017 and to US$151.6m (31.7%) in 2018. In 2019, the year The Masked Singer went stateside, indie producers accounted for US$172.1m (31.9%) in exports and that figure jumped to US$201.3m (29%) in 2020.

While the growth in exports by independent producers has hitherto been largely about scripted companies retaining international rights, amid a rising tide in demand for K-content, Park has been leading the charge to allow independent producers of unscripted content and formats to retain their intellectual property.

In fact, the name of Park’s company – dITurn – is symbolic of his desire to flip the traditional model of broadcast studios retaining format rights, because if you turn the name upside down it says ‘IP.’ The launch of dITurn three years ago has also influenced a number of other Korean creatives in the unscripted field to set up their own companies.

“The reason I launched this

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP: Wonwoo Park THOUGH

Channel21 International | Spring 2022

The Masked Singer format has found buyers wordwide

Top Gear Korea

Lotto Singer

company and gave it the name I did is that in the Korean broadcasting industry, the producers and writers cannot retain rights to their own IP, even if they created it themselves,” says Park. “They usually have to give it to the broadcast studios. This doesn’t make sense to me so I wanted to send a message that we should turn the model upside down and give the IP back to the creators.”

Park has seen what has happened in the UK, where underlying programme rights were handed from the commissioning broadcasters to the producers by the Communications Act of 2003, and how that consequently supercharged the independent production sector.

However, things are different in South Korea, he says.

“I’m lucky to be a producer in Korea owning most of my IP, and I get income from that IP. But I’m an unusual case as I created The Masked Singer. In Korea, priority is traditionally given to the broadcasting studio, rather than the writers and producers. But in drama, more than 50% of writers now get the IP back from broadcasting studios and that’s been a very positive change.

“I believe there can be similar change in the unscripted sector, but even with The Masked Singer on air in more than 50 countries, I don’t get that much income from it. So at dITurn we are pushing for more

creators to get their rights from the broadcasters, just like they did in the UK 20 years ago.”

Looking ahead, Park isn’t resting on his Masked Singer laurels.

Following the success of the show on Fox, Park – marking another first for Korean format creators – signed first-looks deals with US studios NBCUniversal in 2019 and after that with Fox Alternative Entertainment (FAE) in 2021. Under the latter deal, FAE and Park’s Seoul-based prodco will develop projects for the US and elsewhere, starting with an international format based on Lotto Singer, a hit Korean talent series created by Park and SBS-backed FormatEast for MBN. Park last year also agreed a deal with Sony-owned UK prodco Stellify Media for US and UK rights to his format My Ranking, which Park is also looking to sell in Europe and Asia, and he also alludes to a new codevelopment with Banijay, the fruits of which have yet to be announced.

More recently, Park has teamed up with CJ ENM to launch new talent format My Boyfriend is Better on CJ-owned channel MNet. The music entertainment format features various boyfriends facing off in a singing competition as part of a strategic betting game orchestrated by their girlfriends. The girlfriends ultimately face the dilemma of betting on their own boyfriend or one of their rivals to win.

As Park joins the noted ranks of international format execs to have received the Gold Award at the International Format Awards, presented by C21 in association with Frapa, EMC and MipFormats, one gets the feeling the Korean producer’s contribution to the global format industry won’t be just about one talent format.

Previous recipients of the Gold Award 2021: Anette Rømer, STV Production 2020: Wayne Garvie, Sony Pictures Television 2019: Peter Fincham, Expectation Entertainment 2018: Alex Mahon, Channel 4 2017: Paul Gilbert, Paramount Global Content Distribution 2016: Gary Carter, KLOK 2015: Annie Wegelius, former SVT programming chief 2014: Mark Itkin, William Morris Endeavor 2013: Stephen Lambert, Studio Lambert/All3Media 2012: David Lyle, Fox Reality 2011: Dick de Rijk, creator of gameshow hit Deal or No Deal 2010: Reg Grundy, former CEO of Grundy Television 2009: Peter Bazalgette, former creative director of Endemol Group 2008: Stephen Leahy and Trish Kinane, Ludus Entertainment 2007: Merv Griffin, creator of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy

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AHEAD OF THE CURVE: South Korea

Channel21 International | Spring 2022

Executives from Korea’s CJ ENM, JTBC Studios and Munhwa Broadcasting Corp discuss globetrotting hits, investing in Ho Hollywood and whether all all-territory rights deals will ha harm the formats business.

By Jordan Pinto

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outh Korean companies and creators in both scripted and unscripted have been revolutionising the content business for a decade or more with innovative, daring, clever and watchable formats. It’s only more recently that buyers around the world have cottoned on and started clamouring to get a piece of the action.

Take The Masked Singer, arguably the biggest unscripted television format to emerge in recent years. Produced by Korean studio MBC Entertainment for the MBC broadcast network, the project launched in Korea in 2015 and enjoyed enormous domestic success, spawning adaptations in China and Thailand.

But it wasn’t until four years later, when US network Fox began airing its adaptation of the format, that the “floodgates opened,” said Nahee Kim, managing director of MBC’s US subsidiary MBC America, during a virtual panel at CMPA Prime Time earlier this year.

“After the Fox adaptation, everybody wanted [The Masked Singer]. I didn’t even have to call [international buyers] – they all came to us, eager to take the format,” she said of the reaction to the US version, which is produced by Fox Alternative Entertainment and Smart Dog Media.

The breakout success of The Masked Singer in the US has helped raise the perceived value of other Korean unscripted formats, said Diane Min, head of format sales at CJ ENM. Like The Masked Singer, CJ ENM’s format I Can See Your Voice had launched in Korea in 2015 to impressive ratings. Initial international interest in the series was good and it sold into several territories, but sales to the US and UK proved elusive.

However, things changed in January 2019 when The Masked Singer debuted on Fox, putting Korean formats firmly on the shopping lists of international buyers.

“Everything happened with The Masked Singer.

When the first episode went out in January, I started to get a lot of calls,” said Min, who soon had six offers from US networks and studios to produce an adaptation of I Can See Your Voice. CJ ENM ultimately went with Fox, which premiered the series in September 2020. Local adaptations of the format are now on television in 16 countries, with seven more in development and discussions ongoing with many other territories.

Creating world-beating formats isn’t the only way Korea is making its mark on the entertainment business. Some of Korea’s largest media companies have been investing in Hollywood for years, especially in scripted content, and that ambition

Korea zenith L-R: Diane Min at CJ ENM, Se-Kwon Kim at JTBC Studios and Nahee Kim of MBC America

was highlighted most recently by CJ ENM’s majority acquisition of Endeavor Content. The company also took a stake in US prodco Skydance Media in 2020 and is making a US version of Oscar-winning film Parasite for HBO with that company. It also invested in DreamWorks 26 years ago.

Meanwhile, Korea’s JTBC Studios, the content arm of Korean pay TV company JTBC, last year acquired Wiip, the production studio behind HBO’s Mare of Easttown and Apple TV+’s Dickinson.

The panelists also discussed perhaps the most important question surrounding the future prosperity of the international formats business: what impact will the rise of streaming have on the ability of format sellers to produce monster hits in the vein of The Masked Singer?

“How does that success exist in a world where more and more titles are ending up on streaming?” asked panel moderator Adam Steinman, who serves as VP, creative, format, development and sales at Warner Bros International Television Production.

Min answered that her perspective has changed

as the market has evolved. “If you had asked me that last year, I would say that when it comes to format sales, global streamers are not the priority,” she said, noting that her opinion has shifted as more streaming players have entered the fray, creating newfound flexibility around the deal structures for formats. “I think we can just take it as another opportunity,” said Min. Se-Kwon Kim, global development executive at JTBC Studios, agreed that he doesn’t see the streaming boom, and the frequency of all-territory rights deals, as an impediment to the growth of JTBC Studios’ formats business. Audiences will naturally want to see good formats adapted in their own language, he said.

“For example, one of the upcoming JTBC titles coming out this year is the Korean version of the Spanish series La Casa de Papel. We’re making it into Korean even though Korean audiences are very familiar with the original show, and it was very popular. I don’t think it’s going to be an obstacle,” he said.

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COUNTRYFILE: Thailand

Channel21 International | Spring 2022

New school Thai I

f you’re looking to secure an unscripted format, it’s fair to say markets such as the UK, Netherlands and South Korea are safe bets.

But it could pay dividends if more executives cast their nets wider, particularly in Thailand, which is creating and adapting some of the most intriguing formats around.

Leaders in the South-East Asian country’s formats industry include broadcaster, distributor and producer BEC World, production company Zense Entertainment and media firm Workpoint Entertainment. Zense, for example, created and produces Beat the 60 Seconds, a gameshow that gives its contestants a minute to complete a random mission in order to enter a vault full of prizes.

While the biggest buyers of Thai formats are predominantly neighbouring countries such as Vietnam and Cambodia, due to similarities in taste, culture and budgets, they are also beginning to be sold further afield.

Workpoint’s singing format The Wall Duet (Rong Kham Kam Pang), for example, has been bought by

The Thai verion of The Masked Singer caught the attention of Fox in the US

T Thailand may not have yet built up the same reputation for format exports as South Korea, but as it buys and sells more f internationally that could be about to change. By Ruth Lawes Dutch broadcaster RTL4 and in other European territories, including France, Italy and Spain. The show was originally commissioned by digital TV network Channel 23 in Thailand.

NBCUniversal International Formats (NBCUIF) has also clearly recognised Thailand’s potential as a major exporter of unscripted formats, teaming up with Zense to co-develop singing format Singer Auction. So far, NBCUIF has sold the rights to Vietnamese network VTV3.

NBCUIF joins US format sourcing company Small World IFT, founded by husband-and-wife team Tim and Colleen Crescenti, which sold quiz format Fan Pan Tae to Sky in the UK under the title The Fanatics, as well as to TV4 in Sweden.

Tim Crescenti, president of Small World IFT, believes the format could have travelled further.

“The The challenge was – and this was five years ago when this huge opportunity happened – seeing the oppor big picture. History in i the US wanted to produce this format too after the UK success, but their business team at the time was so focused on never happened,” he says. minor points it n up slates of original Alongside building b formats, Thai companies have been keen formats. Banijay buyers of international int Rights’ senior VP for formats in Asia, Daryl Kho, says Banijay Banija has licensed more than 30 formats in the country, countr including MasterChef, The Wall, Money Drop and Deal or No Deal.

Kho says Thai p producers adapt unscripted formats innovatively and to a high quality, often adding elements that improve on the original. “It was, in fact, the Tha Thai adaptation of The Masked Singer, with their elaborate masks, that first caught the eye of Fox in the US, and not the original Korean version, leading ori to the worldwide phenomenon we today,” he argues. see tod Similarly, Bangkok-based prodco Simila Kantana Group produced the Kanta first aall-male spin-off version of modelling modellin format The Face. Both were commissioned

by BEC World’s co free-to-air free-to- net Channel 3, while the original origina was ordered by Oxygen in the US, hosted and executive produced produce by supermodel Naomi Campbell.

Campbel Meanwhile, president of TV Meanw business at BEC World Surin Krittayaphongphun says producing Krittayaph

Thai adaptations of well-known international unscripted formats is improving local producers’ skills by lifting the standards of production and expertise. Krittayaphongphun has commissioned Thai versions of the likes of Got Talent and The Voice for Channel 3.

Scripted formats, however, are a different story.

Where Thai broadcasters will acquire unscripted formats from around the world, their “appetites have been more limited and tastes have been narrower” when it comes to drama, according to Banijay’s Kho. Thai audiences have always been huge consumers of Korean drama, long before it became a global phenomenon after the unprecedented success of Netflix’s Squid Game, the exec adds.

Thai remakes of K-dramas include Oh My Ghost, about a chef who occasionally sees ghosts. In Korea, the drama was commissioned by pay TV network tvN, while the Thai version was made for digital channel True4U. One exception is UK psychological drama Doctor Foster, which is distributed internationally by BBC Studios. Thailand’s Channel 3 recently ordered a local version of the drama, which was originally produced by Drama Republic for BBC One. The Thai adaptation, which centres on a doctor whose seemingly perfect life falls apart when she uncovers her husband’s infidelity, will be produced by JSL Global Media.

While Doctor Foster may seem like an unusual choice for Thai audiences, Krittayaphongphun, who bought the rights, says it bears all ll the hallmarks of a classic Thai drama. a. “It appeals to Thai audiences because se they want to watch shows about family, amily, love and relationships,” he says.. But it also helps that the Korean remake, e, titled The World of the Married and produced roduced by JTBC Studios, was a runaway y success in Thailand, the exec adds. s.

For those looking to pitch scripted format rights ghts to Thai broadcasters ers or streamers, a word rd of warning: crimee dramas do not go down n well, according to Krittayaphongphun.

“Crime dramas, medical dramas orr Surin Krittayaphongphun

COUNTRYFILE: Thailand

Channel21 International | Spring 2022

Prices for Korean dramas are escalating to the point where it’s not affordable and a good alternative is Thai dramas because there is a better return on investment.

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Indra Suharjono IE Entertainment

Netflix acquired dramas including Dare to Love from BEC World, which has also commissioned Thai versions of unscripted formats such as Thailand’s Got Talent

any show that focuses solely on a profession are not popular among local audiences,” he says. “We find that Thai people who actually work in those jobs are highly critical of the fact that their professions may not be depicted accurately and realistically enough on screen.”

On the other side of the coin, Thai dramas are often exported as finished tape, according to Indra Suharjono, co-founder of Singaporej based producer, distributor and marketer IE Entertainment and senior media marke advisor to Thailand’s JKN Global Media. For the adviso latter, in the unscripted space, she is working on a of fashion design format Project local adaptation a Runway, which is distributed internationally by Runwa Fremantle.

Frema Suharjono is a South-East Asian industry Suha veteran, having spent a decade with Viacom vetera International Media Networks Asia, including time Intern VP and MD for Asia, and at Warner as executive ex Bros Consumer Products as general manager for Bro the region.

The exec says she often highlights the appeal T of Thai dramas to clients and has sold scripted shows to MX Player in India and to Chinesesh owned African pay TV operator StarTimes. o “Prices for Korean dramas are escalating to “ the t point where it’s not affordable and a good

alternative is Thai drama because there’s a better return on investment,” she says.

Netflix appears to be taking note, as Krittayaphongphun says BEC World has sold about 10 titles to the global SVoD player, including Dare to Love and I See Dead People. “Global SVoD players are more business partners than rivals as they buy and are interested in a lot of our content,” he says.

As much as the Thai format production and distribution sector is growing, its industry is not without its problems. One of the biggest issues it faces is competition from a booming digital business, according to Banijay’s Kho. “The biggest challenge has been TV ad spend reduction corresponding to viewer fragmentation, starting with the mushrooming of digital terrestrial channels, as there are 18 in total now, and in more recent years OTT players and social video,” he says.

“Agencies are increasingly investing directly in online influencers, getting them to create custom branded content, and bypassing broadcasters and production companies altogether. Laxer censorship restrictions online compared with broadcast TV have also spurred viewers towards the edgier, more controversial and diverse content that can be found online.”

HBO Max is set to arrive in Thailand in October while Disney+ launched in 2021, and local content is expected to be a priority for the OTT platforms, building on the work of players such as HBO Asia.

Suharjono highlights the lack of tax incentives and government support as a major drawback, particularly when compared with the grants offered in other countries such as South Korea. “In Korea, the Korean Broadcasting Association pays for the dubbing or the subtitling of a show, which really enables it to travel,” she says.

Getting a Thai drama production off the ground can also be difficult because actors sign exclusive deals with networks, much like during the Hollywood studio era.

“If I wanted to produce a Thai drama tomorrow, I would have a problem getting the actors,” Suharjono says. BEC World, for example, has around 150 stars under contract, according to Krittayaphongphun.

Apart from a few obstacles, however, all the execs agree Thailand has the infrastructure to become a major market for formats.

“Thailand really eally is like the Korea of South-East h-East Asia, with high production ion values and immense creativity,” ativity,” Kho sums up. “Thai people le are also renowned for having a kooky ooky sense of humour – some of the he most hilarious, ingenious as well as touching commercials in n the world are from Thailand.” and.”

No doubt this his could also be the casee for its Daryl Kho formats as well..

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16/03/2022 17:26

CONTENT CONFIDENTIAL: Amazon Studios Europe

Channel21 International | Spring 2022

The commissioning hubs set up by Amazon Studios Europe are prospecting fo for new unscripted ideas and ttalent to help feed the Amazon P Prime ecosystem.

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By Gün Akyuz

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ith a wide range of unscripted originals now flowing from Amazon Studios’ seven European commissioning hubs, it is on the look-out for a steady stream of bold ideas from across the region.

Amazon Studios has focused on scaling up its operations in the region and building up local countrylevel commissioning teams over the past three years, says Amazon Studios’ head of European originals Georgia Brown.

Highlighting local hubs in the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden, the latter covering the Nordics, Brown points to a massive period of growth for Amazon Studios Europe since lockdown wn in early 2020, during which time it hired 85% of its currentt staff.

By the end of 2021, it had launched around d 50 new scripted and unscripted originals, including European movies for the first time.

Among 2021’s originals were sports docs like All or Nothing: Juventus and FC Bayern: Behind the he Legend; reality shows like Italy’s Celebrity Hunted: ed: Caccia all’Uomo season two, along with the arrival val of French and German versions; and several local ocal renditions of comedy format LOL. Brown is keen to continue this momentum m in unscripted. Among the titles UK head of originals Dan Grabiner’s commissioning team is lining up for 2022 022 is sports doc All or Nothing: Arsenal, which follows on the heels of All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur earlierr in 2020 and All or Nothing: Manchester City in 2018.

Amazon Studios oversees a highly curated slate of originals for Amazon’s Prime Video platform, manyy of which launch across the platform’s worldwide footprintt covering 240-plus countries.

In a sea of streaming alternatives, Brown says ays Prime Video’s strategy is not about attracting a different audience to other providers. “I know I watch multiple different services, platforms and broadcasters, and probably bably like all the people watching Prime Video we are following owing the content.”

Defining Amazon Prime’s service as more an aggregator of content, Brown points to a “multitude of content across many different layers and facets” that subscribers can access apart from TV shows, from books to live streaming of sports, to Audible podcasts, Alexa and TVoD music. The most recent arrival was premium AVoD service IMDb TV, which launched in the UK last September.

This multifaceted ecosystem is what differentiates and gives Amazon Prime a USP when it comes to attracting audiences as well as talent and content creators, says Brown. “We have a different level of communication and connection to our audience because we can talk to them on so many different layers, and all that adds up to such a richness of experience. That’s how we’re trying to operate and think about our originals,” she says.

Equally, when it comes to talent, she says: “There’s so many different ways that creators can come in and talk to the audience. It’s really not a one-size-fits-all, ‘come and make us a TV show.’ We’re always thinking about that and how we operate.”

Amazon’s shopping basket

Michael Herbig fronts the German version of unscripted comedy LOL

We have a different level of communication and connection to our audience because we can talk to them on so many different layers, and all that adds up to such a richness of experience. That’s how we’re trying to operate and think about our originals.

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Georgia Brown Amazon Studios

A notable gap in the region remains a local production presence in Central and Eastern Europe. “It’s Amazon, so watch this space,” Brown observes. “We’re very much driven by our customer. So where there is demand, we would look to fill that gap.”

Amazon Studio’s European vision is firmly focused on local production coming through its country hubs. “What platforms like ours and others have done is really give them a gateway to the world, because there’s some amazing talent and content being made here, which stands up X

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Channel21 International | Spring 2022

absolutely to these big-budget shows that we see out of the US,” says Brown.

With similar numbers of originals now coming out of its local production hubs across Europe, Brown says what is also noticeable is how well its local originals do outside Europe.

One example is unscripted comedy LOL, based on the Japanese format Hitoshi Matsumoto Presents Documental.

In Europe, local versions launched in Italy, Germany, Spain and France during 2021. Upending the traditionally held view that comedy doesn’t travel, Brown says these local versions had a ripple effect around the world, with, for instance, viewers in Australia watching the German version, or US viewers watching the Italian one.

“I don’t think it is just about English-language content anymore. What audiences want is very authentic entertainment, made to a great quality that they can sit and enjoy,” she says.

Brown believes Amazon Studios Europe is now looking beyond the broad mass-audience content it once required.

Since local European originals have started rolling out, it has been able to identify more specific territory needs or gaps.

“Across the board, I would say we really would love some more YA female-focused content for the whole of Europe. Beyond that, what fits could be a movie – an action movie, a romcom – or it could be an unscripted reality dating show, a comedy, a drama. It can be anything. We’re a bit more agnostic as we’re very focused on the customer, and we work backwards from that,” she says.

Brown also flags up Amazon Prime’s “game-changing” premium live sports, available to subscribers at no extra cost. “That’s also had a knock-on impact on the stuff that we’re commissioning because it’s all a bigger flywheel,” she observes.

As well as feeding a passionate sports fanbase, Brown says the All or Nothing franchise also attract nonfans because much of the focus is on behind-the-scenes emotional storytelling and not just the game on the pitch.

Brown says Amazon Studios’ curated approach also means it won’t be in the volume commissioning game. “We want to have a very high ratio of execs to shows; we want to give every show room to breathe, stories room to grow; we want to give people the chance to twist things, do things differently. That takes experimentation and sometimes that means pulling back and rethinking things,” she says.

“We want talent to come to us and feel like they have a chance to be themselves, a chance to not only work on their passion projects, but work across a multitude of different projects in a lot of different forms, whether that’s creating an original show for us, whether that’s working with Alexa or Audible or doing a podcast. There are so many different ways that they can get involved.”

She cites Amazon Studios’ recently launched Italian reality show The Ferragnez – The Series as an example. It stars rapper, entrepreneur, influencer and all-round global brand Fedez together with his celebrity partner, fashion icon Chiara Ferragni, and their family.

The eight-part series, produced by Banijay Italia,

CONTENT CONFIDENTIAL: Amazon Studios Europe

launched in December, worldwide across Prime Video’s 240 territories.

Fedez also featured in Amazon Studios’ Italian unscripted original Celebrity Hunted S1, and the Italian version of LOL – Chi ride è fuori.

He also fronted an ad campaign to become Amazon Italy’s first brand ambassador. Furthermore, Amazon Prime secured the rights as the exclusive home of Ferragni’s recently released movie Chiara Unposted.

Brown says Amazon Studios wants to be bold with its originals.

“We’re not scared to fail, we want to really experiment, both in form and with talent, so we’re really up for a challenge.”

Amazon Studio’s local teams want to see everything, says Brown. “We’ll never say no to a particular genre.

I don’t think anyone can say we’re all doing very unique things. Between broadcasters and streamers, we’re all looking at the same genres, ultimately.

So for us it’s about how do you elevate or twist on those and make them feel very different to what’s already out there.”

Providing project specifics such as genre, target audience, country, language and budget will all help differentiate a project from the thousands being pitched to local hubs, she says.

“The more detail you can give us up-front, the easier it is for us, because as we’re starting to launch shows, we’re being much more specific in the gaps that we have, the audiences that we don’t have coming that we want to attract, and the types of shows that are working for us,” says Brown.

“Beyond that, all of our local teams have a very different remit as they’re growing at different rates, and they’re putting out different content.”

The exec also advises prospective partners to watch Amazon’s originals. “Now we’re launching, people are getting a real sense of us and our personality and the sorts of things we like. We’re definitely quite cheeky and quite irreverent.”

Italian reality shows The Ferragnez – The Series (left) and Celebrity Hunted: Caccia all’Uomo (above)

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BACKEND

Channel21 International | Spring 2022

Eddie Evelyn-Hall (left) and James Morton-Haworth

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hase one of Gramafilm’s three-year plan began last year when the prodco bolstered its creative team by hiring a trio of executives who previously worked together at BBC Studios (BBCS) and Monkey Kingdom.

Eddie Evelyn-Hall joined the company as creative director of development, reporting to Gramafilm owner and director James Morton-Haworth, with a remit to lead development of its entertainment and fact entertainment slate.

Meanwhile, Laura Amure and Jamie Cowell both joined as development executives to develop a slate of formats that are being shopped at all kinds of different buyers, from traditional broadcasters, to streaming services, to social media giants.

Gramafilm was established in 2008 to create branded content and campaigns for clients including Red Bull, YouTube, Amazon, Google and LG. Evelyn-Hall is keen to replicate the success the company has had in the branded content space on TV and streaming, particularly in the US. Appointing a head of fact ent is on the cards, as well as a head of documentaries – to tap into the “credentials and respect” that a successful doc draws – alongside an exec in LA to represent the company in Hollywood. “We’ve recently just got an agent, so we are now in the US, peddling all our formats over there that have started to get traction in the UK,” says Evelyn-Hall.

Fact ent is a broad church and now encompasses dating and reality shows such as Love is Blind, Married at First Sight and The Circle that are proving popular with streamers and the younger demos they attract. While “thought-provoking” topics are within Gramafilm’s wheelhouse, Evelyn-Hall doesn’t believe the prodco will ever focus solely on something that is completely “hard-hitting and serious.”

The lines between branded content and TV programming have been blurring for years now, with broadcasters such as Channel 4 in the UK now regularly looking to tie up brands with commissions to reduce costs. Gramafilm has previously worked with The Story Lab, a company ultimately owned by advertising giant Dentsu, and Evelyn-Hall is clear the intention isn’t to create “an hour-long advert.”

Evelyn-Hall expects the lines to continue to blur over the next three years, with Gramafilm looking to make the most of the relationships it has with both brands and broadcasters, mixing more than a decade of commercial know-how with its growing editorial experience.

But what will this mean for how rights are split and will we, for example, start to see major brands joining the likes of Red Bull in rocking up at markets shopping their own formats? Could a food brand be behind the next Come Dine With Me? “From our experience so far speaking to brands,

Gramafilm branded content in production

Three-year plan

Gramafilm London-based branded content specialist Gramafilm is plotting a major factual entertainment push having begun its move into TV last year. By Nico Franks I don’t think they would be that bothered about shopping the format. They’d be more interested in having the back end, for sure,” says Evelyn-Hall, suggesting that splitting the spoils will be the way forward.

“Content with a purpose” is key for the former head of development at Sony-owned, Brighton-based prodco Electric Ray, who believes the next few years will see some commissioners continue to recognise the importance of representing the marginalised on mainstream TV. “We want to try to continue that because it’s important to break down barriers in entertainment and a really good example of a show that is doing

that at the moment is Drag Race. It enables conversations around gender, identity, sexuality and figuring out who you are,” says Evelyn-Hall.

Meanwhile, although YouTube’s original content group is set to be wound down, other platforms such as TikTok and Snap are only set to grow in importance to the format industry over the next three years, according to Evelyn-Hall.

That’s despite growing evidence showing that too much social media is damaging for our mental health. But Evelyn-Hall believes the original content plans of such giants of social media are designed to address this, rather than send us further down the rabbit hole of so-called doom-scrolling.

“A lot of the programming that especially Snapchat is looking for explores that space. And if you look to Snapchat’s mandate, it would be diverse voices, so I think they are aware of what their responsibility is. We would always try to make responsible programmes, even if it’s in an entertaining way. We would try to be thoughtful and push things forward,” says Evelyn-Hall.

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Channel21 International | Spring 2022

The Voice: Generations

Three-year plan

ITVSGE Recently appointed MD of ITV Studios Global Entertainment Arjan Pomper discusses the production and distribution group’s four-point plan at it emerges from the pandemic. By Karolina Kaminska

A

rjan Pomper took over as MD of ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVSGE) at the beginning of this year, replacing Maarten Meijs after he left the business to head John de Mol’s Talpa.

Pomper says ITVSGE’s strategy, which he breaks down into four areas, has not changed since he took the helm.

The first area of ITVSGE’s plan is ensuring diversification of its client base, as more platforms enter the market and both globalisation and localisation of content take centre stage.

“Free-to-air remains really important, but the world is changing. The effect we see from the SVoDs and other platforms is globalisation. On the other hand, due to consolidation, we see regionalisation as an effect too, where smaller local parties are teaming up together. We have to look at the changing landscape and act upon it,” Pomper says.

The second aim of ITVSGE’s strategy is to strengthen and enhance its existing formats by creating spin-offs and expanding the brands.

“We’re supersizing and protecting our big brands, such as The Voice, Love Island, I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and The Chase. We look at how we can optimise the strong focus we have, because if a

Free-to-air remains really important, but the world is changing. The effect we see from oDs and other platforms is the SVoDs globalisation. isation. On the other hand, due to consolidation, idation, we see regionalisation gionalisation as an effect too, where smaller local parties s are teaming up together. ether.

“

Arjan Pomper omper ITVSGE

client has the rights to The Voice or Come Dine with Me, for example, they will be very comfortable with spin-offs because they know they will be a success,” Pomper says.

The third element of ITVSGE’s strategy is the launch of new formats. “The creation of new formats is an essential part and the bread and butter of our business. Without new formats, there is no business.

Our creative labels are continuously developing new ideas and, on top of that, we’re always on the lookout for the acquisition of strong, new formats,” the exec says.

The fourth and final part of ITVSGE’s strategy is about expanding monetisation of IP, which taps into ITV’s overall More Than TV strategy.

“When we look at our existing formats, how do we use them for other platforms? How can we use them, for instance, on social media? How can we do things with podcasts? How can we use the formats and exploit them optimally? We do this together with our clients because we’re not only looking at ourselves,” Pomper says.

For MipTV this year, ITVSGE has put together a slate of content headlined by four new formats.

The first of these is My Mom, Your Dad, a dating show for single parents which was developed with ITV Studios America. The series follows a group of single parents in a house, as their kids watch from the house next door and try to play matchmaker.

The second new format is Rat in the Kitchen, a cooking competition show also from ITV Studios America, in which one of the contestants acts as a mole trying to sabotage their competitors’ dishes.

The third new format, Flipping Fast, is a property series in which budding developers are given an investment with which to redevelop a house. The person who receives the biggest profit from the sale of the redeveloped house gets to keep the money as well as a cash prize.

Finally, the fourth new format is The Voice: Generations, a spin-off to singing competition series The Voice, where contestants perform alongside a friend, family member or colleague of a different generation. have been somewhat difficult The last two years h industry, with sales in countries such for the format industry international market declining as the UK to the in result of production freezes and in 2020/21 as a resu lockdowns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. But steadily being resumed, according normal service is stead predicts an “explosion of creativity” to Pomper, who predic months. over the coming mont “We are currently selling pretty much all our formats at the level we were selling them in 2019,” he says. “What we’re seeing the first glimpses of lockdowns, is that people have already, as a result of lo screen for two years and working been looking at the scre on their creative and a strategic processes. expectation is that we will see “My exp explosion of creativity in the an exp next couple of months with new ideas and great new formats.

This is already in the hands of the creatives and is something we saw at the London TV Screenings.”

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