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20 TV FORMATS
Shine International • Anything Goes USA • The School • Big Town Dance From the producers of Ashley Banjo’s Secret Street Crew comes Big Town Dance, a factual-entertainment format that is meant to inspire a community to come together in a dance spectacular. Shine International is highlighting the format for MIPTV, where it will also be presenting Anything Goes USA (working title).The original Anything Goes debuted on TF1 in January 2012, and the format has since enjoyed success in countries such as Portugal, Denmark, Spain and China. It will launch soon in the U.S., where Shine America is producing in association with Steve Carell’s Carousel Television. The U.S. treatment will air on FOX. Another Shine International format highlight is The School, which invites viewers inside the classroom to reveal what life is really like behind the school gate.
The School
Sony Pictures Television • Release the Hounds • Milky Way Mission • The Big Allotment Challenge
Following a one-off special in the U.K., the youth-skewing channel ITV2 ordered a full season of Release the Hounds, while ProSieben in Germany ordered a two-hour special. “Release the Hounds is a completely new take on the game show genre, mixing horror, humor and suspense in each episode, and is already getting a lot of attention from international broadcasters,” says Wayne Garvie, the chief creative officer for international production at Sony Pictures Television. Commissioned by the Dutch broadcaster Nederland 1, Milky Way Mission offers celebrities the chance to train as astronauts and travel into space. “The Milky Way Mission format is, quite literally, out of this world in terms of scale, ambition and originality,” says Garvie. The Big Allotment Challenge, meanwhile, taps into the “back-to-basics trend,” according to Garvie.
“We really believe this is the start of the business’s most creative era ever, and we’re looking forward to sharing the excitement we have for these and other formats we have in the pipeline.” Release the Hounds
—Wayne Garvie
Zodiak Rights • Dropped • Back to School: The Big Class Reunion • Big Ballet The adventure reality show Dropped has enjoyed considerable success on TV4 in Sweden, and Zodiak Rights is now offering the format internationally. “There is a tremendous interest in ‘Scandi-tainment’ at the moment and the show represents a way of producing adventure reality which is more ‘real’ than others in the genre,” says Barnaby Shingleton, the company’s VP of entertainment.“This fits well with the general trend toward depth and away from overtly produced programming; a trend typified by broadcasters in the U.K. and Scandinavia that has strong signs of spreading further.” Shingleton says that Back to School:The Big Class Reunion is “no-holds-barred entertainment for co-viewing.” He says of Big Ballet, “I think it would be difficult for a buyer to watch 15 minutes and not want to watch more.”
“Dropped is a big, exciting format and will undoubtedly generate a huge amount of interest in Cannes.” Dropped 290 World Screen 4/14
—Barnaby Shingleton