1- TECHNOLOGY, METAVERSE AND EVERYTHING…
Recently a huge amount of news regarding new technologies and metaverse in unscripted has come out everywhere. If you feel a little puzzled, don’t worry: it’s absolutely normal, also because there are lots of different topics mixed together, in a big, confused media jam.
Let’s try to make some order, dividing the various levels of the issue and seeing the state of the art of each one. It will take some time, sorry for that; but I think it’s useful to start giving some stakes.
PRODUCTION LEVEL. First of all, there is an increasing number of shows that use new technologies (CGI - Computer Generated Imagery: the big family of 3D computer graphics used for creating characters, scenes and special effects in films and television; VR - Virtual Reality and so on) to have cost advantages.
For example, working with a virtual set compared to on-location productions permits not being subjected to the time of day or weather elements, i.e., having an unlimited ‘golden hour’. Virtual studios, compared to the “real” ones, have greater flexibility and so on… Examples of this level are Family Piggy Bank (FE 21 Jan), Your Body Uncovered with Kate Garraway (FE 3 Jun), The Connection (FE 10 Jun) and others.
No problem, in this case. All these are mature technologies and won’t change entertainment at all: they just will make it more effective.
HUMAN LEVEL. They are the “hybrid shows”, i.e. shows with “real” and virtual persons (avatars, virtual idols…) mixed up together, but in a “real” place: studio or location (e.g. Alter Ego). We wrote about it several times (eg. FE 26 Nov and 3 Dec).
For the moment there is only a small number of them, but very interesting and innovative. Anyway, they won’t change entertainment either: the “human” presence is still - and it will continue to be - fundamental in unscripted, paradoxically even more than in scripted.
ENVIRONMENTAL LEVEL. Part of or the whole show is “immersed” in the virtual world, i.e. the metaverse (finally!). The first officially announced one was Metadate (FE 25 Mar) and since then others have followed.
For example, Banijay at Conecta Fiction in Spain declared they are exploring the metaverse and making a “significant” investment in a new initiative designed to create original content for this space. Also Tencent, the Chinese giant that also owns an OTT, has created an “extended reality” division that will develop hardware and services for the metaverse, making bets that virtual and extended reality will be the user interfaces of the future.
Furthermore, Canadian Dark Slope and Insight Productions announced a partnership to develop diverse range of formats for both children and adults for a new era of metaverse entertainment. Production on the first project is set to begin later this year.
These projects will surely be growing in the near future, but it’s difficult to say in what form and at what speed.
“AROUND-THE-CONTENT” LEVEL. In this case, the technology is “only” an innovative approach to both building fan communities and extending franchises beyond broadcast using blockchain models. For example, the Fox and Bento Box’s Blockchain Creative Labs was recently born to identify growth opportunities in the NFT (Non-fungible token: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fungible_token) space: audience “investors” who purchase the tokens will gain access to prizes and fan experiences, and can even have creative input on the project.
Also in this case the content itself will change hardly or not at all: it will be “paired” with other kinds of experiences.
So, in conclusion, new technologies and new “spaces” are developing in different directions. But, at the moment, they are only attempts to understand the right direction in which to move. It will take time to discover it and anyway the “traditional” and “passive” TV (including the streaming one), with “real” elements will continue for a long, long time…
2- REALITY STARS COMPETE ON THE BEACH
Some of the most popular reality TV stars are getting together to party on All Star Shore, which has been defined as the “first-of-its-kind party competition series” and premiered last Wednesday, June 29 on Paramount+.
In the MTV Entertainment Studios format, 14 of the biggest reality stars from some of television’s most popular series such as Jersey Shore, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Love Island, Bachelor in Paradise, Love is Blind and others come together for a vacation on the Canary Island to compete in a series of epic party-style challenges for a cash prize of $150,000.
The contrast with the “technological” contents of the previous news could not be starker, but that’s the beauty of television…
3- A REPORT FROM NATPE
The NATPE Budapest International Market took place from 26th to 30th July. In the end, the total attendance in the Intercontinental Hilton Hotel was about 500-600 visitors, mostly from CEE countries, with a good ratio of buyers to sellers. Tim Crescenti (Small World IFT) was one of the protagonists and he kindly wrote these notes:
“What a treat to return to Budapest. And let’s pause for a moment. Budapest. Budapest! What a stunning city. Just the return here was worth the price of trip, but business was at hand. For us, we announced the first day of NATPE that we are waiving first-year production fees on our Ukraine formats. This was the ideal place to do it. Huge thanks to the NATPE friends of JP, Charlie, Jahon, Debbie for making this happen at last minute notice of attending.
Walking into the Intercontinental venue felt alive with people, activity, conversations. All was impressive indeed, especially our location near the Ukraine stand. The Ukraine panel was very informative and helped us spread the word about helping Ukraine through creativity. Yet this also was about reconnecting with friends and colleagues. Within minutes I ran into many mates to set meetings on the spot, like Golden Media, Poland who produced our format Better Late Than Never. I guarantee you will be reading big news about Grzegorz’s and my meeting. More people I hadn’t seen in years like Gergely now back at TV2 and Jan Wroblewski who along with his groovy father Wlodzimierz produced our format Russian Roulette, twenty years ago in my Sony days. Where he is now? Handling Polsat acquisitions. What a fantastic re-connection. Business to be done there soon for sure.
Because NATPE did not cram this conference with seventeen different sessions held at one time….ahem….one was able to wander and meet and talk. However the Pitch and Play session [won by the Ukrainian Production company Starligh for the format SuperGrandma] was terrific. Again glad I could not be in the room. If only we could make Stanislav, more energetic, fun and funny. Haha.
I can’t wait to return to Budapest for NATPE. Besides, where else in the world could you run into a statue of Columbo aka Peter Falk? See attached