1. TWO NEW FORMATS FOR CHANNEL 4
UK’s Channel 4 for the next season has greenlit a number of new projects, among which two stand out.
The first one is the politics competition Make Me Prime Minister (wt). The show will follow 12 British participants from the whole political spectrum as they are set prime ministerial tasks each episode designed to test their leadership skills, resilience, and integrity. Weekly group challenges will be set and adjudicated by British celebs such as Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former spin doctor.
The most remarkable thing is the return of the politics reality/talent show 17 years after the experiment of the “historical”, but not very successful, Vote for Me (2005).
The second one is Scared of the Dark (wt): the format will see a group of celebrities brought to a specially created living space where they will have to spend seven days in complete darkness. They will have to endure the unique pressures of light deprivation as well as adapting to performing daily tasks and undertaking a series of thought-provoking challenges. If they can overcome their fears and perform well in the intense challenges, they could earn themselves a brief moment of relief in the light.
The project has been financed by Channel 4’s Global Format Fund, which initially is worth £30 million (US$40 million) over two years and allows C4 to invest in non-scripted formats that are still in early development. It’s to underline that Scared of the Dark will be produced by MultiStory Media from an original idea by Possessed, which are both ITV Studios affiliates.
2. THE PODCAST’S BOOM
Podcasts are becoming more and more relevant in the media landscape, and in the future its importance will surely get even bigger. The industry has “officially legitimized” this phenomenon in 2021, with the “Natpe Virtual Content Cast”: 1 day (the 14th July), a whole day entirely dedicated to podcast, with lots of conferences, sessions etc (see pic below).
Now, for the very first time, a podcast (Betrayal, produced by Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group) will become a premium unscripted TV show, adapted by the same prodco. The podcast tells the story of TV producer Jenifer Faison, whose marriage was shattered after seven years when she returned home one day to find her house searched and her husband Spencer Herron arrested for the sexual assault of a student. Interviewing the now 21-year-old college student who survived numerous sexual assaults at the hands of Herron, Faison attempts to learn about the man she thought she loved.
The podcast has definitively entered a new era.
3. META-FORMATS ARE COMING
Something is moving in the Metaverse regarding formats, unscripted and, more in general, the audiovisual, and is moving very fast.
After Meta Date, the first “official” project set partially in the Metaverse (see Friday’s Espresso 25th March), Toronto-based virtual production company Dark Slope is partnering with Insight Productions to develop original formats for both children and adults, “for a new era of Metaverse entertainment”. Production on the first project is set to begin later in 2022.
It is difficult to say exactly what is going to happen: everyone would like to be the first one, but nobody is sure how to handle it. Anyway something will happen, that’s for sure: what exactly we’ll see in the next months.