1) VIRTUAL PIGGY BANK
Armoza Formats’ studio game-show Family Piggy Bank has been sold in Portugal and Greece. The format sees one family’s knowledge and trust in each other put to the test as they work together to try to fill their piggy bank. One main contestant, with the help of four family members, goes through 3 rounds of trivia. In round one, contestants earn money. In round two, they try to multiply it, and in the final round, the whole family tries to cash out their piggy banks.
But, even more than the mechanisms and the rules themselves, what makes this format truly interesting is the innovative CGI-technology: the game comes with a technological hub that creates an impactful shiny floor studio, virtual game play movements and even a virtual audience (see pics below).
It’s not the first time that CGI and VR are used in unscripted (I think for instance of the dating Too Shy to Date: Love Is in VR, the ‘house makeover’ show Your Home Made Perfect and others), but this is a very good example of using technology to have an outstanding production value at low costs. Other formats will soon follow this way for sure.
2) MILLION DOLLAR ADVENTURE
Talpa, the multimedia Dutch company founded by John De Mol (Big Brother, The Voice…) and Studio Lambert, the UK and US house of production (Googlebox, Undercover Boss, The Circle…) have formed a partnership for the production of US and UK treatments of the adventure reality show Million Dollar Island. The original Dutch version has just completed shooting in the Philippines and will air in the Netherlands on SBS6 in March. Amazon Prime in Holland will have a day-and-date SVOD second window
In Million Dollar Island 100 people are dropped on an uninhabited tropical island, where they need so survive for two months. Upon arrival, each contestant is given a numbered bracelet worth $10,000, so the 100 bracelets together are worth $1M. The contestants gain and lose bracelets by playing duels and challenges – and by receiving them from those who quit. Friendship and competitive skills will determine who ends up with the most bracelets and the chance to win most of the prize money.
Thanks to this particular mechanism, the rivalries and the infightings of the ‘classical’ reality are balanced by alliances, close friendships, secret pacts and other social strategies that create an intriguing and emotional plot.
3) DUTCH DRAGONS
Nordic Entertainment (NENT) group-owned streamer Viaplay will launch in the Netherlands on March 1 and the platform’s first local production will be the local edition of Dragons’ Den, premiering this spring.
As known, in this global format small entrepreneurs have an opportunity to pitch their business ideas to a panel of renowned investors (in the Dutch version the restaurant tycoon Won Yip, “avocado queen” Shawn Harris, investor Pieter Schoen, businesswoman Manon van Essen and serial entrepreneur Bas Witvoet) who can invest their money in the promising startups.
Dragons’ Den is one of the most successful formats in the world. The very first series of The Tigers of Money (this is the literal translation of the Japanese title マネーの虎 - manē no tora) premiered on Nippon TV (NTV) in 2001. In Japan there were produced only 3 series in total (till 2004). Since then Sony Pictures Television has been distributing it worldwide with the title of Dragons’ Den (BBC version) or Shark Tank (US version).
By 2020 the format has been localized in 40 different Countries, with 41 total versions (in Canada there is a French and English version), for 168 total series. The number of episodes per series ranges from a minimum of 3 (Italy) and a maximum of 29 (2013, 2014, 2015 editions in US), for a grand total of more than 2.000 episodes.
Now also the Netherlands are added to this long, long list.