1- LIGHT AND COLORFUL: A NEW COMPETITION SHOW IN THE NETHERLANDS
In these months EndemolShine Nederland has launched a series of new formats, among which it’s worth pointing out Blow Up.
In this brand-new family show, a group of contestants compete against each other in a series of challenges, trying to realize under great pressure of time the most impressive work of art with their balloons. The winner will be crowned with the coveted title of best ballon artists of the country.
A fresh, new and light entertaining show, perfect for the summer.
2- RETURNING FORMATS
If summer is the season to launch brand-new, original formats, in autumn the channels of almost the whole world return to the big, reassuring franchises and the old classics.
In Denmark and Norway, for example, will be launched MasterChef: Young Talent, a spin-off of the historical format, which will spotlight precocious cooks aged 13 to 18 who will show off heir skills under the watchful eyes of a panel of expert judges (actually, the same concept of Junior Masterchef, but with a different title). The format will premiere in Denmark, produced by Banijay-owned prodco Metronome; and in Norway, produced by Nordisk Banijay.
In Italy, Mediaset has ordered the return of The Mole (La Talpa) for Canale 5, that will be produced by Fascino, 14 years after it last aired in the country. The format, originally launched in Belgium in 1998 and distributed by Primitives, has since been produced in more than 20 countries.
In Spain Telecinco will launch The Farm (La Granja) next September, produced by Atresmedia together with Fremantle, that was originally produced by Strix in 2004 and adapted in more than 30 countries. Furthermore they will adapt the world-famous dating The Bachelorette, which premiered on American ABC in 2003 (thanks to Josetxu Palenzuela for the info).
Being cautious is understandable, but a bit more courage would be appreciated…
3- DISCOVERING SCRIPTED FORMATS
There are not only unscripted formats: also scripted formats have a long history, but much less know than the first. Maria Chiara Duranti (Formatbiz), probably one of the greatest expert of this field, has kindly written these notes for us.
“The roots of the scripted format can be traced back to the very beginnings of television: according to the media historian J. Chalaby, the starting point of this path can be identified in 1950, when the Associated London Scripts, with likely the first independent production company in the world, began selling the rights to the BBC series.
Yet, and this is the strangest thing, despite being an increasingly widespread practice globally for over seventy years, to date no one has ever attempted to give a precise definition and even the literature is almost completely absent.
I actually define the scripted format as a written, a script or a screenplay of a series, a film or any other audio-visual product with a screenplay, already aired somewhere, which can be reproduced elsewhere in all its constitutive characteristics: the story, the characters, the location, the music and so on.
The scripted format is therefore opposed from this point of view to the “ready-made”: while in the latter, if the product is bought as it was produced in the country of origin and only undergoes a linguistic adaptation (generally by dubbing), in the scripted format the product itself is “recreated' and “re-produced” in the new context.
The key-territories are still Israel which is something of a powerhouse when it comes to producing scripted dramas that either travel widely or are remade for international audiences, with hit shows such as Euphoria (pic), Homeland and Your Honor (pic), all based on domestic formats. Japan is another key territory with Mother, Nippon’s most exported scripted format out of Asia, that has travelled to 8 countries so far.
At the last Mipcom, Virginia Mouseler said that the best scripted formats of the year are 3 comedies, and this is quite unusual because humour is not easy to translate from a country to another. The most adapted titles of the year are: No Activity (Australia, Nine) adapted in 6 countries so far, Señores papis (Argentina, Telefe), adapted in 13 countries so far and Match (Norway, NRK) adapted in 10 countries.
In this pandemic period the demand of scripted format has significantly increased, particularly female-led and family-focused dramas. With homebound audiences desperate for fresh drama and escapism, and new, globally expanding platforms opening untapped avenues of distribution, scripted formats were well placed to meet the increased demand for content.