The Second Coming of Formats

Until recently, any discussion about the market for formats – the blueprints for how to make a show rather than the completed program itself – referred specifically to the market for game shows. Spinning the wheel and giving the final answer are concepts that most easily lend themselves to local adaptation, or so international broadcasters appeared to believe. But while the likes of Wheel of Fortune and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire have dominated the scene for many years, they are no longer the only programs proving effective as formats.

Trish Kinane, joint managing director for London-based producer/distributor Action Time, says her company originally focused on traditional entertainment programs – quiz and game shows. “Then it became apparent that there is a whole area of lifestyle, cookery, gardening and decorating shows that are also format-able,” she explains. (Surprise Chef, The Mole and The Caterers are a few of Action Time’s formats.) Peter Van den bussche, director of sales for Endemol Entertainment UK/Gem (the London-based distribution arm of Dutch prodco Endemol), agrees. “All of a sudden there are broadcasters saying this is a great idea.”

Encouraged by massive reality/voyeur hits such as 1900 House, Big Brother and Survivor, broadcasters are waking up to the opportunities offered by a broader spectrum of factual formats. For example, Curt Sharp, NBC’s VP of primetime, alternative programs and specials says, “The doors are really open at NBC for factual-based programming, both as continuing series and shows that have the possibility of making good specials for us as well.”

Certainly the financial advantages of factual programs have not been overlooked. “Compared with the costs of ER or Friends,” says producer Alex Graham of London-based Wall to Wall Productions, “even a well-budgeted factual show for the networks is a lot less. There’s an economic logic driving this.”

The other important facet of formats for broadcasters is the opportunity to pump up local content. Notes Van den bussche, “Five years ago, most European broadcasters realized that to be successful they needed local programming, but when you start from scratch, developing local programming can be quite expensive. So, often the route they opted for, particularly the commercial broadcasters, was buying into formats.”

From an independent producer’s standpoint, the sale of formats can be an additional bargaining chip when pitching. Says Rob Weller, executive producer of California’s Weller/Grossman Productions, “Last year we were thinking ‘what’s the internet component that goes with my little show?’ Now if I pitch a show idea, I need to include the format possibilities that go with it. It’s becoming an important adjunct to any pitch. . . [Formats] are a huge cash cow, that’s why everybody wants them.”

Creation or evolution?

In some regards, every genre is fair game for formatting now that the barriers between entertainment and non-fiction are coming down. In Weller’s opinion, “Anything that starts with an original concept has the potential to be a format.” However until a show exists, the idea of marketing the tool-kit of how to create a localized version of it can be difficult to envision.

With 1900 House, an historical reality series about a modern-day family living a turn-of-the-century lifestyle, producer Graham admits he didn’t see it as a format. “It was very rooted in London, very rooted in British history. As we were making it, I didn’t think, ‘what a great new format’. My main focus was to make it work as a domestic show. But I think that’s probably the key to successful formats.” Represented by London-based distributor ITEL, the 1900 House format has been optioned in several territories, including Australia, Holland and Germany.

Van den bussche was similarly caught off guard, in his case with London-based Bazal’s cooking show Ready, Steady, Cook. “We never thought that it was a format,” he recalls. “It was only after a Swedish broadcaster came to us and said, ‘We’re very interested and we think we’d like to buy the format,’ that we thought, ‘Hey, hold on, I think we’ve got a format here.’” Four years later, the format has sold in 16 territories, including the u.s. where it airs on The Food Network as Ready, Set, Cook. “Since then,” Van den bussche continues, “we have set out – or we try to work in – more of a formatted formula sort of way. [This is] so we know that if we add certain elements to it, there is a chance it will become a format we will be able to exploit. But the reality is that more often than not one discovers it only when it’s actually been made or you’re well into it. You can’t really set out saying ‘I am going to create a format.’ It’s like saying I am going to create a masterpiece. You never know.”

Look to the bible…

Whether a program goes on to sell as a format often depends on its track record. Buyers are quick to notice a ratings winner and are anxious to find out how to create one for themselves. Sara Singer Schiff, senior sales executive for London-based distributor Target, says she

generally provides a potential buyer with a tape of the program as part of the pitching process. When selling a format, “the focus is slightly different,” she notes. “You’re not emphasizing who is involved as much as [the show’s] approach, its position in the marketplace and its concept.” Target distributes Popstars (produced by Sydney-based Screentime) as a format, among other reality programs. If the sale goes through, what the buyer gets depends on how difficult the show is to produce and how much money changes hands. The crucial document is the show’s bible – notes detailing what to do, and often what not to do. “We have a bible for each format, which is an incredibly comprehensive guide,” Kinane says. “It explains how [the show] was done in the original territory, perhaps how other territories have done it, problems they had and how to avoid them, and any variations on the format that we tried out before we went to tape.” She adds that the bible can also include inside information on set designs, music, computer software and graphics.