Successful tv formats, part 7

Flu struck the family, so no update for some days. Well, better late than never, eh?

7. Find a niche, if possible

There are about 3 gazillions of game shows on air throughout the world as we speak. Some have been around for aeons, some have just started, most are somewhere in between. We have all these experts on gameshows and quiz shows, Endemol being one of the foremost, that have enormous development teams involved in coming up with new ideas. And they do!

At any given gathering for the television industry, a buyer will be pitched a multitude of game and quiz show ideas. "Think Deal or No Deal meets Fear Factor!" or perhaps "Well, it's Millionaire meets Wife Swap" or whatever. Very, VERY few of these will be original and exciting.

The same goes for reality tv programs, makeover shows etc. These genres have been exploited for years and are extremely hard to be original in.

My suggestion then, is to go for originality. Find a niche where there is a bit more space. It could be educational or edutainment formats - like this one - or it could be cross media shows. It could be something with interactivity or perhaps a really really novel take on current affairs?

Whatever niche you choose to focus on, you will find fewer people to pitch to. On the upside, however, the queues leading up to these persons will be significantly shorter, and their attention will be all the greater.

And I probably shouldn't have to say this, but do a thorough market research of the niche you choose. What's out there, who's producing it, what kind of ratings do they have and whom should you pitch to?

Best of luck :)

The secret behind successful tv formats, no 8

Had a lot to do yesterday, adn the missus flew off to Vilnius, so apologies for not updating. Here, no 8 on the list of the things that IMHO are important when devising a new tv format.

8. Keep up with trends and anticipate them

The recent economic crisis in the US and worldwide wasn't that hard to predict. Everything that goes up must come down, at some point, which is just what is happening now.

The same goes for the television industry. Where we, some years ago, had the upswing of reality shows like BB etc, now we have for a couple of years seen the rise of feel-good formats, many with more of a family value to them.

Furthermore, looking at the technical evolution, we had the hype around interactive television some years back, which quickly changed to a hype around UCG (User Generated Content) which next year was the enormous hype around mobile television... none of which has really really taken off as of yet, at least not to the degrees that was predicted at the outset.

What can we learn from this? Well, a good place to start is to look at what formats channels are broadcasting and buying at the moment. Think one, or several, steps ahead from the current situation - what could be the next trend coming around the corner? Right now all sorts of feel-good shows are doing the rounds. Perhaps it's more green television shows? Some have already been made, but there's room for more, if they're done well enough. Or perhaps more elaborate cross media formats, integrating the Internet, television and mobile in new and exciting ways?

I have my ideas, but since you're not paying my wages, I won't reveal them here :) But the conclusions are there to be drawn - go to c21:s pages to look for the latest news from the television industry, to informitv to read up on the interactive and cross media field, and why not the different ratings institutes (like Nielsen) around the world to look at what's selling right now.

With regards to technical solutions, don't jump on bandwagons. It'll only end with a crash, most likely. As Bill Gates said in 1995 (I think) - "We ALWAYS overestimate the technical progress for the coming two years, but we always UNDERESTIMATE the progress for the coming FIVE years".

Once again, think ahead. Don't do what everyone else is doing - in 2001 it was thousands of rip-offs of BB, Survivor etc. In 2008, rip-offs of Strictly come dancing or Farmer wants a wife, or why not game shows like Deal or No Deal. You can find hundreds of them, just go to MIPCOM this year and you'll see.

If you need any further hints and tips, gimme a call :)

Tomorrow, number 7!

10 secrets behind successful tv formats - no 9

Continuing the series...

9. Steal a little, but not too much

Some call it inspiration. Some call it "being influenced by..". I call it necessary.

Well, unless you have been living under a rock for the best part of your life, you have probably seen some television programs at some point. And since what has once been seen cannot be unseen, what you've seen will probably influence you in one way or another.

But be sure to do it in the right way! Watch lots of shows a bit or a lot like the idea you are working on. See which solutions work, and which don't. Make note of the things you would change, do better, see more of or less of. Go back to these shows when you get stuck in your own project.

And, when looking at other shows, make sure you're looking at the right things. For example, you should not get stuck on the fact that "Millionaire" has a blue lighting rigged - that's not important. But perhaps you would instead note how they've avoided any close-ups of the people in the audience - or rather, their faces? Probably just to avoid getting someone yawning in the background, and focus on the competing person, but pretty neatly done nevertheless.

Bottom line - don't steal. Inspiration and fresh ideas, that's a whole different ballpark.

10 secrets behind successful tv formats - no 10

This is a list I've been thinking of writing for a while now. It's a list of the ten things I believe are the most important when it comes to developing and selling a tv format. This list will probably be updated in the future, but this is how it stands right now. In no particular order - the countdown begins here:

10. Know your own strengths and get people in to compensate for weaknesses.

No one can do it all by themselves. Well, Rambo can, but that's him. And you're NOT Rambo (probably).

Some people are creative brains. Some are good salesmen. Others can work magic with numbers and economic figures. Ideally, you'd need a team consisting of all these types of persons - the creative minds coming up with the ideas, the salesperson getting sponsors in and selling the formats to productions companies and tv channels, and the economy guy keeping everything in check.

If you're starting out, however, chances are this is not very possible. But you still have a GREAT idea for a tv show! Well - get someone else in as well. Just make sure that this person is not too alike you. What you need is different perspectives on things, someone to question your ideas and come up with new viewpoints, and vice versa. There will be a great many people that will have to like your idea before it's on air somewhere, and very few of them are likely to be carbon copies of you.

...tomorrow, number 9 on the list!

John Lennon, a tape recorder and a great artist

This has got to be one of the best videos I've seen in a long while. The story goes that in 1969 a young man named Jerry snuck into John Lennons hotel room for a chat. This was recorded on a reel-to-reel tape recorder, and has now been released, together with some amazing pencil art by James Braithwaite. Watch it, for once it's 5 minutes of your life that are WELL spent on YouTube.

TV formats - why buy them, when you can just steal them??

Phew. The row that has been going on for a couple of weeks now is just getting messier and messier - and I must admit I'm a bit disappointed, though not overly surprised. C21 has the story, but to make it brief, this is what happened:

A memo from ABC leaked. The memo, from the exec VP of ABC Studios, encourages everyone not to license formats from abroad. Instead, they should be brought to ABC.s creative studios to be "evaluated", to see if the "underlying premises" can be used without licensing the format itself.

Phew once again, I say. As a format creator, this is what I fear the most. We have some pretty original and nice ideas going at the moment, but WHY ON EARTH would I pitch them to someone who is instructed by his or her boss to steal the "underlying premises"?? Sheesh... I mean, a year ago we were debating whether we should pitch one of our ideas to Endemol or not - seeing as Endemol has a reputation for nicking ideas - when we had a scheduled meeting with them. In the end, we did pitch it, but only because it was pretty funky and relied a lot on technical stuff.

ABC, don't expect much sympathy from the format owners. Last I heard FRAPA were going to have some serious talks with you guys.

Dear me

Back at work.

Phew.

Papers to write, pilots to plan, trips to book, people to meet, seminars and speeches to hold... and that's just the beginning.

Here's to holidays! :) Now on with the workload!

Back! Watchmen, summer, interactivity and all that

Hi! Back from a LONG vacation - which actually is not over yet, as I still have 1 week to go. Then I'm all out of vacation, and back in business.

First on the agenda - finish a paper for the DREAM conference in Odense, Denmark in mid-September. If you have the chance to attend, please do - looks like it's going to be pretty interesting stuff.

Also: WATCHMEN, the classic Alan Moore-comic from the 80s, one of the first comics that really could be considered graphic novels rather than comics, is coming out soon - well, March 2009 supposedly - with Zac Snyder of "300" fame directing. I really cannot wait. Even if Alan Moore himself has said that he's "never going to watch that fucking thing".

Summers been nice. Lots of fishing and swimming and traveling and time with the family. Great all in all. And Iron Maiden live in Helsinki - that was pretty neat, even if it was as unpredictable as the weather in Sahara.

Now off, kids to bed. Later.

wooh, halfway to 70!

There it is, and 35 I am. not long to go to the grave anymore!

Good party tonight (writing this a little bit intoxicated) with nice people and nice atmosphere. I really do like you all. :)

now, more vacation. Turku archipelago calling!

Back... for a second

Back in Finland, and a big THANK YOU to all of you people arranging and participating in EuroITV 2008. All in all, it was great.

Now some sleep, then a train to Åbo. Until later.

EuroITV 2008 day 2

Day two of the conference is coming to an end. The best paper was just awarded, called 'Usages of the secondary screen in an interactive environment', i.e. how can one use mobile phones together with interactive television. Pretty interesting stuff, read up on it if you have the chance.

Many of the presentations today have however just given me a big 'why?'-feeling - some of the things people are doing and researching into simply seem really not worthwhile. A coffeetable with which you can change tv channels? Why? A new interface to change channels on tv and adjust the volume? Why? A 3D world - fairly low on graphics - as an interface to YouTube? For the love of God, why? Is anyone ordering these things? Is anyone buying them? Does anyone need them? Does anyone want them? I don't know. Perhaps I'm just being too harsh.

EuroITV will be held in Belgium next year, in Loeven. Year after that, Tampere.

Note to self: when your newfound friend pulls out a full bottle of vodka at 2 o'clock in the morning, I do not HAVE to drink all of it. I can, but it's not worth it.

euroitv 2008 day 1

This is what it looks like, EuroiTV 2008. The aula is actually the venue where Mozart performed his first opera. They're REALLY big on Mozart here ;)

It's been a pretty interesting day so far. Some obvious stuff, some old stuff, but also some good stuff.

For me, one interesting session was the one on mobile tv. Research shows that we should NOT promise or advertise mobile tv as 'tv in your pocket', as this gives the wrong reference to people - they compare it to normal television, and for many reasons, technical and user experience ones, mobile tv falls short. We need to give users other reference points.

Nokia had done a test with 24 people in Dublin over the weekend - Nokia people - sending live videos to friends and family, and also to youtube. A good idea, but as only 11 of the 24 managed to send videos, and these people were from the company mind you, it goes to show that the usability and technical issues are still very much something that needs to be worked on.

From Japan there was some results showing that people use mobile tv without sound, with subtitles and no headphones. Short entertainment was the most popular genre.

Right now we're listening to 'social television'. Some nuggets here as well, though not many so far.

Salzburg is 30 degrees right now, next to no wind, all in all pretty stifling. Here's hoping for a thunderstorm a bit later!

Off to Austria (again)

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Salzburg, Austria, to present a poster/paper on our work with THE SPACE TRAINEES at the EuroITV 2008 conference. It should be an interesting event, and I'll do my best to update this blog during the conference with comments and reflections on what has been said, shown and discussed. Now off to pack some bags!

Correct predictions - Nostradamus watch out!

Now, I don't want to boast... well, actually, I do want to boast :)

Check out the blog entry on the 10th of June, below, regarding the European Championships in football in Switzerland and Austria.

Spain to win - CHECK!
Torres to score in the final - CHECK!

To bad I didn't put my money where my mouth was... Next time!

Off to the European Championships!

That's it for me for a week or so, I'll be heading for Austria and Innsbruck on Sunday, to watch a couple of games. Poland-Croatia in Klagenfurt on Monday should be interesting, even though Croatia are through thanks to the Austrian penalty last night. Poland, on the other hand, have everything to fight for.

On Wednesday we've got Russia-Sweden, and depending on how matches go this Saturday could be a make or break game for both teams. Swell.

We'll be staying in Möser close to Innsbruck, so I'll get to go running in the Alps for a bit. Only thing is the weather predictions - rain all week!

I'm off, bye!

8 hours of media consumption per day

I know I'm in the television and cross media business, and I should be thrilled that people are availing themselves of an increasing amount of media. I should, but in truth, I'm not.

A recent survey foretells that US citizens will consume an average of 8 hours of media per day by 2013. Of that, close to 50% will be traditional television, the rest web programming, games, DVD:s, mobile content etc.

The reason I'm not thrilled? I honestly believe that this is not the way to go. My firm belief is that we would need a healthy balance between entertainment and so-called Real Life. EIGHT HOURS per day spent consuming media means EIGHT HOURS less to live your own life, to meet people, to really DO SOMETHING, to create something MEANINGFUL... To be a human, not a consumer.

I realize I'm probably a hopeless romantic when it comes to this, but I would be quite happy to see what would happen would we turn off all television and Internet media, close all DVD-rentals etc for a week or two, and let people try to find out what they would do instead. I believe that media has its firm place in the world of man, but it shouldn't be the single most important thing by far.

Seeing as man in 99 cases out of 100 takes the easy way out - i.e. turns on the telly and wastes away - something else must happen. I hope it does.

3G iPhone , Geni, tv pilots and more...

... how to keep up? :)

Firstly, great news from Apple. The new and improved 3G iPhone is on its way, in an 8 Gb and an 16 Gb version. Moreover, we'll be looking at funky packages on offer by the operators - O2 in the UK, for instance, has some fairly attractive offers lined up. Goddamit, why did I go and buy a Nokia N95? Well, have to make do I guess.

Stumbled upon the nice little family tree / genealogy website called Geni, a handy tool for anyone who wants to get their family tree up and running. Fairly intuitive, easily managed, the possibility to go into great detail if necessary - it's all there. I like the "never shared, never spammed" motto they have on their opening page - on the other hand I am still a bit careful not to submit other peoples e-mail addresses, not even relatives. Facebook is sucky enough today, I don't need something else spamming everyone I care about.

I did promise to keep you up to date regarding the tv pilot we shot last week. It's now being edited and it's going to be really great! It's a football quiz show called Game On, and I'll give you all a link to a trailer for the format as soon as it's edited. Good feeling though, I believe that format can go places.

On another note, still slightly similar, I'll be heading off to Austria for the European Championships in football next Sunday. I'll watch Poland-Croatia and Russia-Sweden, so hopefully some great goals and a magical atmosphere, pretty please. Spain to win the tournament! Yes! Torres the scorer in the final. Double Yes!

I'm off to bed now. Last links though - if you want to understand what's going on in the world of economics, why the world is in a pretty shitty state at the moment in the economical sense and why it all is the fault of president Bush, look no further than the Calculated Risk blog or the insightful discussion on the Market Ticker Forum. You see, the world is changing, and not for the better, not with regards to economics. I will not mind the day when everything has to change because there is no more oil, but I believe some other people will mind. Just beware, and prepare, ok?

Until later.

Shooting pilots is fun

Today we'll be shooting a pilot for our football quiz show GAME ON. It's a really neat format, which gained a lot of attention at MIPTV this spring. Two teams compete, using a board game and their knowledge to score as many goals as possible. The scoring is live, they get to shoot penalties at a goalkeeper from the other team. All in all, should be an exciting day. Will keep you posted!

And the awards go to...

The Internet is a wonderful thing, especially if you find some people who really really use it to it's full potential. Have a look at the Webby Awards for a look at the best of the best at the moment. Kudos to Swedish ad agency Farfar - they look like a seriously creative and innovative bunch. If you at Farfar need someone to strengthen your team, let me know :)

My personal favourite? Well, I haven't yet looked through them all, but Cokes Happiness Factory is pretty neat.

Work environment

I've always heard it was important to have a good work environment. One where you could relax, feel comfortable and let the creative energy flow. I myself have a large window overlooking the sea, which is nice (but slightly annoying at times when I would rather go for a swim than work).

However, my workplace pales in comparison with Googles Zurich office. Mee too want a pool table and a firemans pole! Goddamit!

On the other hand - it could be worse.

Will now go and pressure bosses, perhaps I could get a pole like that installed. Somewhere. Ouch.