ITV

Tag: Michel Rodrigue

  • Bomanbridge renews ‘Chef In Your Ear’ rights with Korea’s CJ E&M

    Bomanbridge renews ‘Chef In Your Ear’ rights with Korea’s CJ E&M

    MUMBAI: Singapore-based production & distribution agency, Bomanbridge Media has renewed the rights to UK & Canada format Chef in Your Ear for 2016 to Korean powerhouse CJ E&M.

     

    CJ E&M is currently airing the first season, locally-titled Avatar Chef in Korea.

     

    The format was created by Justin Scroggie and developed by Ricardo Larrivée, Michel Rodrigue, Lee Herberman and Henry Less. In Canada, the original English version is produced by HLP + Partners and the French version is produced by 350 Productions, setting record audiences on The Food Network.

     

    Chef In Your Ear is a new cooking competition format in which two professional chefs aim to deliver a restaurant quality dish – by remote control. All the cooking is done by two novice cooks, many of whom claim to be kitchen disasters, each wearing an ear-piece. They take instruction from a celebrity chef whom they have been paired with, and who is locked away in a booth, unable to smell or taste the food.

     

    “Bomanbridge is thrilled to represent the exciting and entertaining format, Chef In Your Ear, for Asia and are so pleased to renew our format sale to our trusted partners, CJ E&M, for a second season. We are known in Asia for licensing great formats which give channels high performance ratings. CJ E&M will enjoy great viewership with this show,” said Bomanbridge Media South Korea director of distribution and business development Gyeong Min Moon.  

     

    CJ E&M international sales & acquisition head Jang-Ho-Seo added, “CJ E&M is delighted to renew Chef In Your Ear for a second season. The show is proving very popular to our audiences in the early stages of season one. CJ E&M has been building its reputation for producing and creating the best Formats in the world and CIYE is a great addition to our portfolio.” 

     

    “The Format People are pleased that Bomanbridge Media, one of Asia’s top distributors, has taken Chef In Your Ear into Asia, first to Mongolia and now expanding in Korea with CJ E &M. The format has proven highly successful on Food Network Canada, Justin & I are confident that the Asian versions will be just as successful,” said The Format People CEO Michel Rodrigue.

  • Warner Bros acquires worldwide TV rights of ‘Chef In Your Ear’

    Warner Bros acquires worldwide TV rights of ‘Chef In Your Ear’

    MUMBAI: Warner Bros has secured the worldwide TV rights (excluding Asia) for the newly launched studio entertainment game show, Chef In Your Ear created by UK based company, The Format People for Food Network Canada. 

    The format will receive its global launch at MIPCOM in October.

    The 26-part primetime series is the Food Networks’ number one rated show on Monday nights in 2015, increasing the year-ago slot average by 172 per cent (A18-49) and winning 271,000 viewers so far. 

    Food Network is famed for long-running programming that includes Top Chef Canada that in its previous Monday night time-period ranked as a top series on the network and reached 242,000 total viewers.

    Chef In Your Ear premiered 31 August, 2015 and has become the number three show across 59 basic cable networks in Canada amongst Adults 18-49 in its time period. 

    Food Network’s debut coincided with a second production of Chef In Your Ear for French speaking Canada on Ici Radio-Canada Télé. Locally titled Un Chef ? L’Oreille, the 14-part series is produced by 350 productions and the premiere ranked  number one  at 8 pm amongst all key demos in the territory.   

    Chef In Your Ear sees two professional chefs aim to deliver a restaurant quality dish by remote control. All the cooking is done by two novice cooks, many of whom claim to be kitchen disasters, each wearing an ear-piece. They take instruction from a celebrity chef whom they have been paired with, and who is locked away in a booth, unable to smell or taste the food.

    Warner Bros. International Television Production senior vice president format development and sales creative Andrew Zein said, “Chef In Your Ear brings the familiarity of the studio kitchen, super sized and transformed with a fun-packed and completely original twist by splitting the professional chef out of the kitchen to direct our amateurs. It’s a totally new TV experience that is exciting, emotional at times and rewarding for both the viewer and contestant. We’re delighted to have acquired the format and will be launching it with our global partners at MIPCOM.”

    “We are thrilled that Warner Bros. will distribute Chef In Your Ear. They have a stellar reputation with broadcasters everywhere and we are confident that they will enjoy great success with this highly scalable format,” added The Format People CEO Michel Rodrigue.

  • Star China Media appoints Iris Xia as deputy GM

    Star China Media appoints Iris Xia as deputy GM

    MUMBAI: Star China Media has appointed Iris Xia as deputy general manager of the organisation.

     

    Xia has replaced Vivian Yin, who left the company in June this year. 

     

    “I am very pleased to announce that Iris Xia will take over as the GM of Star’s global division. Xia has been a long-time, dedicated production and programming team member. Our company has enjoyed being at the top of the ratings with The Voice of China and several other international Formats. Last year we ventured outside China with our own original Format and I am confident Iris will bring Star to the next level both within, and outside of, China,” said Star China Media CEO Tian Ming.

     

    “It is with great excitement that I accept this new position at Star China. I am honored that our CEO, Ming, has placed his trust in me to handle this very important role and I look forward to delivering his vision to the world. We have a great team of creative producers and dedicated staff at Star, along with fantastic programming to promote. I look forward to expanding on the already-established successes we have earned,” added Xia. 

     

    Additionally, The Format People, under the direction of CEO Michel Rodrigue, has renewed its retainer contract to continue consulting and negotiating on all aspects of the international television business.  Rodrigue will work closely with Xia in carrying out the global program initiatives.

     

    Xia has been with Star TV Group and Star China Media for over 11 years, in charge of media content global sourcing, programming, channel operations and original program development, including five years producing TV entertainment programs and live music concerts. 

     

    Prior to Star China, Xia worked as a producer and director for Shanghai Media Group.

  • Distraction promotes Richardson to acquisition manager

    Distraction promotes Richardson to acquisition manager

    MUMBAI: Distraction Formats acquisitions and sales coordinator Nina Richardson has been promoted to acquisitions manager. This was announced by Distraction CEO and president Michel Rodrigue.

    Richardson joined the Distraction team in 2004 from the VTR Group, a Soho based post production house.

    In addition to continued work with Distraction’s sales team to source and sign new properties, Richardson will now be spearheading the growth of the format broker’s acquisitions department and developing structures in line with its expanding sales department.

    She will also be in charge of sourcing new formats to complement Distraction’s current catalogue, which includes scripted comedies, prime-time entertainment formats and ready-to-air footage.

    Rodrigue said, “Over the past two years, Nina has been implicated in all aspects of Distraction’s business and has acquired a thorough knowledge of the industry. Her skills and flair will definitely contribute to the continued growth and development of the company.”

  • Distraction’s spoof ‘Sins Of Love’ sold to FremantleMedia France

    Distraction’s spoof ‘Sins Of Love’ sold to FremantleMedia France

    MUMBAI: Distraction has announced the sale of the spoof Sins of Love to Fremantle in France. The latter is currently negotiating with a number of French networks. With pre-production already under way, Distraction hopes the show will start airing as early as next fall.

    FremantleMedia France president Bibiane Godefroy said, “The unusual humour of this format struck me from the moment I saw it first at Mipcom. Set in a vibrant city, Sins of Love sends up the ‘soaps’ with a completely whacky universe of love triangles, family dramas and conspiracies that pay gloriously uproarious tribute to the genre’s every cliché. I think this new genre of scripted format will be attractive to French broadcasters.”

    “We are very excited to be working with Fremantle on this project. Not only are we assured of the quality of their adaptation, but we are also confident that it will become a cult series,” said Distraction president and CEO Michel Rodrigue.

    As the development of interactive content from such formats is already proving an asset on properties such as Love Bugs, Distraction has already begun work on a strategy for Sins of Love with Interactive Rights Management (IRM). The services will range from fixed line telephony brand extensions to MMS comic strips and mobile video downloads for the show, states an official release.

  • Distraction relaunches Gameshow Zone

    Distraction relaunches Gameshow Zone

    MUMBAI: International format distributor Distraction adds two hot new properties to its classic gameshow catalogue, now re-launched as The Gameshow Zone.

    “These shows have an enduring appeal that hits the classic gameshow revival trend head on,” commented Distraction CEO Michel Rodrigue. “They are stellar examples of the qualities that have made formats so successful. Extremely strong audience retention, clear structures, proven track records, strong production histories… they have all the makings of sure-fire, long-term winners.”

    Teasers: From U.S. producer Merrill Heatter, Emmy award winning creator of the legendary Hollywood Squares, comes a format classic that combines the performers, questions, gags and bluffs of Hollywood Squares with the challenging, play-along style of Wheel of Fortune.

    Teasers is a fast-paced, fun-filled format with high production values and ‘can’t miss’ game play. Six celebrities – sitting in two rows of three boxes – answer the questions. Two contestants decide if the panellist has given the correct answer. A correct guess earns a contestant a piece of a six-part word puzzle, superimposed on his or her ‘box’, and the contestant has a chance to solve the puzzle.

    This entertaining word game is perfect for either a weekly or stripped slot, and with the proven power of funny celebrities plus the involvement of the word game, Teasers is sure to be at least as successful and unpredictable as its predecessor.

    Black Cat: A game of trade and cunning, Black Cat is the Magnolia adaptation of a popular Italian card game. Three contestants race to the last card over four rounds of the game before coming to the gold pyramid and the final jackpot prize. The rules of play are simple, but contestants must overcome obstacles in each round as they compete to keep the winning cards and stay in the game. One alone will move on to the final round, where eight prizes await. Only four are worth cash, however, and whether or not the contestant wins them depends on what’s in the cards.

    In the end, the only sure winner with Black Cat is the broadcaster. This one-hour format is now airing on Italia Uno and showing a strong performance against rival Deal or No Deal in the access prime time slot. Even successful series such as The O.C. and Smallville are falling short of the audience appeal of Black Cat, which has improved Italia Uno’s ratings in Italian television’s most challenging timeslot.

    Distraction’s Gameshow Zone groups these new offerings with successful formats such as In the Dark, which airs in Thailand, Indonesia and Russia, among other countries.