RTÉ TELEVISION
RTÉ TV hosts a Format Farm event and brings together a wealth of local and global talent
This week RTÉ Television hosted an exciting and innovative Format Farm* event which brought together Irish TV production companies and international distributors. With almost 200 people attending; this meeting gave producers an opportunity to make connections with worldwide distributors who could potentially invest in a new pilot show. Not only would this pilot be broadcast on RTÉ One or RTÉ Two, but it would also have the opportunity to be optioned by international broadcasters. The day demonstrated how serious RTÉ is in its commitment to the support of establishing Ireland as a global player in format generation and distribution.
Tonyia Dowling, Assistant Commissioning Editor for RTÉ Two said: “Television is a multimillion euro, global industry and RTÉ wanted to showcase the wealth of creative, innovative and ambitious Irish producers who have the capacity to act locally but think globally with their original format ideas. RTÉ and Format Farm are a gateway for international distributors to make connections with more and more Irish producers who could be sitting on the next global television hit like MasterChef , The Voice or Come Dine with Me.”
This event allowed producers to become more acquainted with distributors and in the coming weeks producers will pitch their format ideas to distributors with the goal of securing a letter of commitment that the distributor will co-finance, with RTÉ, the production of a one off broadcast pilot of the format.
Distributors who co-financed some of the pilots from 2012 were very pleased with the first round of Format Farm.
Eric Kafoe, Director of Acquisitions, Sony Pictures Television said: “The premise of handing a company’s reigns over to the workers offers some brilliant personal stories, countless scenarios and is highly adaptable in any territory so we can’t wait to take it to market. The Takeover’s initial broadcast on RTÉ has generated an impressive momentum that we are now set to continue internationally.”
Vasha Wallace, SVP Global Acquisitions and Development, FremantleMedia, said:
“We’re really pleased to be working with Ireland’s top public broadcaster RTÉ on the Format Farm initiative, which will bring top Irish formats to the world. We see huge potential with Six In The City, it’s a fun, fresh idea that we think audiences worldwide will really respond to.”
Andrew Zein (SVP Creative, Format Development and Sales, WBITVP) said:
“The RTÉ Format Farm is a brilliant initiative for bringing the best original Irish TV entertainment formats, that have the potential to work across the world, to screen. We have enjoyed working in partnership with the many talented Irish producers and RTÉ and look forward to taking these brand new formats to market.”
The deadline for this round of Format Farm is 12 noon on Friday 8th February. The final decision on which ideas will be commissioned for broadcast on RTÉ television rests with the RTÉ commissioning editors of Entertainment, Lifestyle and RTÉ Two.
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FOR INTERVIEW REQUESTS OR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Sinead Harrington, RTÉ TV Communications Officer, 01-208 2787, 087-666 9311, sinead.harrington@rte.ie
Available for interview:
Tonyia Dowling – Assistant Commissioning Editor for RTÉ Two
Andrew Zein- SVP creative, Format Development and Sales, WarnerBITVP
Philip Kampff – Vision Independent Production
Format Farm:
*Format Farm is an innovative series of exciting new Irish generated TV entertainment programme formats. The first round of new pilots were broadcast last year and included – The TakeOver, The Hit, The Love Clinic, Baptism of Hire and Six in the City. Partnering up with the biggest TV distributors in the world, RTÉ commissioned this run of pilot programmes to entertain audiences at home, and also to be exported around the world, bringing jobs and revenue back to Ireland.