All3, Fremantle score at Format Awards

MIPFORMATS: All3Media and FremantleMedia were the big winners at the 2017 International Format Awards here in Cannes this evening, taking home two prizes each.

All3Media International is distributor of Channel 4’s Immigrants Guide, produced by Rumpus Media, which won the Best Comedy Format prize at the annual gala dinner.

Stupid Man, Smart Phone, made by All3-owned Objective Media for BBC3 took the Best Multi-Platform Format award.

FremantleMedia, meanwhile, is distributor of RTL5 social experiment Get The F*ck Out Of My House, which won the Best Competition Reality Format. It also distributes and, through FremantleMedia North America, produces Match Game for ABC in the US, which won Alec Baldwin the prize for Best Host of a Television Format.

A+E’s 60 Days In and BBC1’s drama The A Word won in two of the other big categories.

60 Days In was named Best Reality Format after a terrific breakthrough year on US cablenet A&E. The Lucky 8 TV-produced social experiment sees particpants volunteer to give up their liberty and spend two months in a US jail.

The A Word, based on Israeli drama Yellow Peppers, took home the Best Scripted Format prize. Produced by Fifty Fathoms and Keshet UK for BBC1, the series tells the story of a family bringing up an autistic child. The format is distributed globally by Keshet International and has been sold into more than 50 territories.

The Best Studio-Based Gameshow went to NRK’s Doctors vs Internet, where experienced medics are pitted against members of the public armed with laptops to try and diagnose patient conditions.

Paul Gilbert, CBS Studios International’s senior VP of international formats, received the Formats Gold Award presented by C21 Media/EMC and Frapa, in association with MipFormats. The Gold Award is given annually to executives who have made an outstanding contribution to the formats business.

The awards were presented by Brooke Hogan, host of the new Fashion Hero format which is launching at MipTV in Cannes this week.

The evening was sponsored by All3Media, American Supergroup, Fashion Hero, ITV Inter Medya, Star China’s Sing My Song and WDR Media Group.

The full list of winners is as follows…

Best Brand-Driven Format

Special Delivery
Produced by: Warner Bros. International Television Production Finland
For: MTV3
Distributed by: Warner Bros. International Television Production
Special Delivery is a fun and emotional primetime entertainment show. The visibility of the brand (The Finnish Post) is so unintrusive that most viewers would say they weren’t watching a brand-driven format. The most prevalent feeling they have after watching the show, however? To use the brand’s service and send a letter to a loved one.

Best Studio-Based Gameshow Format

Doctors Vs Internet
Produced by: NRK Productions
For: NRK1
Distributed by: Magnify Media
What’s the first thing you do when you get sick? Search for the symptoms online? But how accurate is this? This format tackles this question head-on by pitting experienced doctors against members of the pubic, armed with their laptops, who must diagnose real-life cases. Already re-made in Holland for NPO1 with a second series commissioned.

Best Scripted Format

The A Word
Produced by: Fifty Fathoms and Keshet UK
For: BBC One
Distributed by: Keshet International
A critically acclaimed drama series and winner of five Israeli Academy Awards, it focuses on a family’s painful, and often humorous, journey as their five-year-old son is diagnosed with autism. The BBC One adaptation received high ratings and critical praise. In addition to distribution deals with SundanceTV and Amazon Prime Video, the series has been sold to more than 50 territories.

Best Multi-Platform Format

Stupid Man, Smart Phone
Produced by: A Second Star (part of Objective Media Group, an All3Media company) and
Kalel coproduction
For: BBC Three
Distributed by: BBC Worldwide
Each week, comedian Russell Kane, joined by an online superstar, is dropped in the wild with only a cellphone to survive. Via pioneering on-screen graphics, our idiotic adventurers harness their millions of fans on social media, and apps. That’s not much help when starving and being chased by border guards with ferocious dogs! This is Bear Grylls without the skills.

Best Comedy Format

Immigrants Guide
Produced by: Rumpus Media
For: Channel 4
Distributed by: All3Media International
In An Immigrant’s Guide to… a well-known foreign-born comedian leads a cast of fellow comedians and members of the public as they investigate a culture they know little or nothing about, often with hilarious results. A prevalent format that sheds light on the topic of immigration.

Best Competition Reality Format

Get The F*ck Out Of My House
Produced by: BlueCircle
For: Special Delivery
Distributed by: FremantleMedia
This explosive reality format proves that “Hell is other people.” Peaking into the world of the human zoo, 100 strangers squeeze into an average-sized house in a bid to become the last man standing. But with dirty tricks and zero privacy – and tensions explored by host Nicolette Kluijver – how long can these contestants tolerate the madness?

Best Reality Format

60 Days In
Produced by: Lucky 8 TV
For: A&E
Distributed by: A+E Networks
A ground-breaking experiment where a group of innocent people surrender their freedom, volunteer to be locked up as convicted criminals and willingly enter the dangerous world of incarceration. Around-the-clock cameras capture this unparalleled access to the jail as they document the extraordinary personal journeys of the participants and bring problems within the system to light.

Best Host of a Television Format

Alec Baldwin – Match Game
Produced by: FremantleMedia North America
For: ABC (US)
Distributed by: FremantleMedia
With its 12in mic, a star-studded panel of Hollywood’s finest and an off-piste host in the charming Alec Baldwin, Match Game might be the simplest gameshow on Television, but it continues to captivate audiences as it has done for more than 40 years. The 2016 revival delivered ABC’s largest summer audience in the timeslot in nearly 10 years.

Best Factual Entertainment Format

This Time Next Year
Produced by: Twofour
For: ITV
Distributed by:Twofour Rights
This Time Next Year sees ordinary people walk through the ‘This Time’ door and pledge to transform their lives. The show became the fastest selling new format of 2016, being made in 14 countries including The US, Australia and several European territories. A successful broadcast on ITV in the UK saw an average of 3.7 million viewers tune in.