Lindsay Schwartz, chief creative officer at Leopard USA, and James Burstall, CEO of Leopard’s parent Argonon, discuss the reboot of classic format Cash in the Attic for Discovery-owned US cablenet HGTV.
The new Cash in the Attic aims to be less about antiques and look more at pop culture items
Cash In the Attic originally aired for 18 seasons on BBC1 in the UK between 2002 and 2012 and was later adapted by HGTV in the US, which is now reviving it with a six-episode order. Give us the background to the deal and the show.
Lindsay Schwartz: The format is tried and true, a name that everybody knows and loves, and that brand recognition is important for audiences at the moment so we wanted to build upon that and bring together the old audience as well as a new, younger, more diverse audience. The most important way we’ve freshened the format up is by focusing on more pop-culture-based items, so we can really bring in the 80s and 90s kids as viewers and make it relatable to them – less stuffy antiques and more items you and I might have in our homes. We wanted to add bigger monetary angles which raised the stakes, created more emotion and bigger dreams.
Lindsay Schwartz
We also wanted to focus on upcycling the items, finding new homes for them where somebody could appreciate what is potentially another man’s trash. And then diversity was huge in casting the host, the appraisers and the families. We really wanted to reach out to a diverse cast to bring in a diverse audience. We spent a lot of time on casting and it was very intentional. Coming out of such a dark time, the market is hungry for these aspirational formats. It’s perfect timing for a light-hearted, fun, snackable format.
James Burstall: Cash in the Attic is relevant to all families – what family doesn’t need extra cash right now? It’s a wish-fulfilment format where we go into people’s homes to look for hidden treasures. We’ve all got stuff in our homes that we’ve forgotten about that’s hidden in the garage, under the bed, at the bottom of the garden. Some of them are amazing, valuable, collectable and have great stories. It’s fun going into people’s homes and discovering what they’ve forgotten about. By sending a team of appraisers in we’re able to raise money for an incredible dream. People have aspirations. We all need to feel good right now. There are things we want to do that we maybe think we can’t afford, but this format can find pots of cash that can be turned into people’s dreams. It’s a feel-good, warm show.
Can you give us the background to the deal with HGTV? It’s a historical format – were you actively pitching it?
JB: We originally sold the show to the BBC in 2001 and HGTV in 2002 and it’s been a juggernaut for many years. It had many thousands of episodes in the UK, US and other parts of the world. We sold it in 167 territories around the world, you go to many places around the world and see it repeated, which makes us very happy. I was on holiday in the Caribbean and it was on the TV in my hotel room. I went back to my old college and the big club night of the week was called Trash in the Attic, so it entered popular culture. Eventually the show was parked, and these things happen in television.
Back in March last year, at the beginning of Covid-19, there was a big trend for producers to look into archives and back catalogues to see where we could find value as we faced the existential threat of no production for potentially months. I pitched this idea to Liz Brach [senior director of programming] at HGTV because I knew it merited a revisiting. When it became clear people would be locked in their homes for a long time looking in drawers, cupboards, garages and wondering what to do with their stuff, at the same time as job insecurity kicking in and people worrying about money, the channel felt it was a timely idea.
LS: HGTV was very smart picking it up. They’re the perfect outlet for it and they didn’t want to lose the format to another outlet, so it was a smart move. They’ve been wonderful partners and we’ve enjoyed working with them on it.
James Burstall
How does the US version differ from the UK original, other than the usual tropes about pace, volume and stakes?
LS: One thing I didn’t mention earlier was the authenticity of this reboot. We’re not as rigid with the format. We want it to feel like an authentic experience. The host and the appraisers are coming to the families’ doors to help them and will do whatever it takes. We’ll see that as it plays out. There’s a lot more verité, emotion, higher stakes and diversity. We also focused on the audience take-home. There’s a lot of information for the audience to learn from and relate to their everyday lives. We’ve also added an element of play-along, which is important.
JB: Formats in the past were very regimented. You had to hit format beat one at two minutes, format beat two at three minutes and so on. That was the vernacular and how people made programming. Now people are looking for more unexpected, more twists and turns, more real drama in real time. We’ve allowed the hunts and the success and sometimes the highs and lows of auction to play out. It’s much more engaging and audiences expect a deep, emotional connection. We want to take the audience with the family on the journey, make them feel they merit their support and learn more about them and their motivation. It has to feel unpredictable. The whole point about reality TV is the sense of a bit of risk and not knowing what will happen next.
How was a show that’s filmed in people’s homes and auction houses produced during Covid-19?
LS: Leopard USA as a whole has very strict Covid-19 policies. We take it very seriously. We had as small a footprint as possible – even the showrunner was not on set with the cast members. We had one producer with them, we were only in one home at a time, we did extensive testing, we had extensive Covid protocols. With the auction, it was interesting because we weren’t sure we could make a live auction work. We did very successfully. Everybody in the auction house had been tested, the chairs were all six feet apart. It was difficult and challenging. You don’t see a mask in any episode; you wouldn’t really know this was shot during Covid.
JB: Across Argonon, back in March last year when we were facing challenges for getting back into production, I asked Amanda Goddard our head of legal to draw up a very detailed set of Covid protocols. I wanted us to get back to work so we could earn money and pay our bills collectively as a team and get our freelancers back to work. Amanda put together a meticulous set of protocols that we rolled out across the group in the UK and US, shared them with [producers’ body] Pact and our colleagues. These have become the gold standard and been adapted by the industry.
Lots of people have come on the journey with us and added to them, improved them, modified in their own way. But I feel we were industry leaders in that respect. People had to be safe, but they had to be back at work. It was expensive, complicated and tough, but we did demonstrate it was possible. I’ve asked the team to continue to go the extra mile, even though regulations are relaxing. We take nothing for granted. We have to keep our people safe. Pre-/post-production and development can all be done successfully from home if needed. On set is critical – we have to prioritise people being there safely.
Where next for this format?
JB: We’re working with Endeavor Content on distribution. We particularly like one of the execs there, Jennifer Ebell [senior VP for EMEA sales], who’s very strong. They gave a strong pitch to us, we have a big global ambition for the project and we will be rolling it out again around the world. A third-party distribution partner made sense for this particular project. We work with lots of different partners in different ways on different projects, and on this occasion it made sense to do it this way.
It seems that broadcasters that were already accused of being risk-averse really do value proven formats they know can work in these challenging times for production. Is your focus on going through the library for more classic things? Is it more difficult than ever now to launch a new format idea?
JB: It’s a mixed ecology. Our history is important. There are titles in there that merit revisiting, and we will be doing more of that. But if you don’t change, you die. If we only did historic stuff we would not be here tomorrow. We hired Lindsay last year during the pandemic to take Leopard USA on a new trajectory.
LS: My number one goal here is to broaden out Leopard’s reach and expand on a success that already exists. We’ve just announced we’re taking out a project to market that we’ve partnered with Robin Thicke and social media media star La’Ron Hines on. We’re scouring social media for talent, we’re pairing with A-listers. We want to be the go-to west coast hub for talent to go to with their ideas. Beyond that we have a handful of paid development partnerships with new outlets Leopard USA has never worked with before and those are all brand new IP, new talent, new formats. I’ve brought great relationships from earlier in my career to Leopard USA and continued to build that trust and open up new opportunities for the brand.
There are four tentpoles I develop in to try to get ideas away. I would say to be able to cut through the clutter with something new you need A-list talent, a name that means something – not one slapped on to a project, somebody truly invested in it. You need an outside-the-box format that is so crazy it’s never been heard before. It especially has to be very outside the box if it doesn’t have big talent attached. The third tentpole you need is IP – Cash in the Attic is a big brand with recognition. The fourth is big characters – big characters sell.
