Two wins each for Studio Lambert and Channel 4 at International Format Awards
The winners of the International Format Awards celebrate their wins at Mipcom tonight
MIPCOM: All3Media-owned Studio Lambert won prizes for its Squid Game: The Challenge and UK version of The Traitors at tonight’s International Format Awards in Cannes, while there were also big wins for Channel 4, Fremantle and Banijay.
Squid Game: The Challenge took the breakout South Korean drama series and turned it into a competition reality format for Netflix. Produced by Studio Lambert alongside The Garden, the show won Best Competition Reality Format at tonight’s ceremony at ClubC21 on the Croisette.
It was part of a double win for Studio Lambert, which also took home the Best Returning Format prize for its UK version of Dutch format The Traitors, which the prodco makes for BBC One based on a format from Dutch firm and All3Media stablemate IDTV.
There was notable success for the genre’s other big hitters as well, with Fremantle taking best Comedy Format for its Portuguese show Freeze, which airs on TVI, and Banijay taking home the prestigious Best Studio-Based Format prize for Dutch show Upside Down, which is produced by Endemol Shine Nederland for streamer Videoland.
At a time of challenged economic models and fewer commissions, the evening was also a much-needed boost for some of the smaller Indies in the sector.
UK indie Screendog Productions scored a big win in the Factual Entertainment category for its hybrid drama-factual format The Jury: Murder Trial, which aired on Channel 4 and is distributed by Blue Ant Studios.
Channel 4’s youth-skewing E4 brand also scored in the Best Reality Format category with its Underdog: Josh Must Win show, which was produced by STV Studios’ Primal Media.
Dreamspark’s YouTube show Poker Society was named Best Brand-Driven Format; Basque-based Pausoka’s Instagram/TikTok show Itsatsita got the Multi-Platform award; while Kafas, Dark Money India, produced by Applause Entertainment in association with Madiba Entertainment and based on an original idea by The Forge, was the Best Scripted Format.
As previously announced, Banijay Rights CEO Cathy Payne picked up this year’s Gold Award in recognition of her decades of service and contribution to the distribution business.
Receiving the award from Lucy Smith, director of Mipcom at RX France, Payne said: “I am so honoured to receive this but it’s really a team effort that includes the sales teams at Banijay Rights and the creative teams at Banijay Entertainment, in particular Lucas Green and James Townley, for creating formats that are able to travel the world.”
She added: “As well as being only the fifth woman and third Australian to receive the Gold Award, I was told I’m the first from the distribution side of the business. However, I always see distribution as a creative endeavour so I’m happy to see the growing role of distribution in the formats business acknowledged.”
Payne also said the industry was going through a tough time at the moment: “The past 18 months have been a challenge for everyone, after the streamer recalibration, economic woes and the impact of all the new digital platforms. Endurance would be an appropriate term.
“Nevertheless, no matter how people consume content it just give us a challenge to ensure we make make those deals work. At the end of the day, I’m a proud Australian woman and I always appreciate that I work in an industry that I love.”
For the full list of nominees in each category of the International Format Awards, please click here.
