Theme Festival - Lifestyle: Food & Drink
Clive Whittingham examines the future of food programming in a post-Covid world, with challenges around travel and social distancing, and looks at some of the shows currently on the market for buyers.
Few genres of television have endured as much as food programming, or taken quite so many forms. Out of the standard, traditional ‘chop and chat’ instructional programmes with a TV chef have grown everything from glossy travelogues to Saturday morning talkshows, big-budget juggernaut competition formats like Masterchef or Bake Off and wrack ‘em and stack ‘em daytime staples like Come Dine With Me.
It has the potential to scratch two very particular audience itches during coronavirus lockdowns. People stuck at home wanting to improve their cooking and occupy their time can be helped on the way by a fast-turnaround commission like Jamie Oliver: Keep Cooking and Carry On, which was filmed on mobile phones from the chef’s own home and is now being distributed by Fremantle. And those wanting escapism can kick back with the more travel-themed end of the genre, such as Ainsley’s Caribbean Kitchen, which is being shopped by DCD Media Rights. Although how shows like the latter are filmed in the future with travel restrictions in play is a point for discussion.
Sarah Kwek is Asia sales manager at Australian distributor Fred Media, representing a catalogue that includes Foodie Adventures with Ash Pollard, three seasons of The Travelling Chef, three new food series from the Africa Channel (Africa on a Plate, May’s Kitchen and Minjiba Entertains) and 80 hours of content from specialist digital channel Tastemade, including Behind the Dish, Origins, Sourced and Just Jen.
Reflecting on where the genre goes from here, she says: “I’d like to think we will see even more authentic food programming going forward – with more meaning attached to food stories and the people behind them – rather than just the conventional stand-and-stir formats.
“International restrictions on travel will stop overseas crews and chefs from parachuting in, filming and disappearing on to somewhere new. This should mean that we see more local chefs sharing local recipes against stunning local backdrops – filmed by local crews – as with our new series Africa on a Plate. It would be especially interesting to learn more about little-known foods and regions or new trends in familiar places.
“During lockdown, food became a major focus for so many, and people who had never cooked before started baking. With Covid-19 and the threat of further lockdowns hanging over us, I think we may see more ‘homespun’ food shows being produced: simple, comforting, family-focused recipes made with store-cupboard and wholesome ingredients.
“Many stars showed the results of their baking efforts on social media – so who knows, we may find some new, relatable but non-chef faces hosting more shows down the line, not just established chefs.”
Keeping the show on the road is also front of mind at Canadian producer and distributor Boat Rocker, which is behind local adaptations of formats such as MasterChef and Bake Off. Natalie Vinet, VP of global sales for factual at Boat Rocker Rights, says: “Food is going to become more popular because more people are cooking at home. It’s an opportunity for more amateur cooking formats, and instructional formats will resonate more than before. We produce a lot of the big, shiny-floor formats at Boat Rocker but I think now shows like Mary’s Kitchen Crush that are instructional will resonate more.
“It’s an opportunity for more Covid-friendly formats. We’re developing something called Can You Deliver, which is embracing the new normal. It is true that food and travel go well together, but in the food and travel genre, you may now have to deliver it as a short story format where, in terms of production, you might use different crews in different countries and bring together individual stories as opposed to one host travelling to these places and meeting the people.”
London-based DCD is hoping the difficulties in filming new series with international travel may increase the value of its existing travelogue shows. The company shops Parveen’s Indian Kitchen and a range of James Martin-fronted shows such as French Adventure and Islands to Highlands.
James Anderson, senior sales director at DCD, says: “Our last few James Martin series have been domestically focused and there’ll be more of that in future series. We’ve worked with chefs around the world, for example in South Africa with Sarah Graham’s Food Safari, so you can still get to these places using local talent and crew.
“There was the initial lockdown wave where everybody was at home cooking sourdough, with a garden full of tomatoes. You saw great series from Jamie Oliver and Jack Monroe around that. As time goes on, people will want escapism and to get away from the reality we’re living in, so that lends value to the catalogue for us and [creates an opportunity to] exploit series where they haven’t been exploited before, with second windows and so on. International buyers, in particular, will want that bit of escapism.”
The UK’s Passion Distribution is starting to shop BBC1 series Best Christmas Food Ever (10×30’) from Hungry Gap Productions ahead of the winter season, and also has Chilli Hunter (8×60’) from Beach House Pictures and Motion Content Group, and Corner Shop Cook Off (6×60’) from Mentorn Scotland on its slate. Sean Wheatley, the company’s head of acquisitions, echoes Anderson’s belief that escapism will be key to food programming into 2021.
“There will inevitably be stuff around Covid and affordable shows, but I’ve worked with food content for a long time [in the UK], when I was at Fremantle and Sky Vision before that, and the thing that works internationally is stuff that’s aspirational,” he says. “You’re selling a lifestyle and an idea to people to buy into. In a recession ,people want a boost to their esteem. We’ll see stuff that is aspirational even with everything happening.
“There will be an issue around any food show with travel. A big attraction of the genre is seeing whoever it is on the Calabrian coast, in the south of France, Rick Stein on a boat with a drink in his hand… That will be hard to do until 2021, but people will want aspirational.
“In the UK, we’ll see shows around saving money and easy-to-find ingredients. But from a distribution perspective, those shows don’t travel. People want nice, presentable chefs in an aspirational kitchen or somewhere on the Mediterranean coast cooking stuff that looks beautiful on camera. If it’s just about the practicality of cooking, people will just look up a recipe online or buy a cookbook. Television is selling you something different.”
Two of NENT Studios UK’s biggest sellers in food also involve travel abroad. Remarkable Places to Eat, fronted by First Dates maître d’ Fred Sirieix, takes in cities including Venice, Edinburgh and Paris with different celebrity chefs, who use their local knowledge to sniff out the best meals. Chef’s Brigade, meanwhile, is a competition format in which a group of chefs travel the world trying to beat local restaurants at their own style. Both were originally commissioned by BBC2.
Elin Thomas, exec VP of sales at NENT Studios UK, says: “With travel being more difficult for all genres, not just food, restaurant-based shows may be out for now. Even in studio kitchens, like Hell’s Kitchen, it’s difficult to socially distance, and people won’t want to watch that. You might see a return to the simpler shows – at home with James Martin on a Saturday morning, Mary Berry at home in her kitchen, the Jamie Oliver shows we’ve seen in lockdown.
“We’ve moved away from ‘chop and chat’ in the last few years and on to more competition formats. That’s going to be really difficult at the moment, but competition in food is here to stay. It drives the audience; you get behind the person you like at the beginning of the series and that keeps people watching.
“I also think health is a big thing at the moment. There’s an interest in what you’re putting into your body. We have The Art of Living as one of our shows with Swedish chef Niklas Ekstedt, where he goes to different territories and talks to people who’ve lived a long time there about what they’ve eaten, a substance that might be making them live longer. Food for health and provenance of food are linked, but two distinct shows that can be looked at in the future.”
That health trend has also been spotted by Sarah Tong, director of sales at Hat Trick International in the UK. Among her catalogue is Easy Ways to Live Well (3×60’), from Keo Films for BBC1, one of several projects fronted by celeb chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall that focus on health. Hat Trick also shops Tom Kerridge’s American Feast (IBlink Films for Food Network), Ottolenghi’s Mediterranean Feast (Keo Films for More 4) and River Cottage Australia (Keo Australia for Foxtel).
“Health and wellbeing, rather than straight cooking, is another trend coming in now,” Tong says. “It’s about what you put into your body and the health and wellbeing elements of that, both mental and physical. There was big interest in that before Covid, and we’re hoping for another season of Easy Ways to Live Well because we think it’ll be particularly timely now.”
Tong has also noticed the trend for food and dating, with shows like First Dates and Come Dine With Me as much about the relationship between the people involved as it is the food on the plates. Hat Trick distributes Dinner Dates as finished tape and as a format and has been able to wrap a second season in Germany during lockdown.
“There has definitely been an uptick in food and dating,” Tong says. “They were able to film a second season in Germany under the local social-distancing regulations and it was fantastic. We’ve got a number of productions, both in food and elsewhere, about to go back into production. What you can and can’t do changes from territory to territory, so that’s tough for formats. We’ve got to get on with making shows, but you don’t want people to realise it was filmed in lockdown; it’s got to look glossy and good and not obviously being filmed by a single cameraman at regulation distance.”
That concern is also paramount for Barrie Kelly, VP of international format production and development at NBCUniversal, who has the all-conquering Top Chef format on his slate.
“The first thing I did when lockdown happened was talk to all Top Chef producers around the world asking how we can get back up and running,” Kelly says. “Obviously we have to protect all crews and talent; protocols have to be in place. The key with post-Covid production is telling story generated from Covid-19 and how lives were impacted but not letting it impact the production process.
“You don’t want people walking around with masks, you don’t want people with Perspex all around them. That will obviously hammer home to an audience that it isn’t the usual Top Chef they’re watching. You want it to be timeless – it’s a piece of tape you want to sell in years to come. If it’s a show that looks like a drastically different version of Top Chef, you’ll immediately think that’s a bit weird.”
Despite the challenges facing the country, production is underway on the latest season of Top Chef in Brazil, with versions in Canada and France also kicking off soon.
“Food TV, like food itself, is comfort,” Kelly adds. “When we make Top Chef, what we have to do is make it a really good reality show that makes you laugh, cry and be shocked, but it also needs to make you feel hungry and want to learn. It has to have all aspects. I don’t think it’s going to change.
“The audience will want escapism. People having a tough time do not want that hammered home. Top Chef involves a lot of external location stuff and we’ve said, as a group, that it’s important to keep doing that. Top Chef is more about professionals than amateurs, so you’ve got to go out there and see these restaurants and chefs. If it’s all purely set at home, that’s what we’re all doing now anyway, so you have to have escapism. It’s even more important right now.”
Of course, so much of food programming depends on the names and faces on the front of it. Fremantle’s catalogue includes titles from Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, Nadiya Hussain and Donal Skehan, hosting new shows such as Jamie’s Keep Cooking and Carry On, Jamie’s Ultimate Veg and Donal’s Super Food in Minutes. Ceire Clark, senior acquisitions manager for international at Fremantle, says big names are key to cutting through in the global market.
“It’s all about the talent,” Clark says. “There’s so much competing local talent, it needs to be exceptional to stand out globally. We’re proud to work with the best talent. The big names obviously sell, like Nigella and Jamie, but also there’s a lot of room for new talent as well if it’s the right personalities.
“It’s a question of working with our really great food buyers who we already have very strong relationships with – we have a number of output deals across the world – and backing the show up with best-in-class marketing and a really good team behind launching them as brands. Fremantle is very good at building up brands. It’s a question of having the support network and infrastructure.”
Clark adds that the food genre will need to embrace technology and innovation if it’s to keep satisfying audience needs in a post-Covid environment. She points to the example being set by UK producer Hungry Gap, which produced Rachel Koo’s Simple Pleasures in a few weeks during lockdown, with producer Pete Lawrence directing filming remotely over Skype.
“We’ll see more creativity and unique concepts,” she says. “Jamie’s Keep Cooking & Carry On was made during lockdown using basic ingredients and filmed on a mobile phone. His new series will also be filmed at home. The trend at the moment is focusing in on a family or community and how we’re all in it together and food is bringing us together. People like seeing inside the real, non-studio homes of cooks, seeing their families and feeling connected.
“Trust and confidence going forwards will be more important at all levels, and we need to be confident, as distributors, commissioners and producers, in the people we work with and that they’re going to deliver. Windows for filming will be much smaller; there isn’t time to get things wrong, so we need everybody in the team to be at the top of their game. We need fewer people on location, so there will be more innovative and different ways of working and producing.”