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Gurin brings Storms format stateside

The exec producer behind the US version of Weakest Link has partnered with Dutch production company The Storms Factory to bring the Dutch format Crowbar to the US market.

Phil Gurin's production outfit, The Gurin Company, has taken US rights to the format, which airs in the Netherlands on SBS6 under its Dutch name Braak Igzer. It currently goes out on Mondays at 21:30 and is doing {very well,{ said an SBS spokesman.

The format involves people with personal problems or grievances going on the show to get them sorted out in public: anything from consumer rage to domestic disputes crop up.

A US version of the show is in the pipeline, with Gurin exec producing alongside the format's Dutch creator and host Peter Storms and Gurin's international creative consultant Marc Jansen.

{We've shot a US pilot and WMA will be repping the show to the US syndication market,{ Jansen told C21. {The show's localised format makes a coast-to-coast network sale unlikely, so we'll shoot a few national cases with a main anchor to run alongside plenty of local cases.{

The Crowbar format was developed by Storms and Jansen while at Dutch producer DND, which ended up as part of IDtv. When Storms and Jansen left IDtv they took Crowbar with them. A full licence to the format has also gone to SBS-owned Belgian broadcaster VT4.

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