European prodcos board The Love Van, join Artist Colony with Media Ranch

European producers including the UK’s Renegade Pictures and Dutch firm Blazhoffski Productions have optioned formats from Montreal-based format producer and distributor Media Ranch.

Millennial dating show The Love Van has been optioned in the UK by Warner Bros International-owned My Big Family Farm producer Renegade. The format follows people as they look for love in their mobile homes, giving them the option to trade in their travel partners along the way.

The show won the third edition of Media Ranch’s Horsepower competition for new format development in July, receiving additional investment from French Channel TF1 and Canada’s Quebecor Content and La Fabrique Des Formats. Previous winners Race To Survive and House Party: Just Dance were bought by WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS joint venture The CW and US producer Wheelhouse Entertainment in October.

The Artist Colony, meanwhile, has been picked up by Blazhoffski (Cooking Adventures, Impractical Jokers) in the Netherlands and STV Productions for Sweden and Norway. The original format was created and produced by Eddy Media for Danish channel DR2 as part of DR’s exclusive formats deal with Media Ranch.

The show puts celebrated contemporary artists in a location for 14 days and sees whether they are inspired to create beauty for a local exhibition or whether they succumb to creative block.

Match Made in Heaven, an astrological dating show, has been licensed in Sweden by Strix Television.

Finally, Germany’s Magis TV, in partnership with Eldorado TV, has taken the format 180 Days, which puts senior citizens and university students together to see how they can change each others’ lives over that period.

Media Ranch CEO Sophie Ferron said: “Media Ranch is thrilled to close our successful year with the option of one of our original Horsepower formats to Renegade in the UK and several DR formats optioned in Sweden, Norway, Germany and The Netherlands. The year ahead is looking to be our best yet after boosting our presence exponentially in the US and co-creating original formats with new partners around the world.”