iZen’s Black Card wins the hand at C21 Global Entertainment Format Pitch

Judges and winners (L-R) Mike Beale, Jessica Schmiedchen, Manuel Feijoo of iZen, Lucy Brodie, Eric Marodon of iZen and Julien Degroote

CONTENT LONDON: Black Card, a reality competition series from Spain’s iZen Group, has won the C21 Global Entertainment Format Pitch at Content London this evening.

The series, aimed at adults and young adults, sees 12 contestants each given a ‘black card’ with varying amounts of money – some will have a lot and others only a little. The contestants can steal money from each other by competing in challenges, with the winner taking home the value of their card.

It was one of eight projects selected for this year’s pitch, which was held this afternoon. The winner was announced at Kings Place this evening by Mike Beale, MD of global creative network at ITV Studios, which sponsored the competition.

The partnership with ITV Studios allows international format producers to present their projects through C21Media and Content London, providing a showcase to pitch new shows to the world.

The pitch is designed to discover and develop a new hit format in one of two categories: primetime entertainment and reality/social experiment.

The winning pitch receives funding to progress the idea to the next stage.

Eric Marodon, iZen’s international development exec, said Black Card caters to a “booming” demand for reality shows and a “fascination” for social experiments.

“For a reality show to be new and surprising, it must introduce novelties, both in its premise and in its narrative, to catch viewers’ attention,” he said. “With Black Card, we want to explore the mechanics of human relationships by putting an element at the centre of the game that is above love and friendship: money. Does money really change people? Or does it just reveal who they really are?”