SevenOne sells second format into US

A ‘big five’ US network has picked up hidden-camera format Benidorm Bastards, a deal that marks German distributor SevenOne International’s second major stateside sale.

Kinetic Content, the US prodco majority-owned by SevenOne parent company Red Arrow Entertainment, is onboard to produce a 12×30′ season for NBC, to be known locally as Off Their Rockers. Kinetic is helmed by Chris Coelen (left, Secret Millionaire).

Former Golden Girls actress and gameshow host Betty White, who is currently starring in TV Land comedy Hot in Cleveland, will front the NBC show, in which elderly people play pranks on shocked youngsters.

The 89-year-old will be returning to NBC for her first major project since The Golden Girls ended in 1992. Paul Telegdy, NBC’s executive VP of alternative programming, called her a “comedic genius,” adding: “Viewers will thoroughly enjoy watching her pull one over on the unsuspecting youth of America.”

Coelen joins White on executive production duties, along with Matilda Zoltowski (Dancing with the Stars) and Shelter TV boss Tim Van Aelst, the creator of the original Belgian version. It airs on VMMa-owned Flemish net 2BE.

Production on Off Their Rockers begins later this year. Kinetic is currently filming NBC rival ABC’s new gameshow You Deserve It, another SevenOne format that was ordered to pilot in January. It has since been taken to series by ABC.

This latest deal means ProSiebenSat.1-owned SevenOne has now sold Benidorm Bastards into more than 20 countries, the format most recently heading into Romania via commercial network Prime TV. The sales are backed up by two Rose d’Or wins for best comedy and best programme, and a best comedy gong at the C21/Frapa Formats Awards last year.

The US is becoming an increasingly important territory for ProSiebenSat.1’s global production and distribution businesses, as it seeks to boost its standing in the international marketplace.

In the US, international production group Red Arrow last year bought a 51% controlling stake in Kinetic, which was followed by a first-look deal with Genetic Entertainment, the start up helmed by former Granada America exec Curt Northrup, exec producer Lincoln Hiatt and Alchemy TV co-founder David Wyler.

Then, in January, C21 was first with the news that ABC had tapped SevenOne for Dick de Rijk’s new gameshow You Deserve It. The US show, which was ordered to series earlier this month with The Bachelor presenter Chris Harrison attached, is currently in production.

That deal led to the launch of a dedicated US sales division SevenOne International Inc, with Europe-based regional sales director Caroline Kusser moving across the pond to head the LA-based company.

Yesterday, upon news that Red Arrow has taken a controlling stake in UK prodco The Mob Film Company, Red Arrow MD Jan Frouman told C21 that the firm could potentially grow its US business even further, though any move would “have to fit with Kinetic,” he said.

In related news, SevenOne today announced You Deserve It would headline its MipTV slate. The “emotional rollercoaster of a show,” as MD Jens Richter described it, sees contestants playing for cash prizes for someone they think deserves the money more than themselves.

Elsewhere on the slate, Redseven Entertainment’s ‘sciencetainment’ format The Insiders sees two presenters travelling through a celebrity’s body in a microshuttle, giving the “inside story” of its workings as they go.

Other debuting formats from the SevenOne stable include dating/reality show Sweet Foursome; comedy gameshow Stars Gone Crazy; Genetic’s social experiment format Deadlock; Redseven’s Bet Your Brain and King of Crafts; and Red Arrow-owned Sultan Sushi’s Made In…

SevenOne is bringing a second de Rijk format to Cannes, Money Grabbers, in which contestants go through seven “nerve-jangling rounds” to win time to grab piles of cash while encased in a glass dome.