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Surprises at C21 Format Awards

After a month of online voting by the international entertainment community, the C21 International Format Awards were unveiled last night here in Cannes, and reflected the increasing trend for formats developed in places outside the usual markets of the UK, the US and Holland.

Held in association with Frapa, the awards were handed out at ClubC21 on the beach in Cannes, France, with hundreds of Mipcom delegates in attendance. David Lyle, president of the Fox Reality channel and Frapa board member, took on most of the presentation duties.

The awards were decided by votes from C21’s community of 30,000 TV executives via the C21screenings video portal, and throughout September some 16,000 clips of the format contenders were streamed to TV executives worldwide. That’s up 50% on the number of clips streamed last year, said C21Media’s editor-in-chief and managing director David Jenkinson.

“These awards are the most democratic in the business; having your format voted for by your peers has to mean something. But it’s not just about winning as every candidate gets their formats screened by thousands of buyers around the globe,” he said.

Lyle (above) kicked off proceedings with the gameshow category, perhaps the most hard-fought award of the evening. The runner up was RDF’s Don’t Forget the Lyrics but the winner – somewhat surprisingly – was The Encounter, a Turkish gameshow format from Istanbul-based Sera Film Services.

“Turkey has some great new talent, in drama and unscripted, and is an undiscovered treasure. There are new opportunities there,” said Sera general manager Idil Belli, accepting the award. The format airs in Turkey on Flash TV and has been renewed for a second run. The MedyaLab Productions show is set in a Mafia-style underground gambling den.

The Best Reality award was won by Distraction’s Make it Short, which follows filmmakers in a short film competition. Created and produced by Canada’s Marie Brissette Productions, it beat Endemol’s Wipeout and All3Media’s Top Trumps to the gong. “The show only airs on a small Quebec public broadcaster but this award recognises its international potential,” said Brissette.

The Best factual-entertainment award went to Born to be Wild from Zodiak TV, beating Distraction’s Bulging Brides and Eyeworks-distributed Who’s the Chef? “Factual-entertainment formats like this can transform a network, as they have done with US channels like A&E and History,” added Lyle.

On the scripted front, the Best Sketch Show award went to ITV Global Entertainment’s Headcases while the Best Scripted award went to Colombian format El Cartel, a Caracol TV drama about drug-running. “These categories are the ones where the little guys can really tip over the big guys,” said Lyle. Added Cristina Palacio Pombo, VP of development at Caracol: “Creativity belongs to anyone and everyone and doesn’t always come from the bigger TV markets. Since Ugly Betty and Sin Tetas No Hay Paraiso, everyone in the international market has been looking at Colombian formats.”

In the Best Multi-Screen format award, Lyle said the days of web wizards of the 1990s telling TV execs that television was doomed had been replaced by the reality of online and mobile as robust platforms. He handed the gong to Endemol for its O2 and Crackle.com format, The Cell.

Lyle also gave a Gold Award to UK format veterans Stephen Leahy and Trish Kinane (both pictured above), the former heads of Action Time who now run their own format company Ludus, for being prolific format creators for the past three decades and “being champions of the format business,” he said. The Alphabet Game, The Krypton Factor and call-TV show The Mint are among Leahy and Kinane’s credits.

“We’ve recently had our 50th format on air and for us the key word has always been fun,” said Leahy, accepting the award with Kinane. “Gameshows hardly ever win awards so this is a fantastic recognition of this business,” added Kinane.

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