Silent Library travels to Europe

Sony Pictures Entertainment’s 2waytraffic has closed a number of deals for Nippon Television Network’s Japanese comedy format Silent Library across Europe.

In France, youth channel Virgin 17 has commissioned Coyote to produce a transmittable pilot, while in Romania, Zucchero/Power Media is producing a 12×30′ gameshow version of the format for B1 TV for transmission this autumn.

In Scandinavia, SBS has commissioned Norwegian independent prodco Nordisk to create a 10×30′ gameshow version of the format for transmission on SBS’s Kanal 5 in Sweden, SBS Net in Denmark and TV Norge in Norway. The series features competing teams from Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

Antena 3 in Spain is currently broadcasting a 40×13′ series on its youth channel Antena Neox. Named locally as La Biblioteka, the format has frequently out-performed all other digital competition in its slot, according to 2way.

Ed Louwerse, MD of 2waytraffic International, said: “Silent Library is proving a very adaptable format with great appeal to broadcasters, especially those targeting younger viewers. Alongside these six territories, we have numerous further deals that are near completion.”

Silent Library was created by Japanese comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto in 2001 as part of NTV’s popular variety show Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende. It takes place in a library setting where a team of players perform pranks and punishments on each other whilst having to remain as silent as possible.