Silverman cooks up Kitchen format

Ben Silverman’s Electus has signed a deal to take a Glee-style Asian musical format to the US.

The Kitchen Musical will make its debut in 22 Asian territories in October, including AXN Asia across 18 countries, MetroTV in Indonesia, NTV7 in Malaysia, and Studio 23 in the Philippines.

The initial run of the musical cooking drama will feature 13 hour-long episodes produced by The Group Entertainment and Small World IFT. Each episode follows a girl from a wealthy family who goes to work in a restaurant after graduating from a French cooking school.

The Asian show will include re-recorded popular hit songs and dance sequences choreographed by Jason Coleman, judge of Australia’s So You Think You Can Dance.

Electus/Engine Distribution, the global distribution arm of Silverman’s multimedia entertainment studio Electus, has signed up to coproduce and distribute a US version.

It will begin formally pitching to networks in September and hopes to tie up a broadcast deal for The Kitchen Musical then.

The Asian version is currently filming in Singapore and another local version is already planned in Vietnam, produced by local Ugly Betty adapters BHD Co.