Leading independent distributor announced the line-up of renowned industry professionals who will form the judging panel for the 2017 ATF Formats Pitch and also announced that the competition has received entries from 13 countries. The number of entries from Asian countries doubled in comparison to the inaugural event in 2016. Over 50 entries have been assessed by the short list judges.
The premier format pitching competition for creators and producers of new and original non-scripted entertainment formats in Asia, the ATF Formats Pitch is a platform to showcase the best of Asia and expose ideas for export and development both inside and outside the region. The pitch, which is backed for the second year running by all3media international, will take place during the Asia Television Forum in Singapore on 30 November 2017.
The creators of five shortlisted formats will be invited to pitch their ideas on stage to a panel of industry experts including Alan Hodges, Managing Director Asia Pacific at A+E Networks, who oversees business development in the Asia Pacific region, including channel partnerships, program sales, digital media opportunities and local productions, and Spruce Leong, Head of Commissioning, Channel 5 at MediaCorp TV.
Stephen Lambert, CEO at Studio Lambert and one of Britain’s best known creative television executives, responsible for reality hits such as Undercover Boss, Wife Swap and Faking It, also joins the jury, alongside Janine Stein, Editorial Director at ContentAsia, who has covered the Asian television and media business since 1989, and Amreet Chahal, Sales Manager Format & Finished Programs, Asia at all3media international.
The shortlisted formats have been selected by Kit Yow, Sales Manager (APAC) at all3media international; Nick Smith, SVP Format Production at all3media international; Sabrina Duguet, EVP Asia Pacific at all3media international and Laetitia Lamic, Deputy Director General at Coyote (France).
In addition to the Formats Pitch, William Lim, Executive Producer at XTREME Media and winner of the inaugural competition in 2016, will join Sabrina Duguet for an onstage interview to talk about his experience. William will come straight from the set of Hit It, the 2016 winning format, which is currently being filmed in Singapore following its recent commission by Mediacorp Suria. An 8 x 1-hour series is in production for the leading free-to-air Malay channel in Singapore, for transmission in February 2018.
Nick Smith, SVP International Format Production at all3media international, commented, “We’re very pleased to see such a high-profile panel of experts gathering once again for the latest ATF Formats Pitch. The competition offers a fantastic platform for the Asian television industry’s up-and-coming talents to present their ideas to an international audience in a collaborative and supportive environment. The success of Hit It is a great example of the potential we see coming out of the ATF Formats Pitch ;we’ve worked closely with William and the team at XTREME Media during the last 12 months and are looking forward to seeing the first Formats Pitch series on air early next year.”
The winner of the 2017 ATF Formats Pitch will receive S$3,500 in cash to develop the idea, and a S$16,500-value-package will be tailor-made to develop the format, in partnership with all3media international, making it pitch-ready for broadcasters. All3media international will work with the winner to devise a bespoke package of consultancy advice and support, tailored to the specific pitch, and will arrange time with leading executives from within the all3media group of companies across areas of expertise such as marketing, writing a pitch document, a global view of format sales opportunities from all3media International’s format team, trailer and sizzle preparation, production budgeting, talent payments, PR and press, the global sales process and editing.
