Tanja van der Goes, SVP Distribution, Media Ranch, who heads the European operations of the award-winning format production and distribution company, announced that veteran format producer David Schiff is on board as a creative consultant for the European development of Honey In The Box. The paper format, a Media Ranch HorsePower initiative, is part of the company’s recently-announced exchange with South Korea’s FormatEast (an SBS Korea subsidiary). For its part, FormatEast will represent Family Tripped, the winning HorsePower 1.0 format as well as the winning HorsePower 2.0 format Heartbreak Hotel.

On the sales front, Van der Goes announced that Malgorzata Gudel was hired on as a sales consultant, representing all Media Ranch formats for the CEE and CIS territories, reporting to her. Media Ranch President, Sophie Ferron announced that Alexa Jorizzo has been promoted in Montreal to Head of Sales for French Canada. 

DuringSchiff’s extensive 20-year entertainment production career, he developed, bought, sold, created, produced, and oversaw 1,200+ hours of broadcast television. Titles of note: Million Dollar Listing, Minute to Win It, Hell’s Kitchen, Skin Wars, and The Chase among others. In 2019, he headed up an internal Game/Format think-tank at Fox Networks Group and from 2009-2018, was SVP of Programming & Development at Game Show Network.

Gudel has over 12 years of experience in program sales and acquisitions, having started her career at TVP and TV Puls in the programming and acquisition department in Poland.  Prior to joining the team, she was VP Sales EMEA at The Story Lab and worked at the international sales team of Lagardère Studios in Paris covering CEE & Russia, Italy, and Germany. 

Jorizzo’s promotion to Head of Sales for French Canada follows a year of her excelling in that territory, as she adpated to new realities throughout the pandemeic. She will report directly to Ferron. She will also maintain her role as Media Ranch’s ”Development Ninja,” managing all aspects of creative development, where she will continue to report to Philip Kalin-Hajdu, Head of Content for the company.

van der Goes states: “David Schiff was a valued mentor to our Horsepower participants and we are excited to bring him on to develop Honey In The Box in Europe. This is the first deal from our FormatEast exchange. We hope to get the show into production next year. We are also very pleased to bring Malgorzata Gudel to our sales team. Her vast experience and connections in the CEE and CIS territories will take Media Ranch to the next level there.”

Schiff said, “Media Ranch knows how to bring dynamic new Formats to life and I am pleased to help develop Honey In The Box with Tanja, Sophie and the team. The show is so much fun and has tremendous potential in Europe and all around the world.”

Gudelstates: “I am very excited to work with Tanja and the entire Media Ranch team to represent such a great portfolio of formats for the region, where audiences are sure to embrace many of the top-notch programs.”