Sophie Ferron, President and Executive Producer of Media Ranch, award-winning format production and distribution company, announced a partnership with South Korea’s Something Special, founded this year by veteran Format specialist Jin Woo Hwang. The partnership enables the two companies to exchange their most popular Formats. Media Ranch’s Watch! will be represented by Something Special in Asia while Something Special’s new Formats, Miracle Recipes, and Miracle Habits will be represented outside of Asia by Media Ranch.

Entertainment competition Format, Watch!, is owned by Media Ranch; was created by Dan Munday and John Kirhoffer (formerly with Mark Burnett / Survivor); and the paper Format was sold into 12 territories within a few months of launching in 4Q 2019 to companies such as Warner, Talpa, among others. The first production of the Format was produced by Talpa Germany this summer, during Covid-19, in Germany and aired on ProSiebenin July.

Something Special’s healthy lifestyle competition Formats – Miracle Recipes and Miracle Habits will be promoted by Media Ranch outside of Asia and are already receiving interest due to the health focus of the programs. Something Special launched this year by FRAPA Board Member, Jin Woo Hwang (former executive at CJ E&M involved in the creation and production of hit Formats such as NBC’s Better Late Than Never, I Can See Your Voice, Korea’s Got Talent, Top Gear Korea, etc.) and business partner Insoon Kim (former Managing Director of SBS FormatEast involved in the international rollout of formats such as Running Man, Fantastic Duo, The Fan, The Power, etc.). Something Special is Korea’s first-ever, creative-driven TV Format-specialty agency for global content development, production and distribution. They rep major producers such as creatives from Masked Singer, Running Man, I Can See Your Voice, and others.

The partnership demonstrates Media Ranch’s commitment to its Asian expansion which began with the July announcement of a multi-year first-look agreement between Horsepower, Media Ranch’s incubator initiative, and South Korea’s FormatEast (an SBS Korea initiative).  In its first year, Media Ranch will be representing select FormatEast Formats such as Honey in a Box; and the new format Boundary from the creator of South Korea’s hit, Running Man.

Ferron stated: “Media Ranch is thrilled to announce our new partnership with Something Special in South Korea for Watch!  Jin Woo is widely known and respected as a premiere format expert and a pioneer of this business in Asia. Our companies have similar DNA we are confident that Something Special will give our special Format, Watch! the care and attention it deserves, bringing Asian audiences great entertainment. We look forward to a long and rich collaboration with Jin Woo and Something Special.”

Hwang said, “Media Ranch is a great partnership for Something Special as we continue to expand during our first year in operation. Sophie and her team’s philosophies and goals are very much aligned with Something Special and we trust Media Ranch to bring Miracle Recipes and Miracle Habits to life in the West. We are confident that Media Ranch’s format Watch! will become the new hit format in Asia.”