Endemol Shine’s Sophie Turner Laing

The Endemol Shine Group encompasses 120 companies in more than 25 countries across the globe, producing a wide range of scripted and non-scripted shows. It’s been three years since the 2015 merger of Endemol and Shine, and CEO Sophie Turner Laing is proud of the slate of formats coming through the pipeline. She attributes the company’s success to cross-border collaboration and the sharing of ideas and production expertise.

WS: It’s the third anniversary of the Endemol and Shine merger. What have been the benefits of scale, creatively and business-wise?
TURNER LAING: If you genuinely believe that a great idea can come from anywhere, then we are blessed. We have 100-plus companies in 25-plus countries, and last year alone we traveled 29 formats across markets, with these originating from 13 territories around the world. It’s been fascinating and rewarding to see all the hard work by everybody across the group to shake us up and get us—as I uncharacteristically say, because I’m not a sports lover—match fit. Last year was our most successful to date, and we started 2018 with a new breed of formats coming through and starting their inter­national journey. There is terrific energy and momentum across the group.

Part of the heavy lifting in the first two years was done under the auspices of Peter Salmon, our chief creative officer. He and our creative networks team under Lisa Perrin have worked with our creatives around the world to get our pipeline really humming, because without that we are nothing.

So, three years in, we are delighted to be able to say that the merger has been a creative and commercial success. And while one never wants to count one’s chickens before they hatch, all signs are looking good for 2018.

WS: Would you give some examples of what the production companies have gained from the merger?
TURNER LAING: What we’ve succeeded in doing is forging a collaborative atmosphere and way of working together. Previously, everyone had mostly worked in their company silo or their country silo, with the occasional group meeting that gathered people from across the world. But now we’re starting to see what I would call full-blooded cross-border collaboration.

For example, Endemol Shine Netherlands came up with Big Bounce Battle. They then worked with Endemol Shine Germany, who managed to place it with RTL. Then they further developed the format and slightly honed it from its original idea. It then went back to being shot in Holland. It launched on RTL in January and is doing very well in the ratings, we’re delighted to say! I’m not sure you would have seen this level of creative collaboration before the merger, but now, across our group, the world is everybody’s oyster.

WS: Are you looking to make more investments?
TURNER LAING: We will continue to be opportunistic, but only when the fit is right and there’s a real value-add. Last year, for instance, we merged with Boomdog, in Mexico. Cris Abrego, who leads the Endemol Shine Americas team, overseeing Latin America, U.S. Hispanic and the U.S., identified the fact that, while we have an active presence in some of the big Latin American countries, we had nothing in Mexico, where there was an enormous opportunity for the U.S. Hispanic market. As a result, we’re now doing the first-ever MasterChef Latino for Telemundo and have multiple series lined up for that market across both non-scripted and drama.

That’s how we identify opportunities: we see where the gaps in the market are and whether something adds to our overall strength. We’re big enough to find ourselves competing head-on for programming slots the world over, so I believe in elevating our expertise to the very best it can be.

WS: What is Endemol Shine doing in the digital space?
TURNER LAING: One of my favorites at the moment is what we are doing in the branded content world in Brazil. Juliana [Algañaraz], who runs our company there, is now in the second season of an enormously successful Brazil’s Best Hair for Pantene, which is a brilliant format that we are looking at rolling out around the world. It’s an example of how we are developing our relationship with brands, and exploring what kind of storytelling they want beyond just integrations and product placements.

In the digital world, we have one absolute prime star, Mr. Bean, which crosses over both traditional and online. The TV series has sold to some 195 countries. It generates over 4 billion views annually on YouTube, and we recently had a truly incredible statistic—Mr. Bean content on YouTube represented 38,000 years of viewing in 2017 alone! On top of that, it’s the number one entertainment brand on Facebook, beating The Simpsons and Harry Potter. And there have been something like 20 million downloads of the apps and games. It is an extraordinary phenomenon, and we are delighted to have something so cherished within the company.

We also got behind an online brand called Simon’s Cat, animated shorts that are just fabulous. To date, it has achieved over 600 million YouTube views in more than 100 countries and reached 1.8 billion people through Facebook in 2017, so we’re looking at how we build further on that.

WS: How much reinvention do returning non-scripted shows require? How do your teams remain true to the essence of a show—and what viewers love about it—and how do they decide when it’s time to add new elements?
TURNER LAING: We’re very fortunate to have some of the largest super-brands in the non-scripted world, MasterChef and Big Brother—and also Your Face Sounds Familiar, another big one, which is well known beyond the Anglo-Saxon world and is equally brilliant.

Obviously, an enormous amount of care and attention goes into making those shows feel as relevant as when they first started, and they have been running for many, many years now.

In the U.S., for instance, there had never been a Celebrity Big Brother on CBS, and when the first one ever launched in January, it made a lot of noise and became the highest-rated show to be scheduled against the Winter Olympics.

But the important thing is to treat the format as a franchise, as a brand. We have brand guardians who help preserve the essence of a show while continuing to evolve it each year to keep it fresh. One of the key gatherings that happens every year is a meeting of all the main Big Brother and MasterChef producers to exchange ideas and discuss what has worked, and what hasn’t—all drawing on an enormous shared pool of intelligence and resources.

Alongside this, we are actively investigating how technology can play a big part in production, particularly for shows like Big Brother, for which hundreds and hundreds of hours are produced. We recently partnered with Microsoft to enhance and streamline our productions globally, combining developments in AI [artificial intelligence] with the ability to edit in the cloud, while allowing far more audience interaction. For years and years at Sky, watching the on-screen innovation in sports and in news, I was always struck by the fact that television entertainment shows didn’t take full advantage of these opportunities. At Endemol Shine we’re focused on this because while a show has to work as an idea first, we’re also interested in how we can make it faster, make it better and get more money on screen for our customers.

WS: What has contributed to the continued success of MasterChef?
TURNER LAING: MasterChef is the ideal traveling format. It is so easily adapted to the cultures and cuisines of each country, and it continues to roll out with different versions, having sold to 59 countries to date. It is really a world-connector.

The other thing that drives the success of MasterChef is how it offers such great opportunities for advertisers and brands, particularly through off-screen extensions such as cookware, publishing and even restaurants and cruises.

Last year, Peter Salmon [Endemol Shine Group’s chief creative officer] and Lisa Perrin [CEO of creative networks] launched a global initiative called Masters of Food, building on our strength in the genre, and this was on the back of Master­Chef being formally recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s “most successful cookery television format.” We have more than 100 cooking formats in our archive, and MasterChef is the cherry on top of the cake.

WS: What are some other long-running non-scripted shows?
TURNER LAING: One that pops out is Hunted. It has just had its third season in the U.K., on the back of a hugely successful celebrity version in aid of the U.K. charity Stand Up to Cancer. What has also been brilliant is the ability of smaller countries like Denmark and the Netherlands to adapt a com­plicated format such as this and make it work for their markets.

Another example of a long runner is Pointless, which is a uniquely British show in that you have to get the answers wrong to win! It’s a hit on the BBC, having become the U.K.’s highest-rated game show in four years, and now it’s also working in France and Italy.

We do also work with third parties, of course, and we are delighted to have shows like The Wall, which is from NBCUniversal, Glassman Media and LeBron James’s production company. We’ve now sold it to over 20 different markets, making it the fastest-traveling game-show format of 2017. But as a rule, we create our own IP, and that sets us apart from some of our competitors.

WS: What are some new formats?
TURNER LAING: We had several new ones that came out of the pipeline last year. There was Family Food Fight from Nine Network in Australia, which has already had a second season announced.

Then there’s Big Bounce Battle for RTL in Germany, which builds on our reputation in the physical game-show space following the global success of Wipeout.

And in the U.K. we’ve launched All Together Now on the BBC, which brings a joyful twist to the singing competition genre by having 100 judges on set who each stand up and sing when they want the contestant to win. It’s an enormous production, but great fun, and we have high hopes for it, with some new territories that we’ll be announcing soon. [Seven Network in Australia commissioned the format in March.]

While we are on the topic of non-scripted, it’s worth remembering that the OTT appetite is growing. So, we’re very focused on what’s new and what is in our extensive catalog that could work for those customers.

WS: What are some new and returning scripted shows? Black Mirror is something, isn’t it?
TURNER LAING: Black Mirror is amazing! Those stories that come from Charlie Brooker’s mind are quite something; they’re rather unnerving because you feel that they are set in a not-too-far-away future, which makes some of them slightly chilling and unsettling, but they are beautifully done. The show won two Emmys last year, and while you never see viewing numbers from Netflix, there is no doubt that Black Mirror has been a global sensation.

Another show that has become globally renowned, particularly in the U.S. where it airs on Netflix, is Peaky Blinders. Somehow those Birmingham accents and flat caps seem to have taken over the world! I think it has a lot to do with Cillian Murphy’s blue eyes! [Laughs] It’s been sold to more than 180 countries, and the latest season was BBC Two’s highest-rated drama of 2017.

Then we’ve launched Troy on BBC—another enormous project, again partnering with Netflix—which I’m delighted to say is doing really well.

Humans, which we do for Channel 4, AMC and Amazon, is back in production for a third season, as is Delicious, which we do for Sky. Broadchurch sadly ended its run last year but did so as ITV’s highest-rated drama of the year.

Then, looking ahead, we just announced Curfew, a new apocalyptic series starring Sean Bean for Sky 1.

Another factor that adds to our strength in the drama space is our international network of storytellers around the world, especially at a time like this when audience tastes are becoming more multilingual than ever, thanks to the global streaming platforms.

In that vein, another big success for us on Netflix is Dark. It’s their first German drama commission and was created by Baran bo Odar out of Munich. It’s like Stranger Things for adults, absolutely brilliantly done.

Then there’s Bron/Broen, the original Bridge from Filmlance in Sweden, which had its final season in January; it became Sweden’s biggest drama title in five years. To date, there have been five local adaptations around the world, including a new German version coming soon.

Similarly, in the U.S., Lee Daniels has optioned one of our Israeli comedies called Nevsu: A Young Multicultural Couple and is adapting it as a pilot for FOX. Nevsu has been on the air in Israel for some time and is delightful, so we have high hopes for that too.

WS: Because there is such a demand for drama, there is an equal demand for top-notch talent. Is it deep pockets or reputation that helps Endemol Shine get great names attached to projects?
TURNER LAING: It’s interesting, because the U.K. and the U.S. have different ways of producing drama. In Europe, as a rule, it’s all about the relationship between the production company and the writer. That is what comes first, followed by the development stage, then the on-screen and directing talent gets added later.

What’s interesting in the U.S., however, is how big announcements are made before anything is developed; Apple’s announcement [about creating a scripted series] with Reese Witherspoon, and Ryan Murphy going to Netflix are some of the latest examples. They are extremely high profile, but there are no scripts yet.

By comparison, the Europeans spend a lot more time in development, which can be equally frustrating because the Americans are brilliant at turning shows around very quickly, whereas in Europe it’s about 18 months before you see anything.

But for Endemol Shine, the key focus is on how to attract emerging writing talent, because the best-known British writers tend to be tied up. Yes, [access to talent] is very competitive, but our track record speaks for itself.

WS: Endemol Shine International (ESI) is getting involved earlier and earlier in scripted projects.
TURNER LAING: Yes, Cathy Payne, who runs ESI, is very experienced in this world. We have a scripted board that reviews the big projects that need funding, and Cathy and her team are brilliant at knowing which are the best homes for each project because not every idea is going to work for every broadcaster. And whether it’s putting up distribution advances or getting the deals done, there can be great benefits to ESI getting involved earlier, because these are complex funding models that have to be woven together, and ESI knows this space better than anyone.

WS: Do changing viewing habits inform how you think about or create content?
TURNER LAING: I think nothing can get in the way of the fact that you need to start with a great idea, regardless of what screen it ends up on. The majority of the OTTs are commissioning structured one-hour shows, no different from how TV works. They are looking for standout ideas with big talent attached.

But we are now also working with the emerging players such as Facebook. We’re looking at how you develop an idea that includes everything from Facebook Live to live polling and how you connect that audience to their Watch platform—that’s where the narrative structure changes.

WS: As you look ahead, where do you see opportunities for growth?
TURNER LAING: You can cut that by genre or by region. There is still a big world out there. We are very fortunate that technology delivers new platforms on a regular basis, and how we partner with them is key. But equally, the traditional linear customers are very solid supporters of ours, and we will continue working long into the night for them. For me, the question is whether we are attracting the best creatives and providing them with the best platform to do their best work. If I can put my hand over my heart and say yes, then that’s job done.