Q&A: Marion Edwards

As the president of international television at Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, Marion Edwards is leading the studio’s expansion into the format business. She tells TV Formats Weekly about how she is mining Fox’s deep catalogue of dramas and comedies for concepts that can be adapted across the globe.

TV FORMATS: How has Fox’s format strategy evolved?
EDWARDS: We wanted to be in this business some years ago, but the writers’ strike [during the 2007-2008 television season] held us up. Shortly after that, we proactively started clearing rights and getting into the business of format licensing. There are some mature markets where obviously it’s tough because they have a very active pool of writers; they have a lot of experience directing and producing—it’s the business they’re in on an original basis, so they don’t really need to license formats. For those markets we have what we call our development vault. ITV Productions successfully produced a show called Marchlands, based on an original script that Fox had developed and produced a pilot for in the U.S. called The Oaks. They took that one script, they hired a U.K. writer, built it into a five-episode mini-series, and had very successful ratings on the ITV network. In the more developed markets, that’s the model we are working on with broadcasters. In the markets where networks are more reliant on imported content, where they have not had years of experience producing their own series, we have had more success licensing the formats to our library series.

TV FORMATS: You’ve had a lot of success in the Russian market.
EDWARDS: In the case of Russia, the dubbing used for imported programming is generally called “atmosphere dubbing,” where one voice kind of does all the parts —they didn’t do lip-sync dubbing, so American shows didn’t really get the audiences there that they were able to get in many other markets. In Russia, Prison Break was a good show, it worked well, but it was not a monster hit and it’s been off the air now for a few years. Channel One, our Russian client, really felt they could produce a local version that would be terrific. They had such faith in the format that even though they had never done a one-hour prime-time format production, they wanted to try this one in prime time. We licensed them the format and they used the same production company that they use to produce motion pictures, and they produced an absolutely beautiful version. It was very successful and they have renewed it for a second season.

On the comedy side, Russians feel that their sense of humor is closely aligned with Americans’, which I think is really interesting. If you look at the shows they’re producing [based on U.S. formats], to a large degree they’re the half-hour comedies and they have worked well. They did a wonderful version of How I Met Your Mother, producing 40 episodes. Currently we have It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, as well as Malcolm in the Middle, in development. We also have the formats for two additional dramas, Bones and Tru Calling licensed in this market. Tru Calling is an interesting format idea. It was only produced for one season in the U.S., but again, sometimes international broadcasters feel there’s a real connection to a particular idea and even though it’s not been a wildly successful show that has generated 300 scripts, the broadcaster believes that the concept of the show is one that will resonate locally.

TV FORMATS: What are some of the other formats you’re working on?
EDWARDS: We’re in development on a new version of The Wonder Years in Latin America. The time frame of the show will be brought forward—it will be kids in the ’80s instead of kids in the ’60s. Our big U.S. hit Modern Family is available for local production and we’re going to do an original version in Israel. 

24 is kind of a crown jewel that we have recently announced for local production in India staring Anil Kapoor. Anil has great passion for this show, having played a pivotal role in season eight of the U.S. version, and will both produce and star as Jack Bauer in this new version. 

I think the creative community in Hollywood is excited about these local versions. It is exciting to see your show live on after it ends its run in the U.S., and fascinating to see how it is made relevant for the local culture.

We have found it difficult to produce a local version of a drama while the original version is still on air in first run, largely because they have a fairly high profile. We have more luck with both the local version and the original U.S. version of a comedy being on the air at the same time because it’s hard for a U.S. comedy to really pop and become a huge hit. 

TV FORMATS: It’s more difficult to adapt a scripted format than a game show or variety show, isn’t it?
EDWARDS: Adapting a scripted format can require a lot of involvement and a big commitment from the broadcaster. Prison Break for the Russian market was a format that didn’t require a huge amount of adaptation. One interesting thing they changed: a million dollars in rubles is not meaningful, a million dollars in diamonds is meaningful because their currency fluctuates in value too much. They had to make some changes that made it more relevant locally, but it didn’t require an enormous amount of change to the plot or characters. As we begin to see the work on 24 India it will be interesting to see the changes to localize the show. Certain formats adapt more easily than others do. The Wonder Years is going to be interesting because the original version is very much tied to a particular time in America, but there will be many local experiences that will create the same charming coming-of-age story we saw in the U.S. with the original. We’re in negotiations now for a version of Glee in China and it will be all local music. If it goes ahead, it will not have much in common with the domestic one-hour episodes that air here over 22 weeks. You really have to understand what the local market requires and adapt your business model to see if you can get a deal done that makes sense or not. Quite honestly, sometimes you can’t, but we always need to try. All these are ways that we look toward to strengthen our relationships with our partners, so it’s important for us, and it’s great when it’s important for them, too.