SPTI, Base Camp in Development Deal

CULVER CITY/LOS ANGELES, January 22: Sony Pictures
Television International (SPTI) has inked a format development and series
production agreement with reality production outfit Base Camp Films in order to
ramp up the rollout of original formats on its suite of international networks.

The deal comes following the success of local versions of
third-party formats such as The Amazing Race on AXN Asia, Big Brother
and Strictly Come Dancing on SET
India and Idol on SET India and
SET Latin America. “While we’ve found great success with third party formats …
SPTI’s international networks are continuously seeking out homegrown,
commercial formats with multiplatform extensions which our networks can own and
control,” said Marie Jacobson, SPTI’s senior VP of programming and production
for international networks.

Base Camp principals Brady Connell and Jim Jusko will
executive produce projects developed under the deal and adapt formats developed
or acquired overseas by SPTI for sale in the U.S. Base Camp’s relationship with
SPTI dates back to the Ford-sponsored No Boundaries, which Jusko and Connell executive produced for AXN
channels in Asia, Latin America and Europe, as well as U.S. and Canadian
networks.

As part of the agreement, the first format in active
development is Base Camp’s Six Degrees of X,
which tests the theory that all people are somehow connected by only six
degrees of separation. “Six Degrees of X is great TV and opens the door for compelling extensions in the web
and mobile space,” said Jacobson. “We’re actively developing it out to pilot
across our SPTI networks later this year.”

SPTI is also fast-tracking the development of a
cross-platform interactive “crime-solving” project known as MyCrime. To be
produced with Base Camp for SPTI’s international channels and networked with
Internet and wireless devices, MyCrime is set for global launch in the middle of this year.