Horsepower Formats Incubator Goes International

Media Ranch has aligned with Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) for the first international edition of the Horsepower incubator, training participants in the writing and pitching of global unscripted formats.

Horsepower is a proprietary talent incubator created by Media Ranch to foster new talent in the creation of unscripted television formats. Formats from the incubator have been optioned around the world.

It was launched by Media Ranch in partnership with Quebecor and was first held in Montreal, Canada, in 2018. Highlights from past years include partnerships with TF1, Quebecor, La Fabrique des Formats and deals with The CW, Diga Studios, Wheelhouse and Ubisoft.

Following its successful run in Quebec, this is the first time Horsepower will be conducted internationally. Talks have already begun for other countries.

The event is organized by the Lithuanian creative enterprise The Ethnic Kitchen Productions in partnership with Media Ranch, the Embassy of Canada to Lithuania and LRT.

Taking place in Vilnius, the workshops will be given by Media Ranch’s head of storytelling Philip Kalin-Hajdu, who has run the program since its inception. The program will conclude with pitches of the original formats created by participants to decision-makers from LRT and Media Ranch. LRT will pick one project that they would like to pursue in co-development. Media Ranch will board one (or more) projects as an international distributor.

Media Ranch’s founder and CEO, Sophie Ferron, said: “Horsepower has been such a dynamic vehicle for launching new IP and reaching new voices for the creation of formats. Media Ranch is thrilled to launch the first international version with LRT and Ethnic Kitchen in Lithuania and looks forward to seeing amazing formats emerge.”

Kalin-Hajdu said: “We are grateful to Aiste at Ethnic Kitchen, LRT and the Embassy of Canada to Lithuania for this event. The beauty of formats is that they are, by nature, adaptable and serve to illustrate the commonalities between audiences while celebrating our uniqueness. Horsepower continues to prove that local talent has the capacity to create for global audiences. We are thrilled to be bringing the program to Lithuania.”

Aiste Ptakauske at Ethnic Kitchen added: “In Europe alone, the TV formats industry generates over three billion euros per year. Although the U.K. has been the biggest European exporter of TV formats for a long time, other European countries, such as the Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark and Norway, have lately been stepping on its heels. Lithuania is, unfortunately, not a contender in the global TV formats industry yet. My hope is that Horsepower in Vilnius will provide Lithuanian creators with the knowledge and ambition to develop TV formats for global audiences.”

Andrius Korenka, head of the TV department at LTR, commented: “Every year, before launching our public tender for TV programs, we hold special meetings with Lithuanian producers with the goal of conveying to them our expectations and our audience’s preferences. New opportunities to learn about the most current trends of the global TV formats industry and possibilities to adapt them to the Lithuanian TV industry will be a very valuable experience for us and all our collaborators.”