MIPTV Panel Spotlights Red Arrow Dating/Marriage Formats

CANNES: Red Arrow International’s hit formats Married at First Sight and Kiss Bang Love took center stage at a MIPTV panel moderated by World Screen’s Anna Carugati.

The session, Real Love: Dating, Marriage and Real Reality, was part of the Focus on Germany strand at MIPTV. It featured Henrik Pabst, managing director of Red Arrow International; Michael von Würden, managing director of Snowman Productions, originator of the two formats; Toby Faulkner, VP of programming and development at FYI; and Keri Lewis Brown, managing director of K7 Media.

“Everyone is looking for that pot of relationship gold at the end of the rainbow,” said Faulkner at FYI, which has seen great success with the American version of Married at First Sight.

In the show, participants get married on sight and then spend a few weeks determining if they want to stay together. It has been adapted in some 25 territories.

Red Arrow’s Pabst said he was a bit hesitant about the concept at first but then he saw the execution. “It was maybe the best trailer I’ve ever seen in my career. We took it to market and people were hunting us down to see it. All over our booth it was on. It’s so gripping.”

Lewis Brown said part of the show’s success lies in the casting. “They definitely want to get a match. You care about the couples and you want them to succeed. That is a gamechanger.”

Faulkner agreed, adding that the format starts from a “place of hope rather than negativity or conflict.” The American edition for FYI is in production on its fourth season.

Snowman’s von Würden says that his team stresses to broadcast and production partners that it should be the relationship experts, rather than the producers, matching participants.

As for casting the participants, “they must have tried a lot of different ways [to find a mate]. And then they must be extremely open and courageous. Handing over your potential love life to a group of experts is scary. I would never do it myself! The best cast for the show is actually people who don’t want to be on television. That’s the key to what we look for in the Danish version.”

It was the same for FYI, Faulkner said. “That gives you the relatability and the raw emotion. You want to root for them.”

Von Würden noted that with some of the people on the Danish version, “You would never have cast them for television because they’re so boring! But when you put them in this situation, it suddenly gets interesting. Now you have two people who are just as vulnerable and the only person they can relate to is their partner. Suddenly they blossom.”

Pabst was asked about how much broadcasters can adapt the format to their needs. “Not a lot. We make sure partners are following what we experienced. Otherwise you end up with a different show. We are strict. We keep a very careful eye on it.”

The panelists then spoke about Kiss Bang Love. In it, singletons kiss while blindfolded. They are selected by relationship experts and friends of the single person. They choose the five best kisses and then meet those people again for a second. He or she then spends a night each with two finalists, and one is selected to go off on a romantic holiday with.

Pabst said the show was presold in nine territories before it made it to air.