Something Special Wins Two KOCCA Funds

The Seoul-based format agency Something Special has won two top international KOCCA funds for 2022: the Format Lab Fund and the International Co-Production Fund.

The Format Lab Fund will allow Something Special to select three teams of Korean creative producers to develop new paper formats. Last year, two of the formats created from the fund were Quizzy Horror Show and Smashed Hits.

Something Special extended its partnership with Michael Yudin’s MY Entertainment Productions to produce the pilot of Quizzy Horror Show, which was created by Jiyoon Kim. The International Co-Production Fund will be used to produce the pilot.

Smashed Hits, meanwhile, has brought on Simon Lythgoe (Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance) as showrunner. The game show is being developed by MY Entertainment.

Something Special’s Jin Woo Hwang, president and executive director, and InSoon Kim, executive VP and head of content, said: “We are honored to be recognized by KOCCA with these two fantastic funds and will be utilizing them by collaborating with both Michael Yudin and other companies to promote Korean content and highlighting the work of our talented Korean producers to the world. We are also thrilled to have Simon Lythgoe attached to Smashed Hits, and with his participation, this is sure to be the next global hit which initiated in Korea.”

Michael Yudin, president of MY Entertainment, commented: “Some six months ago we started our relationship with Something Special, already knowing the quality of the partners involved. As many of these relationships are good press, they often, through nobody’s fault, go to the wayside. We are thrilled to have won the fund for Quizzy, and just as proud that Simon thought enough of Smashed Hits to come on board for the project. It goes to show ‘true’ collaborations, with mutual respect for one another, can and do, in fact, work!”

Simon Lythgoe, founder, president and executive producer of Legacy Productions, stated: “Smashed Hits is a new and exciting musical game show where contestants listen to their favorite mashed-up music and are challenged over various rounds to win cash and prizes that money can’t buy. Our Emmy-winning set designer, Andy Walmsley, has devised a fantastic interactive set with areas for our DJ, host, contestants, live band and a studio audience—who probably won’t stop dancing to all the awesome music. Combining the creative minds of producers in Seoul, New York and London has given this unique game show an international flair that will entertain audiences on a global scale.”