Winners Revealed for Fourth Edition of Format Awards

TV France International and La Fabrique des Formats have unveiled the winners of this year’s awards for the top exporting French format and the most promising format.

The Export Format Award 2018 went to The Big Music Quiz, an entertainment show co-developed by Endemol Shine France and Ardisson & Lumières. The program debuted in 2015 on TF1 in France as Le Grand Blind Test and has also aired in a number of other territories. It sees celebrities compete in challenges involving popular songs.

“We are very proud of this success, which illustrates the ambition of Endemol Shine France to bring our creativity and production expertise to the wider world, thanks to the power of our group,” commented Nicolas Coppermann, the president of Endemol Shine France.

The Format Special Award 2018 was given to Calls, which launched late last year and comes from the new Création Décalée label of Canal+. Based on an idea by Timothée Hochet and produced by Studio Bagel, the concept is to create a show entirely around sound and actors’ voices—without any images.

Arielle Saracco, the director of Pôle Créations Originales, said: “Calls, the first series which can be listened to, is also the first under the banner of Création Décalée. With its rule-breaking approach driven by young talent, it corresponds perfectly to the aims of this new label. Alongside the Création Originale and Création Documentaire banners, Création Décalée sets out to offer Canal+ subscribers the most audacious and original projects.”

Lorenzo Benedetti, the CEO at Studio Bagel Production, noted: “We discovered Timothé Hochet, the director and co-writer of Calls, more than two years ago. We produced several of his short films, including Reverse, Somnanbule, Histoire Vraie and Up Life, each of which saw him develop his talent further. They also added up to a coherent whole, marking him out as a genuine signature as an auteur. Then we saw the short film Calls, which he had written, directed and self-produced. We were surprised by its originality, just like the thousands of people who saw it on YouTube. We thought it was far and away the most original video posted on the web for years. We were immediately won over by the idea of making it into a series, and that this should be a project with high ambitions.”

Mathieu Béjot, the executive director of TV France International, and Philippe Chazal, the executive director of La Fabrique des Formats, added: “Congratulations to the two 2018 winners. We wish them the best of international success. With the Format Awards, we wish to recognize French creativity in the field of formats and to contribute to its international development.”