{"id":10287,"date":"2024-02-05T08:50:30","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T13:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2024-02-06T16:35:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T21:35:41","slug":"food-for-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/food-for-thought\/","title":{"rendered":"Food for Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cooking competitions represent some of the biggest formats in the world\u2014Banijay\u2019s MasterChef<\/em>\u00a0alone is in 70 markets globally. The culinary space is pretty crowded now, with many other shows attempting to replicate the success of the\u00a0MasterChef<\/em>s and\u00a0The Great<\/em>\u00a0Bake Off<\/em>s of the world. But how does one make a competition that both stands out in an oversaturated arena but is also good enough to stand\u00a0beside<\/em>\u00a0the others in key slots?<\/p>\n

\u201cKey to all new formats is their having a singular point of view and tone that is entirely their own, and this is especially true if you\u2019re broadcasting shows from the same genre,\u201d says John Hesling, executive VP and head of FOX Alternative Entertainment, which has a wide slate of culinary formats, including\u00a0Kitchen Nightmares<\/em>,\u00a0Next Level Chef<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Crime Scene Kitchen<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It is imperative that each new culinary competition brings its own unique elements to the table. \u201cCrime Scene Kitchen<\/em>\u00a0looks and feels very different to other competition formats like\u00a0Next Level Chef<\/em>,\u00a0MasterChef<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0Hell\u2019s Kitchen<\/em>,\u201d Hesling notes. \u201cIt takes itself less seriously and embraces the eccentricity of the whole premise of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the FOX series, bakers must decode what type of dessert was made based on the crumbs and flour trails left behind in the kitchen. They must then re-create the recipe for celebrity judges, who determine how closely the bakers\u2019 dishes match the missing dessert. This competition based around hunting for clues also engages viewers, as they can play along with the sleuthing.<\/p>\n

Izzet Pinto, founder and CEO of Global Agency, agrees that each new format introduced in a popular genre must have a distinctive element. \u201cFor example, a rotating kitchen is the distinctive element in\u00a0The Rolling Kitchen<\/em>,\u201d he explains. Two couples compete to create dishes on a stage that rotates 180 degrees every ten minutes. The contest \u201crequires mental agility, flexibility and a cool head in a race against time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Incorporating \u201ceveryday,\u201d untrained people into the series is another way to help these formats stand out and feel more relatable to viewers.<\/p>\n

SIPUR and Heroes Formats teamed up for\u00a0SUPERmarketCHEF<\/em>, which sees home cooks recruited at neighborhood supermarkets travel to a shiny floor to compete in cooking a dish with ingredients they purchased at the store. \u201cWhen you see regular people, you see ordinary ingredients, and you see people that a lot of times you wouldn\u2019t see in cooking shows because they are not aiming to be a master chef,\u201d explains Zipi Rozenblum, head of unscripted formats at SIPUR. But \u201cthey are the best cook in their whole neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

When you turn on a cooking show with trained chefs, the ingredients they cook with are often very expensive, \u201cand a lot of families cannot buy these high-end materials,\u201d Rozenblum notes. \u201cNot only that, [but] you need to have a very high skill in order to make the dishes. So, we try to create escapism [with\u00a0SUPERmarketCHEF<\/em>], but escapism that is affordable for everybody. When you watch the show, you celebrate simple things. This is how it\u2019s different from other cooking shows. You celebrate the chicken soup that your mother used to cook you when you were sick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Uprising Kitchen<\/em>, from Global Agency, also brings in relatively untrained contestants, with a housewife and a novice competing against a first-class chef, who faces challenges to even out the playing field. \u201cThe show offers a new twist on cooking shows by pitting a top chef against a housewife celeb and an amateur cooking celeb,\u201d Pinto says. \u201cThis creates an interesting dynamic and makes the competition more exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid increasingly tumultuous economic conditions, these types of culinary formats are ripe for modifications in order to fit different territories\u2019 and broadcasters\u2019 budgets. For one, cooking competitions are often \u201copen to sponsorships, so this is a situation that whets the appetite of advertisers,\u201d Pinto says.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big part of [SUPERmarketCHEF<\/em>] is to be branded,\u201d Rozenblum notes. \u201cWe need the supermarket in order to film the show.\u201d Various chains could serve as sponsors for the series in different regions, easing any squeeze on budgets.<\/p>\n

FOX Alternative Entertainment\u2019s Hesling names other various factors that can be tweaked for different budgets: set size, varying the number of contestants, mixing up the skill level of the hosts and judges, stripping down the show and more.<\/p>\n

Rozenblum concurs. \u201cIf you have a big territory, build a shiny floor,\u201d for\u00a0SUPERmarketCHEF<\/em>. \u201cIf you have a smaller territory, don\u2019t do that. Go to the biggest brand of [supermarket], build ten small kitchens in that place and film on location. You can do that. It will still tell the same story.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are plenty of other opportunities to gain brand sponsorships and ease the burden on budgets as well, especially if you think slightly outside of the box. \u201cNormally, we\u00a0drive<\/em>\u00a0to the supermarket,\u201d notes Pavel Cherepin, co-founder of Heroes Formats. \u201cSo, it\u2019s maybe time to present some automotive brands. It\u2019s time to promote new features, [like] how you can open a trunk when your hands are full, [and then] laugh about how you come out of the supermarket with full hands when you enter [it with the goal of] buying one package of milk.\u201d<\/p>\n

This ability to tailor these types of shows for varying budgets underscores Cherepin\u2019s declaration that \u201cthe time for formats as formats has passed. Now, it\u2019s time for formats as solutions. It\u2019s [time for] formats as multiplatform, multilayered content solutions for any types and any means of broadcasting.\u201d<\/p>\n

This includes the ability to broadcast the formats in various time slots, depending on broadcasters\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n

Hesling notes that \u201cglobally, [cooking formats] tend to be in access, daytime or daily strip. This changed markedly with\u00a0MasterChef<\/em>, which was one of the first cooking competition shows to get into prime time because Gordon Ramsay is such a massive talent, and the format is bulletproof. Since\u00a0MasterChef<\/em>\u00a0paved the way, other cooking competitions have flourished in prime time, including\u00a0Next Level Chef<\/em>,\u00a0Hell\u2019s Kitchen<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0The Great British Bake Off<\/em>, to name a few.\u00a0MasterChef<\/em>\u00a0is the perfect example of a show that started out in daytime\/access and moved into prime time by structuring the format tightly and increasing the number of contestants, modifying the size of the set and adding big-name judges alongside Gordon Ramsay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Global Agency\u2019s cooking formats tend to be for daytime slots, Pinto agrees that modifying parts of the format can easily allow it to move to prime time, such as having celebrities join as contestants or judges.<\/p>\n

Although the formats arena is already chock full of culinary competitions, and it might seem daunting to pitch a brand-new one, producers shouldn\u2019t be hesitant to try their hand at it. \u201cA crowded space means everybody wants to watch it,\u201d SIPUR\u2019s Rozenblum points out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several producers and distributors share what a new culinary competition format needs to stand out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1412,"featured_media":10293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,69],"tags":[1969,101,3401,188,2891,3572,3402,3571],"class_list":["post-10287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-features","category-top-stories","tag-fox-alternative-entertainment","tag-global-agency","tag-heroes-formats","tag-izzet-pinto","tag-john-hesling","tag-pavel-cherepin","tag-sipur","tag-zipi-rozenblum","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nFood for Thought - TVFORMATS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/food-for-thought\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Food for Thought - TVFORMATS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Several producers and distributors share what a new culinary competition format needs to stand out.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/food-for-thought\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVFORMATS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-05T13:50:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-06T21:35:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2024\/02\/FOXAlternativeEntertainment-CrimeSceneKitchen-0224.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jamie Stalcup\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jamie Stalcup\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/food-for-thought\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/food-for-thought\/\",\"name\":\"Food for Thought - TVFORMATS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-05T13:50:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-06T21:35:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/food-for-thought\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/food-for-thought\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/food-for-thought\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Food for Thought\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/\",\"name\":\"TVFORMATS\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb\",\"name\":\"Jamie Stalcup\",\"description\":\"Jamie Stalcup is the executive editor of World Screen. 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