{"id":10411,"date":"2024-03-25T08:50:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T12:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2024-03-26T09:43:10","modified_gmt":"2024-03-26T13:43:10","slug":"property-virgins-gets-a-refresh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/property-virgins-gets-a-refresh\/","title":{"rendered":"Property Virgins\u00a0Gets a Refresh"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following the experiences of first-time homebuyers, Property Virgins\u00a0<\/em>hit the scene more than a decade and a half ago and proved a staple with 12 seasons in the library. Now, the show is getting a reboot, courtesy of Cineflix Productions.<\/p>\n

\u201cProperty Virgins<\/em>\u00a0is one of those evergreen lifestyle formats that remains relevant no matter what decade, so I kept an eye out for the right moment to take it back out,\u201d says J.C. Mills, president and head of content at Cineflix Productions and executive producer on\u00a0Property Virgins<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in the day, the market conditions allowed production studios, like Cineflix, to own their IP, which in turn helped them grow,\u201d he continues. \u201cThe original deal with HGTV was done as a license, so we knew exactly when the episodes would come back to us if they weren\u2019t relicensed. When they weren\u2019t relicensed, that became the moment to push for a reboot. We had produced over 200 episodes for HGTV in the U.S. and Canada since the show first aired in 2006, so it proved itself to be a very bankable IP.\u201d<\/p>\n

After doing a quick scan of the market, A&E\u2019s Home.Made.Nation lifestyle block was identified as the perfect place for a reboot. Cineflix also saw the potential to relicense the library episodes as a way to build brand awareness in advance of the new episodes. \u201cThe entire team at A&E\u2019s Home.Made.Nation\u2014from Mark Apter on the programming side to Teri Kennedy and Jordan Harman on the development and production side\u2014instantly recognized the value in that strategy,\u201d Mills says. \u201cOnce all the deals were locked in, we started the search for our new host.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wendy Wolfe, a celebrated radio and TV personality and one of Toronto\u2019s top realtors, has assumed the mantle of host for the reboot, which debuts March 30.<\/p>\n

There are several keys to rebooting a format, explains Mills. \u201cYou have to ask yourself, Is now the right time? We all know how difficult it is to get a project greenlit at this point, and it gets infinitely more difficult to take something back out once you were unsuccessful the first time around. You need to nail the timing. That\u2019s easy to say, but how exactly do you do that? I look at the buying patterns in the content market, the types and genres of shows that are getting traction, talent-led versus story-led, what\u2019s in the zeitgeist, etc. For\u00a0Property Virgins<\/em>\u00a0specifically, we constantly keep hearing that the state of the housing market is preventing generations from becoming homeowners. Rising interest rates, an unstable economy and a lack of inventory all play a role in the inability of those looking to buy their first home. If you\u2019re fortunate enough to be in a position to get into the home-buying market, the road is littered with first-time home buyers who got in over their heads. This is where\u00a0Property Virgins<\/em>\u00a0comes in. Our goal is not only to entertain but to leave the viewer feeling more prepared for their home-buying journey than when they started watching.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHost-driven formats, like\u00a0Property Virgins<\/em>, live and die based on the host that\u2019s chosen,\u201d Mills says. This is even trickier when you are rebooting a format that had different hosts throughout its history, like Egypt Sherrod. \u201cWe did a large casting process that canvassed the greater Toronto area for a few months before we felt like we had a short list to run by Teri and Jordan,\u201d he adds. \u201cI was adamant that we needed to shoot run-throughs with each potential short-listed host to see them in action, and the network was fully on board\u2014we had one chance to get this right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tanya Blake, executive producer, and Mills quickly locked on to Wolfe during the run-throughs, and so did the network. \u201cAfter that, we modernized the graphics package, removed the host stand-up that began previous versions and made sure that the look and feel was as current as anything else in the space while catering to the takeaway-hungry A&E\u2019s Home.Made.Nation audience,\u201d Mills says.<\/p>\n

The property genre is perennially popular, but in terms of what\u2019s trending now in this space, Mills says it\u2019s as wide-open as it ever has been. \u201cYou have the streamers, which do well with shows [like]\u00a0Selling Sunset<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Luxe Listings<\/em>, that are more focused on ensemble casts in escapist worlds, [which] Bravo has done so well for so long with titles like\u00a0Million Dollar Listing<\/em>. HGTV has long been the standard bearer for shows in the home category, which is why we\u2019re thrilled to be in production on season one of\u00a0Building Paradise<\/em>\u00a0(w.t.) for the network. It\u2019s going to have more of a documentary feel than what you\u2019d expect from HGTV in years past, but that\u2019s why we\u2019re all excited by it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds that A&E\u2019s Home.Made.Nation seems to be carving out its own place in the market by leaning into the takeaway for the audience. \u201cThe beauty of the property genre is that it can be dialed up and tweaked such that it can fit anywhere: broadcast, linear (prime or access prime), SVOD, AVOD, etc. It\u2019s extremely versatile.\u201d<\/p>\n

The current state of the marketplace, Mills says, is, \u201cto put it mildly, challenging. The pure streamers\u2014Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV+ and, to a lesser extent, Disney+\u2014realized that reducing churn is as important, if not more important, than getting new subscribers. That means that you can commission less and license more, especially when only a small percentage of your catalog is viewed by a substantial number of your subscribers. Spend less on commissions and license shows from cable only after that show has become a hit. You have very little risk and get a hit show that your younger audience will think is a streaming original\u2014kind of genius.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs for linear cable, if the dollars into the system are diminishing and the business is contracting, the fact is that the networks simply have fewer dollars to take bets,\u201d he continues. \u201cThat is good news for production companies with long-running hits. As long as the train stays on the track and the ratings are in a nice place, you\u2019re likely getting renewed with a big order. Why? Known quantity equals less risk; unknown quantity equals more risk. What that means, however, is that the \u2018real estate\u2019 has shrunk for new shows to enter the schedule. So, how do you buy \u2018new\u2019 shows and limit risk? You take a timely bet on an established brand, cast awesome talent at the front and modernize the look and feel of the finished product. What do you get…?\u00a0Property Virgins<\/em>\u00a0coming soon to A&E\u2019s Home.Made.Nation!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

J.C. Mills, president and head of content at Cineflix Productions, on rebooting Property Virgins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":350,"featured_media":10412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,69],"tags":[3666,3664,3663,3665],"class_list":["post-10411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-features","category-top-stories","tag-ae","tag-cineflix-productions","tag-j-c-mills","tag-property-virgins","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nProperty Virgins\u00a0Gets a Refresh - 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\/property-virgins-gets-a-refresh\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Property Virgins\u00a0Gets a Refresh - TVFORMATS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"J.C. 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