{"id":5448,"date":"2017-03-20T10:03:49","date_gmt":"2017-03-20T14:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/bbc-worldwides-sumi-connock\/"},"modified":"2017-03-22T16:21:50","modified_gmt":"2017-03-22T20:21:50","slug":"bbc-worldwides-sumi-connock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/bbc-worldwides-sumi-connock\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Worldwide\u2019s Sumi Connock"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sumi-Connock\"Sumi Connock is a self-described format geek. The new creative director for formats at BBC Worldwide has spent much of her career devising and exec producing formattable concepts. She has served as executive producer on BBC in-house productions like Just the Two of Us<\/em>; a commissioning editor at the BBC, overseeing such shows as Strictly It Takes Two<\/em> and Let Me Entertain You<\/em>; and creative director at ITV Studios. In her new post at BBC Worldwide, Connock oversees a portfolio of more than 160 titles, including the megabrands Strictly Come Dancing<\/em> (Dancing with the Stars<\/em>) and The Great British Bake Off<\/em>. She tells TV Formats<\/em> about what she looks for in new ideas, how to keep returning brands fresh and her plans for mining the deep BBC Worldwide library for classics that can be reinvigorated.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0What\u2019s your overall strategy for BBC Worldwide\u2019s format business?
\nCONNOCK:\u00a0<\/strong>The goal is to find the strongest creative IP and roll out those formats successfully in as many territories as possible. In terms of strategy, it\u2019s working really closely with our suppliers, whether that\u2019s indies, BBC Studios or our global production offices, to create the strongest IP in three key areas: the big shiny-floor prime-time entertainment shows like\u00a0Let It Shine<\/em>; the low-cost, high-volume formats, whether it\u2019s factual entertainment or game show or quiz, like\u00a0!mpossible<\/em>; and also the really strong formatted factual-entertainment ideas for peak.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0Tell us about the slate you unveiled at BBC Showcase that you\u2019ll be bringing to MIPTV.
\nCONNOCK:<\/strong>\u00a0We launched two of our big Saturday night formats.\u00a0Let It Shine<\/em>, from BBC Studios, is a prime-time shiny-floor talent show to create a new band. That\u2019s been well received and it\u2019s got some interest in a few key territories.\u00a0Let\u2019s Sing and Dance<\/em>\u00a0from Whizz Kid is pure comedy entertainment. We have another one coming later in the year,\u00a0Pitch Battle<\/em>, from Tuesday\u2019s Child, which is a brand-new competitive choir format. Because there\u2019s always that need for daily stripped entertainment shows, the low-cost, high-volume, we\u2019ll be taking\u00a0!mpossible<\/em>, which has a neat little mechanic when it comes to gameplay. We also have a new daytime quiz,\u00a0The Boss<\/em>, from BBC Studios. And we have two prime-time formatted factual-entertainment series that both have big international elements to them.\u00a0In Your Ear<\/em>\u00a0follows the story of someone going through a challenging week in their lives, whether it\u2019s a new job, coming home with newborn twins or bouncing back from a life-changing disability. We have a cast of wise sages from around the world, who, using modern technology, can watch what\u2019s going on in this person\u2019s life and offer advice. It has diverse cultural wisdom: mamas in Italy, New York cops, an Irish nun.\u00a0The Day I Fell to Earth<\/em>\u00a0is a life-swap show where you have two people at crossroads in their lives, and they are flown somewhere blindfolded and dropped into a brand-new life in a completely different country. Their counterpart, the person they swap with, often has parallels in terms of the roles they play within their family or the crossroads they are at in terms of their work life. It explores universal themes but allows the contributors to see them from entirely different perspectives.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0What has most impressed you about the breadth of the BBC formats offering?
\nCONNOCK:<\/strong>\u00a0We have two of the biggest global formats, with\u00a0Dancing with the Stars<\/em>, which is in over 50 countries, and\u00a0Bake Off<\/em>\u00a0in over 20 countries. I\u2019ve been incredibly impressed with how the international team and the central format teams roll these out so impressively around the world, and how that dialogue works between the production offices and the central teams. The way they roll them out so effectively, often on different budgets and different constraints, is fantastic. We have\u00a0Top Gear<\/em>, which is a huge title. We also have a fantastic slate of new titles to market. And we\u2019ve got a really strong back catalog\u2014shows like\u00a0Weakest Link<\/em>,\u00a0The Generation Game<\/em>,\u00a0Friends Like These<\/em>,\u00a0The Week the Women Went<\/em>, all of which are brilliant formats with simple but fantastically engaging premises.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0What are you hearing from buyers about the kinds of formats they\u2019re looking for?
\nCONNOCK:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s more about the feel rather than a specific type of format. It was reassuring to hear all our titles are being so well received. There\u2019s a steer towards that warm, feel-good programming, which I think our titles have in abundance.\u00a0The Day I Fell to Earth<\/em>\u00a0is all about spiritual as well as physical wellbeing.\u00a0In Your Ear<\/em>\u00a0is full of really warm characters. For me, and for the buyers, the future is all about feel-good formats.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0What qualities do you look for in projects to determine how formattable they are?
\nCONNOCK:<\/strong>\u00a0It needs to have a simple premise, one you can sell in a top-line, its USP. A universal theme that feels authentic\u2014that\u2019s key for viewers as well at the moment, a sense of authenticity and real-world relevance. If it\u2019s a quiz or a game show, I\u2019m looking for a unique concept with some neat mechanics and compelling play-along. Something like\u00a0You\u2019re Back in the Room<\/em>\u00a0from Tuesday\u2019s Child, which took the physical game show but then switched it up by hypnotizing the contestants, which gives hilarious results. That\u2019s now in seven countries, shortly due to air on FOX in the U.S. under the title\u00a0Hypnotize Me<\/em>. It\u2019s also asking, \u201cWhy would a format sell now?\u201d That comes down to it tonally feeling warm, having a lot of feel-good to it, that\u2019s what the audience wants in the current climate. And something we need to think about a little bit more is how it\u2019s going to help local broadcasters engage with their audience beyond a linear transmission. That\u2019s something I want to explore. We\u2019ve done it with dramas like\u00a0Thirteen<\/em>, which had its initial transmission on BBC Three and did amazingly well, with just under 8 million viewers, and was second highest rated on the iPlayer in March 2016. There was additional immersive content that was all commissioned as a full package from the start. So there was a website called blog.findthegirl.co.uk, and this helped the viewers stay engaged between the episodes. I\u2019m looking at that angle and seeing how the online content and social content can tie in with the linear as one proposition.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0How\u2019s your scripted format business?
\nCONNOCK:\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s particularly buoyant at the moment. We\u2019ve got a lot of interest in\u00a0Doctor Foster<\/em>, especially in advance of the second season later this year. We\u2019ve had the success of the second season of\u00a0Unforgotten<\/em>\u00a0in the U.K., which has spurred format interest in the U.S. and France. We\u2019ve got season five of\u00a0Orphan Black<\/em>\u00a0and have interest in that format in Asia. Also,\u00a0The Office<\/em>\u00a0recently launched in Finland. It was done as a box set, and most people had watched the whole thing in the first weekend. A lot of territories are looking for localized drama that\u2019s had proven success in the U.K., which we can provide. We\u2019re in a good place with our scripted formats.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0What most interests and excites you about the format business?
\nCONNOCK:\u00a0<\/strong>I just absolutely love formats. I\u2019m a bit of a format geek. It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s Saturday night entertainment, quizzes, game shows, reality\u2014I love the mechanics, I like the detail, I like the way they\u2019re shaped, and they give you a story. I love drilling down into the detail of a new format to see how it works. I genuinely, sadly, get quite excited when a new format comes to market, especially if it\u2019s unique or has a simple, clever idea at the heart of it. I love tuning in! On the other side, seeing a format rolled out globally with great success is satisfying and exciting.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0How do you collaborate with your international production teams on both the adaptation of brands and the creation of new ones?
\nCONNOCK:<\/strong>\u00a0That relationship with our international teams is hugely important to us. We talk on a regular basis. We work collaboratively with the global production offices, whether it\u2019s on new ideas or adaptations. It\u2019s safe to say they know their market best, so it\u2019s vital we have a close relationship and an ongoing dialogue with them. We\u2019ve also got a brilliant team of flying producers who are hands-on when it comes to rolling out the new formats and adapting them. They sit within our central team. We\u2019re making\u00a0Dancing with the Stars<\/em>\u00a0in Brazil for the first time this year, and this year was the first time we made the show in Ireland, for RT\u00c9. It\u2019s performing brilliantly. The first episode had a 42-percent share. It\u2019s also delivered a huge increase in their 16-to-34 demographic, which was the result of some clever casting. Also, in terms of working closely with the teams and doing things differently and always keeping it fresh, they have a Facebook Live show that goes out an hour before the live show on RT\u00c9 One. That\u2019s doing well. In Germany, they just launched season ten and they totally reinvented the launch show\u2014they did it in a new way. So we\u2019re always working closely with international production and actively promoting creative exchanges to keep everything fresh, while also ensuring we\u2019ve taken the brand and maintained the strength of the format. We do an annual creative exchange for\u00a0Dancing with the Stars<\/em>, so all the international showrunners fly in, and we share experiences, ideas, offer creative solutions and suggestions, which is hugely valuable to the global productions. We also held on to\u00a0Bake Off<\/em>.\u00a0 It makes sense to do that because we want to nurture our biggest global brands. We work closely with them.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0Are you mining the deep BBC Worldwide catalog for opportunities to revive classic brands?
\nCONNOCK:\u00a0<\/strong>We\u2019ve got loads of great formats. I love\u00a0The Generation Game<\/em>,\u00a0Weakest Link<\/em>,\u00a0Just the Two of Us<\/em>. There is a trend towards nostalgia, and we\u2019ve got some really strong formats that are ripe for reinvention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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