{"id":9890,"date":"2023-08-28T08:50:43","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T12:50:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2023-08-29T09:44:01","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T13:44:01","slug":"theyearofelan-productions-elan-gale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/theyearofelan-productions-elan-gale\/","title":{"rendered":"TheYearofElan Productions\u2019 Elan Gale"},"content":{"rendered":"

FBoy Island<\/em>\u00a0took the world by storm when it debuted in 2021, breaking through the crowded dating reality genre. Creator Elan Gale and his TheYearofElan Productions seemed to have cracked the code on creating a buzzy format that cuts through and takes off globally. Since its debut,\u00a0FBoy Island<\/em>\u00a0has been remade in Denmark, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands and Australia, and The CW has even greenlit a spin-off,\u00a0FGirl Island<\/em>. Building on the success even more, TheYearofElan scored an overall deal with ITV America earlier this year. Gale tells\u00a0TV Formats<\/em>\u00a0about what makes\u00a0FBoy Island<\/em>\u00a0stand out and what the ITV America deal means for TheYearofElan and any future formats it develops.<\/p>\n

\"***Image***\"TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0In a crowded dating reality genre,\u00a0FBoy Island<\/em>\u00a0really stood out and became a hit when it launched in 2021. What about it made it so appealing, and why was 2021 the perfect time to launch it?
\nGALE:<\/strong>\u00a0There\u2019s been so much dating content out there for so long. It\u2019s getting harder and harder to break through. What we tried to do with\u00a0FBoy Island<\/em>\u00a0was respect our audience\u2019s awareness of the tropes of the genre and really let them in on the joke. There\u2019s so much of a distance in reality TV sometimes between what the joke is for people making it and what they let the audience in on. We tried to make a show that didn\u2019t take itself too seriously, and that speaks to your question about why 2021. We shot the first show early in the pandemic when vaccines were first made available. There was a lot of uncertainty and fear worldwide, and people really were anxious for content that was a little bit more frivolous, less serious, a little lighter, where the stakes were low. And that\u2019s what\u00a0FBoy Island<\/em>\u00a0has tried to do to separate itself from some other dating shows. Our stakes are really low. It doesn\u2019t really matter. Your life is not going to change, just like how most of dating is! Part of our approach was always: Dating is fun, dating is funny, and dating is weird, and for the most part, dating is an unserious endeavor, so let\u2019s make a show that\u2019s equally unserious.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0What must be at the heart of each\u00a0FBoy Island<\/em>\u00a0adaptation, no matter where it is remade?
\nGALE:<\/strong>\u00a0[There are] two things that are really important. One, the leads need to be empowered to make decisions and not have the format dictate what kind of relationship they want to establish. It\u2019s OK for the leads on our show to date an f-boy if that\u2019s what they feel like. We\u2019re not being prescriptive. You can have different storylines. Not everyone has to want the same kind of relationship. So, that\u2019s really important; allowing the three leads, the three women, to go on their own journey and chart their own course. The second thing is it has to be comedic. It cannot take itself seriously. It cannot be important. And the host has to, at any time when things feel a little bit too earnest, remind us that this is a television show and not real life.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0Are there any ways that the format has been altered in other territories, and has there been anything from one of the international adaptations that you would incorporate into the original?
\nGALE:<\/strong>\u00a0The thing that has been most interesting in looking at some of the international versions so far is the way they play more with these big group activities. We don\u2019t do a lot of challenge-type things in the American version. That\u2019s something I\u2019ve really been inspired by, seeing the different creative ideas from around the world. Additionally, there have been so many different uses with the hosts and the way that they eke comedy out of the specific cultural touchstones that exist in each dating landscape. Some of those ideas I look at and go, \u2018Wow, we have to try that!\u2019 Because it may be very different here in America. And as we go into our third season, there are a few things that we\u2019ve seen abroad that we want to bring back home.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0Earlier this year, The CW greenlit the series\u2019 first spin-off,\u00a0FGirl Island<\/em>. Is there anything you can share about that?
\nGALE:<\/strong>\u00a0I think f-boys and f-boy culture have been running amok for many years, especially in Los Angeles, where I live. I think they have some in New York, also. [Laughs<\/em>] I think that the age of f-girls being unapologetic is upon us, and I think you\u2019re going to see new stories you\u2019ve never been able to see in reality dating shows before because we just haven\u2019t made space for it. I think that oftentimes, our leads have been pigeon-holed into wanting traditional, heteronormative values, and I think that\u00a0FGirl Island<\/em>\u00a0is going to let us unleash a wide variety of different interests and explore lots of individual personalities that shows that are more straightforward don\u2019t have the opportunity to explore and allow for. I think people are going to be celebrating f-girl culture in a way they\u2019re not expecting.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0You worked for many years as a producer for shows in\u00a0The Bachelor<\/em>\u00a0franchise. What are some of the things you learned from working on those that you incorporated into creating\u00a0FBoy Island<\/em>\u00a0and other formats?
\nGALE:<\/strong>\u00a0The most valuable thing that I learned from getting to work on dating shows that were so successful for so long is that the contestants are really, really complex and interesting people. Everyone is different. The more we allow them to be complex and to not fit into straight and narrow paths, the more interesting things get. I think it\u2019s very common for us to see people as two-dimensional characters because we\u2019re looking at them on a flat screen. I think we [should] take the time to allow those characters to evolve and change and see where they need to improve or see where maybe they\u2019re a little too hard on themselves and should be kinder to themselves. Allowing space for characters, through scene work, to become three-dimensional is where these shows shine and where the viewer feels like they\u2019re actually watching someone they know. When we did that on other shows, it always worked really nicely. In\u00a0FBoy Island<\/em>, and moving forward in all of our formats, we\u2019re really trying to leave room to let characters take the lead and have format fall a bit to the side.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0TheYearofElan Productions inked an overall deal with ITV America a few months ago. Tell me about that and what it means for producing new formats.
\nGALE:<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s a very exciting time for me and for all of us. What we really like to do is try to push the boundaries of what\u2019s possible. We try to take new approaches when it comes to traditional formats and traditional storytelling. ITV [has] this incredible track record, abundant production services and really all of the mechanics in place to deliver shows beautifully and on time and on budget. Having that backbone behind all of our formats allows me to be much freer creatively. I don\u2019t really have to think too much about what\u2019s possible anymore because I have these great partners that allow us the freedom and flexibility to reach for the moon and come up with the craziest, wackiest, most psychotic shit we can possibly imagine, but still know that for me, there\u2019s an adult in the room who\u2019s going to hold my hand and say, \u2018OK, Elan, take it easy, we still have to make a television show.\u2019 I think where chaos and order come together, that\u2019s where success is. So, in creating all these new formats, we\u2019re going to continue to come up with big, loud, buzzy, insane shows and character arcs and people that you will fall in love with. Because at the end of the day, we\u2019re nothing without our incredible cast members and allowing them to shine. ITV and our partnership creates a structure that\u2019s so solid that there\u2019s space to move within the walls.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong>\u00a0Is there anything you\u2019d like to add about what else you and TheYearofElan Productions are currently working on?
\nGALE:<\/strong>\u00a0We started working together [with ITV America] just [a few] months ago full time, and we\u2019ve already put together a pretty incredible and dynamic slate for the next 12 months. We\u2019re just ready to go and ready to hit the open market and try to create some new stuff. One of the first ones we\u2019re doing is a new relationship show that is based on a very, very bizarre experience I had in my first serious relationship; so, again, drawing from real-life experiences and seeing how other people react to things that other people have done before. \u2018Social experiment\u2019 is a term that gets thrown around a lot, but really trying to figure out how we can put people in new and interesting situations where they can learn more about themselves and from that, the audience can see themselves reflected back. That\u2019s what we\u2019re most excited about and diving headfirst into now. Hopefully, you\u2019ll be hearing a lot from us soon because we\u2019ve had a lot of coffee, and we\u2019re ready to go!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The FBoy Island creator talks about what makes\u00a0the hit format\u00a0stand out in the crowded dating genre and discusses the overall deal between ITV America and his TheYearofElan Productions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1412,"featured_media":9891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,69],"tags":[2982,2262,2983],"class_list":["post-9890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-interviews","category-top-stories","tag-elan-gale","tag-fboy-island","tag-theyearofelan-productions","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nTheYearofElan Productions\u2019 Elan Gale - 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\/theyearofelan-productions-elan-gale\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TheYearofElan Productions\u2019 Elan Gale - TVFORMATS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The FBoy Island creator talks about what makes\u00a0the hit format\u00a0stand out in the crowded dating genre and discusses the overall deal between ITV America and his TheYearofElan Productions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/theyearofelan-productions-elan-gale\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVFORMATS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-28T12:50:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-29T13:44:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2017\/07\/ElanGale-CreditStormSantos-0823.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"320\" \/>\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=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/theyearofelan-productions-elan-gale\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/theyearofelan-productions-elan-gale\/\",\"name\":\"TheYearofElan Productions\u2019 Elan Gale - TVFORMATS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-28T12:50:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-29T13:44:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/theyearofelan-productions-elan-gale\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/theyearofelan-productions-elan-gale\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/theyearofelan-productions-elan-gale\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TheYearofElan Productions\u2019 Elan Gale\"}]},{\"@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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