{"id":14451,"date":"2020-04-22T09:00:50","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T13:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2020-04-23T09:25:28","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T13:25:28","slug":"howd-they-do-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/howd-they-do-that\/","title":{"rendered":"How\u2019d They Do That?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest evolutions in the diverse pop-science genre, where everything from engineering shows to motoring series are in demand.<\/em><\/p>\n

The simple flush of a toilet belies the almost unimaginable complexities of cities\u2019 sewer systems. The beep of a microwave oven signals the end of a journey that required incredible innovations in food science. The click of a TV remote ignites a chain reaction so you can flip on your favorite shows.<\/p>\n

Inside the devices and systems we use every day is a world of tiny marvels. The inventiveness, imagination and innovation of the modern world continue to fuel the demand for pop-science series that let viewers take a magnifying glass to the things around them.<\/p>\n

Offering insight into the ingenious innovations that have rocked our world, ZDF\u2008Enterprises\u2019 Great Inventions<\/em> examines everything from common everyday items (think batteries and denim jeans) to those that have had a profound impact on the world (like satellites and X-rays). \"***Image***\"The series, which spotlights the greatest inventions of mankind, was initiated, self-commissioned and fully financed by ZDF Enterprises.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you just take a look around at all the objects that surround you in your daily life\u2014the subway, the jeans you wear, the watch on your arm, the screen in front of you, the telephone you use\u2014there are so many stories behind these inventions that need to be told,\u201d says Ralf R\u00fcckauer, VP of ZDFE.unscripted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018how it\u2019s made,\u2019 category is really the driver of the market in this space,\u201d says Simona Argenti, the head of sales at TCB Media Rights, which has popular offerings such as Wicked Inventions<\/em> and How Hacks Work<\/em>, featuring a panel of comedians and scientists who explain various \u201clife hacks.\u201d
\nSeries that offer viewers inside access to various processes or locations also consistently pique viewers\u2019 interests. \u201cShows like How Did They Build That?<\/em>are still selling well for us,\u201d Argenti says. Additionally, series like The Production Line<\/em>, which looks at iconic and famous brands, always grab audiences\u2019 attention, she contends.<\/p>\n

Audiences are also gripped by the narrative being woven on top of the visuals that make them feel privy to private worlds. \u201cThe high production value is attractive, but viewers stay for the\u00a0storytelling,\u201d says Hud Woodle, executive VP of international sales and operations at GRB Studios. \u201cIt always goes back to the storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

ENGINEERING DEMAND<\/strong>
\nThe engineering and technology genres are seeing an upswing in nearly every market around the world. Orange Smarty, for one, has seen a great performance from Inside Jaguar: A Supercar is Reborn<\/em>, an engineering documentary that follows a team of automotive artisans as they hand build the Jaguar XKSS from scratch. In the same vein is GRB\u2019s Tech Toys 360<\/em>, one of the company\u2019s most popular pop-science programs. The series gives viewers \u201cthe story behind the coolest gear, from personal flying machines to supercars, and interviews with inventors and exclusive tours of the factories that produce these gadgets,\u201d Woodle says.<\/p>\n

TCB\u2019s Abandoned Engineering<\/em>, meanwhile, showcases what went wrong in the construction of monumental projects. Behind closed doors, many of these structures, once set to be marvels of modern engineering, fell prey to bureaucracy or financial complications that resulted in them being proverbially left for dead. Massive Engineering Mistakes<\/em>, too, explores the failures in huge building projects, from Baltimore\u2019s crumbling sewer system to bridges with structural issues. Argenti says that both series have consistently done well for TCB, and the engineering category is \u201cprominent in the market at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, GRB\u2019s Man at Arms: Art of War<\/em> explores engineering from a different angle. \u201cThis fun show highlights weapons from famous movies or TV shows, like\u00a0Conan\u00a0the <\/em>Barbarian<\/em> or Game of Thrones<\/em>, and then talented artists re-create the\u00a0weapons,\u201d says Woodle.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngineering, technology and space always remain popular, particularly for the male-skewing channels and slots,\u201d says Amy Kemp, Orange Smarty\u2019s head of sales.<\/p>\n

However, Kemp notes that the greatest demand in the pop-science genre is for eco-themed fare. \u201cThe biggest thirst at the moment is for environmental programs that address climate change and sustainability,\u201d she says. \u201cThe importance of these issues is echoed around the world, and therefore it\u2019s a topic that is high up on the wish list for many broadcasters.\u201d<\/p>\n

PUMP UP THE VOLUME<\/strong>
\nPop-science shows can help broadcasters with schedule gaps to fill. Great Inventions,<\/em> for example, is catered to channels \u201cthat need to fill in or create a new slot,\u201d ZDFE.unscripted\u2019s R\u00fcckauer explains. \u201cWith 35 episodes as a start, you may establish a weekly slot for one year. So DTT channels and specialist factual broadcasters will love this series. Aside from that\u2014and at the same time\u2014it is the perfect match for binge-watchers on streaming platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

All episodes have been produced in English, so the aim is for an international audience, R\u00fcckauer says. \u201cAll stories and content are very global,\u201d he adds. \u201cPeople wear jeans all over the planet so an episode like this should resonate with everybody around the globe. As a second step, one could think about a more local approach. We are looking forward to getting some local input from our clients as I could imagine it would be very interesting to have different versions with different experts created by producers in different countries and languages. This could make the strand more diverse and broaden views on \u2018great inventions.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

PLEASED TO PRESENT<\/strong>
\nProducers always keep in mind their potential market when chewing over the perennial question of how to present a pop-science topic to audiences. Sometimes, series need to be anchored with a host and given a little bit of a human touch. But for distributors, it can be a tough sell if a series has a person fronting it because it narrows the potential market. Hosts mean personality, but locality as well. So how do you strike the right balance between the two? \u201cThere\u2019s really no formula to it, it\u00a0just\u00a0depends on meeting the audience demands,\u201d says GRB\u2019s Woodle.\u00a0\u201cAs many options as we can have with\u00a0versioning a show, the better a show can perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orange Smarty\u2019s Kemp agrees that it all depends\u2014on the buyer, on the presenter and on the territory. If the presenter is well-known internationally, they can lend some credibility to the series and some broadcasters\u2019 ears might perk up just hearing their name. \u201cHowever, for some channels, a presenter is less appealing, as they prefer non-hosted versions in order to localize,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cU.K. audiences like a U.K. base and broadcasters like to be able to sell a show on familiar faces, and it\u2019s the same [in the U.S.],\u201d says Nick Tanner, Passion Distribution\u2019s director of sales and co-productions. \u201cBut ultimately, the utility value of a pop-science or factual series is higher if it\u2019s presenter-less. It\u2019s an important factor when we\u2019re looking at the potential for any given show because hosts are so subjective.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor pop science, I find it quite good when there\u2019s a talent, and they draw out the stories and try experiments,\u201d says TCB\u2019s Argenti. \u201cBut generally speaking, we prefer presenter-less.\u201d<\/p>\n

SMART TV<\/strong>
\n\u201cThere continues to be a high demand for this genre, particularly for popular science that is accessible to a broad audience and can also cut across demographics,\u201d says Kemp. \u201cThe demand is seen across the landscape\u2014linear channels have regular science slots to fill and there is also a thirst from VOD platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hitting the sweet spot that both allows audiences to learn and stay entertained is quite the feat, a chemical reaction triggered by just the right amount of science mixed with a scoop of human interest. \u201cIt can be a tough genre to get right as the programs need to be accessible to a wider audience, credible and have high production values,\u201d Kemp continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy watching Great Inventions<\/em>, we learn a little bit more than we used to know before,\u201d adds ZDFE.unscripted\u2019s R\u00fcckauer. \u201cWhere does the name \u2018blue denim\u2019 or \u2018jeans\u2019 come from? Your next party talk is safe; you don\u2019t need to talk about the weather anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The interviews for this report were conducted prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Media companies are currently shifting their strategies in the wake of production postponements and economic trends.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The latest evolutions in the diverse pop-science genre, where everything from engineering shows to motoring series are in demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1049,"featured_media":14452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-features","category-top-stories","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nHow\u2019d They Do That? - TVREAL<\/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\/tvreal\/howd-they-do-that\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How\u2019d They Do That? - TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The latest evolutions in the diverse pop-science genre, where everything from engineering shows to motoring series are in demand.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/howd-they-do-that\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-22T13:00:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-04-23T13:25:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2017\/07\/ZDFE-greatInventions.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alison Skilton\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alison Skilton\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/howd-they-do-that\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/howd-they-do-that\/\",\"name\":\"How\u2019d They Do That? - TVREAL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-22T13:00:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-04-23T13:25:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/f590d4d1481b8cce2a066e89197c7550\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/howd-they-do-that\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/howd-they-do-that\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/howd-they-do-that\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How\u2019d They Do That?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\",\"name\":\"TVREAL\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/f590d4d1481b8cce2a066e89197c7550\",\"name\":\"Alison Skilton\",\"description\":\"Alison Skilton is an associate editor of World Screen. 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