Warner Bros. Lands Commissions for BlazHoffski Formats

LONDON: Following its acquisition of a majority stake in BlazHoffski last month, Warner Bros. International Production has landed its first commissions for formats from the independent producer.

Tower C has been ordered for 12 episodes in France by Canal +. The French version will launch in 2012. The show started airing in the Netherlands on VPRO in 2008, and season four of the Dutch version is currently being scripted.

Hello Goodbye has been commissioned for a second run in Brazil by Globo’s GNT channel. Production on the 13 episodes is under way. The show also has a French commission for 13 episodes from France 2. Other local versions include Australia (Nine), Belgium (VTM), Germany (VOX), Norway (TV Norge), Poland (TVN), Spain (Antena 3) and Russia (TNT). The format has aired for 12 successful seasons in its native of Holland on NCRV, where season 13 is in production.

Mind Over Matter has stared airing its local version in Austria on ORF. The show also has local treatments in the Netherlands (NET 5 and VARA) and Belgium (VT4).

Taco Ketelaar, the CEO of BlazHoffski, said, “We are very pleased that Tower C is going to be seen outside of the Netherlands—it’s a great comedy series which we think will work brilliantly in France. Hello Goodbye is already an international success so we are happy that the show’s appeal is growing even further and are confident that with WB now representing our formats that the same will happen with all our shows.”

Andrew Zein, the senior VP of creative for format development and sales at WBITVP, added, “We had a lot of interest in the BlazHoffski formats during MIPCOM and now that we have our creative partnership firmly in place we are certain that the commissions will keep coming for high-quality productions of these formats in markets around the world.”