Having mastered the art of finding ideas with international potential and the right partners to develop them with, Keshet has amassed a catalog with hits in every genre, and is now on the lookout for its next major projects in Latin America.
Creating a hit show is difficult. Creating one in every genre is almost impossible. Yet, it’s something Keshet International (KI) has been able to do with ease, consistently coming out with shows in all types of formats that have become global phenomenons.
“Here at KI, we are lucky enough to have at least one premium idea or show in our catalogue for every genre”, Kelly Wright, SVP of Distribution and New Business, explained to ttvnews.
If a buyer wants a detective show, KI has Clues; if it’s a female-driven thriller they want, KI has Secret Bridesmaids’ Business; or maybe they want an uplifting family drama, then KI has The A Word.
Same thing applies to formats; from Master of Dance to Master Class or The Hit List, whether it’s talent, entertainment, game shows or competitions, KI’s got it.
But even though the company produces so many titles, it’s not about quantity, but rather finding the right fit for them. “The stories and ideas come to us. Then it’s about intuition in terms of knowing which ones to invest into developing, and then parenting the selected few ideas into productions and beyond,” the SVP explained.
Once a good concept is on the table, KI has also been notably smart about choosing production partners, with the most recent example being the super-series Preso No1 for Telemundo, which premiered last summer.
This series came out of a creative collaboration between Telemundo and KI, which led to the development of an Israeli paper format from the team behind Wisdom of the Crowd into a 64 part high-end drama. And the series lives on: it is now available to Netflix’s subscribers in 190 territories worldwide.
“Another creative partnership we are particularly proud of is Our Boys, the 10-part limited drama co-produced by Keshet Studios with HBO” Wright said. “It was widely praised for telling an Israeli-Palestinian conflict story in a powerful and balanced way.”
On the non-scripted side, the executive highlighted the creation of an innovative co-development model for new formats with global appeal. “We like to call “caring is sharing” which has already led to us developing and producing Drive Master, the brand new primetime talent show featuring ordinary people doing extraordinary things in vehicles, with Russian broadcaster NTV,” she explained.
“We’ll be announcing some international sales soon. We also have a number of new formats in our pipeline, including the recently announced dating format, The Big Five, with South Africa’s M-Net.”
“Our ongoing strategy in Latam is developing relationships with leading production companies with the capability to push our big reality shows and formats forward with local broadcasters. For audiences from Mexico to the US, we are always looking to develop smart partnerships like these,” she added.
The company is now presenting its newest titles to the international market, including the sitcom Farmer Wants a Life, in addition to the US adaptation of The Baker and the Beauty for ABC, and re-introducing two of its best-selling formats, which are seeing a resurgence in the international market: Boom! and Deal with it!.
“We just launched Deal with it! in Mexico on Televisa’s Canal 5 as a two- hour block,” the executive noted. “In addition to the format, we also distribute the Mexican series throughout Latin America and the world.”
“Keshet Studios has a strong pipeline of content coming through, with projects in development with pretty much every platform. While in the UK, Keshet Productions will be sharing news of a big scripted order from a global platform and some new non-scripted commissions too”, the executive concluded.
