Mumbai: Media Ranch founder & CEO, Sophie Ferron announced that Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT) will host a Horsepower intensive in late February, training participants in the writing and pitching of global unscripted TV formats. The event is organised by the Lithuanian creative enterprise The Ethnic Kitchen Productions in partnership with Media Ranch, the Embassy of Canada to Lithuania, and Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT).
Horsepower is a proprietary talent incubator created by Media Ranch to foster new talent in the creation of unscripted television formats. The program, started by Media Ranch’s Sophie Ferron in partnership with Quebecor, was first held in Montreal, Canada in 2018. Formats from this incubator have been optioned around the world. Highlights from past years include partnerships with TF1, Quebecor, La Fabrique des Formats and deals with The CW, Diga Studios, Wheelhouse, and gaming giant Ubisoft – where a first-year participant’s project is now the official TV format for mega-hit game “Just Dance”.
After a successful run in Quebec, this is the first time Horsepower will be conducted internationally, and talks have already begun for other countries. Taking place in Vilnius, the workshops will be given by Media Ranch’s head of storytelling Philip Kalin-Hajdu, who has run the program since its inception. The program will conclude with pitches of the original formats created by participants to decision-makers from LRT and Media Ranch. LRT will pick one project that they would like to pursue in co-development. Media Ranch will board one (or more) projects as an international distributor.
Ferron stated: “Horsepower has been such a dynamic vehicle for launching new IP and reaching new voices for the creation of formats. Media Ranch is thrilled to launch the first international version with LRT and Ethnic Kitchen in Lithuania and look forward to seeing amazing formats emerge.”
Kalin-Hajdu said: “We are grateful to Aiste at Ethnic Kitchen, LRT, and the Embassy of Canada to Lithuania for this event. The beauty of formats is that they are, by nature, adaptable and serve to illustrate the commonalities between audiences, while celebrating our uniqueness. Horsepower continues to prove that local talent has the capacity to create for global audiences. We are thrilled to be bringing the program to Lithuania.”
Ptakauske said: “In Europe alone, the TV formats industry generates over three billion euros per year. Although the UK has been the biggest European exporter of TV formats for a long time, other European countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway have lately been stepping on its heels. Lithuania is, unfortunately, not a contender in the global TV formats industry yet. My hope is that Horsepower in Vilnius will provide Lithuanian creators with knowledge and ambition to develop TV formats for global audiences.”
LTR head of TV department Andrius Korenka said: “Every year, before launching our public tender for TV programs, we hold special meetings with Lithuanian producers with the goal to convey to them our expectations as well as our audience’s preferences. New opportunities to learn about the most current trends of the global TV formats industry and possibilities to adapt them to the Lithuanian TV industry will be a very valuable experience to us and all our collaborators.”
