Revealed: BBC and NBCU unveil details of tentpole format search

The BBC and NBC Universal have outlined key details of their upcoming joint unscripted tentpole search including on rights exploitation and distribution, Broadcast has learned.

The co-commissioners of the UK and US versions of hit formats The Traitors and Destination X hosted a meeting for indies yesterday (8 September) after publishing an initial brief in July calling for ideas for a new British format for 2027 – for UK and US audiences.

The brief, which forms part of the BBC/ NBCU partnership established in 2021, revealed that up to 10 ideas would receive £10,000 of paid development each.

Broadcast has heard key takeaways from some of the 300 meeting attendees, who were hosted in-person and on Zoom, by BBC interim unscripted director Syeda Irtizaali, interim editor of unscripted Michael Jochnowitz and NBCU’s senior vice-president of alternative programming Ed Havard.

The trio took questions about the brief, stressing that they were after original British IP as opposed to an option of a format.

They confirmed the BBC and NBCU would take UK and US distribution rights, but the successful indie would keep the rights to sell their IP in the rest of the world.

With the BBC and NBCU set to split the development budget 50/50 between them, if one of the partners particularly likes an idea but the other does not, the other could potentially develop the idea on its own.

The rights for the IP will immediately revert to any indie which wins development budget but does not win a pilot, while any production company which secures development money will not be asked to pay it back if they do not go to pilot.

The BBC and NBCU would ask for money back from any indies which won a pilot, but not a commission from the partners, but subsequently landed a commission from another platform or broadcaster.

However, they would not have to pay back the development fund.

The commission itself would be fully funded, and the BBC and NBCU would not expect the indie to top up the budget from other financing means.

The broadcasters also welcomed ideas from small and regional indies, saying they would be “ideas first” in decision-making – although they would need to be convinced that they would be well-placed to produce the idea they are pitching.

They stressed they are not after game or quiz shows.

It would be an advantage, they added, if the idea could be produced from a single hub for the UK and US, in the same vein as The Traitors.

It was established that there would be a core group of six decision-makers: Irtizaali, Jochnowitz and the BBC’s head of business, unscripted Jason Emerton and NBCU’s Havard, head of unscripted Sharon Vuong and senior vice-president of business affairs Steven Bercovitch.