Broadcaster was in paid development with identically-named format two years ago
Format creator Tim Shaw has claimed Channel 4’s forthcoming entertainment special The Greatest Snowman bears “uncanny similarities” to an idea he pitched in 2019 - though the broadcaster has rejected the idea of any wrongdoing.
Director of commissioning operations Emma Hardy assessed Shaw’s claims after his identically-titled idea was put into paid development two years ago.
Shaw’s concerns are understood to be focused on C4 rather than South Shore, which is responsible for the show that will TX this Christmas.
He wrote to the broadcaster last month, after the South Shore commission emerged, and received a response from chief content officer Ian Katz, who sought to provide assurance that there had been “no piggy-backing or borrowing from the work you did in 2019”.
Katz cited the fact that Shaw’s project, which was pitched with then Nerd TV co-founder John Farrar and put into paid development alongside its Red Arrow Studios stablemate CPL Productions, had been developed via C4’s formats and features department, while South Shore’s was worked up through entertainment.
Katz added that South Shore’s proposals were “significantly cheaper” than the 2019 pitch and that the broadcaster is very respectful of IP ownership.
In a further statement, a a C4 spokeswoman said: “We are respectful of the IP of production companies and the ideas they bring. This is not an uncommon idea for a Christmas programme and following a review we are satisfied that these distinct ideas in the same area were brought to different teams at different times and developed separately.”
Shaw told Broadcast that he considered Katz’s response to be unsatisfactory and is seeking a credit on South Shore’s production.
“I asked [C4] to carry out a full-scale investigation into precisely why an idea for a new television show that we developed for [it] in 2019, and didn’t get made, is now being made by a completely different production company; and the similarities between the two are uncanny,” he said.
Shaw added that broadcasters should operate systems to ensure similar ideas do not get re-pitched by different suppliers and commissioned.
“Considering the lost opportunity we’ve encountered, we want to know how C4 is planning to rectify it,” he said.
“This was about a break for Nerd and my company Boring Media: small production companies to get an opportunity to create a TV programme. Now we’ve experienced a loss of a format credit, loss of earnings and loss of an international format.”
The Greatest Snowman: the backstory to the dispute
A former presenter of C4’s Balls of Steel and creator of its viral video series Experimental, Shaw pitched C4 a show called The Greatest Snowman to C4 in 2019 with Nerd TV, inspired by an idea conceived by his partner Christina and her daughter Millie.
Factual-entertainment commissioner Tim Hancock, then in the features and formats commissioning team, put the format into paid development with the backing of C4 senior management.
Shaw’s treatment, seen by Broadcast, outlines a 90-minute Christmas special set in the Alps, involving celebrities competing against each other to build eye-catching ice sculptures across three rounds, culminating in the construction of a giant snowman.
Aided by experts and engineers in lessons in ice carving using such tools as chisels and chainsaws, the celebrities would be assessed by a panel of expert judges, leading up to the crowning of the winner the “coveted Greatest Snowman trophy”, and a donation to charity.
Hosted by Sue Perkins, South Shore’s The Greatest Snowman takes unnamed celebrities to an Alpine resort where they will go head-to-head to design and create structures made from snow and ice across three rounds. It was commissioned by Tom Beck, head of live events and commissioning editor, entertainment.
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