Hot Picks

All Together at the Table

Type: Format
Length: 99 x 60-minutes
Producer: Kitchen Factory
Broadcaster: M6 (France)

Based on French broadcaster M6’s series Tous en Cuisine avec Cyril Lignac, which became a hit in its native territory during lockdown, live cook-along format All Together at the Table harnesses social media and remote production technology to create a format uniquely suited to 2020.

Each episode sees a celebrity chef host a live interactive masterclass from their kitchen, where they’re challenged to work against the clock to cook a two-course meal. Viewers at home given the opportunity to join in, with that evening’s menu and ingredients posted on social media the morning before the show.

The chef is also joined remotely by a co-host as well as three families and a celebrity in their kitchens around the country, all attempting to keep up with the live cooking instructions.

Tous en Cuisine avec Cyril Lignac, produced locally by the Storyplus-owned Kitchen Factory - launched this March on M6, soon after the country’s confinement period, in a weekly stripped 6.45pm slot.

The format captured the mood of the nation with the broadcaster enjoying its highest audience for that slot since 2014 (2.5m).

“While that show was conceived before lockdown, the French version has revealed a strong demand for family entertainment with real-time interaction,” notes The Story Lab’s global president Michael Iskas.

Iskas claims that the format is easily adapted and scaled, whether filmed remotely or in studio, and it has received interest from broadcasters attracted to its live element, production techniques and ‘feel good’ factor.

Iskas also argues that this type of live programming is linear TV’s most effective weapon against the streamers. “It’s one of the last big tent poles and what live free-to-air is all about,” he says.

The Story Lab snapped up worldwide distribution rights outside France for the format this July, and launched the series at Mipcom.

9 Windows

Type: Format
Length: 60-minutes
Producer: Nippon TV, The Story Lab
Broadcaster: Nippon TV (Japan)

A talent and quiz show mash-up, 9 Windows is the first title to be launched following The Story Lab’s co-development partnership with Japanese entertainment company Nippon TV, announced last December.

Blending the real with the virtual, the show features a big shiny floor studio environment minimally populated by a comedy host and studio jury with an at-home remote streaming element which features nine contestants who claim to harbour astonishing and unusual abilities.

Competing for a cash prize, the contestants are beamed into the studio – designed like a gladiatorial arena - via nine giant studio screens, where they attempt to memorise the studio judges as well as a remote panel with their unique skills.

According to The Story Lab’s global president Michael Iskas, while the show was conceived before the global pandemic, it was developed remotely “24/7 via Teams” during lockdown.

He adds: “What we’ve ended up with is a show that is simple and strong that allows ordinary people to show off their remarkable abilities.”

The show recently launched on Nippon TV in Japan last month, where it outperformed all the competition in its timeslot (23% share for the first episode; 27% for the second).

Says Iskas: “We’re pre-selling the format and pitching it to big studio businesses because it has a lot of momentum and ticks a lot of boxes in terms of producing under quarantine restrictions: It’s like beaming your TikTok feed onto a big shiny floor.”