Guests at the 14th Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) were given a peek into the world of TV during the forum talk The Secret to Hit TV Formats. The speakers included Tarek Al Ganany, the man behind SNL Arabia, Manoj Matthews, COO of Zee TV MENA, and Freemantle Media Middle East’s senior vice president Anahita Kheder. The moderator for the talk was Marwan Helayel, managing director of Trivium Media.
“A hit TV format is not necessarily ratings related or revenue related. A hit TV format is a show that essentially becomes a space in the culture — a show that has longevity,” said Kheder.
The talk then delved deeper into adapting global TV formats to a local audience, and the importance of doing so, in order to secure a shows success. All speakers came with a variety of experience and knowledge connected to local relevance and adaptability. Kheder shared her experience making Project Runway, a popular show amongst the Middle East viewership.
“For the Middle East, Project Runway was often seen as a bit niche, elitist. So, they brought in the stars from Arab Idol and other shows so that people would tune in to watch,” said Kheder.
Al Ganany offered anecdotes about making Saturday Night Live Arabia suit the Middle Eastern audience.
“In the Middle East, if I asked anyone to tell me a comedy joke, it would either be political, religious or sexual. We tried to stay away from political and religious jokes as much as possible,” he added.
Matthews spoke about tailoring a global TV format to the likes of the Indian audience.
Although the talk was called The Secret to Hit TV Formats, the speakers jokingly agreed on one thing — despite working so many years in TV, they were still hunting for the secret themselves.
“There’s nothing without local relevance,” said Mathews.
As this scintillating discussion came to a close, moderator Halayel asked the speakers for one final thought on the topic at hand, to which Al Ganany added three more words — “my mother’s prayers”.
— The Young Journalist Award (YJA) at Diff is a training programme for high school and university students who are aspiring writers and reporters. Seven students are competing at the festival this year. One winner will secure a monthlong internship with Gulf News.
