{"id":96553,"date":"2025-10-23T13:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-23T13:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/96553\/"},"modified":"2025-10-23T13:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T13:29:10","slug":"nine-indies-shortlisted-for-bbc-nbcuniversal-mega-format-competition-from-200-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/96553\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine indies shortlisted for BBC NBCUniversal mega-format competition from 200 applications"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nine indies have made it onto the shortlist to create a BBC and NBCUniversal mega-format following a competitive process, Broadcast can reveal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The shortlisted indies, which are thought to have been selected from around 200 applications, are:\u00a0<\/p>\n


\nBandicoot
\nExpectation\/ Plegazoid\u00a0
\nMettlemouse\u00a0
\nObjective Entertainment\u00a0
\nOctober Films\u00a0
\nPrimal Media\u00a0
\nWorkerbee\u00a0
\nTalkbackThames\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The labels will each receive up to \u00a310,000 to develop their ideas, which could span genres including reality competitions, dating and relationships and talent or performance shows.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The BBC had previously said it would select up to 10 ideas in the initial shortlist phase. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The BBC\/NBCU partnership, which has delivered the UK and US version of The Traitors and transatlantic adaptations of Destination X thus far, has been tweaked to create an original British format<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n

October Films is probably the most surprising name on the shortlist, given its documentaries and specialist factual output. Its recent commissions including BBC2\u2019s Living Every Second: The Kris Hallenga Story and Laura Kuenssberg: State of Chaos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The only joint submission is between David Flynn\u2019s fledgling indie Plegazoid and fact ent giant Expectation, which is best known for Prime Video hit Clarkson\u2019s Farm. The two indies partnered up this year<\/a>\u00a0to create entertainment formats in the gameshow and reality space.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bandicoot is responsible for ITV1 juggernaut The Masked Singer and The Masked Dancer, while BBC Studios-backed Mettlemouse \u2013 Sarah Tyekiff\u2019s emerging outfit \u2013 has produced E4 reality format The Honesty Box.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Rob<\/p>\n

Objective Media Group\u2019s newest label Objective Entertainment, helmed by Neale Simpson, took over several Lime titles last year including Towie (ITV2) and Celebs Go Dating (E4) as well as Alan Carr\u2019s Picture Slam (BBC1) from former stablemate Triple Brew.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

STV label Primal Media is behind E4\u2019s The Underdog: Josh Must Win, while Banijay UK label Workerbee\u2019s recent formats include E4\u2019s Love Triangle and Netflix\u2019s Celebrity Bear Hunt, which is co-produced alongside Fremantle label TalkbackThames. The latter is also responsible for ITV juggernaut Britain\u2019s Got Talent.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The BBC and NBCU jointly hosted a meeting with indies<\/a> about the pitching process in September, with around 300 attendees joining both virtually and in person. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pitching process was overseen by the BBC\u2019s interim editor of unscripted Michael Jochnowitz and head of business, unscripted Jason Emerton, alongside NBCU\u2019s senior vice-president of alternative programming Ed Havard and senior vice-president of business affairs Steven Bercovitch.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The selected companies will be required to submit a detailed development proposal by 15 December 2025. A commissioning decision will be made by the end of March 2026, with a view to delivering the tentpole by spring 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nine indies have made it onto the shortlist to create a BBC and NBCUniversal mega-format following a competitive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-96553","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}