Format Lab
OUTSIDE, Netflix: Who Can Afford to Prove a Format?
The Sidemen turned a self-funded YouTube experiment into a Netflix franchise. A teardown of the game, the route to commission, and whether comic spending carries real stakes.
Format Lab
The Format Lab is where we pull unscripted formats apart to see how they work. What is the engine? Where is the repeatability? Who is the show really about? What makes the casting work? What might break in production? Could the idea travel? Is it a format, or just a premise? The Format Lab looks at new shows, classic formats, failed launches and returning hits through the eyes of a developer. The aim is simple: better format thinking.
Format Lab
Why US TV Networks Have Stopped Developing New Formats
America gave the world Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud. So why haven't ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox originated a real format hit in years? A look at where US development actually went.
Format Lab
Two Warnings From Nine Cancellations
Nine big-name UK entertainment shows. Nine one-series cancellations. The first Post-Mortem breaks down the two patterns that actually explain it.
Format Lab
Premortem Case Study: The Box
Five days before The Box aired, a Premortem flagged the exact failure mode that showed up on screen. Here's the report, next to what actually happened.
Format Lab
THE BOX ITV, Where did it all go so wrong?
Gary Lineker's big ITV launch got savaged on transmission night. A look at what actually broke, on screen, and why the international success story didn't save it.
Format Lab
What does a TV format consultant do?
A good TV format consultant does more than give notes. They diagnose the engine, test the proposition and help turn a promising idea into a producible, sellable format.
Format Lab
How do I develop a TV format?
A practical guide to turning a television idea into a repeatable format: define the promise, build the engine, test the jeopardy and prove the returnability.
Format Lab
The Premortem. Find the failure before the failure finds you.
Every TV format that fails looked fine when it was greenlit. The Premortem finds the crack before you spend a penny developing it.
Format Lab
The Shared Script: Why Nobody Watched The Neighbourhood
Why The Neighbourhood failed before it aired, and how the Shared Script Test exposes whether a reality format rests on lived experience or nostalgia.
Format Lab
The Three Ways a TV Format Dies: Failure Models Every Developer Should Know
Why do TV formats fail? Three failure models, from The Neighbourhood to Limitless Win to Cash Cab, and a diagnostic checklist for format developers.
Format Lab
Format Lab: The Traitors, Teardown #1
The Traitors stripped to its six core mechanics. A format developer's teardown showing which parts of the engine you can reuse, and how to avoid a clone.
Format Lab
ITV Chase Around The World a format extension, or hanging off the success of BBC's Race Across the World?
The Chase Around The World borrows brand recognition from The Chase and format DNA from Race Across the World. Is that clever risk-managed development, or a rip-off? A format development breakdown.