Keshet Studios Bosses Reveal Non-Scripted Developments With Chrissy Teigen, Seth MacFarlane, Lilly Singh & Talk Hallmark+’s ‘Small Town Setup’: “There Is A Blank Space In Feel Good Unscripted”
EXCLUSIVE: Keshet Studios’ U.S. unscripted operation has just turned one and we can reveal the outfit is working with some of the biggest names in the game.
Keshet Studios has active projects in development with the likes of Chrissy Teigen’s Huntley Productions, Seth MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door, Lilly Singh/Polly Auritt’s Unicorn Island and Howie Mandel’s Alevy Productions, its bosses have told us, while the company has optioned formats with South Korean behemoth CJ ENM and France’s Satisfaction Group.
More from Deadline
Bosses are keeping mum about the projects but they each involve a collaboration with the production companies run by the big-name talent, according to Peter Traugott, who runs the Israeli major out of LA, and Rebecca Mayer, who joined from Banijay to lead the unscripted launch last year with Benjamin Long.
“The plane is ready to take off,” Traugott said of the circa-30 projects Keshet Studios unscripted has in active development.
Mayer said the team is speaking to buyers across the spectrum. “For a small team we have a robust slate,” she added. “We are lucky to be launching with such a great catalog to pull from. This helps us bring in partnerships with producers.”
Working with starry talent and their indies is reflective of Keshet Studios’ collaborative approach, Mayer added, coming a few days after it landed its first revealed commission in Small Town Setup for revamped streamer Hallmark+, which is based on Keshet’s Israeli format Dear Neighbors and is both presented and produced by Hallmark favorite Ashley Williams.
“What we want to be doing is going to a conference room [with talent] and spitballing with a whiteboard,” Mayer added. “The people we are working with are cut from that cloth.”
Keshet Studios’ U.S. unscripted strategy is three-pronged: coming up with originals, re-making Keshet formats from the catalog and leveraging third party IP.
Mayer said the team is so far leaning slightly more heavily on the catalog than the other two prongs. She pointed to the likes of Physical gameshow Stuck, which was one of Keshet’s key MIPCOM Cannes titles last year and is currently out to market in the States, with exploratory conversations taking place over an international hub. “We have flexibility in the way we construct deals and every single approach is bespoke,” explained Mayer.
The landscape is a complex one at present and market contraction has set in but Mayer said the team is overcoming obstacles by working with “optimistic buyers” and leaning on previous relationships built during her and VP Unscripted Long’s days at Banijay.
“We aren’t sitting and chatting with [buyers] asking what’s wrong but we are asking what’s right,” she added. “Of course there have been changes and of course there are question marks at what is a scary time for people but there is work out there and content that can get made.”
Notably, Traugott said the U.S. unscripted arm emerged from this “scary time” as plans were sped up in the run up to last year’s Hollywood labor strikes. The scripted operation has in recent years been behind the likes of NBC’s La Brea and Apple TV+’s Echo 3.
“I would be lying if I said part of the impetus for launching unscripted didn’t come from the strike because we were sitting there saying, ‘This is crazy, we need to get active’,” added Traugott. “We had been talking about it for a while and then the strikes were looming and it felt like a great time to do it.”
“Feel good” unscripted
Another approach that typifies Keshet Studios’ unscripted strategy is a tone that places “feel good” shows front and center.
Meyer said the projects being developed with the likes of Teigen, MacFarlane and Singh are in this category and this is also reflected in Small Town Setup.
The docu-style dating series mirrors traditional Hallmark movies by following contestants who meet different hometown parents with a big problem: their successful adult child is living far away in a big city, and is still single. The couple gathers their neighbors and asks for help to find a match for them to go out with.
“There is a blank space in ‘feel good unscripted’,” added Mayer. “I have been in unscripted for 20 years but this feels like a relatively new genre.”
Planned for 2025, the show will be one of Hallmark+’s first originals that makes it to screen. And while Hallmark is introducing yet another streamer into an already saturated market, Mayer praised the 100-year-old outfit’s “clarity” of vision and confidence in its growth potential.
“The push into unscripted makes so much sense for Hallmark as a brand,” she added. “They are launching streaming not taking away linear so we are not losing a buyer we are gaining one.”
Casting on Small Town Setup is currently taking place and shooting will begin in a few weeks.
Best of Deadline
2024 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & Streaming
All the Surprise Songs Taylor Swift Has Played On The Eras Tour So Far
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
