Alon Aranya: Spotting the hits behind the stories
Alon Aranya is not just a successful producer and writer of American series. He is also the one who did what many thought impossible at the time – sell Hostages as a “paper format” and turning it into one of the most-acclaimed US television productions. Recently, he did it all over again by selling Your Honor well ahead of its premiere in Israel to CBS Television Studios. The US remake is now in production with Peter Moffat writing the script and Robert and Michelle King producing, while the Israeli original has already been renewed for a second season by Yes.
Alon and his company have also been responsible for importing and adapting a number of scripted formats into the US market. In this interview with Georgi R. Chakarov, he reveals some of the secrets behind his success.
Alon Aranya
Alon, Scripted World has been very successful in importing scripted formats into the US market. What makes foreign ideas interesting to the US networks?
Scripted World has been very successful with adapting scripted formats from around the world for the US market. This has to do with identifying shows and stories that we think resonate with American viewers. I have been doing this for 5-6 years now and I have set up close to 40 shows with networks and studios – most of them based on scripted formats or an original adaptation from overseas.
Every year, each of the Big 5 American networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW) are developing somewhere around a hundred pilots of comedy and drama combined. So, we are talking about 500 developments a year. That’s a big pipeline to fill up and what we’ve seen happen in the last 10 years or more is that studios and networks have been a little more reluctant to take on original ideas because it’s much more time consuming and generally harder to get them fully developed in a short period of time. In network television particularly there is a great need for source material because the development phase is very short – about three months to develop a pilot script and the world of the show - that’s a hard task to pull off in such a short time. Source material such as formats helps everyone involved in the creative process, especially the writer start their work with some kind of a story blueprint as opposed to a blank page.
How do you identify the formats that could appeal to the networks? Do you look for certain criteria when selecting a format for potential development?
It definitely helps to have a strong background in writing and story development. Before I started writing and producing TV, I worked in the 90’s in the film business as a development executive, and then started writing. In essence I’ve always worked around story. So, when I started looking at international scripted formats I was looking at stories and I was looking at what I could do with those plot lines in a US adaptation. That helped me look at shows not only for what they currently are, but also for what they could be in a US remake. I believe the reason I’ve set up so many shows is that unlike other players in this arena I offer our US buyers an actual pitch on a possible US adaptation and not just hope they will figure it out after watching a few episodes.
You are also one of the people behind the huge success of Hostages; just one of the several Israeli hit formats in the US. To what do you attribute the success of Israeli shows in particular in America?
Hostages is a perfect example of how my writing background helped bring this project to life. Hostages was sold based on my pilot spec script adapted from the original Israeli script before it was shot in Israel. There was no format to look at, but we had my script and my pitch and that’s how Hostages started its journey to a series order at CBS. Without a strong story background this would’ve never happened.
I think there is great talent in Israel with lots of motivation to create shows that will go beyond its borders because Israel is a small market. Much like the thinking in the hi-tech world. Besides Hostages, Israel is the country that brought Hatufim/Prisoners of War, In Treatment, Fauda and now we have Your Honor. Those are all interesting, bold, fresh shows coming out of this small country. The other reason Israeli content enjoys strong exports is the amount of players that are working on exporting Israeli IP. The more people you have active in exporting content, the more transactions you will eventually record.
Indeed, the number of players coming from all over the world and trying to import content into the US is constantly growing. However, what else than a great idea is needed to get a commission?
I think all good shows have great ideas, but I think the shows I mentioned not only have a great idea; they have a great execution. TV is not about ideas, it’s about execution. One of the oldest lines in Hollywood about ideas goes like this: “Ideas? Everybody has one.” Ideas are generally not worth much since you can’t protect the rights of any particular idea, you can only protect the execution of an idea. What made Mad Men an amazing show is not the idea but rather the brilliant execution.
Beyond a great execution, it seems most shows today need to attach more elements to actually get a series order. Those elements like in the film business can be a director or lead actor. Television traditionally was only about the writing. These days Television looks more and more like 6-10 hour movies and as such they require a bigger package.
I agree that the packaging is important, but at the same time you have also sold several “paper formats”. Are they harder to pitch compared to the ones that have been already produced?
Yes, and I still do that. Your Honor was sold when it was on paper and Hostages was the first “paper format” sale in the US. Back then, people promised me that I would never be able to sell a show from Israel on paper. I sold it faster that I sold most of our produced formats. As a writer-producer, to me there is no difference if the show is on paper, or if it has already been produced. It doesn’t matter because I’m pitching the same story. In the case of Your Honor, my pitch brought to the table Robert and Michelle King of Kingsize Productions and Peter Moffat. I didn’t need a format for that. So, it’s all about the strength of the story, the ability to identify it and put together a strong pitch for it.
Is it easier to make an original series or adapt a format then?
The challenge with writing an original is that you need to come up with everything from scratch. With a format you have some kind of blueprint, even if you only use the basic premise, it’s still valuable. I’m currently developing my next show in Europe. I’m writing an original piece and it’s definitely a longer process but clearly very gratifying. While it’s faster to develop a series based on a format, it doesn’t make that development more likely to get a series production.
What are some of the projects that you are currently working on?
Besides Your Honor, which I’m producing with Michelle and Robert King and Peter Moffat writing, I’m also working on an adaptation of a Dutch format entitled Holland’s Hope that I sold when it was still in development in Holland. The adaptation is called Kilroy County and it will be produced by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor (Sideways, About Schmidt and The Descendants), together with director Miguel Arteta and writer Roberto Benabib. We have several more adaptations of European formats in the works, both for network and cable.
What would you say are the current trends on the scripted market and how has the production boom changed the business?
The business has changed in the past two years in ways it has not changed in the decade before that. We have far more buyers now and there are between 450 and 500 scripted shows being made in the US every year so naturally people think of it as a boom. However, selling shows and getting them produced has never been more challenging due to the stiff competition among the buyers. It used to be much more segregated with premium and basic cable, and now it seems like everyone is looking for that unique, noisy show and everybody is trying to outdo each other. Said in other words everyone wants to be HBO, or Netflix or a version of that. Also, with plenty of talent moving over from a challenging film industry to Television, we can see a cultural shift as far as how TV shows are being set up. Traditionally, shows were always set up with writers pitching the shows to the networks on their own or with a producer. I’ve sold plenty of shows as a producer without a writer attached. But in this competitive marketplace, it’s harder to set up a show without attaching additional elements such as a director or actor. This has always been the common practice in the film business but a newer phenomenon in TV.
But in terms of the money that is being spent on scripted content, do you think that this is a sustainable business model in the long term? For example, when we look at the multi-billion loans Netflix is taking just to make series one wonders will they ever be able to pay that money back.
Generally it will be hard to sustain this level of output and have enough eyeballs to justify it. We are already seeing some players exiting the scripted arena, players like A+E, Pivot and Seeso in the US as well as other digital platforms in other countries that couldn’t sustain a scripted business. So on the one hand, I would expect additional outlets to merge or shut down in the next 2-3 years, and on the other hand have players like Netflix who are doubling down on content and talent as a means to disrupting the traditional TV business model and emerging as an indispensable content player around the world. Only recently they lured Shonda Rhimes away from ABC and they are expected to continue their aggressive creative expansion. Netflix wants to be everything content, a one-stop shop if you may. Their ability to sustain this business model also depends on how many players will be forced to exit the scripted business.
Actually Netflix themselves despite their constant need for fresh titles are staying away from the format business. How do you explain this?
Netflix is currently in production on adaptations of a Russian format as well as an Israeli format, so they are not 100% out of the format business. Ultimately, they are trying to create a unique IP library and not worry about other versions of the same show on the other platforms. The more exclusive, unique and original the IP is, the more subscriptions they will enjoy around the world.
Scripted World has been very successful with adapting scripted formats from around the world for the US market. This has to do with identifying shows and stories that we think resonate with American viewers. I have been doing this for 5-6 years now and I have set up close to 40 shows with networks and studios – most of them based on scripted formats or an original adaptation from overseas.
Every year, each of the Big 5 American networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW) are developing somewhere around a hundred pilots of comedy and drama combined. So, we are talking about 500 developments a year. That’s a big pipeline to fill up and what we’ve seen happen in the last 10 years or more is that studios and networks have been a little more reluctant to take on original ideas because it’s much more time consuming and generally harder to get them fully developed in a short period of time. In network television particularly there is a great need for source material because the development phase is very short – about three months to develop a pilot script and the world of the show - that’s a hard task to pull off in such a short time. Source material such as formats helps everyone involved in the creative process, especially the writer start their work with some kind of a story blueprint as opposed to a blank page.
How do you identify the formats that could appeal to the networks? Do you look for certain criteria when selecting a format for potential development?
It definitely helps to have a strong background in writing and story development. Before I started writing and producing TV, I worked in the 90’s in the film business as a development executive, and then started writing. In essence I’ve always worked around story. So, when I started looking at international scripted formats I was looking at stories and I was looking at what I could do with those plot lines in a US adaptation. That helped me look at shows not only for what they currently are, but also for what they could be in a US remake. I believe the reason I’ve set up so many shows is that unlike other players in this arena I offer our US buyers an actual pitch on a possible US adaptation and not just hope they will figure it out after watching a few episodes.
Your Honor
You are also one of the people behind the huge success of Hostages; just one of the several Israeli hit formats in the US. To what do you attribute the success of Israeli shows in particular in America?
Hostages is a perfect example of how my writing background helped bring this project to life. Hostages was sold based on my pilot spec script adapted from the original Israeli script before it was shot in Israel. There was no format to look at, but we had my script and my pitch and that’s how Hostages started its journey to a series order at CBS. Without a strong story background this would’ve never happened.
I think there is great talent in Israel with lots of motivation to create shows that will go beyond its borders because Israel is a small market. Much like the thinking in the hi-tech world. Besides Hostages, Israel is the country that brought Hatufim/Prisoners of War, In Treatment, Fauda and now we have Your Honor. Those are all interesting, bold, fresh shows coming out of this small country. The other reason Israeli content enjoys strong exports is the amount of players that are working on exporting Israeli IP. The more people you have active in exporting content, the more transactions you will eventually record.
Indeed, the number of players coming from all over the world and trying to import content into the US is constantly growing. However, what else than a great idea is needed to get a commission?
I think all good shows have great ideas, but I think the shows I mentioned not only have a great idea; they have a great execution. TV is not about ideas, it’s about execution. One of the oldest lines in Hollywood about ideas goes like this: “Ideas? Everybody has one.” Ideas are generally not worth much since you can’t protect the rights of any particular idea, you can only protect the execution of an idea. What made Mad Men an amazing show is not the idea but rather the brilliant execution.
Beyond a great execution, it seems most shows today need to attach more elements to actually get a series order. Those elements like in the film business can be a director or lead actor. Television traditionally was only about the writing. These days Television looks more and more like 6-10 hour movies and as such they require a bigger package.
I agree that the packaging is important, but at the same time you have also sold several “paper formats”. Are they harder to pitch compared to the ones that have been already produced?
Yes, and I still do that. Your Honor was sold when it was on paper and Hostages was the first “paper format” sale in the US. Back then, people promised me that I would never be able to sell a show from Israel on paper. I sold it faster that I sold most of our produced formats. As a writer-producer, to me there is no difference if the show is on paper, or if it has already been produced. It doesn’t matter because I’m pitching the same story. In the case of Your Honor, my pitch brought to the table Robert and Michelle King of Kingsize Productions and Peter Moffat. I didn’t need a format for that. So, it’s all about the strength of the story, the ability to identify it and put together a strong pitch for it.
Is it easier to make an original series or adapt a format then?
The challenge with writing an original is that you need to come up with everything from scratch. With a format you have some kind of blueprint, even if you only use the basic premise, it’s still valuable. I’m currently developing my next show in Europe. I’m writing an original piece and it’s definitely a longer process but clearly very gratifying. While it’s faster to develop a series based on a format, it doesn’t make that development more likely to get a series production.
What are some of the projects that you are currently working on?
Besides Your Honor, which I’m producing with Michelle and Robert King and Peter Moffat writing, I’m also working on an adaptation of a Dutch format entitled Holland’s Hope that I sold when it was still in development in Holland. The adaptation is called Kilroy County and it will be produced by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor (Sideways, About Schmidt and The Descendants), together with director Miguel Arteta and writer Roberto Benabib. We have several more adaptations of European formats in the works, both for network and cable.
Hostages
What would you say are the current trends on the scripted market and how has the production boom changed the business?
The business has changed in the past two years in ways it has not changed in the decade before that. We have far more buyers now and there are between 450 and 500 scripted shows being made in the US every year so naturally people think of it as a boom. However, selling shows and getting them produced has never been more challenging due to the stiff competition among the buyers. It used to be much more segregated with premium and basic cable, and now it seems like everyone is looking for that unique, noisy show and everybody is trying to outdo each other. Said in other words everyone wants to be HBO, or Netflix or a version of that. Also, with plenty of talent moving over from a challenging film industry to Television, we can see a cultural shift as far as how TV shows are being set up. Traditionally, shows were always set up with writers pitching the shows to the networks on their own or with a producer. I’ve sold plenty of shows as a producer without a writer attached. But in this competitive marketplace, it’s harder to set up a show without attaching additional elements such as a director or actor. This has always been the common practice in the film business but a newer phenomenon in TV.
But in terms of the money that is being spent on scripted content, do you think that this is a sustainable business model in the long term? For example, when we look at the multi-billion loans Netflix is taking just to make series one wonders will they ever be able to pay that money back.
Generally it will be hard to sustain this level of output and have enough eyeballs to justify it. We are already seeing some players exiting the scripted arena, players like A+E, Pivot and Seeso in the US as well as other digital platforms in other countries that couldn’t sustain a scripted business. So on the one hand, I would expect additional outlets to merge or shut down in the next 2-3 years, and on the other hand have players like Netflix who are doubling down on content and talent as a means to disrupting the traditional TV business model and emerging as an indispensable content player around the world. Only recently they lured Shonda Rhimes away from ABC and they are expected to continue their aggressive creative expansion. Netflix wants to be everything content, a one-stop shop if you may. Their ability to sustain this business model also depends on how many players will be forced to exit the scripted business.
Actually Netflix themselves despite their constant need for fresh titles are staying away from the format business. How do you explain this?
Netflix is currently in production on adaptations of a Russian format as well as an Israeli format, so they are not 100% out of the format business. Ultimately, they are trying to create a unique IP library and not worry about other versions of the same show on the other platforms. The more exclusive, unique and original the IP is, the more subscriptions they will enjoy around the world.
