Format creator and presenter Beau van Erven Dorens makes the pitch.
The idea
It was the summer of 2014. A friend of mine came up with a research that was done by a homeless organization in London in 2009. In this research they tried to help 13 rough sleepers to get themselves from the street, with a lot of personal attention and 3.000 pounds. After a year, seven of them had a roof over their heads, and another two were in the process of getting a shelter. This amazing result inspired me to create a format around this revolutionary idea to help homeless people with personal support, a little love and some money.
The format
Five homeless people in Amsterdam are invited to participate in a documentary series for which they will be filmed during a six-month period. If they agree to be part of The Amsterdam Project, the host offers them personalized aid, plus 10.000 euros to reach their goal: getting off the streets.
The production
After the casting period, which we did in collaboration with the local Salvation Army, we filmed in Amsterdam for eight months, more or less, with the five individuals. The key element in making the program was to keep everything as honest as possible, so if something didn’t go as planned, or hoped, we could use it in the program, instead of covering it up, as usually happens in this kind of reality productions. This is no “Disney series,” this is life changing for these five individuals, so integrity is elementary. Furthermore, we were there to help the homeless people to help themselves. It was a beautiful, emotional roller-coaster, with a small, dedicated team. Fortunately, the reception and ratings were amazing.
The budget
We made the program for €80.000, excluding the fee for the host.
We asked several industry experts to watch the show and share their opinion about its qualities and potential for international success. By the publication deadline we received one review from leading Russian net NTV.
This is a great highly social project designed for the tolerant Europe with its multiple cultures, but too slow for the spoiled Russian audience - it lacks dynamics, action, and a glaring contrast of ‘before and after’. The idea to give some money to people who have almost nothing is good. But Russian ‘people with no fixed abode’ are very different from European ones. Therefore, the Russian version should center on a different category of people who either lost everything or never had anything at all.
I doubt that the audience of NTV would watch the scenes of participants going to bureaucratic agencies and social entities, which explain in detail the process of restoring official documents and financial aid. Russians show more interest towards characters of higher contrast. For example, an unwanted grandpa, a down and out white-collar worker, a fallen woman, and other.
It is important for the viewer of NTV to clearly understand that the character is a person who has a profession, family, a social status and a difficult life story. I think that the audience would be interested in the personal storyline of the Bomzh (Homeless Person) – will the dandy who lost it all pay out the alimony he owes, or if he goes to the casino again, where would he try his luck this time? Will the family needs their ‘unwanted grandpa’ once he has a good round sum in his account? Of course, the viewer needs a real hero – a person who faces difficult life obstacles and overcomes them. This is the distinctive feature of all projects of NTV.
