It is a business of authenticity and ingenuity, populated by born entrepreneurs, talented artisans, and experienced business owners.
The growing market for unscripted television related to food, home, design, beauty, health, wellness and related topics was the focus of Variety’s inaugural Lifestyle Leaders Breakfast, which included conversations with “Property Brothers” stars Drew and Jonathan Scott; and Magnolia Network boss Allison Page. .
The November 30 gathering at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills also featured a panel with top lifestyle television producers, showrunners and executives discussing the elements that make the genre unique. Jo Sharon, co-CEO of “Top Chef” production company Magical Elves, cited her experience combining the real-world response to Netflix’s cooking competition series “Nailed It” into the series’ seasonal structure. later.
“Having a show that created something that lived in the real world and had a life of its own was a great marketing tool,” Sharon said. “The trend of what people were doing, how they were doing it, the videos they were posting online, everything that was happening on Pinterest, we brought it into the program. So that became this circle of life and still is.”
During the opening Q&A with Cynthia Littleton, co-editor-in-chief of Variety, the Scott brothers recalled their humble beginnings in Canadian cable television before their star took off about a decade ago with “Property Brothers: Forever Home.” ” and other series on HGTV.
Jonathan and Drew Scott
“When we started the show, it was very bad, because we were trying to be what we thought a host should be. When ‘Property Brothers’ came along, it was the moment where we finally thought, you know what, we’re not going to pretend to be anything anymore, we’re going to be who we are,” said Jonathan Scott. “And we thought there was an opportunity to help renovate people’s dream homes, but have a lot of fun doing it. And we thought if we had fun on camera with what we’re doing, the people at home watching would have fun too. And it worked, and the less we tried to be something else, the more we tried to be ourselves, the more successful the shows became.”
The 44-year-old twin brothers rose to fame after Drew made a name for himself as a real estate agent and home designer, while Jonathan is the company’s chief contractor.
The pair detailed the growth of the “Property Brothers” franchise and how its massive retail footprint with home furnishings and décor products through a number of partners. The two were smart enough to acquire the “Property Brothers” name and the original series early on. They recalled how their original production company pitched them an offer to partner with them on a line of retail furniture, until it reached $200 million in sales, but by then the Scotts didn’t need help.
The couple left no doubt that they are twin brothers with a bit of a joke about where the “Property Brothers” nickname came from.
Jonathan: “Drew hated the name, originally.”
Drew: “It occurred to me, but I thought, wait, no, they could replace us with two more ‘Property Brothers.'”
Jonathan: “Drew still has a picture of the original listing. We wrote like 18 names, from ‘Bungalow Brothers’ to…”
Drew: ”’Mending fences.’ “Two brothers and a hammer.” “
Jonathan: “But we liked ‘Property Brothers.’ Drew was playing devil’s advocate, and we ended up passing this test and landing on ‘Property Brothers.’
Drew: “One more: ‘Bros Before Renos.’ I’m glad I chose ‘Property Brothers’. “
Variety’s Cynthia Littleton speaks with Magnolia Network President Allison Page at Variety’s inaugural Lifestyle Leaders Breakfast.
Variety
Magnolia Network’s Page has seen the lifestyle business flourish during her 20 years on HGTV, the Food Network and Discovery’s Cooking Channel. She joined “Fixer Upper” stars Chip and Joanna Gaines as their TV executive lead in 2019 in preparation for the 2021 launch of Magnolia Network, the channel curated by the Gaines as a mainstay of their retail, e-commerce businesses. and Magnolia Publishers.
Partnering with the corporate dynamos has been a fascinating journey at a time when all media is changing, Page said during her question-and-answer session with Littleton.
“We are all in this rapidly evolving landscape where what was true a year ago or five years ago or 10 years ago, we just don’t live in the same world anymore. So you get into these things and there is no example of what happened before you,” he said.
Magnolia Network’s series, including the revived “Fixer Upper,” led the charge in integrating Discovery’s content with the HBO Max platform following the Discovery-WarnerMedia merger in April. Magnolia Network also exists in the background as an ad-supported linear cable channel.
“We’ve seen that it’s working,” he said of the channel’s patchwork of distribution options. “Who knew if it was going to work on HBO Max and not Discovery+, or if it was going to continue to work on Discovery+ but not HBO Max, what was it going to do linear?” said the page. “To see it work on all of these at the same time, I think it’s encouraging, both for the combined product and to remember that those shows, those hits, work wherever you put them, which is exciting.”
But that same segmentation of TV viewing also makes it even more challenging than ever to create new unscripted franchises. “So the challenge is, how do you make the next hit when you’re in all these different places?” said the page.
The panel of producers and executives spoke with Jennifer Maas, Variety’s television business writer, about how they have thrived in the business of showcasing experts in their fields and larger-than-life personalities.
“It’s so amazing. You never know who’s going to break up with who, who’s going to fight, who’s going to get divorced, who’s going to break up, you just never know what’s going to happen,” Adam DiVello, Done and Done Productions, creator of Netflix’s high-end. home sales vehicles “Selling Sunset” and “Selling the OC” “That’s what keeps viewers interested.”
Variety’s Jennifer Maas chats with Magical Elves’ Jo Sharon, Goop’s Noora Raj Brown and Endemol Shine’s Tamaya Petteway
Gwyneth Paltrow’s thriving lifestyle brand Goop is increasingly expanding with original content on and off its e-commerce platform, according to Noora Raj Brown, Goop’s executive vice president of brand. The content is a good way to reinforce the core attributes of Paltrow’s vision for Goop.
“We are incredibly crazy. But we are never a provoker just to provoke,” said Raj Brown. That said, Brown offered a candid assessment of one of Goop’s recent series, “Sex, Love and goop.”
“We ask people pretty extreme things,” Brown said. “We had six couples and we made them show their innermost desires and the things that were missing in the relationship. And we said, ‘Hey, would you mind doing this on TV in front of everyone you’ve ever met? And have that authenticity and that openness and (be) someone who’s really willing to be vulnerable? I could never do it. On the first show, we literally gave people mushrooms, took them to Jamaica, and told them, ‘Confront your traumas.’.’ “
Lifestyle Leaders panelists Jen Green, co-executive producer of “Hollywood Houselift with Jeff Lewis,” and Adam DiVello, creator and executive producer of “Selling Sunset” and “Selling the OC”
Jen Green, co-executive producer of Freevee’s series “Hollywood Houselift with Jeff Lewis,” emphasized that with her star, what you see on the screen is what you get. In fact. Your job is to put it on camera.
“He is a very authentic person. That’s like his trademark,” Green said. “Jeff is not someone I produce. I’ve been on shows where I produce everyone, you know? So the great thing about working on this show is that he is himself. And that’s what’s represented on our show.”
Tamaya Petteway, Endemol Shine’s SVP of Brand Licensing and Digital Partnerships, echoed Magical Elves’ Sharon in emphasizing the value of shows that have such a huge following that they inspire expanse of the real world, from cookbooks to cruise ships. Endemol Shine is home to unscripted staples including “Master Chef,” “Big Brother,” “The Biggest Loser,” and “Deal or No Deal.”
“It’s something we call our Ferris wheel. What we’re looking to do is turn on as many spokes on that wheel to really create a 360-degree partnership. So with ‘MasterChef,’ we have cookbooks, we have cookware, we have cruises, tours, and cooking classes. I think we’ve done it all.”
But there is always room for innovation, Petteway added.
“The only thing that drove me crazy about cooking shows is that you couldn’t taste the food,” she said. She “she would listen to the judges critique the dishes and be like, oh my gosh, I wish I could experience that. So a partnership that we were able to do recently with GrubHub: We gave consumers the opportunity to order the food, the recipes curated by some of our contestants, and try them at home.”
Source: news.google.com